Testimonials - Dr. Glenn Kawesch

Denise Yamada: If you have poor vision, you know how difficult life can sometimes be. But what if you could correct your bad eyesight for good in just 60 seconds? It's possible.

News 8's Graham Ledger joins us now with living proof!

Graham Ledger: That's right. It's amazing and true! My eyesight is so poor I simply cannot function without contacts or glasses but tonight my vision will be corrected using laser eye surgery. We pick it up after the doctor has already sliced a flap in my cornea. A warning for the squeamish: this is eye opening stuff.

Graham Ledger: Minutes before the surgery. Help me I'm a fly. (video of Graham holding eye shield over eye).

Dr. Kawesch: That's great Graham.

Graham Ledger: The Valium has officially kicked in.

Graham Ledger: G...F...I...(Video of Graham reading the eye chart before laser). Is that it? What is it?

Nurse: O..P..L

Graham Ledger: That's how poor my vision is without correction.

Dr. Kawesch: Nearsightedness anatomically is a cornea that's too steeply shaped and bends the light rays too strongly. So what we're doing is flattening the cornea.

Graham Ledger: And Dr. Kawesch will flatten my cornea with this--the excimer laser.

Dr. Kawesch: There'll be a flashing red light that you'll be watching for the 60-70 seconds.

Graham Ledger: Still, I had concerns about the risk...the downside, but 10 years of data show a low rate of complications.

Dr. Kawesch: As a matter of fact, the risk of complications or loss of vision from the laser procedure is much, much less than the risk of loss of vision from say wearing contact lenses.

Graham Ledger: This...is the point of no return.

Dr. Kawesch: We're going to lift up that flap for you now.

Graham Ledger: Here's what that looks like from SkyCam. (Tight video shot of monitor showing magnified view of procedure). Finally, it is time for excimer.

Dr. Kawesch: Try to look right at it. OK? Here we go. Starting the laser. Try to look straight ahead in that area where you see the glimmer. Keep looking straight ahead. You're doing great. About 50 seconds to go.

Graham Ledger: Then, a problem...my problem. My eye had drifted down away from the red light. Dr. Kawesch backs off the laser and realigns my eye.

Dr. Kawesch: 5 seconds...Doing great...You did it!...Everything went perfectly...And you can see on the video the area of flattening underneath the flap...We're just going to put your flap down and we'll all go home.

Graham Ledger: It's kind of like being reborn and if I can emerge from this with clearer vision it will be a rebirth. Just minutes after the surgery...

Graham Ledger: That looks like an O..P..L. I can read the same eye chart that earlier was a blur.

r. Kawesch: Very good. You were able to read 20/70-20/80 about 30 seconds after the procedure. By tomorrow, you'll be seeing even better.

Graham Ledger: How do I look? (Video of Graham wearing eye shield) Let's go to Disneyland and ride the Pirates of the Carribean!

ONE WEEK LATER

Graham Ledger: Before surgery my correction was -8.00. So now it's +.25.

Dr. Kawesch: Which is great. Zero is perfect. You're at +.25 right now which is slightly over-corrected. It tends to drift back so that's exactly where we'd like you to be.

Graham Ledger: Before surgery my vision was 20/2000.

Graham Ledger: (Video of Graham reading eye chart) E...G

Dr. Kawesch: That's 20/50. How about here?

Graham Ledger: F...Z as in zebra.

Dr. Kawesch: That's 20/40, so you just passed the driving test without glasses.

Dr. Kawesch: There's 20/20. Those are the smallest letters I've got.

Graham Ledger: Before surgery, I couln't even see the Big E.

Graham Ledger: I can see an E, and I can see Carol and Bobby and Cindy.

Graham Ledger: All kidding aside, there is some blurriness.

Dr. Kawesch: The laser has entirely eliminated your nearsightedness. As the flap settles in, any irregularity will go away and the vision will come in nice and clear.

Graham Ledger: So with the pain and labor at an absolute minimum, the rebirth of my vision is complete.

Graham Ledger: Well, there you have it. In my right eye, which was lasered about 3 weeks ago, my vision went from 20/2000 to 20/15. That's better than average. That's better than 20/20. Now my left eye was just done on Friday, so it's still a little bit blurry. The vision should start locking in soon. If it doesn't, we'll have to go back and touch it up. About 5% of laser LASIK patients need some touch up. Dr. Kawesch is one of only a handful of surgeons doing the procedure on the entire west coast. And there's the number to call for more information, 1-800-456-LASER. By the way the procedure itself lasted all of 1 minute 10 seconds and that's it...poof...you're done.

Denise Yamada: Is it expensive?

Denise Yamada: Depending on the correction?

Graham Ledger: Yes.

Denise Yamada: Thanks, Graham.

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