The Pepose Vision Institute in St. Louis and the University of Missouri School of Optometry started a program back in 2001 that provided Lasik surgery to low income families. Now the program also includes providing emergency personnel the ability to undergo Lasik surgery.
In total there have been over 188 surgeries performed with the average people chosen are between the ages of 20-55 and make less than $25, 000 per year. However, the income limitation does not apply to emergency personnel.
People chosen to have the surgery are required to pay $70 to cover the beginning examination. While screenings and post surgery care is done at Southern Illinois University’s East St. Louis Center, the surgeries are completed at the Pepose Institute.
However, even though it is popular with emergency personnel, Dr. Mujtaba Qazi stated he hoped that more poor people would take advantage of this offer, in which Lasik surgery typically costs between $3,000-$5,000.
I know a LASIK eye doctor in the Fort Lauderdale area who has financing options available through CareCredit. His name is Dr. Srini Mutyala and he has performed more than 20,000 procedures to date.
Posted by: Jon | April 25, 2008 at 10:15 AM