Will TLC Laser Eye Centers Survive to Honor its "Lifetime Commitment"?
Eye
Will TLC Laser Eye Centers Survive to Honor its "Lifetime Commitment"?
By Admin on September 24, 2008 5:08 PM
LASIK eye surgery volumes are declining. LASIK industry
representatives blame the economy. LASIK critics attribute the
decline to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) heightened
scrutiny of LASIK, and public distrust of the surgery following media
reports of widespread problems with LASIK.
Especially hard hit are LASIK chains, sometimes referred to as "LASIK
mills", such as LasikPlus and TLC Laser Eye Centers. TLC continues to
advertise its "lifetime commitment" to patient follow-up care, yet the
company's financial picture is grim, and it is uncertain how long TLC
will be able to keep its doors open.
TLC's past success is due, at least in part, to the endorsement of the
world's most famous golfer, Tiger Woods. However, like many LASIK
patients, Woods found that LASIK surgery results don't always last.
In May, 2007 USA Today reported that Woods had an additional surgery
to correct his "slipping" vision. Golfer Scott Hoch reportedly had
LASIK by the same surgeon who operated on Woods. Hoch experienced
vision problems after LASIK which affected his game, even after
attempts to correct the problems with repeat surgeries.
Patients of TLC may be completely unaware of another pressing concern
surrounding the anticipated demise of TLC. If TLC closes its doors,
how will patients access their medical records? Preoperative
measurements from patient charts are important to long-term eyecare,
such as routine glaucoma screening, future cataract surgery, and
enhancements. The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) concluded
that LASIK patients should maintain a permanent record of their
preoperative measurements, and developed a form to be given to
patients by their LASIK surgeons to record this essential medical
information. But the AAO and the LASIK industry lack a plan to inform
the millions of former LASIK patients of long-term issues they face
after LASIK, and their need to safeguard and maintain LASIK medical
records. LASIK watchdog groups speculate that the LASIK industry
fears that by making long-term issues facing post-LASIK patients
widely known, the increased public awareness of problems with the
procedure would result in even greater decline in LASIK demand.
It seems clear that LASIK will not rebound, regardless of the state of
the economy. Is there a future for high-volume LASIK mills like TLC?
If the answer to this question is no, what will happen to the patients
who were promised a "lifetime commitment"? In hindsight, TLC patients
may be seeing red.
serebel
including her name is an abject lie.
Eye
> The above poster is a long time internet liar. Everything she posts
> including her name is an abject lie.
LET'S SORT OUT TRUTH FROM LIES:
Go to the Yahoo stock board.
http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_(A_to_Z)/Stocks_T/messagesview?bn=25915.
Then you see a chart to the right - click on the chart itself. Once
you click on the chart, you see how the stock traded for the day. From
there, to see their balance sheet, look all the way to the left. There
is a blue bar that says 'more on TLCV'. Click on 'balance sheet', 2nd
from the bottom. For the income statement go back to the blue bar on
the left and click 'income statement'. Click on quarterly data. From
there you see data for the quarter ending June 30, 2008.
OK, now let's just see how TLC is doing right now. Their stock closed
at 80 cents today, dipping to 78 cents today - which is an all time
low. TLC was trading at $3.94 in the past year.
Let's get some historical prices... in the past 5 years TLC stock has
traded very close to twelve dollars per share.
Their balance sheet is horrible... horrible. They have as of June
30th, 2008... NEGATIVE $50,845,000.00 in net tangible assets. Over 50
million in the HOLE. They claim $101,895,000.00 in "good will" which
is nothing but air. Take that away and they are over 50 million in the
red. They report $271,532,000.00 in NEGATIVE retained earnings. Wow!
The quarterly income statement shows they lost 2.2 million dollars in
the quarter ending June 30th, 2008. So the 2nd quarter loss is 2.2
million. Ouch. They show interest expense of 2.4 million - apparently
they borrowed money to stay in business because they have long term
debt of 94 million dollars on their June 30th balance sheet.
If you don't believe something posted on this site, go look it up
yourself. Then you'll find out who is telling you the truth.
Glenn Hagele - USAEyes.org
downturn, the larger issue is quite legitimate.
It may be admirable for a clinic to want to provide this level of care
and commitment to its patients, the reality is that what constitutes a
lifetime may be a matter of contention. What happens if the doctor
dies? What happens if the company for which the doctor worked goes
bankrupt? What happens if the publicly held corporation by whom the
doctor was employed is merged into another company that does not have
a "lifetime commitment" program? What if the doctor didn't have a
"lifetime commitment" program, but then started working for a company
that does? What if the patient moves out of the area?
Many respected doctors offer these types of "warranties", but like all
warranties, they have limitations that patients need to understand.
Furthermore, no one can guarantee an outcome. There are no guarantees
in surgery, only probabilities.
For more, see:
http://www.usaeyes.org/lasik/faq/lasik-guarantee.htm
Glenn Hagele
Executive Director
USAEyes (R)
Patient Advocacy Surgeon Certification
"Consider and Choose With Confidence" (TM)
Email to glenn dot hagele at usaeyes dot org
Lasik Bulletin Board
http://www.USAEyes.org/Ask-Lasik-Expert/
I am not a doctor.
Copyright 2008
All Rights Reserved
Scott
"Eye" <eyetooa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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