LASIK...Are You Happy?

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: The Battosai
i'll be happy when its free

 

[ShinmenTakezo]

Originally posted by: Jgtdragon
ShinmenTakezo,

I went to four doctors. One of which recommended me for PRK. I called his office asking why they told me its safer. I read online that prk is safer over lasik since no flap is cut but the recovery time is slower. But i relaly like wavefront advantage...is there wavefront prk? I rather suffer a little pain with prk than take risk with lasik.

PRK with Wavefront is available, it just depends on whether your doctor has the equipment for it. Were you a candidate for LASIK? Generally most ophthalmologists will recommend LASIK unless the patient requests otherwise, or they think you will benefit from PRK if you have a higher refractive error. It's just what they default to since that's what most people want a quicker recovery and it's the more well known procedure. The other doctors would probably be willing to perform PRK as well if you ask for it.

 

[Jgtdragon]

Originally posted by: ShinmenTakezo

Originally posted by: Jgtdragon
ShinmenTakezo,

I went to four doctors. One of which recommended me for PRK. I called his office asking why they told me its safer. I read online that prk is safer over lasik since no flap is cut but the recovery time is slower. But i relaly like wavefront advantage...is there wavefront prk? I rather suffer a little pain with prk than take risk with lasik.

PRK with Wavefront is available, it just depends on whether your doctor has the equipment for it. Were you a candidate for LASIK? Generally most ophthalmologists will recommend LASIK unless the patient requests otherwise, or they think you will benefit from PRK if you have a higher refractive error. It's just what they default to since that's what most people want a quicker recovery and it's the more well known procedure. The other doctors would probably be willing to perform PRK as well if you ask for it.

Yea, I am a candidate of lasik. The other three doctors offered wavefront to me. I left a message for the first doctor who recommended PRK and to see why he recommended that since the other 3 all recommended Lasik.

 

[Alchemist99]

Good thread. :thumbsup:

 

[TygGer]

I just reread the lasikrepot link that I posted earlier and came across this:

LASIK Results in Loss of Near Vision Patients are routinely misinformed that they will require reading glasses after the age of 40 whether they have LASIK or not. Nearsighted patients who do not have refractive surgery actually retain the ability to see up close naturally after the age of 40 simply by removing their glasses. LASIK increases the need for reading glasses by changing the eye?s focus from near to distance. The loss of near vision after myopic-LASIK affects many daily activities, not just reading. LASIK patients over the age of 40 may discover they have simply traded one pair of glasses for another.

Now I'm really confuse! Who do I believe?!?!

 

[Ackmed]

I am very happy with my Lasik. I got the "custom" version done. My contacts were -7.50 in both eyes, almost legally blind. My insurance paid for almost half of it, which they just started doing. My only complaint is, that my eyes are still dry in the morning. Like when you wake up in the morning with contacts. So I still use eye drops in the morning, but thats the only time. It so so so nice not to have to worry about contacts or glasses anymore.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

poll?

 

[ShinmenTakezo]

Originally posted by: TygGer
I just reread the lasikrepot link that I posted earlier and came across this:

LASIK Results in Loss of Near Vision Patients are routinely misinformed that they will require reading glasses after the age of 40 whether they have LASIK or not. Nearsighted patients who do not have refractive surgery actually retain the ability to see up close naturally after the age of 40 simply by removing their glasses. LASIK increases the need for reading glasses by changing the eye?s focus from near to distance. The loss of near vision after myopic-LASIK affects many daily activities, not just reading. LASIK patients over the age of 40 may discover they have simply traded one pair of glasses for another.

Now I'm really confuse! Who do I believe?!?!

I'm not sure what there is to believe or disbelieve. Presbyopia WILL occur in everyone with age. Your lens has some elasticity when you are young. The ciliary muscles in your eyes contract to flatten the lens to adjust focus. This is called accomodation. It's also why your eyes get tired when you read for long periods of time, it's your ciliary muscles constantly staying contracted. Your lens loses elasticity with age and you lose the ability to accomodate. People who get refractive surgery will need reading glasses as they age. Any competent ophthalmologist will make this abundantly clear during your consult. Honestly, other than reading fine print, there's not many other sitations where you'll need reading glasses. If you don't get refractive surgery, you'll need to wear glasses most of the time and remove them to read fine print. So you have a choice between corrected vision most of the time, and wearing reading glasses occasionally, or wearing glasses most of the time to function and removing them when you need to read. It's not that big a deal. My father is in his mid 50s and he has presbyopia. I'd say he wears his glasses 90% of the time and only removes them to read the paper or a menu at a restaurant. He wanted to get LASIK but his corneas were too thin.

