Lasik (1 Viewer)

[Philip Hamm]

Ha. I've been through "eye trauma" also, I had a cinder lodged in my eye when I was a very young child (but old enough to remember). I have a similar revulsion to the idea of eye surgery.

 

[Michelle Schmid]

I had LASIK done in September of '00, so over 8 years ago now. Best money I ever spent on myself. I couldn't wear my contacts for 1 week before surgery, and didn't have any glasses, so that was pretty difficult. Co-workers were nice enough to give me rides to/from work though so I didn't have to stay home. I had a perfect outcome (20/15 originally and now at 20/20 for the past several years), and have experienced zero side effects. I'll probably still need reading glasses eventually, but I expect that--this surgery isn't supposed to correct that.

I have to dispute this statement, though:


That depends on where you are. Do your research and this can still work well. I lived in Moab, UT at the time and my eye doctor told me I'd (finally) be a great candidate for LASIK. However, this tiny little town certainly didn't have the facilities for the procedure. So I chose to go to Salt Lake City (~230 miles away) to a Dr. who at that time had already been doing the "flap cutting" procedure for over 20 years. My follow-up was then done back in Moab.

The facility that did the procedure did an extensive work-up, though, so they weren't just relying on my regular Dr's. records. They almost didn't do it as my corneas were only a tiny bit thicker than they like to see and w/the correction I'd need (they guesstimated ~20/1300 in each eye, there was really no measurable way to determine, plus severe astigmatism) they were concerned about the # of laser pulses I'd need. In the end I rec'd more than 2x the "normal" amount of pulses in each eye. Because my eyes were so bad I was still expecting to need some sort of corrective lenses after the procedure from what my regular Dr. & the facility told me during exams. But at least I'd be able to see enough in the middle of the night if my kids were sick or something. Turned out they did such a great job I don't currently need any add'l correction.

Dry eyes can be an issue, but the other big thing to worry about is the "halo" effect people see around lights at night. I was told this comes from them not correctly measuring the size of the pupil in dark conditions and then cutting the flap too small so that it doesn't extend to the outside of this cut. When the pupil expands in dark conditions, and expands beyond the border where they cut, the halos occur.

I've moved several times since the surgery and each eye doctor I go to has to be told I've had the surgery. My eyes have healed so well that they can't see the scars. One didn't even believe me and told me that "he can always tell because there will be a grey ring around the eye where the flap was cut." I told him to look harder and sure enough, after he got out his mega-watt light he could see the rings.

 

[jusstyjonesy]

There are some bad outcomes but as in most medical procedure they are inescapable outliers. Unfortunate and sad. Most people seem to be very happy. Then there is this guy: