Appointment yesterday: thoughts and your insights appreciated

so had my first opthamology appointment in 15 months yesterday with a chicago suburban doctor who has loads of experience and all good online reviews as far as i looked. im in no hurry to get this done as i continue to gather data from this forum and other sites. all the info i have gleaned really helped me yesterday in my interaction with the doctor.

so the details:

-he gave me a bunch of time to ask one question after another. patiently answered them all. did not have a condescending attitude.

-he pretty much sounded like he only used the eyehance lens for the monofocal option. im pretty sure he also does premium but i have no interest in them. when i asked about the clareon and envista, he said good things about them but i would need to pay extra for them since he works in different facilities for surgery. i did not quite understand but i assume his familiarity with eyehance was a selling point.

-he was fairly adamant plano and -1.75 were the best targets for "monovision". i asked if this was not a bit much and overdoing it with a slight edof lens and he said almost all his patients had been satisfied. i told him i had been pretty happy at the -1.25 with contacts. i think he would do what i want if i push it. its out of pocket and he is not cheap.

-he seemed a little uninterested when i mentioned the targeting -.25 to avoid a hyperopic outcome. this bothered me a little.

-he thought 2 weeks between eyes was enough. i expressed my interest in 5 weeks.

-we did a couple of experiments where i walked around the office and front door with the adjusted amounts of refraction on a portable phoropter to see if i could " tolerate Monovision" which i thought was kind of silly and for show.

Now as a self taught student of psychology and neuroscience ( im pretty obsessed with it), from the visit with the doc, i realize his goal was to get people out of glasses, thus the wide gap of -1.75 on an edof lens, an overkill if one is ok with glasses. but that is HIS goal not mine. i want clarity, some depth of focus, and glasses to tune up when i need to. the quick turnaround tome for the second lens was his belief that the time between is a hassle and so get it done. i disagree since i do believe you guys on getting a final result in 5 weeks is worth the hassle.

and does a slight edof affect visual acuity with glasses? and is he using eyehance because they are more expensive ($3499 each eye) out of MY pocket?

i liked the doctor but he has been doing this for decades and i know he adjusts his consultation based on the patient. and a more informed patient is a more difficult one as we will not always agree with the suggestions.

so i am happy to get any insights from y'all. i may just bite the bullet and see if there are any local clareon/envista surgeons and fork out more money for another opinion.

thx

dan

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