First off the staff directed me to their website www.drsloane.com. The site gave some great info on what procedures I was a candidate for and also gave me a little info on whom Dr. Sloane was and his background. The first thing I notice about him was that he has been doing this for quite a long time. I think it was something like 20-25 years in the Lasik field. So, knowing that I felt confident that he had done thousands of procedures. Also, I looked at his credentials and saw that Sloane is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a Certified Fellow of the prestigious American College of Eye Surgeon, and member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons and the International Society of Refractive Surgeons. Sorry, I copied and pasted this to make sure I was accurate. So, based on this info I was sure that he was the strongest Lasik surgeon in Chicago and from what I’ve read one of the top in the country. Believe me when I say this, I have gone to over 30 sites looking at who is the best and I can conclude that luckily Sloane was in Chicago and also came up at the top of every list I was able to research. Call me crazy, but I wanted the best and I would never take my eyes to some place like Lasik Plus. I mean it’s actually kind of funny that people want to find a discount laser surgery center to do their eyes. I bet all those people would be running to Sloane if it was fully covered by insurance. So go figure! Anyway, I digress.

The initial consultation felt more like a physical for the eye. I was asked several key questions that were appropriately typed into their computer that they have in every room. I don’t know about you, but I hate arriving 15 minutes early only to sit there and fill out 10 pages of info. We’ll the staff not only got me in within 5 minutes of being there, but they also take your info as they ask and input it into their software application and presto! I’m in the system. As a person who loves technology, I was comforted to know that they were far ahead of the other Lasik surgery practices. Oh, by the way, there were 3-4 patients that came out while I was there in the waiting room and I notice one thing from all of them…a SMILE! Once again the little things mean a lot to me.

So, back to my evaluation at the Sloane Vision Center. First, an eye technician came in; her name was Sherry I believe. One thing that I completely noticed was that the Sloane employees are quite attractive. I almost felt like asking for the Sloane Vision Center yearly pinup calendar. Nothing more soothing than an intelligent and beautiful female telling you how they’re gonna make it all better..Lol

So, Sherry – the eye technician – gave me my initial exam by doing a standard eye chart procedure using a phoropter – that’s the thing they place over your eyes when asking you to read the chart. Once I was done with this, we went into another room where another “advance piece of machinery” called an OPD autorefracter was used to scan the surface of my eye. This measures your prescription and takes a picture of the surface part of the eye which is the cornea. Not sure how most people would react, but I already feel like I got more than my money’s worth. Considering it’s a free consultation, I more than got my money’s worth. Then another machine called the pentacam was used to take 25 pictures of each eye. Of course all of this is going electronically to my patient chart. Love it. So, you’re asking how I know all of these names? Well, I ask the technician to send them to me so that when I decided to do this blog, I would have accurate information for others who want to know more about Lasik. Trust me; I hate nothing more than misinformation.

Next I was taken to another room were the equipment seems to be even more impressive. Once again I was having my eyes scanned with another machine that was called The Allegro Wavelight….this machine scanned to see if I was a candidate for advanced custom Lasik. Basically, this means that if that I have imperfections on the surface of my cornea, this will detect them and make me a candidate for a procedure called advanced custom Lasik.

Then I was seen by Sloane Vision Center’s in-house optometrist- Dr. Schwan was her name – a very delightful and extremely informative young lady. I really enjoyed our conversation and Dr. Schwan completely put me at ease. Here is a link if you’re curious about the people I’m speaking about. http://www.drsloane.com/Dr-sloane/staff-bios.php She performed an exam on the internal part of the eye using a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope. Dr. Schwan asks me if I had any questions and also confirmed that I was a candidate for Lasik surgery.

Once she left, I then got to see Dr. Sloane. Man, this guy was a character. He came in, sits down, and I instantly felt like we were best friends. Something about him oozed confidence, yet humbleness. Ok, it wasn’t a man crush, but I certainly wanted to know that the guy working on my eyes was someone that I found interesting. It’s funny the other to people the recommended him, told me the same thing. After going over my digital records once again and showing me via the computer all of the info that they had accumulated from this free consultation I felt like this was the best deal I’ve ever gotten for FREE! Seriously though, I was very assured that after walking out of Sloane Vision Center, that Dr. Sloane was the surgeon performing my Lasik procedure.

Day of the Lasik Procedure I was taken through all of the same procedures to make certain nothing had changed since my free consultation. Once this was finished Dr. Sloane came in and checks everything AGAIN. Wow, talk about thorough…Dr. Sloane and his staff were OCD when it came to making sure everything was checked and double checked. I can’t remember ever saying that about any medical office I’ve been in.

So, once we finished talking, I was taken to a sitting room and put in a nice comfortable recliner, given some simple instructions and was instructed to take “the happy pill” to calm my nerves, which I didn’t really have any by this time, as I truly believe that Dr. Sloane could do this with his eyes closed. So, about 15 minutes later I was taken into Lasik Procedure room and placed on a bench time apparatus that would place me under The Intralase equipment that was used to create the flaps for my cornea. Next the motorized bench moved me over to the Allegretto eyeQ where Dr. Sloane which used to reshape my cornea and replace my flaps. The entire time I felt like I was watching a laser light show full of beautiful green, blue and red pulses. This all seems to take about 5-10 minutes and then I was stood up and went back to the dark room with the recliner. There I sat for about 10 minutes while his wonderful assistants came in to check on me and make me feel comfortable. After about 10-15 minutes I was taken back into one of the exam room where Dr. Sloane check my eyes for accuracy and told me everything went perfect. The entire procedure took less than 2 hours and I was on my way home to rest and relax. The rest is history…the next day I had great vision and within the week I couldn’t believe that I no longer had to deal with my contacts or glasses. It was so weird throwing away my glasses. Also, a couple of things to consider- have someone who can come with you the day of the Lasik procedure. Also if you can’t afford to pay right away, the Sloane Vision Center offered me a 12 months interest free payment plan. It was easy to fill out the credit application through http://www.drsloane.com/consultation/financing.php and I was approved immediately. I did the math and figure within 5 years I’ll have paid for the procedure with all the money I have saved with glasses, contacts, cases, solutions, optometrists visits, and etc. Dr. Herman Sloane, if you ever get to read this, I want to thank you for making my Lasik experience one of the best I have ever had.

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