What's the latest on laser-corrective eye-surgery?

[adlep]

I got LASEK done in 07
No regrets. Overall quality of the eyesight is excellent. No side effects. Perfect.

 

[OlafSicky]

I got LASEK done in 07
No regrets. Overall quality of the eyesight is excellent. No side effects. Perfect.

My first reaction is I don't believe you. Many people say they have side effects like dry eyes for the rest of their lives or halos blurred vision.
Or their eyesight getting worse after time.

The few people I know irl have had problems. I would think that dry eyes and having to use eye drops is a big deal.
I actually think that most of you that say they have no side effects are full of it .

 

[masterxfob]

Thread awesome and helpful. Thanks!

I avoided it when it was new because it had no known long term side effects. The regression thing isintersting.

But knowign of the risks, I'll wait another 10 years to see if things clear up.

+1

 

[Fenixgoon]

check out ortho-k contact lenses. they are like temporary braces for your eyes. they are a type of rigid gas-permeable lens ("hard" contact lens) that you wear to sleep. the lenses physically reshape the cornea to a "perfect" shape. the effects typically last 24-48hrs before you need to wear the lenses again. since you wear the lenses to sleep, you don't have to worry about going in the water or losing lenses during strenuous activity. since the lens physically reshapes the cornea, rather than acting as an actual lens, it can significantly slow or even stop the regression of your eyesight.

over the past 6 years, i've had the same pair of contact lenses. my eyesight has changed by the smallest amount that my optometrist can measure.

another benefit to ortho-k is that you are not removing corneal tissue in any way. so if you decide to get laser surgery later in life, you still have a full layer of corneal tissue to work with, rather than a reduced amount from a prior laser surgery.

i dont know the limitations of ortho-k lenses, but i'm extremely happy with them (12+ years wearing them) and highly recommend you find out whether you would be eligible for them.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

check out ortho-k contact lenses. they are like temporary braces for your eyes. they are a type of rigid gas-permeable lens ("hard" contact lens) that you wear to sleep. the lenses physically reshape the cornea to a "perfect" shape. the effects typically last 24-48hrs before you need to wear the lenses again. since you wear the lenses to sleep, you don't have to worry about going in the water or losing lenses during strenuous activity. since the lens physically reshapes the cornea, rather than acting as an actual lens, it can significantly slow or even stop the regression of your eyesight.

over the past 6 years, i've had the same pair of contact lenses. my eyesight has changed by the smallest amount that my optometrist can measure.

another benefit to ortho-k is that you are not removing corneal tissue in any way. so if you decide to get laser surgery later in life, you still have a full layer of corneal tissue to work with, rather than a reduced amount from a prior laser surgery.

i dont know the limitations of ortho-k lenses, but i'm extremely happy with them (12+ years wearing them) and highly recommend you find out whether you would be eligible for them.

Hmm... interesting. But isn't it uncomfortable to wear the lens to sleep?

And have you tried hard contact lens before your ortho-k? If you have, how does it compare? Also, what do you mean by eligible? I guess it only works for people with slightly bad eye sights?

 

[Fenixgoon]

Hmm... interesting. But isn't it uncomfortable to wear the lens to sleep?

And have you tried hard contact lens before your ortho-k? If you have, how does it compare? Also, what do you mean by eligible? I guess it only works for people with slightly bad eye sights?

nope, have my lenses in right now before hitting the hay. you clean them and then put some specialized solution on and they're super comfortable. sometimes i forget they're even there.

i never had any contacts (soft or hard) before my ortho-k lenses. the first time i put my contacts in they did hurt, but i think that's true of all contacts...not that i would know though since i've only had 1 type 😛 but once my eyes got used to them (fairly quickly) it was fine.

eligible = able to correct your eyes within the limits of the current state of ortho-k technology. it only works up to a certain level of degradation, and i think there are limits on how much of an astigmatism you can have as well.

FWIW my natural vision is 20/150 in one eye and 20/200 in the other, but my ortho-k lenses correct both to 20/20 (i think it's closer to 20/30 now...same lenses for 6 years. my doctor said i really didn't need to change lenses unless i wanted. i'll do that after i get back from long-term work travel)

 

[snarfbot]

my friend got it done about 10 years ago, his eyesight is real shitty now..

 

[skillyho]

Hey - in this tough economy you gotta diversify your business.



I haven't had good luck with them. I don't know if my eyes are dryer than normal bad batch or what but they got suction cupped to my eyeballs

This happened to me last night.....first time wearing contacts.....was horribad.

Got them in and took them out at the Doc's office...put them back in once more and wore them the rest of the day. Tried to take them out last night before bed and they were stuck on. 2 hours, half a bottle of eye drops and multiple failed attempts later I just went to bed with them in. I was waiting at the Optometrist first thing this AM and he had to get them out for me, and it even took him a few minutes. My eyes still hurt...

