Mann Eye Institute and Laser Center

First off, I am so thrilled I made the decision to go through with LASIK. My prescription wasn’t that bad to begin with, –1.25 and –1 roughly, but it was definitely a pain and costly to buy and insert contacts every day. I did the math, and over the next 20+ years I would spend over $ 12,000 on contacts alone. The cost of LASIK ($ 5,000 originally or lower with a Unilocal deal and vision insurance) can seem daunting, but they provide you with two programs which you can choose from to set up 18 month no interest financing! That comes to less than $ 220 a month. If you can front $ 220 a month, you NEED to get LASIK if you are a candidate. I was very nervous about the procedure, and I hope after reading my review, I can put you, a potential LASIK candidate, at ease and ready to make one of the best decisions in your life.
The first appointment I had was to see if I would be a candidate. Kristin, the receptionist, is honestly by far one of the nicest people I have ever met. She is a sweetheart, cares about you and your procedure, and is always smiling. I actually ended up looking forward to seeing her when I walked in and was sad she wasn’t there the day of my first post-​op. Aside from Kristin, I was a little unimpressed with the wait time at my first appointment. I was at the office for almost 2 hours. At this appointment they put you through 3 tests without contacts/​glasses to check your eyes, then sit you in a chair to do the letter test, dilate your eyes, and then do the letter test again. All in all it’s easy and you’ll have an answer if you’re a candidate or not. If you are a candidate, you can schedule your surgery right away, which Joan helped me with. She was nice and answered any questions I had. I actually was able to schedule my surgery 10 days later, which was great! If you wear contacts, heads up that you’ll have to stop wearing them AT LEAST 7 days before your surgery for your cornea to go back to it’s original shape — if you don’t have glasses anymore the office will have some for you to borrow.
The next appointment you’ll have will be a day before your surgery. This is to double check all the tests from the consultation and answer any other questions. It was pretty quick and left me excited for the next day. You’ll also have to have picked up your eye drops by today from your pharmacy because you start putting the anti-​infection drops in your eyes the day before your surgery. As a warning, these do leave a little bit of a nasty taste in the back of your mouth, but you only put the drops in for 6 days — it’s worth it!
I was scheduled to arrive at the office at 3:30 on the day of my surgery. I ended up leaving around 5:30 — there were many people getting it done that day and it caused a little bit of a delay. They checked my eyes once more I think, then took me into one of the rooms and gave me an 800mg of Ibuprofen and 10mg of Valium. We waited for this to set in and then they brought me in to the operating room. They also put numbing drops in your eyes so you won’t feel any pain. They keep the room fairly cold so you’ll want to wear a sweater, but once you lay down on the reclined chair they’ll give you a big stuffed animal named Jenny and cover you up with a blanket.
At the first chair they will cut the flap and it honestly looks gray and kind of like a kaleidoscope. I think this is the part where you’ll feel a little bit of a suction. It’s definitely not comfortable, but it’s definitely bearable. This only takes a couple minutes, maybe less, and then they will rotate you to the other machine that does the actual procedure. Your head will be down in a little divot, and I believe the doctor may be holding your head too and moving it to where it needs to be. Dr. Barker was great and the whole team as well — they talked to me during the process, which kind of kept my mind off of what was going on. One thing that I was especially worried about was holding my eyes open — don’t worry about it. You don’t even the feel the need to blink and it doesn’t hurt keeping them open. They make sure you are comfortable and at ease. Each eye of mine took 7 seconds underneath the corrective laser. You stare at a cluster of green dots while it corrects your vision. I was in the chair for less than 10 minutes.
Once you are done they check your eyes to make sure everything looks good and send you home with covers over your eyes and sunglasses and advise you to sleep right away when you get home for AT LEAST 4 hours. Since my surgery was around 4:30, I just slept until 8 AM. It did take me a while to fall asleep because my eyes were in a little bit of pain, mostly just discomfort but they give you numbing drops. When I woke up I could not believe my vision. It’s absolutely perfect, no pain.
I really enjoyed everything about this entire process, especially my new eyesight! Don’t be worried about the procedure, and don’t let finances stop you — just do it, you’ll be happy you did.

