I think I'm going Lasik over the summer break.

[isekii]

how is the procedure ?
how long before full vision is restored ?
pricing ?
any side effects ?

Thanks.


I'm tired of putting on contacts.

 

[slycat]

i had it like 4yrs ago.
only reason i jumped was coz my pal's sister was a optometrist and was working for a lasik doc.
she said he was good and she would check me to tell me if i was REALLY suitable or not.

process took 1 min. rooms were packed which was a good sign that word had gotten around that he
was very good. went back 6mths later and she said she could not even tell i had anything done...
meaning the healing was very complete.

i had very bad eyesight...legally blind. i believe i'm 20/30-40 now. Nightime vision suffered a little though...thats my side effect. Other than that, nothing else.

One of the best $1000 i ever spent..not only got rid of my super bad myopia..also got rid of my astigmatism.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: slycat
i had it like 4yrs ago.
only reason i jumped was coz my pal's sister was a optometrist and was working for a lasik doc.
she said he was good and she would check me to tell me if i was REALLY suitable or not.

process took 1 min. rooms were packed which was a good sign that word had gotten around that he
was very good. went back 6mths later and she said she could not even tell i had anything done...
meaning the healing was very complete.

i had very bad eyesight...legally blind. i believe i'm 20/30-40 now. Nightime vision suffered a little though...thats my side effect. Other than that, nothing else.

One of the best $1000 i ever spent..not only got rid of my super bad myopia..also got rid of my astigmatism.

you said you're 20/30-40 now... do you wear glasses ?
can your eyes get progressively worse ?

 

[Drizzy]

My fiance had it about 2 years ago and I helped her the whole time through it and after. It really will vary on how long it takes for full vision... right after the procedure you'll be able to see a LOT better but still have some blurry vision and halos around lighting. Usually the blurry part will leave first and after a few weeks the halos will leave as well. My fiance took about a month for 100% of these side effects to go away. We did EVERYTHING the doctor suggested and as a result she has had perfect vision and eyes ever since. Always be more conservative than you'd think and after taking great care of your eyes for the first year you'll have next to no maintenance or problems after that first year.

Here is what I would suggest:

1. DONT SKIMP ON THE COST!! there are a lot of places that offer it now but do your research first and you'll find that usually the more expensive places usually do a better job. Check and see what kind of after-the-surgery care they do - follow up appointments, etc... A good place wont just send you on your way once your check has cleared. Its your eyes - pay for good service.

2. KEEP THEM MOIST! Get some medical eye drops and use them ALL THE TIME. the worst thing you can do afterwards is let your eyes get dry. Get some of the individual use ones and have them at work, school, church, anywhere you go so you can use them a lot.

3. WEAR SUNGLASSES! Her doctor said that anytime outside for a year to wear UV protecting sunglasses. DO IT.

Worked great for her and she has 20/20 in one eye and almst 20/20 in the other.. and she was BLIND before.

 

[slycat]

you said you're 20/30-40 now... do you wear glasses ?
can your eyes get progressively worse ?

why would i wear glasses? 20/20 is perfect...i'm 20/30-40 which is still really good. It fluctuates a bit but overall remain steady. only time i wear glasses is when driving highway at night. I just drove all the way from SF to LakeTahoe at night.

 

[slycat]

o yeh...as Drizzy said...i use eyedrops...daily.
never used to use any until after lasik.

i figure in about 10-20yrs i might go for another 'adjustment' to perfect it again. by that time the techno will have become flawless. but for 1grand now lasting me even 5-10yrs, can you complain?

 

[Drizzy]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: slycat
i had it like 4yrs ago.
only reason i jumped was coz my pal's sister was a optometrist and was working for a lasik doc.
she said he was good and she would check me to tell me if i was REALLY suitable or not.

process took 1 min. rooms were packed which was a good sign that word had gotten around that he
was very good. went back 6mths later and she said she could not even tell i had anything done...
meaning the healing was very complete.

i had very bad eyesight...legally blind. i believe i'm 20/30-40 now. Nightime vision suffered a little though...thats my side effect. Other than that, nothing else.

One of the best $1000 i ever spent..not only got rid of my super bad myopia..also got rid of my astigmatism.

you said you're 20/30-40 now... do you wear glasses ?
can your eyes get progressively worse ?

Your body isnt static so through the process of aging your eyes can get progressively worse - yes. But this same thing can happen to anyone... as we get older poorer eyesight is very common. Having lasik surgery doesnt guarantee good eyesight for life - nor will it ever because your body changes over time. It does put you to the same starting point that say, someone that has had great vision from birth is at. Both have great eyesight now but who knows in 20+ years of change in the body.

 

[Ender]

There is a 'no-touch' process out now that deals with Wavefront technology which peels off the cornea and sculptures the lens (or whatever they carve) based on your own personal lens curves so the process is as good as it can get. However, the price is like $2000-3000/eye so it's quite expensive. However, I hear the failure rate for such operations is really low.

BTW, do you have to use eye drops forever after the operation? Or just the first year? How often do you find yourself putting them in?

