An Overlooked ACES Benefit: Laser Vision Correction
by James van Pelt • August 5, 2003

Recently I took advantage of one of the benefits afforded by the ACES insurance package. I had laser vision correction for much less than what most eye surgeons in the area charge.

About a year ago I started experiencing irritation in my right eye from wearing contact lenses. My doctor suggested that I think about getting my vision in that eye corrected permanently through a kind of laser surgery called Lasik. I checked around and found that doctors in our area who offer Lasik are charging, on average, about $2,500 per eye. Yikes!

During that time I ran across a brochure in my office at ACES Technology Services that featured various benefits including Lasik. The brochure, from Anthem Blue Cross, mentioned a special price of just $895 per eye—almost two-thirds off. When you consider that a number of dental benefits (crowns, for instance) pay for only half the cost, a benefit reducing the cost to just about a third of what it would be seemed very attractive.

Of course, preserving your vision is not the first place you look to cut corners! Good vision is priceless. My next assignment was to determine whether the low cost entailed a sacrifice in quality.

The Anthem brochure included the toll-free number of TruVision, which I learned is a group of eye doctors located throughout the nation. Their strategy is to share the laser equipment needed for the surgery, whereas other doctors have to charge enough to pay for their own equipment. Throughout the month, each doctor is meeting with patients either to determine whether they are good candidates for Lasik, or to assist patients recovering from the surgery. On one or two days a month, the equipment is brought into the office and all the surgery is done at that time. Since each operation takes only fifteen minutes or so, twenty operations or more can be done in one day.

The TruVision doctor in our area is an ophthalmologist named Jeffrey Gold. Located at 2440 Whitney Avenue in Hamden, Dr. Gold has over thirty years of experience in eye medicine and surgery, including over five thousand successful laser surgeries. He helped develop Yale Laser Center as a member of its Organizational and Medical Advisory Boards and has served on the ophthalmology faculties of Yale and the University of Utah. He is a member of the Connecticut Society of Eye Physicians, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery. After meeting with him, I was convinced that the super low price for the surgery I needed would come with a high level of medical competence.

The first meeting was devoted to his analysis of my ocular health so that he could determine whether the surgery was likely to work for me. I also got to know him and to ask all my questions. One requirement was that I watch a short video that explained the procedure in great detail, including how to prepare for the surgery and what the recovery would be like afterward. I was pleased when Dr. Gold determined that I was a good candidate for Lasik surgery.

By the second visit I had decided to have laser correction of just the right eye. I would use my left eye for close work and wear a contact lens in it the rest of the time. Dr. Gold was supportive of this decision; by carefully sizing the left lens and surgically correcting the right eye, along with doing certain eye exercises, it might be possible to avoid the necessity of reading glasses as I got older.

To prepare for the surgery I wore glasses rather than contacts for two weeks. I also used antibiotic eye drops for a few days prior to the operation, and took a few other easy measures to minimize the chances of infection. When I arrived for the surgery on a Tuesday afternoon, I was given one Valium to take the edge off, and was led into the operating room, which is kept chilled to optimize the laser. Since I was wide awake the whole time, I can say that the procedure went just as it was described in the video. Although it seems frightening to have eye surgery wide awake, things went so quickly that nothing was overly agonizing. It was actually pretty comparable to a short session in the dentist’s chair—not something you’d choose instead of a good movie, but something tolerable to gain something very worthwhile.

After the operation, the objective is to keep the eye as still as possible so it can heal. I spent the rest of the day asleep, and the next morning I could see! I had absolutely no more use for my glasses, since I had perfect vision in one eye. I use a contact lens for the other eye, which I remove when I need to do really close work. For the first few weeks there was a kind of halo around lights, after which things cleared up. Results can vary between patients, and there are no guarantees, but for me the procedure has been very successful. It’s a turned out to be a great benefit of the ACES relationship with Anthem, and if you’re tired of wearing glasses or having contact lens problems, it’s definitely worth looking into. Dr. Gold can be reached at 281-5745.