Almost all of them will pay out of pocket. Insurance almost never pays for the procedures, which insurers classify as elective cosmetic surgery. While independent ophthalmologists perform 4 in 10 of the procedures, eye surgery chains performed almost half of all laser eye surgeries in the latest tally. Hospitals accounted for the rest. We see the best, and we see the worst,'' said Howard Braverman, a doctor of optometry in Miami who is president of the American Optometric Association.
Optometrists often advise patients on whether the surgery is appropriate.
Companies will come into a city and hire a surgeon who isn't busy and make him a refractive surgeon. He said that ophthalmologists who lacked experience might be unable to deal with complications after surgery. ''There will always be some complications,'' he said. Although several studies have shown a correlation between a surgeon's length of experience and successful outcomes, there have been no studies of whether there is a link between the cost of the surgery and the outcome. Their vision was worse after the procedure,'' he said, but most had signed informed-consent documents saying they were aware of the hazards, which made it hard to seek damages. Dr. Richard Foulkes, an ophthalmologist in Hinsdale, Ill., outside Chicago, said there really was a difference among surgery centers.