Visian ICL Testimonial Boston - New England Eye Center

Shelley Dieudonne discusses her experience receiving Visian ICL treatment at our Boston office.

DR. ROBERT P. RIVERA: Hi. We have the pleasure of interviewing Shelly Dieudonne today who has recently undergone an amazing experience with her vision in that she had to wear glasses or contact lenses before, but after having what turns out to be a fairly straightforward procedure in your experience has got excellent vision now. So, Shelly we appreciate your letting us know about your experience. What did you have done? SHELLY DIEUDONNE: I had a vision ICL placed in both my eyes. I was a contact lens wearer. I probably wore contacts for twenty-nine years. DR. RIVERA: Wow. SHELLY DIEUDONNE: I wore glasses for a couple of years before then at a very high prescription. And I couldn’t do anything without glasses or contact lenses. And I’m actually an optometrist. So, I have co-managed a lot of patients who have had refractive surgery. And the patients were so consistently pleased with their results. And one of the things that I heard over and over again was I only wish I hadn’t waited this long. And so I -- you know, dozens and dozens of patients can’t be wrong. And so I finally decided to do it myself. DR. RIVERA: Now, Shelly in your case you decided to have the vision ICL primarily because you were not a candidate for other refractive procedures. Is that my understanding? SHELLY DIEUDONNE: Yes, yes. My prescription was a little bit high and my cornea was a little bit irregular, but I was really excited about being a good candidate for the vision ICL because it’s completely reversible. If something, you know, God forbid didn’t go the way things were expected, they can be changed. And the anatomy of my eye was not permanently altered as it would have been if I had a LASIK procedure. DR. RIVERA: An optometrist such as yourself totally understands that. You can also communicate that beautifully to your patients given that here you are having had your life changed by an ICL procedure. Tell me, how has your life changed? SHELLY DIEUDONNE: There’s nothing like getting up in the morning and being able to see the alarm clock, having my baby who’s seventeen months need me in the middle of the night and not having to reach for the glasses because I literally couldn’t leave the room without my glasses. And it’s really -- it’s so neat. I used to carry eye drops wherever I went because my contact lenses would dry out. And so I had eye drops in my glove compartment of my car and I had them in my coat pockets and I had them in each of my purses. I don’t carry eye drops anymore; I’m free. And my night driving is such a -- it’s such an improvement because as most patients who wear contact lenses will tell you, there are times when you have to blink several times to clear your vision and that’s especially problematic at night because you’ve been wearing the contact lenses for the whole day, your eyes are starting to get drier, they’re getting less comfortable and at the time when your vision’s most critical, when you’re out on that highway, it’s not clear. And my vision is so consistent now and that’s one of the things that I really appreciated because I feel safer. DR. RIVERA: The final question: would you do this over again? SHELLY DIEUDONNE: No question. That’s of course. And, of course, I’m excited to tell my patients about that.