There's 2 ways to deal with presbyopia. One option is to get corrected for monovision, which I explained in my original post. People with LASIK, if they can adjust to monovision, can just wear a contact in one eye corrected for near vision. They do this in people with 20/20 vision who are aging as well. There's also a surgical method to induce monovision called Conductive Keratoplasty or CK, which uses radiofrequency waves to heat the periphery of the eye and steepen the curvature of the eye for near vision. It's less invasive than a laser and also works for younger patients who are farsighted.

The statement you quoted is true, it's just blowing things out of proportion a bit. It mentions that there are "many" activities that require near vision other than reading but never actuall lists them.

 

[TygGer]

What there is to believe or disbelieve is:

1. The quoted statement says that, "Nearsighted patients who do not have refractive surgery actually retain the ability to see up close naturally after the age of 40 simply by removing their glasses. LASIK increases the need for reading glasses by changing the eye?s focus from near to distance."

People on the "other" forum say that by being near-sighted, you have built-in magnafying glasses and won't need reading glasses later in life.

2. What you said is similar to what the eye docs have told me. Presbyopia as nothing to do with what is corrected (or uncorrected) with lasik.

Shimmen, do you mind if I quote your explanation?

 

[ShinmenTakezo]

Originally posted by: TygGer

What there is to believe or disbelieve is:

1. The quoted statement says that, "Nearsighted patients who do not have refractive surgery actually retain the ability to see up close naturally after the age of 40 simply by removing their glasses. LASIK increases the need for reading glasses by changing the eye?s focus from near to distance."

People on the "other" forum say that by being near-sighted, you have built-in magnafying glasses and won't need reading glasses later in life.

Everyone has built in magnifying glasses. That's the function of your lens and cornea. The eyes of nearsighted people with presbyopia are stuck at near vision. The eyes of LASIK patients with presbyopia are stuck at far vision. It just depends which one you want . The only real issue I have with the statement is that "LASIK increases the need for reading glasses." This is a misrepresentation. Take a person who is nearsighted. If they do not get refractive surgery, they will get old and need to wear glasses all the time. They can remove them to read. If the same person had refractive surgery sometime in their life, they will get old and need reading glasses to read. I suppose you could call that an increase in the need for reading glasses. You just leave out the part about not needing regular glasses for however manys years of their lives until presbyopia develops. The benefit of refractive surgery is that patients are more likely to be able to be corrected for monovision later in life. This might not be possible for nearsighted patients since your eyes need to be within about 3 diopters of each other for monovision to work. Or you could get surgery to induce monovision while you're young and try to avoid this when you get older.

Also consider the term "nearsighted" encompasses a wide range in different people. Depending on their refractive error, some people may need to hold reading material at different distances from their face. If you're lucky, you can hold a book at a comfortable distance and still make it out. I was at -9.00 in both eyes. I literally had to have the words within an inch of my nose for it to be legible. That wasn't really how I was planning on reading in the later years of my life.

2. What you said is similar to what the eye docs have told me. Presbyopia as nothing to do with what is corrected (or uncorrected) with lasik.

Shimmen, do you mind if I quote your explanation?

I'm sorry, but I'd actually prefer you didn't. Since they're my words, I would feel obligated to back them up against the inevitable backlash they'd receive at the other message board, and I don't really have the time or patience to deal with that. Here, with ATOT, I know people are at least open to new information and discourse with regards to this subject. At the forums you posted, the general attitude towards LASIK is so fiercely negative that it would be like trying to have a discussion about politics or religion; a lot of back and forth, but at the end of the day nobody changes their mind.

 

[TygGer]

Shimmen,

Thx for the explanation. Let me ask you this... would you do lasik? Especially if your eyes are only -1.25 to -1.5 ???


On another note, I just spoke with one of my friends that said she was really happy with lasik and that it was one of the best things she's ever done. She admitted that she does occasionally get dry eyes, but it has gotten better since getting the surgery. Maybe this will improve to the point where dry eyes is longer an issue??? Or maybe the folks on the lasikflap forum are correct about permanently severing the nerves that help lubricate your eyes when they cut the flap. ????

I've never had dry eyes so this is worrying me. I don't know if dry eyes is bothersome enough to avoid lasik.

 

[Jgtdragon]

All seeing the doctors and do research on the internet. I have decided to do PRK Wavefront. No flaps for me.

 

[Reckoner]

Has anyone here had Lasik performed in the Massachusetts area?

 

[TygGer]

From what I've read thus far, it appears that dry eyes are inevitable. Some just don't notice that their eyes are dry because the nerves that sense dry eyes are severed during the operation. As time passes, some of these nerves regenerate and you begin to feel some sensation. At this point, I think this is where you start to feel your dry eyes.

A couple of the people I know admitted to having dry eyes occasionally. They said that it was still worth it...