I have had the pleasure of working with all kinds of patients at the TLC Laser Eye Centers, including professional athletes – such as Alecko Eskandarian from L.A. Galaxy and John Lannan from the Washington Nationals – optometrists, public servants, and prominent media personalities like D.C. staple G. Gordon Liddy and ESPN sports radio DJ Steve Czaban. One of the latest patients of mine to reap the benefits of LASIK refractive laser eye surgery is Air Force veteran, commercial airline pilot and author David Webb.
It was an honor to be able to work with David. As a life-long sufferer of vision impairment, he has tried several unsuccessful treatment options over the years to correct his vision. In a letter to me following his surgery, David used his knack for humor and way with words to express just what it’s like for individuals with poor vision.
“In my quest to improve my vision so as to ensure my eyes would meet Air Force standards and, later, airline standards, I tried every trick available:
A. Books on vision that actually recommended staring directly at the sun (the authors must have owned stock in seeing-eye dogs).
B. Orthokeratology, which are hard contact lenses designed to forcibly, and painfully, flatten the eyeball to the correct shape. Caution: insanity may be a side-effect.
C. Eye exercises designed by a ‘doctor’ who wore trifocals herself. Any irony there? I think her degree may have been ‘Witchdoctor’ from the University of Hogwarts.
Hard as I tried and enduring great pain and/or expense, none of these attempts resulted in any true improvement in my vision. Then, I heard about Lasik. “
Like many of my patients, David had resigned himself to the notion that he would have poor vision for the rest of his life. In David’s case, this was of particular importance however, as poor vision could prove detrimental to his career. I take great pride in my work and enjoy immensely being able to improve my patients’ vision; I took particular satisfaction in David’s case because I knew that not only was I providing him with a permanent solution to a life-long problem, I was able to help him improve his vision so that he could continue within his career as a pilot.
Able to speak far more plainly on the subject than I (legally) can, David exclaimed after his treatment, “One final note, do not be discouraged by the required disclaimers associated with the surgery such as ‘your vision may not be as sharp as can be achieved with glasses or contacts.’ No one is pickier about their vision than I am and I can tell you that my eyes see more clearly than they ever have. In fact, as my last follow-up exam proved, my eyes are seeing the absolute best that they able. What a testimony to the precision of this operation. “
Needless to say, I couldn’t be happier that David is so satisfied with his procedure and I can’t thank him enough for his tremendously kind words. To see exactly what transpired to lead David to LASIK surgery, read “Eye, Eye Sir”, an excerpt from his book.