I’m very frustrated with Mann Eye right now. I had surgery in 2011 and had to have an enhancement surgery about 6 months later. The experience was great (no problems what so ever). Its now 2016 and my astigmatism has returned. I went in this past week and received confirmation that it was back and they could do a revision surgery (after taking some eye drops to resolve my dry eye problems). The consultant told me I would have to pay $ 1500 per eye for the revision (I WAS SHOCKED). When I first came to Mann Eye in 2011, I was specifically told any revision for the rest of my life was $ 695 per eye. Its a very odd number to remember, but I remember it clearly. I contacted the HQ and they told me the policy now is 50% of what I originally paid (which is less than $ 1500 per eye). Out of respect for Mann Eye, I will not state what I originally paid, but the confusion and lack of accountability to my original $ 695 for the rest of my life was very frustrating. Paying $ 3000 to fix my astigmatism again is almost what I paid the first time around… I have called and left messages with Dina, called the consultant back, and I have not had a return call. I sincerely encourage you to keep all your original documentation, as they say I have to «prove» it was $ 695 per eye. This is absurd their records don’t have my original contract in them??? I would use this facility again, but I am second guessing and looking at other facilities unless Mann Eye is willing to honor their original agreement with me.

I had a coworker who had Lasik done here and I decided to go in for a consultation. The office is very nice and the equipment and staff is very exceptional. The procedure itself literally only takes 5 minutes and I did not feel any pain. A week after my procedure they told me I have ²⁰⁄₁₅ vision! Overall great experience and would recommend.

After almost 30 years of wearing contacts, I finally decided to have LASIK. That was more than two years ago. I made a point to wait this long to write this review in order to see my final outcome, and be as fair and objective as possible in reviewing this business.
Plus it would have been nearly impossible to write it during the first year post surgery while I was struggling to just keep up with my job and my life around all the many eye appointments and treatments trying to fix my post-​LASIK eyes.
People ask about my LASIK experience all the time and here’s what I tell them:
–Don’t take the decision lightly because it’s not all ease and freedom and crystal-​clear views like the ads.
–Please, I beg you, do actual research before you have LASIK surgery — whether you have it here or anywhere else.
–Do you like to gamble? What are you willing to risk? Yes, the odds are well in your favor, with supposedly 90% or more people satisfied with LASIK. But if I had fully understood what was on the line with this gamble, I would never have done it.
–This was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. Ever. Even though Mann Eye deemed me an «ideal candidate» I ended up being the 5/​8/​10% (statistics vary depending on the source) who had a bad outcome: unexplained complications, edema, severe post-​surgical pain, distorted vision for months, had to temporarily wear glasses again, now suffering chronic nerve pain and dry eye. THIS COULD BE YOU TOO. Let me stress that even in retrospect, nobody can find any reason for my problems or any reason I shouldn’t have done the surgery. Don’t let being an «ideal candidate» fool you into thinking nothing can go wrong.
–This procedure is sold to people as an easy fix, like a haircut or botox, but unlike hair that grows back and botox that wears off, when people CUT ON YOUR EYES (yes, the new technology is bladeless and better, but the laser is cutting you) there’s no going back.
But this is a review for Mann Eye, not LASIK in general, so let’s get back to that. Here are the key points:
1. Mann Eye Center is a cattle drive and a sales machine. This is their business. Before you sign up for LASIK do your research and get smart about how the industry operates. I don’t mean for this to sound snarky and I’m not saying they aren’t qualified surgeons. These are just the blunt facts. They’re doing their job, selling an elective procedure, so the business side is more akin to a cosmetic surgery center than other medical specialists. Also, this surgery center sees a HUGE # of patients, their scheduling is a mess, wait times are long, the technicians are rushed and lack people skills and compassion (don’t tell me for the 100^th time how great it is that I don’t need contacts when I am sitting in front of you with tears, pain and suffering). They also make a lot of mistakes; more than once, technicians and front desk staff have given me medical advice they should not be giving, and because that seemed weird I always ask them to check w/​the doc. Multiple times they have advised me in exact opposition of what the surgeon or corneal specialist said. All this is surely a result of the high volume of clients cycling through their system.
2. They did not prepare me whatsoever for the possibility of a bad outcome or what life is like for the small % who suffer after this. Nobody even mentioned basics like you might not be able to drive or work for a few days/​weeks or may need extra childcare. Living with chronic eye pain is impossible to explain. It is excruciating, debilitating, disruptive. It affects everything in your life. The pain endured after this surgery was worse than any I’ve experienced (compared with 3 other kinds of surgery, childbirth twice, broken bones). I could barely drive for a month, could not watch TV or movies for about 3 months b/​c they were so distorted, had poor vision for 7 months, now have chronic dry eye and nerve pain.
3. On the positive side, Mann Eye Center followed through with providing long-​term treatment and did try to resolve my problems. Some of the docs were quick and impersonal, while others were more compassionate and caring (and believe me I’ve given them plenty of chances to show it — the # of post-​surgery visits I had probably exceeded a dozen and I’ve seen 6 different docs there). For the first year, they never charged beyond the surgery fee to try to address the problems, though given the expense of the surgery and the negative results, that seems expected. Ultimately time helped more than any of their interventions, but it’s evident some of the pain and discomfort is permanent.
After 2+ years of healing and opinions from 4 other specialists not associated with Mann Eye, I’ve exhausted every kind of treatment. After 7 months of hell my sight sharpened, but ²⁰⁄₁₅ vision is no consolation for ²⁴⁄₇ discomfort and pain, and I still have halos, starbursts, floaters and many blurry days.
I wish I could undo it all and have my contacts back.

