A Message from LASIK specialist David R. Shapiro, M.D.  (Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Montecito):

Thank you for your interest in refractive surgery; it can make a remarkable difference in your life. With recent developments in computerized laser technology, clear vision is possible for almost anyone who wears glasses or contact lenses. The advent of Customized Wavefront LASIK has now opened up the possibility of achieving vision actually better than with glasses or contacts. Refractive surgery has truly come of age, but successful treatment is still a matter of skill, specialization and experience.

At the Shapiro Laser Eye Center, we devote our practice exclusively to refractive surgery. We are a regional refractive center serving the Tri-County area. We are headquartered in Ventura and have satellite offices in Montecito and San Luis Obispo. As specialists devoted solely to this field, we offer only the latest refractive surgical procedures, including the most sophisticated forms of LASIK laser vision correction.

These contemporary vision correction procedures represent many years of research and development. As a LASIK surgeon, a teacher of refractive surgery, a developer of refractive surgical techniques and instrumentation and a researcher working with the FDA in assessing laser vision correction, I have been involved in all stages of this sight-enhancing evolution, from earlier forms of RK to modern LASIK. Based on the outstanding results we can achieve today, I feel that we have finally entered the era in refractive surgery we have all been waiting for.

On a personal note, I underwent refractive surgery for both eyes in 1992. I was 20/200 before my procedure — the cutoff for legal blindness — but now have 20/20 vision. Since that time, over 40 members of my staff, their families and my own family have had vision correction procedures with excellent results. I have devoted my career to these surgeries and, over the last 16 years, I have performed over 10,000 refractive surgical procedures at the Shapiro Laser Eye Center.

LASIK is a surgical procedure and the decision to undergo this surgery is a serious one. The more you know about LASIK, the easier it will be for you to make informed choices about your vision. We offer you this web site to assist you in this very important decision.

Thank you,