The worst experience I’ve ever had with a doctor. The first review I’m ever writing because I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this terrible experience.
I would like to elaborate on my entire experience the doctor and the clinic.
I had a number of about -4.75 in both my eyes and wanted to get a Lasik done for the same.
I got my Lasik work up done the first time I visited the clinic. On my first visit I was offered 3 surgeries but told I had a fairly large number, and would need the most expensive surgery offered by the clinic, which I got to know over the course of my research, is a very average number, not high for a Lasik surgery. Also I got to know later that the type of surgery depends on the corneal thickness not on the eyesight number.
I wasn’t very convinced to do this specific surgery. There were options like bladefree and blade given, obviously one would steer towards the bladefree as it’s newer technology. I wanted to take a second opinion to make sure I make the right decision for my eyes.
I asked the clinic for my reports, as I needed the pentacam, which is usually provided by all doctors in the Lasik work up. Which is of course included in the cost of the Lasik work up(Rs3100). The clinic promised to share but delayed it for days. After a couple of days, when asked again they asked for rs2500 additional for the pentacam report. Which was the total amount I had paid for my entire Lasik work up at a reputed doctors clinic in Bandra.
I enquired politely, that the amount I had initially paid for lasik work up included which tests. I was just trying to gain some clarity and compare the two reports to make sure I choose the right surgery for myself as I was told I had a high number.
This resulted in the doctor calling me(otherwise I would interact with the clinics employees) and reducing the cost of my surgery as a special case and also waiving off my Lasik work up amount.
This isn’t what I had asked for! But this was my first glimpse of how commercial they are. And what they could do to make sure they don’t lose a client.
Ultimately after a discussion with my parents I decided to go ahead with Mr. Dedhia as he was recommended by a few people to my mother, and we thought a bladeless would be a better bet.
I got my surgery on 3dec 2016. I was asked to pay the amount of surgery before it began, I transferred the amount but due to the ban on 500 and 1000 notes I fell short of a small Amount as my bank temporarily deactivated my account. I asked them to start the surgery till my dad arrived with the remaining amount.
But they were as uncooperative as one could get. Super commercial. It delayed my surgery by around 1.5 hours.
As soon as I was put on the operation table. Doctors first words were" next patient ko tayaar Karo". Complete lack of empathy. The happiness of my eyes getting corrected, made me overlook such behaviour, but this was just the beginning of what I was about to experience.
It was a successful surgery as per the reports. I took care of my eyes for a month, with the prescribed drops and wipes to clean my eyes. I felt a certain haziness in my follow up visits which I told was due to not cleaning my eyes correctly.
I made sure my eyes were cleaned correctly thereafter and went about my normal routine with the precautions given. Also the Lasik surgery might make the eye dry, so I kept putting the drops to make sure that was taken care of. But the haziness never disappeared.
I approached the doctor with the problem. He was far from acceptance that there was a problem, so the solution was out of question. He would put on the screen and ask me to read. I could read, but I was hazy which he wouldn’t believe, or chose not to do so. He would keep saying that the surgery was successful, I knew that it was coz I had 20/20 vision but I had a certain blur, which lead to constant headaches, and difficulty in going about my normal routine.
I was put on to the junior doctors, went through the tests, reading those alphabets a million times, the air pressure tests, but there was no definite answer given to this problem after several visits. Once when I asked to meet Mr. Dedhia, after 1.5 hours of waiting, his first words were "you are okay", he never asked me how I was, he never accepted the problem, and kept saying the surgery was successful.
I just wanted a solution to the blurred vision I had. Which led me to take a second opinion from a doctor recommended by my client(he had a failed cataract surgery in the Ojas clinic) Again, it was a tough task to get my pre and post pentacam reports from the Ojas clinic, they asked for money again for it, and then gave it for free after my dad intervened. This seems to be their usual practice. It always feels like a market haggling for veggies.
The recommended doctor studied my reports and agreed I had a problem. Phew! A ray of hope. The denial by Mr.dedhia made me feel this was just a figment of my imagination.
The dry eyes were ruled out by this doctor with the dry eye test, and a few more tests to make sure all was fine. The surgery was successful he said, as I didn’t have a remainder number. Things got a bit better with the new drops I was using. The headaches were gone, haziness reduced. I started believing this was the end of this. I kept using the prescribed drops.
But it’s 25th July 2017 and I’m still hazy and it got a bit severe this week, which got me worried again. I’m having problems while driving with the glaring head lights, which makes me lose judgment sometimes while driving at night. When I shared this with an Ojas clinic doctor, Dr Deepa intervened and offered her advice of not driving at all and that would solve the problem completely.
I visited my doctor again with this concern. This doctor had hoped I’d be fine by now and was surprised to see me back again. Now it was a bit serious, since this the max time it takes for they eyes to adapt to the surgery. This doctor wanted to probe further for which he needed my Lasik treatment machine sheet, to study the specifications of my surgery.
I went back to the Ojas clinic, to request them to hand me those reports. They say that the machine sheets were produced in the 1990’s and they use the latest technology, and there’s no such sheet produced from the Lasik machine.
By this time, I had learnt the hard way not to trust what I was told by them.
I checked with two reputed doctors if machine sheets were produced by Lasik machines in the 21st century, I got a firm "yes".
What can I make out of such behaviour? They always get paranoid to share my reports, what is there to hide if I was operated by the best surgeon on the latest equipment. Their denial and the blame game just makes me realise how commercial they are. They don’t want to take responsibility once they’ve been paid off.
I don’t know what is worse, to live with this defect in my eyes or the thought of going back to the Ojas clinic.