Hello, my name is Erika. I am 38 and I have been in glasses my entire life—literally, I was in glasses when I was in diapers. I have no memory of my childhood without having glasses on. In 7th or 8th grade, I progressed into contact lenses, which at the time was amazing, spending about an hour in the morning trying to get them in, but then certainly enjoying that. As I did get older, contact lenses did get better and thinner; however, my eyes continued to get worse and worse. In my early 20s, I had a very severe astigmatism in my left eye, which required a very heavy weighted toric contact lens, which was uncomfortable. I lead a very active lifestyle, travel a lot, and was constantly troubled by my contact lenses.

I was living in Connecticut at the time and went to see a surgeon to hopefully try to have my eyes corrected; however, I was told that my corneas were too thin and my astigmatism in my left eye was too severe to be a candidate for eye correction surgery. I just accepted that and figured I would just be fine in contacts. Fast forward a few years, one of my sisters, Stacy, had surgery with Dr. Grey—she was a patient of Dr. Grey’s with contact lenses and glasses herself, and then she decided to have LASIK surgery. I moved to Michigan and immediately she told me, ‘You have to go see Dr. Grey, you have to go see Dr. Grey.’ About a year after I moved back to Michigan, I did, and from the first time that I met him and his entire staff, they were so wonderful.

I did find out I was a candidate for LASIK surgery. I had the surgery in December of 2012—so just about six months ago. Again, from the first day that I was here until the procedure happened, every question that I had was answered. His entire staff was so thorough with walking me through what drops to do when and how to do it. Having this surgery has absolutely changed my life. I could never have imagined waking up in the morning seeing so clear, seeing the alarm clock, being able to actually see whether it’s shampoo or conditioner in the shower—that’s how bad my eyes were before I had the surgery. I’ve never been able to see as clear as I have now.

I would encourage anybody who is even considering having corrective surgery to absolutely go see Dr. Grey. I would refer anyone—as I said, I was referred by my sister, who also had surgery by Dr. Grey. The office is so professional. I am thrilled; I kind of view it as: if your arm is broken, you would have it fixed; if your eyes are broken, go see Dr. Grey, you will not regret it. Thank you, Dr. Grey, for everything.