Ordered a new pair of glasses after that ordeal. Eff contacts.

 

[Deeko]

My first reaction is I don't believe you. Many people say they have side effects like dry eyes for the rest of their lives or halos blurred vision.
Or their eyesight getting worse after time.

The few people I know irl have had problems. I would think that dry eyes and having to use eye drops is a big deal.
I actually think that most of you that say they have no side effects are full of it .

You're funny.

 

[KeithTalent]

Everyone I know who has done this either still has to wear glasses at certain times, for reading or whatever, or have to use eyedrops on a daily basis due to dryness, so no way I am getting this done until all of that sort of stuff is resolved. Also glasses help hide the ugly, so I will continue to wear them for that reason alone.

KT

 

[Ausm]

I had PRK done in Sept. 2011. It's similar to LASIK except there's no flap. They remove the epithelium, the very top layer of the eye's surface, apply the laser, then give you a bandage contact lens to wear while the epithelium regrows. Once it regrows there's no flap, scar, etc.

I had PRK because my corneas were too thin for LASIK, given the amount of correction I required.

The healing time for PRK is much longer than LASIK. With LASIK people typically wake up the next day with 20/20 or 20/15 vision, based on what I read and was told. With PRK, it took me a month to reach that point. I think it took me a week before my vision recovered to the point I was comfortable driving, but YMMV. The doctor told me before the procedure that it can take awhile to reach your best vision with PRK.

Other than the long healing time, I didn't experience much in the way of side effects. My eyes would occasionally be dry as far out as 6 months after the procedure, but again the doctor told me before the procedure that this was to be expected. My eyes didn't even really feel dry most of the time. I only knew they were dry because lights would look distorted at night, which was caused by the tear film on the surface of my eye breaking up. After the 6 month point, my eyes felt just as they did before the procedure.

I do experience a little bit of the starburst/halo effect, but it's only on certain types of lights and only in extremely dark conditions. It's not noticeable enough to have an impact on my activities in any way. I usually don't even notice it now unless I specifically try and look for it.

I was nervous going into the procedure and into the initial phase of the recovery period, but overall I think it was worth it. I just had an eye exam last week and still tested at 20/15.

I chose the doctor carefully. One of my good friends went to him, so I was able to ask him lots of questions before the procedure. I even spoke to two eye doctors who themselves had their LASIK done by this particular doctor and now refer patients to him, so the comment that "no eye doctors ever have LASIK done" isn't true in general.

D😱_O

Holyhell and I thought I was bad!

 

[Dryst999]

I had custom wavefront LASIK one month ago. I was -8/-9 with a small astigmatism. Luckily I had thick corneas (565mm was the thinnest spot)so I was still a candidate for LASIK.

So far my results have been amazing. I saw 20/20 in both eyes in my follow up appointment the day after. Just went to my 1 month post op and i'm now seeing 20/15 in both eyes. The dryness has gotten alot better and I only notice it when I first wake up, i'm still putting in eye drops 4 or 5 times a day, but I stare at a PC screen for 10-14hours daily. Night vision is definitely worse, but it's getting better as time goes on, my night vision was horrible to begin with.

I would do it over in a heart beat, i've worn glasses/contacts since I was 5. I couldn't believe that they were able to correct the amount of correction I needed to give me perfect vision.

 

[Wingznut]

Everyone I know who has done this either still has to wear glasses at certain times, for reading or whatever...

Lasik had nothing to do with reading glasses. That is simply a matter of age, and (currently) there is nothing that can be done to reverse that.

 

[Chapbass]

Anyone done this that has had dry eyes BEFORE the procedure? My eyes are very dry (my doc was amazed at how quickly the tears drained). Because of this, I have a lot of trouble with contacts (and even sometimes without contacts).

I used to wear contacts in college, but I didn't have glasses back then and wore them WAY too much (7am-2am a lot of the time) and really screwed up my eyes. Now I wear glasses all the time, and when I try contacts I have a lot of trouble with them. Tried a lot of different brands, no luck.

I've started taking omega3 supplements and lots of eye drops, and that seems to be helping a little bit, and I've talked to my doc about trying punctal plugs to have less tear drainage, but not sure about that yet.

I'd love to get lasik, but my dry eyes make me very worried that something would go wrong, they wouldn't heal right, or my dry eyes would even get worse (which I know is common).

Any thoughts?

 

[Brainonska511]

This happened to me last night.....first time wearing contacts.....was horribad.

Got them in and took them out at the Doc's office...put them back in once more and wore them the rest of the day. Tried to take them out last night before bed and they were stuck on. 2 hours, half a bottle of eye drops and multiple failed attempts later I just went to bed with them in. I was waiting at the Optometrist first thing this AM and he had to get them out for me, and it even took him a few minutes. My eyes still hurt...

