Excellent thread you have going here. I am trying to catch up but still hundreds of posts back. Glimpsed your discussion of VISX and thought I'd jump in.
Visx is a local company for me. I drive by one of their facilities daily. I've been following it ever since my wife had her eyes fixed last Dec. I saw the equipment met with the Doc, watched the operation, paid the bills and she's fine. Thrilled, still. I was impressed. So much so, I had the operation a month ago. I'm thrilled too! I can see with a clarity and sharpness that surpasses my contacts and in total comfort, no glare issue, no more dark glasses. At 51, I've a lifetime of wearing glasses/contacts behind me. As typical of most people I also suffer from presbyopia (needs reading glasses for up close work) now that my eyes work right. Before, I was near sighted, 20/200 at best, now 20/15 both eyes. The operation was a snap. The recovery almost instantaneous, next day I was fine. I chose to have both eyes fully corrected. My wife went with monovision - one eye slightly detuned so reading glasses are not required. I wanted excellent distance vision in both eyes and will tolerate the reading glasses issue.
The point is, for us near-sighted folks, there is now a real option. This is a wave, it is catching on. It is spreading by word of mouth. I have triggered a few others to do it so far, and this pyramid effect will continue. It will not be arithmetic but geometric in growth. My cost experience is different from the numbers you are quoting. The doctor's office here claimed $800 per eye for the Visx licensing fee. Perhaps that reflects the Silicon Valley cost of living effect. I did notice the Doc was driving a newly licensed late model beemer.
When it comes to cutting on one's eyes, most people are quite concerned about such an operation. They will want to go with the "best", lots of times this is presumed to mean highest cost, and most of the time, this means the majority winner not some untried startup or some "also-ran". In this case VISX is generating the most license fees currently. I suspect this momentum will keep them in good stead. |
