Who here has laser eyes?

[Matt34]

I'm seriously considering getting my eyes done. I'm having a real difficult time reading road signs/license plates and can only tolerate my contacts for about 4 hours before I need to take them out.

So did you like the procedure, would you do it again, how bad were your eyes before?

 

[Audioholics]

I and my wife had it done - best money we ever spent. Don't go with the el cheap-o discount places. These are your eyes, so a 2-for-1 sale at the local cattle corral mass market eye doctor doesn't impress me... Find the guy who has the latest equipment and has been using it for over 5 years.

The only thing that occurred with me was that my eyes dried out afterwards and pretty much stayed fairly dry compared to before. I have no idea why this happened but it doesn't affect me in any way other than I notice the fact that my eyes don't lubricate as much.

I went from 20/900 (nearsighted) to 20/20 in both eyes. Now, 5 years later, one of my eyes has drifted to 20/25... big whoop.

I'd do it again and pay twice as much, and I paid a lot since I went to the guy who was the very best in Orlando.

 

[philh]

I had Radial K (laser predocessor) many years ago. I was at the upper limit for acceptable surgery. The immediate effect was phenomenal. I could see without glasses (although right eye was weaker), it stopped the continuous need for new glasses, and improved depth perception. Now 20 years later, I have a vision shift morning to night, exacerbated if I do too much computer work. Combined with the aged need for readers, it makes it extremely difficult to "fit" one functional pair of bifocals. Would I do it again, absolutely. But it's not the perfect world I hoped for

 

[furrycute]

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer glasses over contacts or laser surgery.

With contacts, there is just something unnantural about putting a piece of plastic so close to your cornea, you are just asking for trouble with infections, irritations, etc.

With laser surgery, you are literally peeling away pieces of your cornea, so the light coming into your eyes gets bent to the correct angle. After the surgery, your cornea is considerably thinner.

Maybe it's just me, but I am not in the least bit comfortable with the idea of having my cornea thinned so much. For one thing, not every laser surgery is a success. Some people have really bad side effects afterwards. Another thing is a certain percentage of the U.S. population will eventually develop glaucoma (increased eye pressure, eventually leading to blindness). With a thinner cornea, those tonopens (used to measure eye pressures) are going to give you falsely low eye pressure readings.

Anyway, that's just my take on all things medical. If it aint broke, why fix it? I like my eye glasses. Can't live without them.

 

[furrycute]

I mean, what's so bad about wearing eye glasses? Sure cleaning them is a pain every now and then, and you have to wipe the lenses everyday, and you have to secure them with a string when running, you can't take showers with them, etc. But so what.

And laser surgery is not the be it all end it all treatment for nearsightedness.

Nearsightedness is caused by elongation of your eyeball. There is no guarrantee that your prescription wont change after the laser surgery. I know my prescription changes every couple of years or so. So when your prescription changes, you'll probably need more laser surgery to preserve that 20/20 vision. And I am even more uncomfortable with the idea of a second round of thinning my cornea.

 

[Matt34]

Well, I've been wearing glasses/contacts since I was 12yrs old and I'm sick of them. Glasses/contacts are a bit of a hindrance in my line of work and is one more variable I can eliminate.

That's quite an improvement Clint! My worst eye is 20/600 but I have developed astignatism in both eyes now.

 

[HookedOnSound]

And they said Viagra was safe! yeah right!

I too have been wearing glasses since age 12 but I can't bring myself to get the surgery.

It's not the cost that stopping me, I had the procedure explained to me and I am scared silly.

I asked my optometrist about the surgery and unfortunately there is no absolute guarantee that it will be successful. From what I understood, the biggest risk for blindness is infection. Overall, techniques are improving to manage infection and infection rates are continously decreasing (based on his information) but I am still not comfortable with it.

If memory serves me well, the laser surgery technology is less than 25 yrs old which is not a long time to expose long-term side effects of this medical procedure (this is just MY opinion).

I am a patient man, I myself will wait a few more years to see how things turn out.

 

[chicagomd]

I am not an opthamologist, but here is my take:

The technology/techniques for this procedure are actually pretty good. The problem is a certian percentage of the population will have some scaring on the retina associated with the laser treatment. This may or may not have anything to do with the laser or the doctor, it is just an inherent quality in some people. Most physicians will do a pre-screen history and physical on you to make sure you don't have a tendenacy to scar, but even that is not fool proof.

You can limit the risks of the surgery, but never eliminate them.

Make sure the physician you go to is Board certified in Opthalmology, has a number of years of experience in the procedure, and has a medical licence that has never been revoked, suspended, etc. (You should be able to check all of these things on-line for free via your states Department of Professional Regulation.) Complication rate is somewhat patient dependent, so I would place less value on that statistic when looking for someone to do the procedure.

Good luck.

 

[Matt34]

I am not an opthamologist, but here is my take:

The technology/techniques for this procedure are actually pretty good. The problem is a certian percentage of the population will have some scaring on the retina associated with the laser treatment. This may or may not have anything to do with the laser or the doctor, it is just an inherent quality in some people. Most physicians will do a pre-screen history and physical on you to make sure you don't have a tendenacy to scar, but even that is not fool proof.

You can limit the risks of the surgery, but never eliminate them.

Make sure the physician you go to is Board certified in Opthalmology, has a number of years of experience in the procedure, and has a medical licence that has never been revoked, suspended, etc. (You should be able to check all of these things on-line for free via your states Department of Professional Regulation.) Complication rate is somewhat patient dependent, so I would place less value on that statistic when looking for someone to do the procedure.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info doc!

 

[kia303]

I had mine done in Montreal about six years ago, at the time I believe that Canada was one step ahead of the U.S. in regards to the generations of lasers, I can not confirm this now. I did a decent amount of research on the place that did mine and the doctors that worked their. My prescription, for contacts, at the time was a -4.25 and a -4.50. I think that I was 20/600, nearsighted, and no wmy corrected is 20/15 in my left and 20/20 in my right. I have never experienced dryness in my eyes since the surgery, actually my eyes water more easily now if I am skiing, i.e. wind is blowing in my face. I wear sunglasses, good ones, all the time now to protect my eyes and I am not sure why but it just makes me feel better protected. The only side effect of my surgery is that I sometimes see Halo's at night time when looking at very bright lights, e.g. oncoming headlamps from cars. People say that you will need reading glasses sooner because of the surgery but I am not sure if that is myth or fact. The actual surgery is a little frightening, I declined the valium and did it without any drugs. I did take two buddies along for moral support, and call it strange but just knowing that they were watching the surgery from the viewing area helped me to remain calm. I would do it again, even considering the risks, and I have heard some horror stories. My optometrist told me after my surgery that he had seen some real bad jobs but mine looked great.