LASIK pros and cons

[theswede]

I've been seriously considering a LASIK procedure to get my eyes to work for me instead of against me for quite some time. It started with me looking at the various pre-LASIK options available, and I was on the fence for a long time mostly due to the rather high incidence of side effects which I wouldn't find worth it. But LASIK promised to change

Comments

[ignorant_bliss]

Good luck! I've always been very apprehensive having anything done to my eyes. Even taking the eye pressure kind of freaks me out, and we did this to each other as medical students. I don't think I could get over this fear for vision correction surgery, no matter how low the odds of a complication. Not that I need it, anyway, I'm slightly far-sighted (hyperopic) and don't absolutely need glasses for anything, but looking at a computer screen is more pleasant with glasses. And my job sort of depends on excellent vision, so I would be afraid to risk it. But I know at least one radiologist who had her eyes operated, and she seems to be happy with the result.

[theswede]

I'm not squeamish about most anything, since I generally had worse, but my eyes are rather precious to me. But that's also why I want to do this; I have a few hobbies which require eye protection, and solving that together with prescription glasses is nigh impossible. And lenses just refuse to work well on me.

[theswede]

There's a new method in the works, known as IntraCOR (no idea if that is a brand name or a method name). It's currently tested for presbyopia but I would expect it's the next step for all kinds of eye correction. It's completely non-invasive, but since it's not even being clinically tested for the level of correction I need I'm not going to sit around and wait for it.

Might be of interest in a few decades when you start getting presbyopia. For me I doubt it will be of interest as I'll be wrecking my cornea with LASIK now. I don't want to sit on it for another decade. =)

[lostvirtue]

I've considered it as well... maybe in a few years. I love a love/hate relationship with my glasses. It would be hard to give them up.

My biggest issues are things that involve wearing a helmet (not bad, but not great), things like combat archery (yeah, I know) are really hard with glasses. And swimming/exercising. Even though you can get script goggles it's kind a pain in the ass. I don't know what it would be like to just "see" with no assistance in the morning. Also glasses don't go over to great in historical reenactment land and I can't tolerate contacts <- nerd.

I wonder how well this works on people with astigmatism, hmm researchy.

[theswede]

I have around -4 nearsightedness and around -1.5 astigmatism, and from my research this is considered a "light to medium" vision impairment for purposes of LASIK.

A friend just chimed in on Facebook, appears her eyes are slow at healing and one eye still has reduced vision after three months. I've read this is not uncommon, but I'm not averse to needing glasses for some things after the procedure anyway - I need glasses for *everything* now, which is rather annoying. As you note, for SCA and archery, as well as for airsoft, and training in general.

[theswede]

Ok, my eyes aren't quite that bad, but I have non-trivial astigmatism. Thanks for the insight, reading statistics is one thing, but knowing how it's gone over for others feels closer to home.

And gz on your nice pew pew eyes. ;)

[theswede]

That will match my bionic jaw, and take me one step closer to being a proper terminator!

[daliah]

exciting! ive been wanting to get lasik myself...my contacts are starting to really be a pain...literally...good luck!

[theswede]

Yeah, I tried lenses, but once more it turned out to be something my eyes don't like. Apparently I have big, cupped, eyeballs which lenses just don't fit well on. One kind just popped out when I blinked, which was rather disconcerting.

I'm sure correction methods will improve, but they're good enough now that I don't want to wait around. It's not like I'm getting any younger.

[lightning_rose]

I had lasik 10 years ago at the age of 46, and have had no regrets. I was nearsighted and had astigmatism, but I don't recall the numbers. I was warned that I would probably need reading glasses, and they were right.

Today, at distance, I still have 20/15 in my right eye, and 20/20 in my left. In bright sunlight I can read a newspaper without glasses, but at normal office lighting levels I need reading glasses at +1.5 to +2.0. And I have no noticeable astigmatism.

FWIW, my surgery was performed by Dr Manche (who I believe pretty much developed modern lasik) at the Stanford Eye Clinic.

http://eyelaser.stanford.edu/

[theswede]

Reading glasses will probably be a must for me too. If nothing else I'm way too used to picking out fine print without issue, so I will need a pair handy.