Dear Carrot Patient,
Carrot LASIK & Eye Center has been a veteran-owned, family-run practice since August 2019. We opened our doors with a simple idea: deliver big-practice technology with small-practice care. You trusted us with that, and we are grateful.
Why we are making a change
We want to be honest with you about what has happened to independent medical practices like ours, because it is the reason for everything that follows.
Since 2019, nearly every cost of running a practice has climbed sharply: staff wages, medical supplies, rent, malpractice coverage, software, and the technology it takes to care for your eyes well. Over that same period, what insurance carriers pay for an eye exam or a medical eye visit has gone the other direction, falling year after year. Today, for many routine and medical visits, the reimbursement we receive is less than what it costs us to provide that visit. No amount of hard work fixes arithmetic like that.
The numbers are a matter of public record. Adjusted for practice costs, Medicare physician payment has fallen 33 percent since 2001, and most insurance plans follow Medicare’s lead. For years, a routine or medical eye exam has been reimbursed at less than it costs to staff and deliver, and practices like ours covered that gap with surgical income. That is no longer possible: Medicare paid roughly $1,000 for cataract surgery in 1996, $522 in 2025, and $463 in 2026, with further surgical cuts now scheduled every three years. A practice our size cannot continue to subsidize the one with the other.
On top of this, insurers now require more prior authorizations, more paperwork, and more time on the phone for every patient we see. Those hours are spent fighting for approvals instead of caring for you.
Across the country, small practices facing these same pressures have closed their doors or sold to large corporations and investment groups. We did not want to do either. We weathered COVID and we intend to weather this, but doing so means being honest about what a practice our size can sustainably do well.
What Carrot will be going forward
Carrot LASIK & Eye Center is becoming a dedicated surgical eye center. We are concentrating our surgeons, our technology, and our team on the procedures we are known for:
- Refractive lens exchange (RLE)
- ICL (implantable collamer lens)
- LASIK
- SMILE
- Advanced laser cataract surgery, including premium lens options
For every one of these procedures, Carrot will continue to provide the full pathway: our Advanced Eye Analysis to determine whether you are a candidate, the procedure itself, and all postoperative care through recovery.
If your vision has changed, please call us first
This is the part we most want you to hear.
If you are in your 40s, 50s, or beyond and have noticed that reading is harder, that your glasses prescription keeps changing, or that night driving is not what it used to be, those changes are very often caused by the eye’s natural lens. In many cases, the lasting answer is not another pair of glasses but a lens-based procedure such as refractive lens exchange (RLE), which replaces the aging lens with a modern one and can restore both near and distance vision for good. Most people do not know that, and we would rather you find out from us than wonder.
And if you are in your 20s or 30s and ready for clear, precise vision without glasses or contacts, we are the place for you. ICL, LASIK, and SMILE are exactly what we do, and there has never been a better time to find out which one fits your eyes.
In either case, you do not need a referral. Call us and schedule an Advanced Eye Analysis, the most in-depth, technologically advanced eye exam available anywhere. Our team will measure and map your eyes specifically for the procedures we offer and give you a clear, honest answer about what would and would not help you. If what we find is not something we treat surgically, we will tell you plainly and help you get to the right provider.
What Carrot will no longer provide
As part of this transition, Carrot will no longer offer:
- Routine or annual eye examinations
- Glasses and contact lens prescriptions, or an optical department
- Ongoing, non-surgical management of medical eye conditions such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic eye disease, and dry eye disease
Patients with these needs should establish or continue care with an optometrist or a comprehensive ophthalmologist. If a condition later requires surgery that Carrot performs, your provider can refer you back to us, or you can call us directly.
If you have had surgery with us
Your postoperative care continues with Carrot, as planned, through your full recovery period. Once you are medically cleared, your routine eye care will transition to your optometrist or another eye-care provider of your choice. If you do not currently have one, our team can help you understand what type of provider to look for.
Our commitment to you
This change lets us do what we do best, and do it sustainably: specialized surgical eye care, delivered by a team you know, in an independent practice that answers to its patients rather than to a corporation.
We know a change like this raises questions. Please call us; a real person will answer, and we will help you work out your next step.
Thank you for trusting Carrot LASIK & Eye Center with your eyes. We look forward to seeing you, whether it is for your next procedure or simply to find out whether one is right for you.
With appreciation,
The Carrot LASIK & Eye Center Team
