Thinking about eye lasers

In reply to rustybugkiller :

You measure your face and buy the appropriate size. You send them back if you don't like them. Beyond that custom adjusting the rest of the fit is up to you. The BIG upside is they are comically cheap. Like cheaper to buy prescription sunglasses than to go buy a $15 pair of throw away non prescription sunglasses from the gas station. It changes the way you think about buying glasses. My super frugal mother now has glasses to match outfits.

I've been thinking about lasik or similar for a while now. My prescription is like -6 or so in both eyes and I'm tired of contacts. I've heard that seeing halos around lights and losing night vision used to be risks, has that been fixed by now?

^^^ That's a very real concern for me, but I have no data on it.

Yeah, you measure your Pupilary Distance (PD) yourself with a ruler if it's not on your prescription, enter the rest of the prescription, browse the frames, look at the specs, they tell you if it is not really right for you, you can upload a pic of your face if you want so you can see the frames on your own pic, etc.  Measure the frames you have and compare, if you want.  All in all, it's pretty smooth.  That last pair of sun glasses, frames, bifocal, was $36 shipped.

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

I’ve never had a problem with night vision or halos. I will gladly tell you that my twilight vision suffered, as my eyes find it hard to focus without a well-defined light source. Full light or no light- okay. Partial light- bad.

I was concerned about the night vision aspect, but no problem here. I have an unmodified eye that's perfect for doing before/after comparisons.

One thing to note is that even some haloing would have been better than I had with contacts. I cannot believe I put up with that discomfort for so long 

Im Following along. Thinking for my wife..... She has -5 in one eye and -4.5 in the other. 

The one a day contacts have been much better for her, but it would be nice to not deal with at all.

As to eye phobia.... Yeah been there done that, had macular degeneration.... Shots in my eyeball every couple months for a year. Berk that E36 M3. No nothing, just numbing drops and a paper clip to hold your damn eyelids open.... I am very happy it worked....

I had PRK done in 2005 when I was in my late 30's.  At the time, I had 20/400 vision in both eyes so I only wore glasses for distance and generally only when I was driving or riding my bike.  I was planning on Lasik and went to 2 different places to get evaluated.  One was the "puppy mill" version of laser eye surgery (free evaluation) and the other was affiliated with the local university ($100 evaluation fee).  Level of evaluation and testing was vastly different.  High volume place found no problems and was ready to schedule Lasik right away.  University said not suitable for Lasik due to beginning of dry eye in both eyes (and Lasik cuts the nerve that controls tear production increasing the likelihood of dry eye problems in the future) and thin cornea in one eye so they recommended PRK.  They also discussed my reasons for wanting surgery and informed me that loss of elasticity in lens (getting old) would probably cause me to need readers within a few years so if "vanity" was my reason I probably wouldn't get the desired result.  They also discussed the fact that it was reasonably likely that I would need either another procedure or to start wearing glasses again in 10-15 years. This was based on the fact that my prescription had changed slightly each year for the previous 10 or so years.

I had both eyes done the same day, which the Dr. tried to talk me out of and was not very common at that time (not sure about now).  Mainly it was a concern about if the equipment was messed up or had a calibration issue you could be blinded in both eyes instead of just one.  I didn't have enough paid vacation/sick leave to take 2 weeks off so I risked it.  I had the surgery on a Monday morning and went back to work the following Monday, so it was an entire week to recover.  I was not cleared to drive until the day I returned to work. I was essentially blind for 3 or 4 days.  On Monday I was drugged up and basically slept all day.  Tuesday & Wednesday were semi drugged and in bed, had a follow up with the Dr. on Wednesday. I had patches taped over my eyes on Monday and then an eye cover (term escapes me now) until the followup Wednesday so everything was by feel (lots of toe stubbing).  The slightest light in my eyes was extremely painful on Mon-Wed. On Thursday and Friday I wasn't drugged and could stand to open my eyes in a room with the curtains closed and no lights on for a few minutes.  I had SWMBO set up the stereo system with a couple of audiobooks on CD loaded into the CD player and listened to a couple of books.  By Saturday morning, things were getting sort of normal.

