TLC Laser Eye Centers

This is one of the fanciest eye care facility I’ve been to. They have some of the best equipments and the employees were very friendly, but their LASIK surgery will cost you an arm and a leg. I went to three different places for my LASIK consults and they were the most expensive one. Needless to say, I didn’t get my surgery done here, but I think anyone who wants to pay more than $ 5,000 for their LASIK procedure should go to TLC. They made me feel very comfortable.

This review is of my entire experience. It is lengthy, only because I wish I had this information before my surgery and I hope it will help others. I had LASIK by Dr. Galler 2 days ago.
My consult was about an hour and a half long. It included quite a few tests, including an eye exam to assess your prescription. This was best eye exam I’ve had in my life. I always found it very frustrating choosing between 1 or 2, than 3 or 4 repeatedly. He does not let you fail during this exam, and he clearly states that he is there to help you. Also during this exam he goes over some of the tests that you previously went through, including the map of your cornea. At this time he suggested I get PRK (for those who have a thinner cornea), however it may change the longer I have my contacts out. He is conservative in the manner that he does not want his patients to fail, so he suggested I do one eye at a time in case I had a hard time healing after the surgery. He did agree to doing both of my eyes, but only if I was able to speak with my supervisor on the complications that I may have with healing. Though PRK is a wonderful choice, especially for those who do not want a flap, it is not an easy recovery and some people take weeks to heal.
On surgery day I went through all the same tests, including going over my prescription again. Dr. Galler’s staff was extremely thorough with each test to make sure surgery would be as accurate as possible. During my eye exam Dr. Galler stated that I now qualified for LASIK, so I decided to go this route.
In my experience the surgery was a breeze. They give you a Valium before you enter the surgery room. As you are relaxing they go over all the drops you will need for the next week or so. When you enter the surgery room they have you sit down on the table. I had a slight astigmatism so they had to numb my eyes and draw in sharpie to indicate so. It’s awkward as someone is coming toward your eye, but you do not feel a thing. They then have you lie down, give you a teddy bear to squeeze, and put a blanket over you so you stay comfortable. Here you get more drops, and then one of your eyes gets taped shut. He tapes your other eyelids open, puts the plastic piece over your eye that helps keep it open (you don’t even feel or see this). When the machine that creates the flap is applied you feel nothing but pressure, like pushing your fingers on your eye. I can only assume that those that feel pain from this are people who are either extremely sensitive or very dramatic. You briefly lose your vision from this, which is completely normal. Once your flaps are made you are then rolled over to the actual laser that fixes your prescription. This was a little tough as I’m light sensitive. This is my ONLY «complaint.» The laser has a green light in which you stare at, surrounded by red lights and bright white lights. Again, you do not even feel a thing. Once your prescription is fixed you can see through a fog his surgical tools moving the flap back. At this point you are okay with him touching you, you still cannot feel a thing, and you just want your eyesight perfected so it’s easy to stay still for this.
Once done your eyesight is foggy. Much like when you get out of a chlorine pool. Everything is clear though. He has you sit up and tell him the time on the wall and you are officially all done! I don’t think I was in the room for even 20 minutes.
Before surgery my eyesight was ²⁰⁄₄₀₀. At my follow-​up the next day my left eye was ²⁰⁄₂₀ and my right was ²⁰⁄₁₅! I now see better than I did with contacts. And to think, you are only at 90% within the first day! All the cloudiness was gone the next day, and decreased the night before dramatically as I kept up with my drops. The next day your eyes are extremely dry, much like an old contact. This also subsided the more I used my drops.
I have no complaints about this vision center. It was very clean, and you will not find a more honest doctor. He did not fail to give me any information, and he did not promise anything as to what I would feel or experience as every person has a different experience. He stated over and over again that everyone is different. If you come across a doctor that promises you won’t feel a thing, or you will be absolutely fine the next day (especially if you are looking into PRK), run because they are lying. The staff here was just as amazing, and just as honest. I was catered to, and they were prompt on calling me the night of surgery for a post follow-​up.
Only suggestions:
–Keep your contacts out for a good week before your consult. They change the shape of your eye. I had a lot of anxiety over the idea of PRK, which could have been prevented if I had kept them out sooner.
–Take the next day off from work. Though you will be able to see, your eyes get tired extremely easy as they are still healing.
–Go outside the day after surgery and just look at the landscape. You will see colors in ways you never have before.

I had PRK surgery there. It was a pretty scary ordeal but it went wonderfully. The surgeon, Dr. Galler, is extremely conscientious and conservative. Other surgeons would have considered LASIK for me, but he went with this procedure which I must thoroughly endorse — though the recovery is longer PRK is less invasive, a great surgeon and staff — and now I can wrest an evening gown with no glasses!

I went here for a consult a couple of months ago and am still getting the emails which reminded me to write this review. I did not at all like the experience I had. I went in with questions and didn’t ever get full answers.
So I arrived at my appointment and waited to be seen. The nurse-​like person performed a number of test which she kept getting frustrated with me because I would blink. That’s what happens when you are at the end of the work day after looking at the computer. Not much I could do about that but she could have been less rude.
Finally I see the doctor and ask questions specifically about my dry eye and night vision. I have a very good optometrist who said I had large pupils and that I may want to consider PRK so I have less night vision side effects. The Laser Center doctor brushed it off and said he was the expert and I didn’t need to look at alternatives. No explanation or anything just that I was wrong for listening to my doctor. He even said (paraphrased) that I wouldn’t not do LASIK if you’re giving me your money. I felt like it was a for profit procedure.
I definitely didn’t feel comfortable thinking that he was going to cut my eye open. Vision is far too valuable to mess around with and not have a wonderful surgeon.