I have an appointment for LASIK on Friday, 8-22 (1 Viewer)

[Hugh Jackes]

I'm comfortable with the decision and the cost.

98% of my doctor's patients see at 20/25 or better.

$1000 to change your life; seems like a good deal to me.

Any thoughts, dissenting opinions?

 

[Patrick Sun]

This should get you started:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=28480

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=90742

 

[Andrew W]

That seems like a cheapy. I had my eyes done a few years ago at TLC here in Austin. It was close to 4x as much. I ended up seeing 20/15 in both eyes with all astigmatism corrected. Your doctor should be doing a laser mapping of your eye, using new blades on the keratome and checking to make sure you have sufficient pupil size so that your night vision (and watching movie vision) will not be destroyed. This is not a purchase where you want to go with the lowest bidder.

Don't trust the visual acuity statistics. A lot of patients will see better than 20/25, but won't see well at night, have dry eye problems or other abberations.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

I just had it done about 2 months ago and I'm seeing 20/20 in both eyes with one eye being corrected for astigmatism. I paid $1000 per eye although there were other options out there for $500/eye.

While a lot of people have reduced contrast, dry eyes, etc. I have not had any of those problems. I did have starbursts around lights for the first while but they are fading which is perfectly normal.

I say go for it but in the end its a personal choice that only you can make.

 

[Tim Markley]

I'm with you Hugh! I'm going in for my surgery tomorrow. It'll cost me $1599 for both eyes. My wife had her surgery last Thursday and it was amazingly quick and simple. She's amazed at the results. I can't wait!!!

 

[Dave Morton]

I had mine done about 2 years ago and I'm still seeing 20/12 in each eye. This was the best decision I ever made. It really did change my life. Now I'm doing all sorts of water stuff with my kids and being able to see. I went to a couple of doctors to get more than one opinion.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

OK, first, does it hurt? I assume you are put under for this?

Second, can they correct bad astigmatisms? I have an astigmatism and I'm nearsighted - in both eyes.

 

[Hunter P]

Yup, they can do it all, just at a higher cost. Just another way to raise the price if you ask me since they don't do anything much different except for adding a coupla of extra cuts. Apparently, making a coupla extra cuts to compensate for astigmatism is worth an extra $1000.:rolleyes

If I had more money then I would have bought the x-ray vision and heat ray vision. But the "Superman Upgrade" was way out of my price range.

No matter whom you choose, feel free to negotiate. Competition is pretty heavy now. It is a booming business. Almost all the docs are willing to come down on their first quote. I got my price reduced by about $600 simply by saying that's too high. Talk about buffer!

As for dangers, there are always risks involved as with any medical procedure. Do whatever research you feel necessary to feel %100 confident in doing this. But these guys have it down to a science now. Those horror stories are from the old days when they used to make the cuts in the eye with a razor blade held by some shaky hand, or when machines were still in the development phase. Now that computers and lasers are the standard, bad incidents are extremely rare.

My guy did over 10K surgeries with no incidents (at least that's what I was told:b.) I would be just as confident to have it done again as I would in having my tonsils removed.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Hunter - can you function soon after the surgery? You mentioned that you immediately went to sleep and woke up fine. You also mention you can't rub your eyes for 3 months. So, can you actually go back to work right away? I stare at a computer all day so I'd be concerned about that.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Personally I would never do this surgery even if you paid me a million dollars. I have no idea why anyone would. Take some time to read www.surgicaleyes.com at length. Things will probably go well for you, and you probably won't have any major problems. However, if you are one of the people who have problems, your life could be completely destroyed. Is it worth the risk? Only you can tell that. Personally I'll stick with glasses.

Some sites to paruse:

http://www.lasikdisaster.com/
http://www.surgicaleyes.com/
http://www.lasiksos.com/

You've learned the hype from the positive side of the industry already. Everyone you've talked to so far probably has a financial stake in your descision on this procedure. Think about that. Now, look into the negative side of the industry. Get opinions from the other side.

Make sure you are willing to live with the consequenses if things go wrong. If you look into it the "98%" you are hearing is a meaningless number that is not really based on any studies. Ask to see published studies backing up that number.

As Andrew wrote

Don't trust the visual acuity statistics. A lot of patients will see better than 20/25, but won't see well at night, have dry eye problems or other abberations.

There are people who are functionally blind or live in constant pain who can read the 20/20 line on that chart. They are counted as "successes" by their doctors.

Ask your doctor about what kind of aftercare he or she offers if things go wrong.

And make sure you know all about the warning signs for bad candidates.

What is your dark room pupil size? If you don't know the number or what it should be, you need to do more research, like NOW.

Do you have dry eyes or difficulties wearing contacts? If so, LASIK could leave you debilitated with dry eye.

Above all, read every letter of the advised consent form that the doctor requires you to read and sign. If you don't know what something means, ask the doctor. Ask what the practical implications of irregular astigmatism is if you don't understand the term. Ask what "Starburst", "Haloes", "ghosting", "Loss of contrast sensitivity" mean. Ask LOTS of questions. You may wonder "why is this release form so long and involved if the procedure is so simple? What exactly am I signing away here?". I would.

Be careful. You will probably end up as one of the fortunate ones. But if you don't, make sure you're willing to live with the consequences, and that you TRULY know what they are and a more realistic view of what your chances are.

Consider doing one eye at a time.

 

[Hunter P]

Patrick,
Yes, you can function right away. I would recommend doing it on a Friday or taking the next day off of work. You will be on pain medication and you want to fully concentrate on protecting your eyes (investment) the first day or two.

You must really be aware of not rubbing your eyes. I didn't have a problem with it since my eyes really didn't have discomfort and my mind was constantly on my new found bliss. Plus your eyes are kinda tender so if you try to mess with them then the pain will remind you. In addition they give you a pair of sleeping "goggles." This will prevent you from touching them in your sleep.