Ordered a new pair of glasses after that ordeal. Eff contacts.

You're doing it wrong.

When I first got contacts, the doc told me to wear them for only 2-4 hours the first day, then build up over time to the maximum wear time.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

check out ortho-k contact lenses. they are like temporary braces for your eyes. they are a type of rigid gas-permeable lens ("hard" contact lens) that you wear to sleep. the lenses physically reshape the cornea to a "perfect" shape. the effects typically last 24-48hrs before you need to wear the lenses again. since you wear the lenses to sleep, you don't have to worry about going in the water or losing lenses during strenuous activity. since the lens physically reshapes the cornea, rather than acting as an actual lens, it can significantly slow or even stop the regression of your eyesight.

over the past 6 years, i've had the same pair of contact lenses. my eyesight has changed by the smallest amount that my optometrist can measure.

another benefit to ortho-k is that you are not removing corneal tissue in any way. so if you decide to get laser surgery later in life, you still have a full layer of corneal tissue to work with, rather than a reduced amount from a prior laser surgery.

i dont know the limitations of ortho-k lenses, but i'm extremely happy with them (12+ years wearing them) and highly recommend you find out whether you would be eligible for them.

I'm an Ortho-K wearer since 1995. I think as a kid it's useful to have because your vision is changing left and right.

Since I turned 18 I've seen little movement in my eyes, although around 23/24 I had a jump in one eye.

Personally I don't like ortho-k and I'm considering Lasik or at least moving to soft lenses. Ortho-k distorts your vision and so after you take off your lenses, you have decent vision, but it changes rapidly. By the next morning you wake up, vision is different. I can't wear regular glasses it seems. The vision isn't a steady regression after taking off your lenses because your eyes are a bit distorted, so it's a weird regression. My vision with glasses is just as bad immediately after taking off my contacts versus 8 hours later after sleep. Yet without lenses I can notice a steady drop.

This is pretty annoying because I can't really take out my lenses and enjoy contact-free vision the same way my gf does with her soft lenses.

I dunno. It's worked well for me in the past, but I'm really thinking I need to move on. I've also heard horror stories with Ortho-K, and I'd rather not screw up my eyes. I feel that astigmatism has gotten pretty bad in one of my eyes, but who knows? No one ever tests your vision without lenses, and it's not like I'm going to go a day or two without my contacts to see how bad my true vision is. I'll never know what my natural vision is until I switch to soft lenses.

Oh and I hate losing lenses. I just lost a pair a month back and switched to a pair 2 years ago. I guess it works fine, but I feel the fit isn't there. I need to go to my optometrist to figure things out but I've been traveling personally and for work these past 2 months so haven't had time. Ugh. It's kinda annoying.

 

[Apex]

Going in for Lasik consultation tomorrow morning. 🙂 Pretty excited.

 

[Kev]

I had 6 months ago. It changed my life for the worst, despite having the best doctor I could find with all the newest equipment. I get halos at medium lighting conditions. I can never comfortably watch a movie or the TV again.

I was -6/-7 before. I'm 20/15 and 20/40 now (in good lighting), but the side effects completely outweigh the benefits. In a room with dim lighting it's a mess - the lights explode all over everything. When I go swing dancing in a ballroom I can't see people's faces. There are also tons of floaters in my eye now (the suction device affects the vitreous fluid in your eye... they don't tell you that and so far no lasik doctors list that as a possible side effect despite dozens upon dozens of claims people filed with the FDA). It makes it very distracting to read computer monitors and bright paper.

After reading horror stories, I got off easy, despite having it on my mind most of the day how distracting my vision is. Some people after the surgery are barely functional. There are times when I saw "wow, my vision is awesome right now." For every time I think that, there are 50 times I think "my vision is messed up." I think I'll eventually get used to it and the distraction will decrease. It still won't be worth it.

Lasik is not documented, unlike most medical procedures (due to insurance). If a surgeon permanently messes up someone's vision, who records it? No one. I remember reading threads like these and dismissing the few that had complications. I wish I hadn't.

You're rolling the dice. Good luck.

I was incredibly close to getting lasik done a few months ago -- then I started reading the horror stories and canceled my appointment. My vision isn't horrible and I can get by with glasses, so even if it's only a 1% risk it's not worth it... especially when it's my eyes.

 

[The_Dude8]

anyone heard of femto Lasik?

http://www.visionclinic.be/en/info/news_femto-lasik.php

 

[VulgarDisplay]

This is why I will never have LASIK.

 

[akshatp]

This is why I will never have LASIK.

Reason not found.

If you had cancer and needed an operation that required opening you up inside out, would you refuse it because a picture of it looks scary?