My story begins in 1995. I was wearing soft contacts made for astigmatism. The doctor never achieved a good fit and the contacts never stabilized and kept moving around.

I kept seeing ads for radial keratotomy to correct nearsighted vision and eliminate glasses or contacts. I talked to my niece who had this done as well as many other people. I read many articles and found this procedure had been used for many years with very good success.

I had the surgery done in both eyes. Before the surgery my prescription was 5.5 in my right eye and 7.25 in my left eye. After a few days my vision without glasses seemed very good but not just right. The doctor said it would take time for the eyes to heal. I tried to explain to the doctor what I was seeing and he acted as if I was describing something he didn’t understand. I was actually seeing a one to two inch halo around every object during the day and at low light I could not make out for certain other people in the room at a distance where before surgery I could.

The doctor suggested glasses with a minimal prescription but that was a waste of money. As I continued to search for answers the doctor would say that before the surgery I had very bad vision and now I am much better. The vision was much better, but I had distortion in my vision.

As time went on I would get the urge to correct my problem. I had doctors fit me with soft contacts with no good results. I would see ads for new laser procedures and had some doctors willing to operate while other doctors telling me it was very risky for a post RK patient to have laser since it could result in the cornea falling apart and then needing a cornea transplant.

During one of these visits, an intern doctor suggested I try gas permeable lens to see if I could get results. This was an unintrusive alternative, which I tried at once. My first gas perm lenses gave very good vision at once. I could not believe I was reading the road signs before I was under the sign. The good news was short lived since because my cornea was so distorted from my RK surgery, the lenses became very uncomfortable and I would even lose them if I were to look to one side and then look back. The lenses would pop out. I spent three years going to doctors specializing in contact lenses. Believe me, it was hell. Bad news after bad news. Visits after visits. I must have tried at least one hundred lenses from three different doctors from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and back to Pennsylvania.

One day I said I wonder if the computer can help me. I typed RK surgery problems and there were the testimonies from many people with similar and some worse symptoms than mine.

While reading one of the testimonies I came across an article on “Z- wave technology.” I wrote down Dr. Ken Maller’s phone number and called his office the next day. The doctor was out of the office but the receptionist said to just call him on his cell. I commented, he will just pick up his cell to talk to me? Yes, she replied. So I called. In the ten minute conversation, I felt like Dr. Maller lived what I had lived since 1995. He related to every comment like he knew exactly what I was experiencing. I wanted to make an appointment the next day but I was in Pennsylvania and he was in Florida. I looked up a Z-wave doctor in Pennsylvania and because of travel and convenience I started seeing the Pennsylvania doctor. This doctor said he practiced Z-wave but did not use the system properly and after four visits with no improvements and six months later I called Dr. Maller again.

I started my visit by taking a winter one-week vacation. Because of my situation, only one lens at a time could be worked on and I decided to do my left eye first since this was the eye no one could get a good fit and good vision. Dr. Maller was very good in explaining Z-wave and analyzing my situation. In short, it took the left eye six contacts to achieve satisfactory results. Before seeing Dr. Maller I had a soft contact in each eye and a gas perm in each eye to get thru the day. I now only wear one gas perm in each eye. Once I had a satisfactory lens in the left eye we went to work on the right eye. The first lens gave me 20/20 vision and comfort for the entire day. This process took a year but that was because I needed to do one eye at a time and because I needed to coordinate being away from my work.

My contacts fitted by Dr. Maller have achieved comfort and vision and this is a doctor willing to devote his practice to patients like us with special needs. No other doctor understood what our problems are. Doctors don’t learn how to correct post RK and Laser surgical problems in school.

I am willing to talk to anyone needing advice on his or her needs.

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