Lasik eye surgery?

[Monkeyleg]

My distance vision has deteriorated to the point where it's unacceptable. I've been reading and hearing that Lasik surgery has come a long way.

I'd really rather not get glasses if I can avoid it, and for a number of reasons.

Has anyone here had the surgery and, if so, would you recommend it?

[Devonai]

I had it done in 2005.  I was warned that because I had large pupils, after the surgery my night vision would suffer as my fully dilated pupils would be larger than the corrected area.  They were right, and this phenomenon causes large halos and star patterns around directed light sources.  Still, as the initial overall results were fantastic, I was happy.  I tested 20/400 before, 20/15 after on the Sneller scale.

Over the next few years, however, my results dropped.  My left eye ended up at 20/25 and my right is now at 20/50 on a good day and 20/100 on a bad one.  My eye doctor at the VA says it looks like there's some minor scarring where the corneal flaps healed.  Unfortunately, short of a more advanced surgery down the road, there is nothing that can be done for me.

If the technology has progressed beyond the need to cut flaps in the cornea, then I say go for it.  Otherwise, enter into it with great caution.  I would rather have my $3000 back and be correctable to 20/20 with lenses than what I have now.

[Boomhauer]

I've heard way too many horror stories to risk my eyes on this...I could live with losing any sense BUT my eyesight...it is what I use for everything...aviation, shooting, reading...God, if I couldn't read...(I can't stand audio books)

[cosine]

Search the forum. We've had a number of threads about this topic, some with really good information in them.

[RevDisk]

My distance vision has deteriorated to the point where it's unacceptable. I've been reading and hearing that Lasik surgery has come a long way.

I'd really rather not get glasses if I can avoid it, and for a number of reasons.

Has anyone here had the surgery and, if so, would you recommend it?

Call up a dozen eye docs and ask em if they wear glasses.  Yes, I'm actually serious. 

Lasik has come a long way and is pretty routine.  Just research the ever lovin heck out of the doc you're thinking of going to.  Research, research, research.  I've pondered it myself.  I'm holding off as I can comfortably wear contact lenses and I'm still relatively young.  Maybe in ten years or so I'll consider Lasik.  After the procedure is very thoroughly mature.

[Fjolnirsson]

I had Lasik in 2001. I was legally blind uncorrected, 20/40 corrected. I started wearing glasses when I was in 1st grade, and my eyes had gotten progressively worse over the years. I was able to wear contacts, but those of you with allergies know that isn't always a good choice.
I was barely eligible for the surgery, and it set me back $3000. Insurance picked up the other half. Best thing I ever did for myself. My post-op test after 15 minutes put me at 20/35 uncorrected vision. Within six months, that had improved to 20/15, with my left eye slightly weaker than my right. I still have a slight stigmatism, which they couldn't correct at the time, so I wear glasses when I drive, just so it's easier to read signs and such. I'm told they can now fix that, as well.
As for halos, I had slight occurrences at night during the first six months, if I allowed my eyes to get dry. However, they were less than I was used to seeing with glasses, and after six months, they went away. Frequent use of eye drops during the healing period is a must.
I would absolutely do it again. If you are anywhere near Northern CA, I highly recommend Jeffrey Turner, of the Turner Eye Institute. They have offices in S.F. as well as San Leandro and Concord. Don't go cheap, research your doctor, and be aggressive.

[Jamisjockey]

My wife just had it done a few months ago.  She's testing better than 20/20. She still gets some night halos, but that has slowly gotten better and sounds like the most prominent side effect.  She went to a TLC eye center.

[HankB]

Call up a dozen eye docs and ask em if they wear glasses.  Yes, I'm actually serious. 

This is an EXCELLENT point . . .  if many eye doctors are still wearing glasses . . . if THEY won't have the surgery . . . why should I?

The majority of people have good results - well over 95%. BUT . . . there's still a small percentage who have problems. Even though I wear glasses with around 6 diopters of correction, I'm not eager to have someone carve on my eyes which are otherwise healthy.

I'll stick to glasses for now.

[Bigjake]

I had mine done in 06'.  Now my vision is better than 20/20,  best 3 grand I ever spent.  The place in Cleveland I got mine done at will correct your eyes later in life for free if you maintain an annual eye exam.   

