Aug. 18, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Vance Thompson Vision.

She’d already retrieved the bottle of solution from its drawer and begun the habitual two-finger swipe to remove her contact lenses before the realization stopped her just short of her eyelashes.

She was no longer a contact lens wearer. Or a glasses wearer for that matter. She tossed the contact cleaning solution into the nearby garbage instead.

“It took awhile to get used to that reality — my bedtime routine, my morning routine and my vacation packing are much more simple since LASIK,” said Sara Patterson, who has been dependent on glasses and contact lenses for more than three decades. “My new freedom has brought me to tears a few times!”

A full-time marketing professional, wife and mom of four, Sara always viewed LASIK as a “someday” hope. This was due largely to her mistaken belief that it would take more downtime and coordination than she could afford to steal from her family’s already overflowing schedule.

That all changed when she chanced upon a lunchtime Facebook Live hosted by Vance Thompson Vision doctors John Berdahl, Justin Schweitzer and Keith Rasmussen.

“We were encouraged to submit questions, so I explained that busy moms can’t be down for long and asked what the recovery time was,” she said. “When they read it, the doctors good-naturedly joked that if I needed it to be six months of no laundry, they’d back me up on it, but then they surprised me with the real answer: 24 to 48 hours.”

The following week, Sara scheduled her consultation, where she learned she was an ideal candidate for LASIK.

“From there, everything was so smooth! I’m used to the tedium of making calls and filling out forms and braced myself for having to do it for LASIK, but Vance Thompson Vision took care of everything; they even scheduled my follow-up appointments for me.”

Sara’s only regret about LASIK is that she waited so long, but once she decided to go for it, she was glad she chose Vance Thompson Vision.

“On the day of surgery, as the nurse led me from the waiting room, what I was about to undergo became very real. I was trusting these people with my eyes, two of my most valued possessions. It was a sobering thought, but Dr. Thompson came to talk with me, and by the end, I was relieved and thankful to be in the best, most experienced hands in the world.”

Ready for your own LASIK experience? Call Vance Thompson Vision at 605-361-EYES (3937) to schedule your consultation.