Laser eye surgery

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The rate of complications of LASER eye surgery (and it IS surgery, regardless of the euphemisms employed) is in the single digit percentages, perhaps below 5%. So, with millions having it done the number of people unhappy about it will be a significant number, though, far outnumbered by those who are pleased.

I have known a few people who had complications. Some of them feel that the complications are life altering, for the worse. (extreme dryness, poor night vision, irregular astigmatism)

So, as with any other elective procedure, there is risk involved. How heavily you weight that risk will be inversely proportional to how negatively you feel about corrective lenses. I opted not to have the surgery in 2001. I did vision exercises for a while and even though my optometrist was not convinced they would work he did give me some free eye exam time to verify that I WAS able to improve my nearsightedness by one diopter in a month. It pretty much stopped there, though. As with most mildly nearsighted people, my myopia has been improving slightly as I head toward the inevitable presbyopia (farsightedness) that will probably result in the need for bifocals. Mildly nearsighted people already have a bit of an advantage as they can usually make it to older age before needing reading lenses.

But, if I had gotten the LASIK, I am certain I would have needed reading lenses by now. The last time I wore contacts I could not see clearly to do close, detailed work. With my very thin glasses I can just take them off to do close work.

So, it's a personal decision. You do owe it to yourself to check out the possible complications. I have read that if you are a very compulsive, picky person - like many BITOGers are - that you may want to think twice. Remember, this is a PERMANENT alteration to your body.
 
I had lasik about 5 years ago. No regrets. My vision is still better than 20/20 and no issues driving at night. Most of the time I completely forget what a pain it was wearing contacts and glasses.

My dad had done it about 10 years before me, so I wasn't too worried about it.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
If you actually understood anything about health, you'd understand that nearsightedness is something that I was born with and is genetic. It has nothing to do with healthy habits.

I would have assumed even you would understand something that simple. Clearly I gave you too much credit.

Is the complete and utter lack of a sense of humor also genetic?
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My mom had it done right when it became popular. Like 12 years ago? Something like that.. She had the same vision you describe.
 
I had PRK in 2006. I have 20/15 in one eye, 20/25 in the other . NO regrets at all. I have no night vision problems. I do have a very slight dry eye issue but I don't even have to use eye drops for it. It wasn't really a painful thing, just felt like sand in my eyes for a couple three days afterwards . I would bet today's technology would be even better. I just regret not having done it sooner.
 
Originally Posted By: greenjp
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
If you actually understood anything about health, you'd understand that nearsightedness is something that I was born with and is genetic. It has nothing to do with healthy habits.

I would have assumed even you would understand something that simple. Clearly I gave you too much credit.

Is the complete and utter lack of a sense of humor also genetic?
lol.gif



crackmeup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: greenjp
Is the complete and utter lack of a sense of humor also genetic?
lol.gif



It is. Thankfully, there is a procedure to fix it, too. It's called a funny bone implant. Pop must be missing it.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Pop_Rivit, I'm personally amazed that you would resort to a "crutch" rather than good health with regard to something as important as your sight...


If you actually understood anything about health, you'd understand that nearsightedness is something that I was born with and is genetic. It has nothing to do with healthy habits.

I would have assumed even you would understand something that simple. Clearly I gave you too much credit.


Hey mate, I was just revving you....
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Actually, I had glasses until I joined a rifle club, and found that the exercise improved my sight markedly to the point of no longer needing them.

when I went to renew my licence at Christmas, the guy on the desk couldn't believe that a 46 year old could do the eye exam without prosthetics.
 
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
As with most mildly nearsighted people, my myopia has been improving slightly as I head toward the inevitable presbyopia (farsightedness) that will probably result in the need for bifocals. Mildly nearsighted people already have a bit of an advantage as they can usually make it to older age before needing reading lenses.

That's a very important point. I was very highly myopic. For you, the surgery would give you somewhat better vision. For me, it was absolutely night and day.
 
As a follow on, I just had my CDL physical yesterday and 20/20 for both. Not too bad for Lasik fourteen years ago and 60 years old.

I mentioned I get dry eyes occasionally but they're not to the point where I've ever used eyedrops.
 