9 years after PRK I wound up at about 20/400 again and wound up with glasses.  My prescription still changes a little bit each year, so I don't know if that is normal or weird.  For me, the cost was essentially a break even over the 9 years I went without glasses or maybe a slight advantage to the PRK.  I really enjoyed not wearing glasses (especially not needing them under my helmet), but I have not investigated having surgery again in the 3 years since I started wearing glasses again.  Partially because of the discomfort and inconvenience I experienced during the recovery from PRK surgery and partially because I don't ride nearly as much so the issues related to glasses fogging and discomfort due to wearing glasses under the helmet aren't as severe.

TL/DR:  Get evaluated by a really good team of Dr.'s not the $300/eye volume place.

What about an Implantable Collamer Lens surgery? This is what my doctor is pushing now. Says my -8.5 prescription is too bad for LASIK. 

I have a weak prescription and opted not to have surgery despite being a "good candidate".. but presbyopia changed my vision pretty dramatically in my early 40's. 

If you're approaching 40, be sure to talk to the doc about the implications of presbyopia. You will quite likely be wearing reading glasses soon.

Streetwiseguy

I don't know whether I would do laser.  I know several people who had it done, and they were all happy, but the idea freaks me out a bit.  The potential for a mistake, no matter how small, would have me squinting until I couldn't see at all.

Having had a good friend who went totally blind over a weekend, I wouldn't consider it. However, my perspective is very different from many of the forum members in this discussion. 

I had surgery when I was about four years old to correct a strabismus (crossed eye). I'm extremely fortunate that it was 100% accurate. 

As a teenager, I could easily read the copyright on the bottom of the eye chart. I believe I was 20/5 and 20/10. 

I'm 62 and now wear glasses to correct for the near and middle ranges, up to about ten feet. I'm still 20/20 in my worse eye. 

My wife's worse eye is 20/200, but she wouldn't consider surgery either.

Our concern is that there is a small percentage of complications, but they can be quite severe. 

In reply to secretariata :

Dude, that sounds horrible!  My experience couldn't have been more different.  I went to the biggest guy in town ($3,000 in 2001) for a free evaluation and after deciding I was a good candidate he did a HUGE work up about every aspect of my eyes.  Got the zapping done on a Friday, both eyes in under 5 minutes.  He strapped the "fly eyes" goggles on me and my sister drove me home (the wife had better things to do).  Lunch and then I slept all afternoon.  Woke up at 8 pm to pee and take the sleeping pill I'd been prescribed.  Slept till 8 am at which point I put on sunglasses and went outside to build an addition on my house.  It was amazing!!!

Halos and starring at night is an effect of healing/scar tissue and they told me it was approximately one month per diopter of correction and sure enough, in 9 months it was all better.

One of the biggest weirdnesses was going to bed.  For 20 years my go-to-sleep ritual involved taking off my glasses and placing them precisely where I could find them first thing in the morning.  After Lasik.......nothing.  It was just close-my-eyes, and believe it or not that took some time to get used to.

GameboyRMH said:

To handle sports with shock and vibration, you'll have to get the type of laser surgery that doesn't involve cutting a flap in the cornea as this would render your eyes non-shockproof. PRK is the most common type of laser eye surgery that would leave you with shockproof eyeballs.

Are there other types?  What's the cost difference?

A friend of mine did the 'tradional' type with the flap. He explained the process to me, as well as the fact that the tensile strength of that material never recovers above like 30%.  Scared the E36 M3 out of me.

I hate my glasses and contacts, but having the flap detach from the front of my eye is stuff of nightmares (even though they can reattach).

Do it!!!! I did it about 13 years ago and it was easily the best money I’ve ever spent. It was $3200 back then when most insurances wouldn’t cover it. 

My cornea was too thin to do the lasik procedure, so they did ASA where they reshape the surface. The only downfall of that was a 2 week recovery period, but it’s shock proof and well worth not having the hassle of contacts or glasses. 

In reply to ProDarwin :

Lasik- cuts a flap in the cornea, they lift it, laser the eye, and place the flap back into place. Flap heals, eyeballs see better. 

PRK- use a brush to abrade away the surface of the cornea, laser the eye, put a bandage contact over it, cornea eventually heals, eyeballs see better.

I’ve never had a flap detach, or any other issues with the surgery. I am incredibly anal about eye pro; however, it’s probably a good thing. 

Every time I read this thread title...

In reply to Toyman01 :

Had to get some attention somehow didn't I? 

cabbagecop said:

What about an Implantable Collamer Lens surgery? This is what my doctor is pushing now. Says my -8.5 prescription is too bad for LASIK. 

That's what I want.