My eyes, my poor eyesight is no longer an issue! I can see clearly 1 day after my LASIK surgery and I am sooo happy!
I consulted 3 places in Austin, all of them telling me I am a great candidate and prices all within the same range give or take ~$ 100-​$ 200 but ultimately chose Mann Eye because I felt like the people working there as well as the facilities were much cooler and neater for the same price point! Courtney at the arboretum office quoted me$ 2500 each eye + $ 195 diagnostic fee with 5% off from my vision insurance was amazingly awesome with $ 1000 in house discount. Total was $ 3985 put on my credit card for rewards points to pay off instantly but if you don’t have the full amount to pay, they certainly can help with financing through Care Credit. I went to the Arboretum location for my initial consults but for the pre-​op, surgery and post-​op visits, they were all at the South Central location. (FYI: they’re serious about not parking anywhere in the garage with «reserved» signs posted in the parking spots there so make sure to look carefully!)
I was at a –7 in both my left and right eye with −2.50÷−1.75 astigmatism and 1 day after I can see pretty amazingly with my right eye but my left eye still being a bit fuzzy. One concern I had initially that went away was I never got to talk to Dr. Mann before the surgery but on the day of he was around and introducing himself to everyone before the surgery was to be done. They have many other doctors around to facilitate and check in on their patients progress but Dr. Mike Mann or Dr. Paul Mann with be your final surgical Doctor. Dr. Paul Mann operated on me and he let me know as a fellow Houstonian that him and his father switch off doing surgeries in Austin and Houston every other week to do them! Surgeries are done Thursday’s and Friday’s so you can rest easy through the weekend and they do 1 day post op check up on you Saturday morning when you do surgeries on Friday. I picked Friday afternoon so I could still work the morning of my surgery day.
My husband watches me get my procedure done and then drove me home so I could take a nap before my anesthesia in my eyes wore off. During the surgery I was very worried but they provide you with Valium and ibuprofen 800mg so you’ll be fine during the surgery. The first machine they move you under is the laser that makes the incision for your cornea, right then left for me. My left eye I struggled with them inserting the suction so my eyeball wouldn’t move and thus caused some minor redding to occur as my blood vessels there bruised. Then to the other laser to correct my vision and astigmatism and each eye was 24 seconds, I could smell something burning while the second laser did its work but I read about this with others so I was prepared. In the background during all this is happening, I heard the medical assistants reading numbers aloud and Dr. Mann also talking reading the metrics. After my left eye finished everyone was awesome and congratulated me on my successful operation!!! Laying down in the room was cold so I was glad that I came in long sleeves, but they provided me with a cute pink fuzzy stuffed elephant, Jenny, to hold onto and a thick blanket to cover me as well as a cushion under my knees so my legs wouldn’t be tired. They are seriously thoughtful and I appreciated every little thing. Kristin at the South Central location checked me in and beamed with smiles and regaled me with her own personal journey of going under which definitely helped me on the day of surgery feeling nervous. I know folks are wary of Mann eye being a machine and churning in and out people going in surgery and out those day but honestly you are taken care of and each patient is seen and given the amount of time necessary and they don’t rush you! No backlog so all was great!
Handing me back my glasses and my goodie bag of sunglasses to wear and all my eye drops and instructions, everything was good to go! As someone with a heavy prescription I was very worried and afraid something would go wrong but everything I had concerns about were alleviated easily and I am so happy I made this choice. I will continue to update as I continue on with my next 1 week post-​op visit and so on as they do them frequently to ensure you are healing as expected.
Oh, and enhancements and fixes will be covered up to 2 years from your surgery date so long as you make all your check in appointments which is really neat! Aside from some starbursts and light sensitivity at the moment 1 day after surgery, I am beaming with joy! It’s only going to get better from here on out and I’m so stoked!!! Ps. If you’re considering LASIK, feel free to message me and let’s chat! I did a ton of research before I made the plunge because I knew my prescription was high and I wanted to make sure this was the best choice of my life I’d have to make!
Thank you Mann Eye team for this wonderful experience and new eyes you’ve given me!

