Holy cow must the Super Bowl 2013 electricians be relieved right now! The power has finally been restored at the Superdome after a 34-minute delay, otherwise known as an eternity. My personal theory about why the power went out: Beyonce hogged all the electricity during her half-time show. Hmmm … Whether or not this theory proves to be true, a power outage during a football game is an annoyance. But, what happens when the power goes out during the middle of your LASIK or PRK procedure at TLC Tysons Corner, Rockville, or Charlottesville?
If you think about it, months – if not years – of planning have gone into considering your laser vision correction procedure. You’ve attended all of your pre-op visits, done all of your drops, tried your best to stay away from internet chat room “research”. You lined up a driver for procedure day, practiced smooth easy breathing, and tried your best to not even think about rubbing your eyes. Dr. Andrew Holzman, your trusted surgeon, is confidently in the middle of your procedure, when suddenly the power has gone out!?
Many patients have asked me this question during the consultation process, and I always have the same confident answer. If this were to ever happen to you, don’t sweat it because goodness knows we aren’t. Each of Dr. Holzman’s lasers has a corresponding backup generator that assuredly kicks in immediately after a power outage. Each generator could definitely power the lasers through multiple procedures, but the reality is that only the interrupted procedure will be completed using the generator. The lasers pick up right where their programmed treatment left off before the outage. Your laser vision correction procedure ends smoothly, just as you had planned. After the power outage is remedied, the surgical technicians re-calibrate the lasers before proceeding with the balance of the day’s procedures.
Thank goodness for backup generators. Now, where are they when we have a blizzard or a summer thunderstorm?
