My wife has a condition known as Entropian eyelid. Due to aging, the lower eyelid turns in towards the eye with the lashes iritating the cornea. The temporary fix involves lubrication drops and ointments to prevent the irritation as well as a tape which keeps the lower lid out of the eye.

She will need surgery by an opthalmic plastic surgeon, where an incision is made below the eyelid, excess tissue is removed, and sutures placed to keep the lid in the proper position. The procedure takes all of 15 minutes and can be done under local anesthesia injected below the eye, which in effect numbs the entire area.

The problem her is that the surgeons in this area have a racket going. Instead of doing the procedure in office, they send you to a day surgery center and make a whole production out of it. A major part of this racket is to enable anesthesiologists to bill medicare for their fee even though their services are not needed.

They are therefore insisting that my wife have IV sedation for the procedure which is totally unnecessary and which she refuses under all circumtances to have. She wants to be totally awake, alert, and aware of what is going on during the procedure. 2 years ago she had a major hip reconstruction and was on the operating table for 6 hours with only an epidural block and no sedation or general anesthesia whatsoever. She shopped around for over a year until she found a surgeon willing to do it her way.

There is no reason why a simple 15 minute procedure needs a patient to be sedated other than that the anesthesiologist comes as part of the package and has to make a living. The surgeon has all but admitted that this is the case. This is a total racket. They do the same thing with Carpal Tunnel surgery as well as podiatric procedures that are done with local anesthesia.

She will now be shopping around and is even willing to go out of state or out of country (Canada), until she finds a surgeon that will do it the way she wants it done.