Last week Dr. Holzman quoted the line from the movie Jerry Maguire: “Help me to help you” to a patient. He does not do that often. Usually he quotes song titles and lyrics however, that day he said the words and then leaned over to me and said, “This would make a great blog title. He is so right. Looking at the average day in the TLC surgical suite, we meet a lot of people. Different personalities, some very calm, most very anxious. Our goal is to educate our patients so that you can make an informed decision. We tell all of our patients what to expect before, during and after their LASIK, CK or PRK procedure. We give them pre-op and post-op drop instructions. We also tell patient’s to focus on what their job is during the procedure: Breathe and look at the blinking light! Often, what ends up happening is the patient comes in on the day of surgery, we go over everything again pre-op and then we give them Xanax.
When the patient lies down and we begin the procedure sometimes, they just simply forget! They forget to breathe. They forget to look at their focal point. The nerves kick into high gear and the patient succumbs to the nerves. The point of this blog is to in a humorous Hollywood way say you as our patient are an active participant in the game! Dr. Holzman can do the heavy lifting, but he needs you to remember that your part is to trust him and listen to his guidance during your procedure. It is hard to give up control. Especially with your eyes.
So, now that you have made it to the surgical suite, remind yourself that you have made an educated decision to do what is best for your vision. You picked a corneal surgeon who specializes in performing LASIK, CK and PRK! Pardon the pun, but you are not taking a “blind” leap of faith here. You have weighed the risks and the benefits of having this procedure to correct your vision. You have done your research, so trust that you have made the right choice and then embrace it!
Many patients tell us that this procedure has changed their life for good. Dr. Holzman and his team would not let you get to our surgical suite if we were not confident that you are an excellent candidate for your procedure. You would not have made the choice to have this elective procedure without doing your research, so help us help you! Trust that you have weighed the risks and the benefits for you personally. You are making an educated decision and trust you have picked the best surgeon to perform your procedure then, just BREATHE and LOOK AT THE LIGHT!
