I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I am trying to decide between Dr. Hyver and Dr. Turner for LASIK eye surgery. I had a LASIK eye exam with both doctors and they both seem very competent. At Dr. Hyver's they kept emphasizing that he was a Harvard MD. Does that matter? Dr. Turner completed a corneal fellowship through UC San Francisco Medical School. At what point does training matter? Medical school? Residency? Fellowship? Number of procedures?

If it helps. Here are the web addresses of the 2 doctors. www.turnereye.com and www.scothyver.com

While the admissions people at Ivy League universities may disagree, it is my opinion that the current practical experience and most recent training of a refractive surgeon is probably more important than the university from which s/he received a degree. Even a Harvard grad can be a rookie at refractive surgery.

I highly recommend that you use our 50 Tough Questions For Your Doctor at http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/tough_questions.htm to evaluate a potential doctor. Also, we have San Francisco Bay area refractive surgeons who we have evaluated and certified by our nonprofit patient advocacy organization. You may want to consider one of these doctors as well. See http://www.usaeyes.org/surgeons/states/lasik_california.htm

Glenn Hagele
http://USAEyes.org
Patient Advocacy & Surgeon Certification

I am not a doctor.