Eye Surgery

Ok So I am considering laser eye surgery to correct my really shitty eyesight


can anybody offer any advice?

do it...it makes a world of difference....

Id totally do it if I had the money

lasers make me nervous... even though i've heard of plenty of success stories with lasik surgery, i don't think i'd do it.

however, if you're comfortable with lasers, i say go for it.

-bobby

lasers no go in my eye... noooooooooo spank you

Yup that's why I started this thread, just waiting for somebody to wander in who has had it done.


/whistles and kinda suffles feet about nervously

that is horrid.

i can't imagine myself without my glasses, i heard laser surgery is pretty save these days though, never hurts to get some proffesional information.

Just be careful not to let them focus the laser through your cornea and cut out that part of your brain which grants you your super human abilities.

hey! i've had my eyeballs out of my head too! let's start a new SG group...

i have two good friends who went through the Lasik procedure and both are very happy with the results. and like Clara said, just be sure you're dealing with someone who comes highly recommended.

ed:clarity

[Edited on Mar 26, 2004 by ThisAintNoPicnic]

I'll see that *bloodcudling scream* and raise you a *HOLYMOTHEROFFUCKINGPEARL*.

make sure the surgeon whos doing the work has done it lots before, and has worked with the person who calibrates the laser to let it get the right shape/depth , and make sure you actually talk to that surgeon before you go ahead... alot of companies have you dealing with advisors and not the actual people.
im a dispensing optician, and there have been lots of good results that weve seen, and some useless ones...one of the latest being caused by a good surgeon using a bad technician....ask your optician if they can advise you on whos good in your area.

Just get one of those laser pointers, or the laser in your cd player and stare at it for 20 minutes. It will totally change your life.

Spectacles make us appear intelligent.

Personally, I'd wait a while longer to see what some of the longer-term effects are (the procedure is relatively new) but I have perfect vision, so it's a different situation. If you're going to do it now - don't scrimp. I'm sure you've seen ads for discount laser eye surgery - this is one case where it's worth it to spend the extra money and make sure that you get a quality surgeon who's going to be careful.

I watched my aunt get lazer eye surgery last month. It was really bizzare to watch, but she said the results were amazing. She said it was completely worth it and she had stong noticable results by the next day. You have to wear weird goggles taped to your head covered by yoko ono style glasses for the first day so you don't scratch your sensitive eyes, but after that glasses will be purely an accessory.

wtf... did I just say something helpful?

I just had LASIK yesterday. Today, I have just better than 20/20 vision in each eye individually, and both together are 20/15, there is no pain or discomfort whatsoever, and I just have to make sure I keep my eyes nice and wet with eyedrops every four hours or so (and only for about the next 2 weeks). Before the procedure, I was completely nonfunctional without glasses. I'm ... no, I WAS nearsighted, but couldn't even read up close without my distance-correcting glasses. My mom was even more blind than I was, and she had it done a long time ago, and has had nothing but great results, from the same doctor as myself.

That said, I have a family member who went to a small-town eye doctor to have the procedure done, had a horrible recovery, and her vision never became perfect, though she can still do most things without glasses. She's starting to have problems with her eyes that no one who has gone to my doctor has had.

Moral of the story: If you want to do it, DO IT. Just do your research and make sure you're going to a reputable doctor. If you're in or around Indiana, I can give you an excellent recommendation.

[Edited on Dec 18, 2004 by daevric]

Something I've wondered about getting laser eye surgery...

...does your vision continue to change over time after it's done? I need a new prescription for contacts every year, and my vision has slowly changed over the years. Does Lasik halt that process, or would I get 20/20 vision now, and have it slowly change again?

My eye doctor told me a few years ago that I would be a perfect candidate for laser vision correction surgery as soon as my eyesight leveled out and I no longer needed a new prescription every year or so. So my impression is that your vision can still deteriorate like it does now, thus making it much better to wait until it stabilizes.

I am very, very, very nearsighted. The world is literally a grey blob to me without my glasses or contacts in. If I hold a book about 1 inch from my eyes, I can discern the words, but I need to cover one eye since my left is much worse than my right. I would love to get laser surgery if it meant actually having normal vision. But, a) I'm really scared at the thought of having surgery on my eye (what if something goes wrong and I actually end up literally blind? I have no idea if that's possible, but it's gotta be a chance, right?), and b) No insurance that I know of will cover it, and seeing as I'm approximately $90,000 in debt (woooo law school!), there's no way in hell I could pay for it. I know that the figures they tell you are that the cost of glasses, contacts, supplies, etc. over x number of years add up to more than the surgery, but I can afford $100 at a time if I have to - no way I could just lay down a few thousand.

I've been evaluating LASIK and other procedures for years as a cure for my nearsightedness. I can wear contacts, but for certain jobs I've interested in I need uncorrected 20/20. I happen to have unusually "narrow" corneas which doesn't make me a good candidate for surgery. The current instruments aren't precise enough to guarantee 20/20. I'm lucky to be working with a great surgeon in San Diego who helped pioneer LASIK, so he has the financial freedom to be honest with me like this. I have a feeling a lesser surgeon would have just assured me he would do his best, and after signing waivers, I would have ended up with 20/60 or thereabouts. Much better than my current 20/1000 of course, but still vision needing correction.

The laser actually cuts into the cornea material, so this isn't something you can keep having done over and over since there won't be any cornea left to work with after awhile, so choose your surgeon wisely and make sure you are a good candidate for the procedure.

Also, get it done as early in your life as is feasible. Older eyes tend not to heal as well and tend to have more complications after surgery such as chronic dryness.

Laser eye surgery is not offered on the NHS in the UK. The NICE said that even though it is effective for people with mild to moderate short sight the long term risks are unknown, and because eye sight can be cured risk free (wear glasses) any risk from surgery is a real concern.

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