Have any of you tried LASIK?

[Sgt.Floyd]

I've got an eye exam coming up, and every morning I curse my glasses. I got to thinking that LASIK has been around for almost 5 years, and I havn't really heard any horror stories (ie not being able to see).

I then got to thinking that this board has a pretty wide user base, and someone here has to have had some experience with this... .

so, has anyone had their eyes fixed? did it work? Anyone have any friends that did it? Any complications?

And for the sake of debate, would you do it if you were blind enough to need glasses all the time, but with glasses could still see 20-20?

thanks for the input.

[legion]

My wife had 20/1600 and 20/2000 vision (might be why I caught her?) and for her BD a couple years ago I got her the Lasik surgery and watched the entire proceedure.

Her vision is now 20/15 (20/20 was an arbitrary benchmark) and she's real happy w/ the outcome. She doesn't like to drive at night though and I sometimes wonder if it might've had something to do w/ the correction. She didn't before either though.

I wear glasses now and have been considering Lasik but not seriously as my uncorrected vision is still pretty good (don't need specs to drive, etc.).

What I'd like to try sometime is soft contacts but I got a feeling I might be too much of a puss to stick 'em in.

[Grunt]

Said legion:


What I'd like to try sometime is soft contacts but I got a feeling I might be too much of a puss to stick 'em in.

I used to wear soft contacts but had a bad time with my eyes not being able to keep them moist enough. They were OK when I was indoors but I could not stand to be out in the wind or drive with the car window open. The added air flow would dry the lenses out and irritate my eyes. I couldn't imagine riding my bike with them in. Eventually I went back to glasses just because they were more comfortable.

As far as putting them in and taking them out I thought I would be a wuss about it also but you get used to it pretty quickly.

Just some info for ya. You might want to ask some others who have had experience with soft contacts.

Grunt

[idjut]

Umm, I've heard for a small pecentage of people the results are a horror story. Do ya feel lucky ?

[Team Dennis]

My wife just had the Lasik done 2 weeks ago. She went from 20/600 to 20/10. She had been using soft contacts for years,but was getting more and more eye infections in the last 2 years. The doctor indicated that they were actually making her eyes worse.
She has had no complications and was almost in tears when she realized how much better she saw compared to contacts or eyeglasses. I had RK surgery on my eyes 6 or 7 years ago and am still glad I did it. The bi-focals were just a pain in the ass.
Highly recommended if you qualify.

[RockyRaccoon]

I know two people who've had it, one had minor problems with glare and night vision issues afterward, but overall he was happy because his vision was terrible before and he had to wear really thick glasses. He still has to wear glasses, but not nearly as thick and his corrected vision is better. He'll need another surgery to get to 20/20, but he probably won't do it.

The other person ended up with fairly major eye problems, and I haven't heard whether she ever got it corrected or not.

I probably know other people who had it, but if everything turned out fine I wouldn't have heard about it.

In my case, I don't mind wearing glasses, especially since they came out with these ultralight, practically indestructible titanium frames. I can't imagine anything that would induce me to put my eyes under the knife.

[fish]

Zorb, the FDA has a page dedicated to Lasik, including risks and whatnot here.

[Guzz]

Been there, done that, with minor complications.

I had a -7 diopter to begin with, ended up with 0 diopter (20/20). I can't remember what -7 dipoter equates to. But the problem I had was that the surgen didn't measure my dialated pupils properly. The Keratone cut wasn't large enough, so I have 'star burst' with lights at night. Also the lazer didn't 'smooth' properly. I have what is called "islands" in the center of my cornea. Which produces minor ghosting if text and lights at night. Things look kinda like this... But not as bad as shown.


I am currently working with a doctor to find ways to correct the problems. We are currently working with ZWave Contacts. Now these contacts are a viable alternative to Lasik now. What they are, are contacts that have been custom made for your eyes. You wear them at night when sleeping, then take them out in the morning and you have perfect or near perfect vision. You just keep wearing them at night. A nice thing is that if you don't like it, stop wearing them and your eyesight goes back to the way it was.

A web site that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that people go to if they are interested in vision correction is Surgial Eyes. They give you the complete skinny on all procedures. They don't sugar coat anything, explain possible complication, and possible outcomes, so you can make an informative decission. Unlike most doctors now days that are just out for your money.

[HarveyMushman]

Said Kurt:
In my case, I don't mind wearing glasses, especially since they came out with these ultralight, practically indestructible titanium frames. I can't imagine anything that would induce me to put my eyes under the knife.

That about sums up my thoughts. My vision is in the 20/550 neighborhood, but with lightweight frames and the full-tilt polycarb lenses my specs end being very light and not too thick. Wearing plasses is a pain but I just won't risk not seeing at all.

FWIW, I know two people who have gone the LASIK route. One is super-pleased with the results (20/15 vision, no problems) and the other has suffered a number of minor problems and has had to have repeat surgeries--and she's still not at 20/20. The person with good results and no problems did her research on providers and spent a small fortune to have it done by the doctor with the best rep. The other went to one of those places offering a great price. Buyer beware.

[flugfish]

seriously considering it!!!

[ImaPoser]

I know two people who have had it done and both are happy as can be with it. I couldn't put myself thru it if I needed it.

[legion]

While interviewing Lasik sources and researching same for my wife I noticed the oddly high number of eye doctors that hadn't had the surgery.

Lots of 'em wear eye glasses, and several that I tt didn't seem to be willing to take the risk.

Regarding the cost...

I did see that there were some low cost alternatives but chose to have what turned out to be the highest priced outfit do the work. She could see fine the next day.

Others that I'd known that went the lowest cost route didn't always have the same pleasant experience.

Her surgery was done in the morning and a little valium took care of the rest of the afternoon. I woke her up about every 15-30 mins to put a heavy lubricant in her eyes (both done same time) that the doc said was important not to skip. The stuff was commercially available and non scrip.

[minnow]

My understanding is that is if the problem is age based deteriation then there may be some issue - as the process does not stop post surgery and once done is at this stage unable to be repeated.

If the issue is chronic then there may be some benefit, but a small proportion end up worse.

[Sgt.Floyd]

Thanks for all the wonderful input...

I found a message board that had a lot of doctors answering questions. It seems the major side effect is problems with night vision, and that has a lot to do with the pupil size.

It seems to me to be a pretty big gamble. There was one guy that sounds as though hew was basically blinded. A lot of them had problems with night vision. But as we all know.. if message board bitching were an accurate representation of the general reliability and success rate, it would be common knowlege that all BMW's vibrate like pain shakers and surge like bucking broncos...


keep 'em coming !

[Sgt.Floyd]

here's a quote from that board...

What's wrong with glasses? I'd pay a million bucks to have them back. My post-LASIK vision, along with 18 months worth of painful dry eyes and debilitating night vision problems, cannot be corrected with CL's or glasses now.

Neat, huh? Think twice about your priorities.

that one kind of hit home.... but at the same time i hear stories about people becoming contact lense intoerant, and I rely so heavily on water-sports( kayaking and surfing) that being chained to glasses doesn't do much for me.

here's the board