They give you a guideline on what you can and can't do after surgery. I can't remember the list of stuff but it says stuff like "you can't swim for two weeks" or something like that. Pretty much in as little as two weeks you can stop sleeping with the goggles and play full-contact sports.

Your eyes won't be fully healed until about 3 months. All this means to you is that your final vision is not determined until all the swelling goes away. The swelling may give you that "eyelash in the eye" feeling sometimes (especially when the eye drys out) but you can't see the swelling with the naked eye. The doc has to use a magnifying glass to truly examine it.

As the swelling subsided, my vision improved. Immediately after surgery my eyes were rated at 20/20. I could read far away words as if I had 20/20 but the image didn't look as crisp as I wanted. As the swelling went down, the image sharpened considerably. It is amazing how fast you heal.

I'm not going to disregard anything that Philip has to say. There are some bad cases out there, even today. To use an example, thousands of people skydive every year no matter how many people die from it. This is why I said:

But I'm not the kind of guy that lives his life carrying an umbrella because the weatherman said there is a 2% chance of rain. (BTW, I did skydive once before.)

For the record, my doc said that my profile made me an ideal candidate. I have no history of medical conditions. I am totally healthy. My eyes were in great condition. Other than the day of surgery, I didn't have any pain. I only rarely have dry eyes (most people's tearing reflex is hampered by the surgery) but having eye drops handy fixes that up. I have no problems at all with night vision.

Yeah, you could say that I'm one of the lucky ones. But I would say that a more accurate description is that I am one of the majority.

 

[Cary_H]

A close friend of mine had it done about 8 or so years ago. His prescription going in was in the neighbourhood of - 5 or so diopters. Afterwards he didn't require corrective lenses, initially. A few years later he required some correction for driving at night. Recently I noticed he's upped that to using correction for daytime driving as well.
From his experience, he'd do it all over again in a minute.

I have little interest in having it done since I'd still face requiring correction at all times.
Like a previous poster, my buddy's one piece of advice to anyone thinking of having this surgery is to have one eye at a time. He contends the post-surgery accuity of his second eye ended up a bit "off" due to his inability to focus accurately on the red light with the just done first eye, when doing the second.

 

[Philip Hamm]

To use an example, thousands of people skydive every year no matter how many people die from it.

A problematic example at best. I would be willing to bet a large amount of money that skydive safety statistics are far better than even the most optimistic stats about LASIK.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

I agree with everything Hunter said except: I was instructed to put in antibiotic, steroid, and artificial tears in every hour for the first day so they said not to take anything that will knock me out and make miss any of the hourly drops. Your drop schedule may differ so your instructions might as well.

BTW, I agree with Philip and you should do your research. I visited those sites prior to my procedure and read up on all of the potential side effects and everything that could go wrong. I decided to take my chances but only I could ultimately decide to do it as only you can ultimately decide to do your procedure.

 

[Tim Markley]

I had my surgery earler today and man was it easy! My vision is still a little blurry but I can already tell a big difference. I have very little discomfort, just have to put in the antibiotic and anti-inflamatory drops 4 times a day. This is the easiest surgery you'll ever do.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

A guy I work with had it done. He grew up on a farm and says the smell is the same as when you de-horn a bull. He mentioned it to the doctor and the doctor said he was the fifth person to tell him that.

Just a bit of Lasik trivia for ya.

 

[Randy Tennison]

I had mine done two years ago. I have suffered from dry eyes, but on the whole, I am so glad I did it. Dry eyes is a small trade off to lose the glasses, the constant sinus headaches from the heavy glasses pressing on my nose all day, etc. When it is bad, just a couple of drops and I'm happy as a clam.

Two years later, and I still see extremely well!

I, too, remember the "smell" of burning eye. It was pretty disqusting.

My best advise is to avoid the "lasik factory" shops, where all they do is Lasik. I went to my opthomologist, who has a booming business already, and who knew my eyes well. When she said I would be a good candidate, I trusted that she had my best interest at heart, because she wasn't making her living doing lasik.

 

[Hunter P]

Congrats, Tim. I'm glad everything went well.

It never ceases to amaze me of what humans are capable of doing. Pretty soon they will be able to swap eyeballs so that those damn Pre-Crime cops from Minority Report can't track me!

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Well, 8-22 and my appointment have come and gone.

The surgery was absolutely painless, although quite unpleasant. Between the multitudinous eyedrops; the disturbing view watching the surgeon write on my eyes with a marker, make the cut in the cornea, peel back the cornea, and then smooth the cornea back into place (much like wallpaper); the sound of the cut and the laser; and the smell (which others have adequately described); I practically twisted the neck off the teddy bear they gave me. I guess I'm a total wuss.

All that being said, let me say again, there was absolutely no pain.

My bride drove me home. I felt comfortable enough to swing by In-n-Out Burger for dinner on the way home (my son Tim's Friday night pick). I watched a movie (Chicago) Friday night through my plastic eyeshields. The 20 or so air holes in the shields created so much refraction that I couldn't get a great sense of my visual accuity.

Come Saturday morning, I woke up, removed the adhesive tape holding the eyeshields to my face, looked out the window, and read the address on the garage across the street.

I went back to the eye surgeon (drove myself) Saturday morning and the optometrist on the staff tested me at 20/25. I can tell that my vision has improved since then. I go back to the eye doctor this Friday. My eyes feel almost normal, very, very slight dry eyes and no significant haloing around lights at night.

I was out at the beach, gazing at Mars last night. People who may consider this man-made miracle obviously must make up their own minds, I am ecstatic with my choice.

 

[Jason Merrick]

Congratulation Hugh! I am still loving my lasik almost 2 years later...