TLC Laser Eye Center

I had my procedure two days ago & have gone from being extremely short sighted & astigmatic to ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision with what amounted to a couple of preliminary exams and a 20 minute operation. Everyone was super professional and friendly to a fault — can’t recommend TLC more highly. ¹⁰⁄₁₀

This review is to show my appreciation to every single person who made my experience wonderful. From the front desk to the surgeon. I had checked a lot of places around my area and I observed customer service and how they treated me from the first time I came in for my first appointment they were very welcoming. I’m very happy I made the decision to fix my vision with them I will recommend it to everyone who is thinking of changing their life on having better vision. Thank you Dr. Madsen, Dr. Griffith and everyone who put in their part so I can have a good experience. Everybody’s work is very appreciated by myself and my family.

Posting for my wife who after her initial consultation last week, then after juggling schedules I drove her from Vancouver to her 4:20 appointment. Couldn’t help but to notice another couple canceling and leaving right as we walked in — should have took that as a sign…
After the paperwork and credit card transaction they gave her some Xanax. 30 minutes later she’s groggy and ready to get this procedure going. They said I could take off for 45 – 60 minutes and then come back to pick her up. About 45 minutes later my wife text me saying that the laser machine isn’t working and they want to reschedule. Now, I understand that equipment sometimes has issues — I’m not holding that against them but what I do have a problem with is that it took 45 minutes to determine that and that they never seems genuinely sorry for the problem and trouble this creates for us and our schedule juggling.
What I would have expected was for them to be more sincere and not just offer to reschedule, how about a gesture like — We’re sorry this creates an inconvenience for you and that you will feel the effect of Xanax for the next several hours — now you have to drive to Vancouver in rush hour traffic (1hr+) all for nothing. As a sign of good faith and customer service we are going to offer you a discount on this service for the inconvenience. That is what I would expect from a quality organization. Think Nordstrom, Les Schwab. These companies have loyal customer and get tons of referrals because they take care of their customers.
Too bad. TLC had a great opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade and they blew it — resulting in a 1 star rating and a warning to any & all friends looking to have lasik. This is a competitive field and little things mean a lot.

I initially started the process with Lasik a little impulsively. I hadn’t had an interest because I was afraid of being awake during the procedure, and afraid of moving if I saw a blade coming at my eye. Mercifully, that’s not how Lasik works. You don’t even see a laser coming at you. My vision has never been so good, I feel like I’m seeing a whole new amount of depth in the world.
Dr. Griffith and her staff, particularly Melissa, were extremely helpful in their explanation, and very thorough. They were friendly, patient, and the atmosphere at TLC is very welcoming. My family was able to watch on a screen and one came into the OR with me. The whole procedure took less than 5 minutes, and when I sat up on my heavy dose of Xanax, I was able to see! My surgeon (Dr. Madson) was friendly and the amount of pain I experienced was minimal (I’ve had fillings that have been more painful).
It’s been almost a week and my vision improves daily, the «halo» effect on lights is decreasing, and the inconvenience of eye drops for a few weeks pales in comparison to this amazing gift I have been given. It’s been 17 years since I got my first pair of glasses, and I can finally get up in the middle of the night without fumbling for glasses or squinting through one eye at the clock. If you’re on the fence, I highly recommend getting a consult. The surgery also fixed my night vision, prior to Lasik I couldn’t see in the dark out of one of my eyes.
I do suggest using the restasis if you have dry eye issues at all or smoke, in my experience my eyes have felt much better, faster, using it twice a day.

So, I’ve reached the close to the 6 month date. I no longer notice any difference between my eyes in terms of crispness. I go for hikes, and I see details that make everything worthwhile. In my honest opinion, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made. It is your eye’s, and there are risks to be weighed, but if all goes well, seeing is amazing. I would gladly pay 160 $ for 2 years to see as clearly as I do without glasses. I was not a good glasses wearer, so if wearing glasses works for you, maybe staying with glasses is fine, but I no longer need to deal with them, and I love that. So if you have the ability, in conclusion, TLC is a good place to have a very important surgery done. It feels like I went to a good dentist, and am happy with the results and opinions I got. I feel good about them, and would recommend them to a friend. That’s about all I can say, good luck to you, and I recommend their services. My expectations in terms of results were fulfilled. I got what I’m paying for. Clear vision without glasses.

I had been wearing glasses since high school, now in my young 30’s I thought that would attempt to correct my astigmatism issue, so I called TLC for a free consultation. Before my first meeting with the TLC team and Dr. Griffith, I saw eye surgery as a scene from the alien abduction film A Fire In The Sky, but afterwards I left with the confidence that these doctors knew what they were doing, and no needles would be involved. Initially, there were concerns about being a candidate and I appreciate that the doctors err on the side of conservativeness in deciding which version of the surgery I would undergo. My procedure was very quick and painless, and the recovery time was minimal. The genuine concern for my comfort in the OR and in the subsequent care is the reason these guys are getting a 5 star from me, not taking into consideration that my vision is now better than ²⁰⁄₁₅.