I had Lasik done by Dr. Mike Mann 12 years ago at 28, & only wish I’d done it sooner. Every person on staff was warm, encouraging, helpful, and seemed genuinely concerned that my experience be as perfect as possible.
If you are considering Lasik, Mann Eye is the way to go!

This review is for an annual eye exam. I found the staff and doctors to be very professional and friendly. The receptionists are very kind and make sure that you know upfront about what your insurance covers and what your out of pocket costs will be. Not very many doctors offices do that so I greatly appreciated that! I highly recommend this place and can’t wait to eventually get LASIK done through them!

As good as it gets, indeed! Friendly, professional staff. Thank you Garren, for being so patient and through. I would not consider going anywhere else!

I really think there should be more than five stars for an organization that gives you perfect eye sight. I was very scared to get lasik, and I’m now so glad i did it. Dr barker was amazing and so were all the staff there who answered my innane questions and comforted me throughout everything. Especially Kristen at the front desk. They have the nicest people and aren’t pushy and the quality of their work is superb. If you’re on the fence just do it, go in for a consultation and you’ll see what i mean!
My recovery time was literally a 3 hour nap after surgery. My eyes were dry for a few days but zero discomfort and i was sans glasses driving to my follow up the next morning.

I have needed glasses since second grade. The world was always blurry. But not anymore. I had LASIK yesterday at Mann-​Eye and today I drove myself into my first post op visit. I was so nervous but the staff was incredible. Jara, Stephanie, and Roland were so nice. I have to give a special shout out to Kristen who held my hand the entire time. Dr. Mann was lovely and talked me through the entire procedure. He even called later that night to make sure I was ok. If your thinking about LASIK, you have to check out Mann Eye. They are the best!