 

[Ameesh]

i had it done in april of this year, its been about 2 months for me now and my results are great, i have 20/15 vision and my night vision has completly cleared up.


I had my lasik surgery use the wavefront techonology in conjunction with intralase flap cutting


basically instead of using a blade to cut the flap open they use the intralase laser to cut smaller more precisie flap which help establish good correction and helps the eyes heal better.

as for the wavefront, well it scans the eye in a much more comprehensive way then traditional lasik does and the correction you get is based on the refreaction of your whole eyeball not just what you percieve.

my reuslts were excellent.

check out my thread, a lot of questions and answers in there: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=1287808


good luck, and remeber you will have to use tears for several months

after 2 months i dont really need them too much but my doc reccomends them for the first 3 months

 

[Rkonster]

I want CustomVue with Intralase!! I am too poor at the moment however.

 

[Drizzy]

Originally posted by: Ender
There is a 'no-touch' process out now that deals with Wavefront technology which peels off the cornea and sculptures the lens (or whatever they carve) based on your own personal lens curves so the process is as good as it can get. However, the price is like $2000-3000/eye so it's quite expensive. However, I hear the failure rate for such operations is really low.

BTW, do you have to use eye drops forever after the operation? Or just the first year? How often do you find yourself putting them in?

Havent heard about that technology but it doesnt surprise me. Its become such a HUGE money making industry that there is going to be tons of advances in the field. My fiance paid $2500 for both eyes to be done and didnt regret paying more than other places she had looked at because of the great care she received.

As for the eye drops - Well, her doctor told her that after the first six months to only put them in when she felt like it. For the first year or so her eyes felt somewhat dry everyday if she didnt put drops in so she would do it daily and just developed the habit. She still carries them around but doesnt use them every day... I'd say a few times a week now. IMO with lasik the first year you really have to baby your eyes. We did everything to the extreme and it seems like her eyes were able to respond and return to a completely normal state. I have talked to people that didnt really both with things after a few months and they have had problems with eyes being irritable and dry a lot and some even more complicated problems.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
good luck, and remeber you will have to use tears for several months

after 2 months i dont really need them too much but my doc reccomends them for the first 3 months

tears? do you mean eye drops?

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX

Originally posted by: Ameesh
good luck, and remeber you will have to use tears for several months

after 2 months i dont really need them too much but my doc reccomends them for the first 3 months

tears? do you mean eye drops?

yeah sorry the bottle calls them artficial tears so i have gotten into the habit of calling them that

 

[Drizzy]

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX

Originally posted by: Ameesh
good luck, and remeber you will have to use tears for several months

after 2 months i dont really need them too much but my doc reccomends them for the first 3 months

tears? do you mean eye drops?

Its a brand of eye drops.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Drizzy

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX

Originally posted by: Ameesh
good luck, and remeber you will have to use tears for several months

after 2 months i dont really need them too much but my doc reccomends them for the first 3 months

tears? do you mean eye drops?

Its a brand of eye drops.

the company is allergan, the brand is called Refresh Tears

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Rkonster
I want CustomVue with Intralase!! I am too poor at the moment however.

thats exactly what i got, its expensive but worth it. no sense in skimpping on your eyes

 

[Ender]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: Rkonster
I want CustomVue with Intralase!! I am too poor at the moment however.

thats exactly what i got, its expensive but worth it. no sense in skimpping on your eyes

Heh, I recall your post about the DLP television you bought for $10,000... you must be a heavy spender

 

[MillionaireNextDoor]

my bro had it done years ago. works. no more glasses or contacts.

 

[adelphi]

guess this has the same approach as skydiving, don't go cheap

 

[GoodToGo]

I want to do it as well, I have pretty weak eye sight

edit: I am waiting to hear about the long term effects.

 

[LordSnailz]

hey thanks for digging this thread up, I was also thinking about getting lasik this summer ... anyone in the bayarea has any recommendations for a good doctor?

 

[JavaMomma]

I had PRK laser eye surgery done last December.
I could have got Lasik but my eyes werent "that" bad so they told me both I would have excellent results with either. So, since the thought of slicing my eyes was freaky I got PRK done.
I have 20/15 vision now & have no night time side effects or anything. I do use Refresh Tears 1-2 times per day still. The Doc tells my i'll be on the drops for atleast another 6months.

 

[KK]

If your company has a medical savings plan, I believe you can use that to get the procedure cheaper(pre-tax savings). Next year I'm going to put a couple grand into one to get it done.

KK

 

[Rkonster]

From the research I have done, I would get CustomVue with Intralase.

 

[msparish]

My dad went in last October to get it done. Left eye was no problem, but when they were doing his right eye some particles in the air landed on his eye, so they had to stop and wash it out. As a result, he got some minor swelling, but enough to effect his vision (it would be decent in the morning, but get progressively worse throughout the day). The doctor had the eye heal up for about six months, and then did the procedure again, this time no problems. He is using drops quite regularly still, but he does love the final results.