I had halos for the first few months, but after that they went away.  The whole key to minimalizing screwups is to get the corneal flap cut with a laser, not a micro-keretome blade.  When I did my orientation, they said thats where over 90% of the complications come from.  it costs a bit more, but IMO well worth it.

YMMV, but for me getting away from prescription glasses has been the best thing ever.  You know how great it is to be able to grab a pair of cheap safety/sunglasses off the counter from a hardwear store and not worry about if they're gonna fit over your scrip??  Good stuff man. 

[lupinus]

Personally I'm still a bit off on the idea and while the percentage for bad results/screw ups is fairly low it's still higher then I'd like it to be.

I choose to go with extended wear contacts that stay in for a month, and the modern ones are of very good quality.  The extended wears are also now in torics if you have astigmatism.  I personally love them and other then needing to change them out once a month or occasionally needing to adjust one if I rub my eye the wrong way, I can't see how they are any worse then lasik with the risks and halos.

[Firethorn]

If the technology has progressed beyond the need to cut flaps in the cornea, then I say go for it.  Otherwise, enter into it with great caution.  I would rather have my $3000 back and be correctable to 20/20 with lenses than what I have now.

Actually, the corneal flap thing is the NEWER technique.  The older just blasted right through.  Before that was PRK, which has a longer and more painful recovery period, though faster total healing - as the flap either never heals or takes an extremely long time to do so.

My experience was being declined a couple years back.  Due to how large my corneas are and the sheer amount of correction needed, they judged that I wouldn't have enough depth left.

I have halos now - but there's a good shot that they'd be worse under current-gen LASIK.

I'm keeping an eye out - I'd definitely be going for the most advanced laser if I ever decide to take the plunge again.  I'd like to be able to read my alarm clock without reaching for my glasses.

[Antibubba]

You know the guys who advertise that they'll do each eye for $399?  Avoid them like a vegan avoids steak!  With LASIK, you really do get what you pay for.

I only had my right eye done--left eye is 20/50--but otherwise Fjolnirsson's experience is very similar to mine, except I had to have a touch up six month's later, which was part of the package.  The haloes bothered me at first, but they've diminished, and, as the surgeons pointed out to me, the haloes in my untouched eye are worse!!  Having them there for so long I never noticed them.

I'm due back in a few weeks.  I may need to get driving glasses to help with my left eye.

The best part?  I'm right-eye dominant, so my mediocre shooting has gotten a lot better* now that that eye has near-perfect vision.


*I can hit the narrow side of the barn, too!

[macpherson]

I would seriously look into PRK if it's possible.  It offers you the same level of correction as lasik, but since there is no flap you will have no issues with halos and scarring.  It definitely has a longer recovery period and isn't completely painless (from what I understand), but it would be worth it to me in order to have intact retinas.  Do some research on lasik vs prk, and you'll find that lasik doesn't really offer any benefits over prk other than the in-and-out 15 minute procedure, which is what our culture of instant gratification wants.  Also, do a lot of checking on the place to have the procedure, since a lot of them are very heavily into marketing and financing options to get people in the door...frankly I would never consider a place that markets an invasive eye procedure with "6mo financing or buy 1 eye get the 2nd free", like it's a car dealership or something.  Bottom line is, you only have one pair of eyes, and I'd rather lose both arms than have my eyes messed up for the rest of my life.

[Lennyjoe]

Wish I could have it done. I have what they call a "lazy eye" on the right side. Last I was told is that it is uncorrectable. Even prescription lenses don't help.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I choose to go with extended wear contacts that stay in for a month, and the modern ones are of very good quality.  The extended wears are also now in torics if you have astigmatism.  I personally love them and other then needing to change them out once a month or occasionally needing to adjust one if I rub my eye the wrong way, I can't see how they are any worse then lasik with the risks and halos.

There are risks associated with wearing contacts, too.  I read somewhere about a recent study comparing the risks wearing contacts against the risks of LASIK.  The conclusion was that wearing contacts for 30 years carries an equal risk for serious uncorrectable eye problems as having LASIK done.  Also, contacts carried a much, much higher risk of temporary "annoyance" type eye issues.

FWIW

[Balog]

There are alternatives to Lasik and PRK. Do a search as cosine mentioned, and you'll find some great info.

