Donating Your Old Glasses: Benefits of LASIK
Published by on April 27, 2017
Did you know that your gift of better vision to yourself with LASIK could wind up being a gift of better vision to someone else in need? It is estimated that nearly 700 million people across the globe struggle with vision issues that make it difficult to take care of themselves and their families. Those people often don’t have access to eye care or the means to get prescription eyeglasses. Imagine if your vision made it hard to cook, get to work or learn to read and you didn’t have any options? As you take the first step for a better life without glasses, think about how your old glasses could help make a real difference in someone else’s life. There are many benefits of LASIK, donating your old glasses is just one.
It is a sentiment we at Kugler Vision understand very well. You see, every day we help people see better. It sounds simple, but it is very powerful. We help people do a better job at work, at school, at life. Great vision is important to having quality of life.
You get to be a part of that once you make the decision to have LASIK, because here at Kugler Vision we work with the Lions Club International to donate used glasses to those who need them. Along with your donation, Lions Club collects cleans and sorts used glasses by prescription and then finds people in low- and middle-income communities who need them.
Wearing contacts? Lance Kugler, MD supports a charity eye hospital in Gabon, Africa that not only takes old eyeglasses and eyeglass cases, but unopened boxes of contact lenses. If you are interested in helping people with vision problems in Gabon, where access to quality eye care is limited, simply bring in your unopened supplies on the day of your procedures and we can help arrange their donation.
If you decide you would rather donate your glasses personally to a vision charity, there are several organizations with vision care programs that take donated prescription glasses, including sunglasses, and make them available to those in need. New Eyes for the Needy has helped more than 8 million people here in the U.S. and in developing countries by redistributing donated glasses. Another large vision charity is One Sight. They are working to serve 20 million people by the year 2020.
Choosing to have LASIK is momentous and deserves to be celebrated. We encourage our LASIK patients to bring in their old glasses the day of their surgery as a tribute to their new, better vision by paying it forward to a worthy cause.
Lance Kugler, MD, is a specialist in LASIK and vision correction surgery and CEO of Kugler Vision. A proud Omaha native, he is passionate about improving lives through clear vision. Dr. Kugler serves on several national boards, and his practice is recognized internationally as a center of excellence. Dr. Kugler is one of the original founders of the Refractive Surgery Alliance, an international organization comprised of over 350 of the world’s leading vision correction surgeons; he also served as its first president. In 2019, Dr. Kugler was selected as a TEDx speaker, and delivered a talk in Omaha about the worldwide epidemic of nearsightedness and refractive solutions. Dr. Kugler is an Associate Professor of Refractive Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Truhlsen Eye Institute, has been published in many medical journals, and participates in numerous clinical studies to advance the field of vision correction surgery. Additionally, Dr. Kugler is proud to be a Board Certified Fellow of the World College of Refractive Surgery & Visual Sciences. Dr. Kugler and his wife are proud parents to five active kids. When he has a spare moment, he enjoys skiing, tennis, travel, and fine coffee.
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