The photo above was taken on Saturday during the filming of our commercial (airing date TBD) and shows one of our patients giving her testimonial on LASIK surgery. This patient came to the Atlanta Vision Institute for a consultation after learning she had Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC) is essentially a type of allergic reaction to a foreign object in the eye; for this particular patient, it was her contact lenses. GPC affects roughly 20% of contact lens wearers. People who have been diagnosed with GPC have typically experienced symptoms like swollen, uncomfortable red eyes and the inability to wear contact lenses. There have been studies linking GPC with improper contact use, such as not cleaning the lenses frequently or leaving the same pair in the eyes for too long. The patient in the photo above tried wearing daily disposable contact lenses to reduce her symptoms, but the high expense resulted in her wanting the freedom of seeing clearly without the need for contacts or glasses. Dr. Ashraf performed LASIK on her and in the commercial we filmed on Saturday, she stated that she could see clearly and regrets not getting the surgery sooner. In cases like this, LASIK is a great alternative because it gives people the freedom to avoid putting foreign objects in their eyes. If you have trouble wearing contact lenses or have been diagnosed with GPC by your eye doctor, schedule a consultation with Dr. Ashraf to see if you’re a candidate for LASIK surgery.

On Saturday May 11th, Comcast‘s camera crew came to the Atlanta Vision Institute to film our upcoming commercial about LASIK. We had many patients who were kind enough to participate in the commercial and discuss their LASIK surgery experience with Dr. Ashraf. Each patient described how she found Dr. Ashraf and what the whole experience was like. One patient said she was looking for the best LASIK surgeon and found Dr. Ashraf after asking her mom, a Registered Nurse at Northside Hospital, for recommendations and the doctors she worked with told her about Dr. Ashraf. Another patient said she found Dr. Ashraf by Googling “best LASIK Surgeon” and seeing his website as the first one to pop up; after having her first consultation with Dr. Ashraf, she said she was very impressed with how inviting and warm he was and also the staff of the Atlanta Vision Institute, and she further pursued the process of getting LASIK. When asked about what made them decide to get LASIK, each patient had a different response. One patient said that she developed an allergic reaction to contact lenses and felt insecure wearing her glasses, so LASIK was the best alternative. Another patient said that she had perfect eyesight until age 40 when her vision precipitously dropped and she wasn’t able to wear contact lenses for very long and didn’t like wearing her glasses. Overall, all the patients went into detail about how contact lenses and eyeglasses weren’t fit for them and they wished they had done LASIK sooner because of the freedom that it’s given them from having to worry about visual aids of any kind. Stay tuned for our upcoming commercial that will be featured by Comcast!