I had LASIK done at Mann Eye last Friday (March 13^th) by Dr. Barker. Like many others who have posted, I researched 3 different spots in Austin and eventually settled on Mann Eye. I did this for a number of reasons including the facilities (top notch technology and clean office space), friendliness of the staff and ultimately the cost. I worked closely with Courtney and from the start literally ever person from her to the last person who said bye to me day of the surgery was extremely nice and comforting.
Dr. Barker was great and made me feel comfortable through out the whole process. He called me about 6 hours after the procedure to check in. I feel blessed that through almost all my recovery I never had any real discomfort to complain about.
It really is insane how quickly the procedure is done too. I was pretty nervous going into it but in hindsight (which is ²⁰⁄₂₀ like my new vision HA– ok sorry bad joke) there was nothing really to worry about it. As of this review it has only been a little over a week so I will try and write an update in a few months or even a year to tell everyone how I am doing.
I would recommend Mann Eye and the whole team to anyone considering LASIK in the Austin area but ultimately they are your eyes and you should do plenty of research and make sure you feel 100% comfortable with the location you chose. For me that ended up being Mann Eye. Also my wife who is a dentist in town had a patient who went to the original Mann Eye in Houston and 20 years later still had a good relationship with his doctor and raves about how great they were then and how they still carry their great customer service through as he gets ready for his refinement.

I hate the annoyance and discomfort of contacts and glasses, so decided I would investigate Lasix. I heard the advertising campaigns on the radio and thought I would try it.
Superb customer service. I felt very safe and well prepared. They fixed my vision with Lasix to PERFECT in less than 11 min. No pain! And I can even drive the next day!!! Fabulous staff and physicians. Highly recommend.
There seems to be a rumor amongst the community that you have to wait a year after your first evaluation when getting Lasix, but that’s not true. I went in for my first evaluation on a Monday and had my procedure that week.
High grade and up-​to-​date machines. Financing options allow 18 months no interest. Sweet deals!
I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. It is so wonderful to have done something nice for myself. Now, I can actually appreciate the high definition television on my HDTV, and I won’t have to sit in the front row at Broadway shows or movie theaters.
Thank you!!!

I’ve been researching lasik for years and decided this was the year I would follow through. After making appointments at 3 other locations, I chose Mann eye because everyone was super friendly and helpful and I could get it done the fastest through them. Looking back that should have been the first red flag, but I’m young and was excited. My surgeon, Dr. Barker, was friendly and professional. He answered all my questions and walked me through the entire procedure. I’d also like to say thank you to Roland, who was very supportive and helpful in answering questions as well. Most of my issues with Mann eye have come after I paid for my procedure. I spoke with the receptionist as I was paying, saying I was feeling pretty nervous and wished my boy friend could sit with me. She stated that while he couldn’t, she’d be more then happy to come sit with me and help explain the procedure. She never showed. Afterward she stated I looked so comfortable she didn’t wanna interrupt me, but I would have appreciated a” hey how you holding up? Still want me to hang out with you?” Instead of just being a complete no show. I received no follow up calls that day of surgery to check in as others have stated. And have gotten calls now for EVERY SINGLE post op check in to be rescheduled. I’m extremely disappointed in their after care, and while yes I’m not blind or suffering from crippling dry eye, I feel that all I am to Mann eye is a bunch of dollar signs, and once they have your money, they’ll toss you aside while accommodating patients who haven’t swiped a card yet. This procedure is 100% elective, and based on my post-​op care I would not recommend Mann eye.

My husband just had Lasik surgery done yesterday and after the follow up appointment today, he now has ²⁰⁄₁₀ vision! I’d say that is incredible. My husband went outside last night and cried because he could see everything clearly. He spent 20+ years behind glasses and contacts, and Mann Eye has made his dream a reality.
The doctors are professional and the staff is friendly. All in all, it was a great job with an even greater outcome. The ONLY reason I am not giving this 5 stars is due to the staff failing to notify us when his surgery began so we could go back and experience this special time with him. Jara, one of the assistants, stated she would come get us before the surgery and it never happened. We had the camera ready and front desk knew this as well. I felt like that robbed his family and myself of this life-​changing moment, especially his parents who have been waiting years to be able to afford this for him.
She did apologize today at the follow up appointment but it doesn’t take back missing out on that experience with him. All in all, I would highly recommend Mann Eye Institite for your corrective eye issues.