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :

It wasn't the best week I've ever had...I actually told SWMBO afterwards that I was glad I had them both done at the same time because I wasn't sure I'd go back to have the second one done if I'd only had one done initially.  Like I posted, I've been wearing glasses for the past 3 years and didn't investigate having surgery again.

I had LASIK done several years back. It is one of the best things I've done. My vision wasn't that bad (I want to say I was like -2.75, -3.5), but bad enough to wear glasses all the time, which was just annoying. I was corrected down to like 20/12.

If you are even thinking about getting your eyes lazered, just find a reputable office that specializes in LASIK and/or PRK. Hopefully they have information seminars and will do consultations. I believe the place I went to the consultation was free, or possibly like $30. They made that up in the procedure costs though. This is a procedure you don't want to do cheap.

When I went in for LASIK, I discussed the option of PRK and they strongly recommended against it for me. They said the general reasons for PRK over LASIK is how thick the cornea is. The only physical activities I wouldn't want to do after getting LASIK are like... deep sea diving (maybe), or boxing or MMA where I could get punched in the face a lot.

Advantage of LASIK over PRK is that it is an easier procedure with a much shorter recovery time. It also gives the option for touch-ups to be done much easier and sooner. With LASIK, you can come in 4-7 days after the procedure, and if things aren't within spec to satisfy you, you can get zapped again to make adjustments. With PRK, you basically have to wait until you're almost completely healed. You'll probably only be effectively blind for a day or two (instead of a week). Basically, cutting the flap of cornea is like having an extra flap of skin over a surgery spot. It's like a bandage. Healing is easier and quicker as long as you don't rub your eyes or do something stupid to berkeley with it until the scar tissue heals.

I've heard about the night vision thing. I notice I am more sensitive to glare. This is usually only an issue with oncoming headlights at night, if there are are not many other ambient lights (street lights) around. Only time it ever made me nervous was when I lived out where it was not uncommon for me to basically drive mountain passes at night. Flip side is, I can see better in really dim light than other people.

Basically, find a reputable doctor and get the details from them about the procedure. Be willing to pay good money. Find out what minimum correction they guaruntee and will fix if they don't hit, and what the check-up schedule after the procedure is.

Mr. Lee said:

Recon1342 said:

In reply to Mr. Lee :

Not sure what you guys mean by monovision. My eyes were laser-mapped and a burn pattern was created for each eye. These days I believe it’s called “custom” lasik, and it’s tailored to each eye’s surface.

It's apparently a proceedure for older folks. Not something I have to worry about. I remember my dad saying they offered it to him, but he passed due to needing bifocal vision for work. (ATC) disregard the question. 

My employer's dad got that.  Has one close-up eye and one distance eye.

That would drive me absolutely insane.

I worked for several eye doctors for a number of years. You get what you pay for. If you go with the cheapest guy, they generally aren't using the latest and greatest. Are they doing followups for a year? What are their statistics with how often people have to have touchups? As you get older, your eyes ARE going to change. They don't bounce back like they used to and it may correct distance but the reading will eventually need assistance. Most of these doctors offer free visits for your initial talk.  I'd interview a couple of them and check out their reviews.  Yes, bad things can happen. Anything in life gives you those chances but the vast majority of patients that we saw were very happy with their end results. I just know who in Charleston I'd go to and who I wouldn't and the reviews pretty much tell the truth with that one as well.

Coming up on 4 years now since I had mine done.  Would do it again without hesitation.  Best decision ever.

As others have noted, this is not the time to bargain shop, this is your vision, find the best person in your area, not the cheapest.

Literally just had this done Thursday afternoon. My prescription was a -7 in both eyes and by Friday morning I was seeing better than 2020. Absolutely a life changing event. Lots of eye drops after have helped clear up the halos so far. 

Using the eye drops absolutely makes your eyes heal more quickly and better. I've had a patient come in that was only getting 20/80 and she had quit using the tears. We got her back on them and within a week she was at 20/15.  I want it done. I had the chance twice to have it done for free but the first time I was breastfeeding and the 2nd I was pregnant.  They won't do the surgery then. Now my eyes haven't settled from this over 40 thing so my prescription keeps changing. I had 15 years where it stayed pretty much the same and now it's different every year. 

So do I suggest the surgery? Absolutely yes.... but only if you're over 25 with your prescription fairly unchanged for a few years and if you're hitting the 40 mark, realize you're going to need reading glasses either way.