The Perfect Holiday Gift for the Person Who Has Everything

Lasik - It's the gift of visual freedom that will be treasured for a lifetime

It's never too early to start thinking about the holidays. This holiday season, gift-givers can give the gift of visual freedom with a Lasik Laser Vision Correction procedure from Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center (5201 N. Harlem Ave., Chicago, 773-774-2102; 2010 S. Arlington Heights Rd., Suite 121, Arlington Heights, Ill., 847-621-0633). Many patients have traveled far and wide to work with Dr. Golden of Doctors for Visual Freedom, in fact, he has had patients from across the country and as far away as Europe and Japan.

With no financing for two years, no down payment, and complimentary follow-up exams, the procedure is not only an affordable gift, but also saves the recipient thousands of dollars over time, with the need to pay for glasses and contacts eliminated. Vision improves immediately after the procedure. Half the population wears glasses or contact lenses, and most people with moderate vision problems can spend $400 or more on a good pair of glasses. Over time, this will likely add up to far more than the initial investment in Lasik surgery. It is estimated the average person spends between $30,000 and $60,000 on eyecare in their lifetime.

Read one client's Lasik story below.

Visual Freedom - A Christmas Gift

Bianca Jusino, a 20 year-old college student, is getting her Christmas present early this year. Her mother is making it possible for her to have the vision correction surgery she needs to fully enjoy the rest of her life.

Bianca's vision problems are not unusual. She is extremely nearsighted, and without her glasses or contacts she must hold things only a few inches away to be able to see them clearly.

Olga Matise, Bianca's mom, has long worried about her daughter's overuse of contact lenses.

"I am always telling Bianca to take her contacts out. It can't be good for her to wear them for such long periods of time. She puts them on first thing in the morning and then doesn't want to take them out until the end of the night," Olga commented. "I have even found her sleeping in them."

"I know that Bianca doesn't find her contact lenses comfortable, but she is just too vain to take them out," Olga added.

Bianca is going to have Lasik at Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center in Chicago and Arlington Heights, Ill., the same place her mother had a PRK laser treatment just a few months ago. At the time, Olga was not considered a good Lasik candidate after receiving her complimentary comprehensive evaluation at Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center, but was a perfect candidate for PRK, a different laser procedure.

"I remember receiving the most thorough eye examination of my life from Dr. Mark Golden," said Olga. "He spent a lot of time making sure he knew everything there was to know about me and my eyes. When the testing was over, I learned that I had a thin cornea and for maximum safety, it would be best for me to have the PRK procedure. It was a piece of cake and took less than 10 minutes. When I sat up from the operating table, I could see. It was incredible!"

After her own testing, Bianca found out she is a perfect candidate for the very latest Lasik procedure. She's thrilled and looks forward to the day she can see clearly without the need for her contact lenses or glasses.

Olga's happy, too.

"With no financing for two years, we can easily afford it," she said. "Besides, Bianca promised not to ask for anything else this Christmas."

"I'll believe it when I see it!" she added.

About Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center

Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center has two offices - one in Chicago and one in Arlington Heights, and limits its care to those interested in Refractive Surgery. Learn more about Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center at http://www.doctorsforvisualfreedom.com/.

About Mark Golden, MD, FACS, FICS

Dr. Golden is a board-certified ophthalmologist and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American College of Surgeons and the International College of Surgeons where he holds the role of one of its Vice Presdients. He has more than two decades of experience performing refractive surgery and was one of the earliest pioneers in the field of Lasik Laser Vision Correction. He personally has performed more than 22,000 Laser Procedures, operating on pilots, truck drivers, professional athletes, eye doctors and their families, malpractice attorneys and even his own wife. He started teaching the flap-making process to international surgeons starting in 1993 before US FDA approval, and after US approval of the laser, trained hundreds of surgeons in the techniques of Lasik and helped open laser centers throughout the United States. He is a well-known teacher and has lectured extensively at ophthalmology and optometry meetings held by organizations including the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the International Society of Refractive Surgery, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and the American Optometric Association (AOA). Dr. Golden can be contacted by calling (877) 855-5961 or info@doctorsforvisualfreedom.com.

About Lasik Laser Vision Correction

Lasik is an outpatient surgical procedure that reduces or eliminates a person's need for glasses or contact lenses. LASIK is an acronym for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis which works by changing the shape of the cornea. An instrument is used to make a flap or opening in the cornea, and then the Excimer laser precisely reshapes the cornea so that light is then focused properly in the eye. The corneal flap is then replaced and in most cases, patients have excellent vision the day following the procedure. This life-changing procedure was developed as a combination of an older procedure called Automated Lamellar Keratoplasty (ALK) which made a flap with the precision of the Excimer laser in 1993 by a Greek ophthalmologist by the name of Ioannis Pallikaris. This allowed the longer healing of the Excimer laser procedure Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) to use the precision of the laser but to eliminate most of the discomfort and the extended healing.

PRK is a laser technique that uses the same laser as used in Lasik, but instead of making a flap, the top skin of the cornea is removed and the laser treatment starts on the top of the cornea. This is then allowed to heal. PRK in its early days was associated with substantial discomfort when healing and a significant risk of scarring. Today, Dr. Golden's PRK patients rarely complain of any discomfort at all. Their vision is identical, once healed, to Lasik patients, but their healing takes a little longer. Overall, PRK is a safer procedure than Lasik with the estimated risk of blindness estimated at one in 10 million. Scarring is prevented with medication at the time of surgery.

Modern Laser Vision Correction uses advanced measuring systems called WaveFront analysis to measure and then treat each patient's visual system with precision not available with early technology. It uses a set of mathematical formulas to measure the aberrations in each person's visual system with 25 times more precision than can be performed with the usual means for measuring glasses and is distinct to each person as is their own fingerprint. With WaveFront technology, 85% of patients state that they have significantly less glare at night postoperatively than pre-surgery and many patients now achieve better vision than they ever could with their best pair of glasses or contact lenses.