[MillCreek]

Wish I could have it done. I have what they call a "lazy eye" on the right side. Last I was told is that it is uncorrectable. Even prescription lenses don't help.

You are absolutely right about this.  I was born 48 years ago with bilateral crossed eyes.  This led to amblyopia, or lazy eye.  The problem is that the brain never develops the neurological connections to one of the eyes, to suppress the double vision caused by crossed eyes.  There is no surgery or corrective lenses that can fix this.

[Balog]

Wish I could have it done. I have what they call a "lazy eye" on the right side. Last I was told is that it is uncorrectable. Even prescription lenses don't help.

You are absolutely right about this.  I was born 48 years ago with bilateral crossed eyes.  This led to amblyopia, or lazy eye.  The problem is that the brain never develops the neurological connections to one of the eyes, to suppress the double vision caused by crossed eyes.  There is no surgery or corrective lenses that can fix this.

How does that affect your daily life?

[AJ Dual]

I had mine done in 06'.  Now my vision is better than 20/20,  best 3 grand I ever spent.  The place in Cleveland I got mine done at will correct your eyes later in life for free if you maintain an annual eye exam.   

I had halos for the first few months, but after that they went away.  The whole key to minimalizing screwups is to get the corneal flap cut with a laser, not a micro-keretome blade.  When I did my orientation, they said thats where over 90% of the complications come from.  it costs a bit more, but IMO well worth it.

YMMV, but for me getting away from prescription glasses has been the best thing ever.  You know how great it is to be able to grab a pair of cheap safety/sunglasses off the counter from a hardwear store and not worry about if they're gonna fit over your scrip??  Good stuff man. 

This is key.

Dick, in the Milwaukee metro, Dr. Lanny Hale is the one with the flap-cutting laser technology. And he is/was a non-elective eye surgeon at the eye clinic at Froedtert/County doing cataract and glaucoma work for a lot longer than LASIK has been around.

I checked out two other clinics where I got very inconsistent answers and results, and his was the one I was going to go with. After mentioning the wildly different things the other two clinics told me, they ran me through an extra battery of tests, and thier normal testing was much more through as well.

The Intralase laser that cuts the flap does so with computer precision, and it fits back in your eye like a manhole cover, rather than a thin slice across the face of a melon, which heals better, and it's perfection allows you to achive more perfection from the actual correction done with the second laser.

He's twice the price of the other clinics because of the second flap cutting laser, but IMO it's worth it. I was all set to go until my daughters unexpected medical bills sucked up all my pre-tax medical flex dollars for the year. I still want to get it done, and it's where I'll go when I can.

[MillCreek]

Wish I could have it done. I have what they call a "lazy eye" on the right side. Last I was told is that it is uncorrectable. Even prescription lenses don't help.

You are absolutely right about this.  I was born 48 years ago with bilateral crossed eyes.  This led to amblyopia, or lazy eye.  The problem is that the brain never develops the neurological connections to one of the eyes, to suppress the double vision caused by crossed eyes.  There is no surgery or corrective lenses that can fix this.

How does that affect your daily life?

During the early 60's, the state of the art was to not do surgery to uncross the eyes until the child was six years old or so.  I had mine at age six.  Nowadays, they do the surgery at about two weeks of age, just to avoid the amblyopia problem.  The upshot is I am essentially blind out of one eye.  One of the reasons I wear glasses is to help protect my good eye from impact, debris or the like.  If anything ever happened to my good eye, I could not drive, read, ride my bicycle or really do anything requiring vision. 

[Lennyjoe]

How does that affect your daily life?

For me, not much.  My left eye is 20/15 so I guess my nugget compensated for the weak right eye. 

I wear glasses now more to protect my left eye than anything.  My left eye has gotten a little stigmatism but is correctable with minimal lenses. 

Doc said if I lose my left eye that I'll be handicapped.  Reason enough for me to protect my left eye from here on out. 

[taurusowner]

I got LASIK done in October of 07, right after I got out of Basic/AIT.  My contact prescription was -7.25 in each eye before getting it done.  Now I have better than 20/20 and the halos that I had for the first month are gone.  One of the best decisions I have ever made.

/the flap was cut with the laser, not the micro-keretome.  That is indeed an important part.

[Antibubba]

Monkeyleg, I'd wait for the current string of bad luck to end before commiting to surgery.