TLC made getting lasik so comfortable and easy, trusting your eyes to them felt like a piece of cake. The staff as well as Dr Griffith and Dr Madson were just awesome and you could really tell they loved their job and wanted you to feel at ease about the procedure. Surgery itself was very quick, you’re in and out of the chair in literally 5 – 10 minutes, and it was not scary! That evening after surgery my eye felt so much better than I anticipated, i thought it would be painful and watery but not at all, I could hold it open and I was playing in my iPad that night! The next day it felt a little dry, nothing crazy, but follow your post op instructions like you should be, stay on your eye drops and life immediately returned to normal but fantastically more clear. I can’t believe I wasn’t more sore, my eye felt great and vision noticeably getting better every day. At my 4-​day post operation check up my vision was already ²⁰⁄₂₅ and my vision was still continuing to focus and improve every day, and I had a very strong astigmatism like ²⁰⁄₇₀ or worse so this was an enormous, drastic improvement in a super short period of time.
I’m 25 years old now and I love the idea that I have a lifetime warranty for if my vision changes later in life that I’m covered for corrections free of charge. The price I felt was very reasonable and they offer financing. If you’re even considering getting lasik make an appointment with TLC, I can’t say enough good things about my experience there!

TLC had some technicians come to my eye doctor in Portland to do a free initial consultation with patients. Within 5 minutes the tech told me I wasn’t eligible because my cornea was too thin. She based her decision off of a portable machine that she did a minor test on my eye with, and there was no instruction not to wear contacts leading up to the exam. I plan to go to Casey Eye at OHSU to see if I am eligible, as I see another reviewer had a similar issue with TLC, and they have requested I not wear contact lenses for a week leading up the exam, somehow sounds more official and I’m hoping for better news. Additionally, TLC continues to send me mail and email regarding my eligibility for LASIK financing, after telling me I’m not eligible for the surgery itself.

When Joffe Medicenter messed up on my surgery, like they did others, I was sent here to TLC to get it done again. There are a few great employees that know their stuff, others not so. The surgeon was not reassuring and came off as flakey and vague, but others were helpful in my recovery from PRK. My eyes are great now, what a relief after Joffe was such a nightmare. Overall, this place is pretty good!

Putting your trust in someone else to slice and burn two of your most valued organs is not easy, but TLC made it about as easy as it can get! This was the first place I went for a consultation, so I didn’t know much about LASIK. Initially I was impressed with the pleasant atmosphere of the place and the friendly staff. I met with Jodie, who calmly and clearly talked me through the entire process, and even walked me over to the surgery room to show me the machines. Next Dr. Dawne Griffith performed the rest of the assessment and consultation. She is just an amazingly cheerful and friendly person. Being naturally inquisitive, I must have asked her about 50 questions over the course of my 3 visits (some more than once) and she gave me clear, detailed answers to each one. It is clear that she really loves her job. Every time I went in everyone greeted me by name (and I go by my middle name, so it wasn’t even the name on the chart), and just made me feel very welcome and comfortable. I got consultations at a couple of other places: Joffe, which I did not have a good experience at, and LasikPlus, which seemed like a good enough place but just didn’t give me the same warm-​and-​fuzzy, personal feeling that TLC did.
Ok, day of the surgery: went over payments and whatnot, Dr. Griffith did some final scans to make sure she had the exact information she needed, and then I met with Dr. Womack, who is this doctor that everyone apparently loves so much that different TLC sites in Seattle and Fargo fly him around so that he can perform surgeries at their locations, too. So you would think he’d be a jerk and have a big ego, but he was actually a really nice, down-​to-​earth guy. He took the time to learn some personal information about me that I had shared with Dawne and asked me a couple of questions about it. He was calm and jovial, which put my nerves at ease. The surgery itself went well, and it was over quickly. My friend who drove me there and back said that everyone was so nice to her she though they must have assumed she was my lover. She said she got to watch the surgery on a screen outside the surgery room. They had me in and out in probably 10 – 15 minutes. Every aspect of surgery day went so smoothly that I was there for less than an hour and half.
Two important things to note: they use bladeless technology, which I would highly recommend for a number of reasons I won’t go into detail here, and they have flexible payment options. It’s definitely not the cheapest place you could go (and for good reason) but they took my insurance (VSP) and they even price matched when I brought in the price that another place of «similar technology» had offered me.
Long story short, I cannot say enough good things about TLC. If you are going to trust anyone reshape your eyeballs, go with them!

I just had my custom lasik procedure done last night. Waking up this morning was wonderful, I can see clearly! This is the first time I’ve been contact and eyeglass free since my middle school days! I had a free consult at TLC without the intention of setting a surgery date. However the staff was so wonderful and knowledgeable I just went for it. I committed. I do not regret my decision one bit. The facility is wonderful, makes even your waiting family members feel at home. I couldn’t be happier with my experience and the results, even on day one!

I finally posted my review on my procedure here:
I can’t imagine TLC’s other offices would operate any differently than the Arlington Heights, IL, office.