I had my LASIK surgery last Thursday. From my first evaluation through my one week appointment post surgery (today) everyone at Mann has been amazing. I felt so welcomed and everyone seemed so excited to help me. Dr. McIntyre did my surgery. She answered all of my questions and contacted me after my surgery to check in with me. She was so reassuring throughout the whole process. I had my next day post op appointment at the north location and they were equally nice, helpful & answered all of my questions
I am amazed at how well I can see. I have ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision. I used to have ²⁰⁄₈₀!
If you are thinking about LASIK, I highly recommend Mann Eye Institute.

I just got Lasik done yesterday. Some people complain about the in and out type of business … i wish i had that type of experience. I had to stay there for 3.5 hours on the day of surgery. I was expecting it to be a bit faster, but I understand since it was on a Friday and there were a lot of people getting Lasik done that day. ymmv.
Besides that, the rest of the experience was 100% positive. Dr. Cessac was the one checking my eyes the day before surgery. I was free to ask questions, i didn’t get that rushed feeling some other mentioned in their reviews. She walked me through everything.
Day of surgery, Dr. Mann checked out my eyes and did the surgery which takes like 5 minutes… it’s the waiting around and presurgery tests that takes the rest of the 3+ hours. No pain, and everything went smooth.
When i got home, took a nap as suggested and woke up with constant flow of tears. This lasted for maybe a half hour. Everything from then on was smooth sailing. Vision was probably at 90% on left eye and 70% on right eye by the end of the day
Post op was today and everything checked out, Dr. Cessac explained to me why my right eye wasn’t seeing as clear (it was due to more swelling on that eye vs the left). Vision is getting better by the hour. I fully expect to see perfectly in the next week.
All in all, i would highly recommend this location to anyone looking for Lasik. Kristin, Roland, and all the other techs and doctors are amazing. The level of customer service was absolutely outstanding.
If i go blind suddenly in the next couple years, ill be sure to revise my review using a brail keyboard.
**update** it took a couple months for me to see ²⁰⁄₂₀ but mann eye checked up on me every month. absolutely worth your time and money.

My experience with Mann Eye Institute was stellar. I have great vision after 1.5 months and expect it to improve. The care I received on the day of the surgery was excellent. I was greeted by a smiling, high energy employee named Kristin who guided me through the process. William the counselor, Dr. Beavers and Jara the technician were thorough in explaining what I could expect in the days and weeks after.
I highly recommend Mann Eye Institute for those of you considering LASIK eye surgery.

Just got my procedure done and man is it great! Staff is very helpful weather you are just needing information before committing to a procedure. I would recommend this to anyone out there that is just tired of contacts, and glasses (i wore them for almost 14 years now), glad I finally did it!

I had blade-​free Lasik in November of 2007 at Mann Eye Institute. My experience at the office was nothing but positive, with a friendly, informative staff. Dr. Mann had been my grandmother’s eye doctor for something like 30 years, and he has a good reputation for a reason. Within about a week or two, my vision was at ²⁰⁄₁₅.
Why am I giving it only 2 stars?
Well, 6 years and around $ 3000 later, I’m back needing glasses. I mean, having perfect vision for a while was fantastic, but caution to many of you, it might not last forever. It’s a huge, expensive disappointment.

Mann Eye completely changed my life. I went from being practically blind to better than ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision in a matter of a week. The doctors are extremely pleasant and very knowledgeable. Even the staff at Mann Eye are first rate, very personable and friendly. The actual lasik procedure was completely painless and only took a matter of minutes. This place really does care about their patients, even after 6 months they still schedule post check ups to see the progress of my vision. The facilities are very clean and comfortable as well.
I was hesitant to use a Groupon, which Mann Eye offered, on my own eyeballs but I really ended up saving a lot of money in the end. I highly recommend this place if you’re considering getting lasik eye surgery.