I am 28 and had cataract surgery at 25. I will tell you that really out of all of the corrective surgeries I would see if your insurance covers Prelex. It's much safer than laser corrective surgeries and is the only corrective surgery I would consider provided insurance covered it. Each person is completely different though. My eye was 20/1200 (20/500 corrected) at -19 diopters. They stop doing lasik at -15 diopters. Now I have had retinapexy as well and there's nothing to it. I will tell you that it would be beneficial to go visit several eye surgeons and get their different takes. For instance I would prefer to have PRK (provided insurnace didn't cover prelex) if I ever had to have corrective surgery on the other eye but it is 20/20 and basically the model citizen of eyes
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Remember each eye is completely different and what has worked well for certain members may not work well for you! In my case all of the surgeons I saw said that prelex was the only option. Only difference is one wanted to send me on a 6 hour drive and the other was very well known in town and was able to do it here. They said I was the youngest prelex patient they had ever worked on. I will tell you also if you are squeamish steer clear of any and all OP videos for this!
 
Originally Posted By: fisher83
Curious about anyone's experience with this. My eye Dr. told me a couple of years ago that I would be a good candidate for it. I am pretty darn close to blind without glasses or contacts, but my vision seems to have stopped getting any worse according to the eye Dr. The procedure seems to make decent financial sense. I'm 30 years old so (hopefully) have a few more decades worth of glasses, eye exams, etc. that this could save me from. Plus, the benefit of not dealing with glasses or contacts. Anyone here have experience with the surgery? Are you happy with the results?

I imagine you have done lots of research on this, but I found this site to be helpful.
http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/other.htm

I had double cataract surgery In January. For me, it was a miracle. I don't remember ever not wearing glasses. I had reached the point that it wasn't safe for me to drive. I had given up reading, my white van looked a muddy yellow. Now my right eye is 20/15 and the left is 20/20. Now I only need mild reading glasses. I hope whatever you do works out as well.. At 77 years old, that is a miracle..

Wayne
 
I recently had Lasik done on both of my eyes in the last 18 months. Here is my experience:

I've been in glasses/contact since the age of 7. I was so nearsighted that I could not read a book at 2 feet unaided. I even had bad astigmatism in my left eye.

The procedure was one and done for me. I've had 4 follow-ups and everything is still spot on. I didn't opt for it (as it costs extra) but luckily ended up with one eye tuned for up close and the other for normal range of vision. They said it was because with the astigmatism in my left eye they didn't want to do too much correction and end up having too much of a difference between the two eyes. My cornea is thick enough that I can go back anytime and have the left eye tuned to match my right one. They are even thick enough that if I do have degredation of my sight when I age I can have the procedure again.

I still have the light starbursts at dusk and dawn, but no worse than with my contacts. No issues with dry eyes, and the only gripe I can think of is that when I am reading something close (< 2 feet) and look away at something farther away there is a slight pause in my eyes focusing on the new object. Same thing when looking far to something near. I found that if I blink right when I move my eyes to the new object, it really helps.

As far as the surgery, no pain or anything like that as they use a topical to numb your eye first and then in the procedure room you get a small needle to really numb the whole eye. The worst part was the smell the laser gave off when it consumes the gasses it needs to operate. It made me pretty nauseas afterwards that I needed smelling salts. Went home an hour after the procedure.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Best $2700 I've spent on myself. With how prevelant this has become, it should be fully covered by insurance policies.
 
Definitely appreciate all the replies! Been thinking about it for years, just haven't really done much research until recently. I am positive that I want this done now. Thanks!
 
I took a little more interest in this topic and after researching a bit I found this:

Apparently people are divided in two camps:

1.- People that say, that this is a terrible and unnecessary procedure with a lot of complications (1 out of 5 people get some form of side effect), and that this complications can not be corrected, and that even some people committed suicide because of this.

Lasik Complications, Dr. Oz, Lasik scandal, FDA page

2.- The other camp say that glasses are uncomfortable and uncool, and you should live free of them, that the risks are minimum and the side effects are just a minor nuisance.

Lasik, Lasik is safe, Back in focus, Icon lasik or any ad that appears at the top of the page if you google "lasik"

Some will say that everyone has their motives and hidden agenda to make you believe in their position, but the first question that comes to mind is: who wants to take away your money?

MY conclusions are:

1.- For me, this clearly is an unnecessary cosmetic surgery and I don't see a good reason to do it. My glasses are not uncomfortable, I have perfect vision with them and glasses are cool since Buddy Holly came along

Buddy_Holly_cropped.JPG


2.- The side effects or complications are too frequent. The most optimistic failure rate that I got to see in everything I read was 1.9% of dissatisfied patients, this failure rate is even higher than Jiffy Lube.

Quote:
Jiffy Lubes services 26 million vehicles a year and a small fraction of 1 percent of our customers complain about our service


3.-If someone after reading both sides of the issue stills wants to do it, I suggest to do it one eye at a time (although many surgeons will refuse to do this), that way if the unthinkable happens you still have one "good" eye (and you will look like Nick Fury), if you can test drive a car or a pair of shoes, why you can't test this procedure in just one eye???

4.- In the middle of all this I found this Funny thing

four%20easy%20steps.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Darwin1138


3.-If someone after reading both sides of the issue stills wants to do it, I suggest to do it one eye at a time (although many surgeons will refuse to do this), that way if the unthinkable happens you still have one "good" eye (and you will look like Nick Fury), if you can test drive a car or a pair of shoes, why you can't test this procedure in just one eye???



I wonder why, could it be because the surgeon knows that a significant number of patients will experience issues and will NOT spend the additional money for the other eye.

Like you mention today modern medicine is more about the money than it is about the well being and safety of the patient.


I was in getting an eye exam from a Opthomologist and he also does Lasik. He likes to push that surgery and he asked me if I was interested, I replied if it were you would you have it done? The reply shocked me, he said no, because the chances for problems are still common and you cannot reverse that surgery ever again. I'll give the guy credit because he could have lied through his teeth and I would have never known.

Point being if a medical doctor has reservations regarding the proceedure, a patient certainly should.
 
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As you see (no pun intended), the internet, and this forum is no exception, gives you varied responses. Do your research and reach your decision based on what you've learned.

I think more people are satisfied with a vision-corrected procedure that not. I think you would find just about as many negative results concerning root canals, ingrown toe nail removal or whatever. Sometimes things happen but then again, you COULD get run over by a bus tomorrow too.

Me? I would do Lasik again in a heartbeat if I needed it.
 
Originally Posted By: Darwin1138
1.- People that say, that this is a terrible and unnecessary procedure with a lot of complications (1 out of 5 people get some form of side effect), and that this complications can not be corrected, and that even some people committed suicide because of this.

Glasses and contact lenses have side effects, too. One just has to decide which side effects are less of an issue.

Originally Posted By: Darwin1138
3.-If someone after reading both sides of the issue stills wants to do it, I suggest to do it one eye at a time (although many surgeons will refuse to do this), that way if the unthinkable happens you still have one "good" eye (and you will look like Nick Fury), if you can test drive a car or a pair of shoes, why you can't test this procedure in just one eye???

That used to be SOP, and that's how my surgery went.

Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
I think more people are satisfied with a vision-corrected procedure that not. I think you would find just about as many negative results concerning root canals, ingrown toe nail removal or whatever.

My ingrown toenail procedure (before my PRK) was much more painful and had a more painful recovery period than the eye surgery.
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I'll reiterate. Know the positive and negative outcomes of this elective procedure. Decide for yourself. Remember the concept of cognitive dissonance when obtaining opinions from those who have had the surgery. They cannot go back so their opinions have to be biased. The same goes for those who have not had the surgery, myself included.

I actually spent a lot of money on a pair of glasses in 2001 that I still wear today as a result of NOT having LASIK. If I had done so before that I may have never considered the surgery. A $460 pair of glasses that have lasted me thirteen years (with a few lens changes, of course) is still a lot cheaper than LASIK.

I know an eye doctor in Coppell who specializes in fitting very large hard contacts for those who have had LASIK complications. Said contacts will correct the irregular astigmatism that can result from the varied corneal healing inherent in humans. They are uncomfortable and expensive. Through a web site devoted to complications I met several people who traveled here in 2001-2002 to see this optometrist. Their lives were all made miserable due to negative outcomes of LASIK.

The most likely outcome is that you will be happy. If you are not happy, no one will care and you will just become part of the minority. Miserable? Yes. But, still a small minority.

Choose carefully, friends. Once you do this you cannot reverse it. You will live with the consequences for the rest of your lives.
 
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