Lasik/Laser Eye Surgery?
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I had it done in 2002. It took about 90 seconds per eye and my vision was 20/20 the next morning when I went for my follow up appointment. I was pretty much blind without glasses or contacts before lasik.0
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Best money I have ever spent. I had it done August 5th, 2005. Never once regretted it. I had PRK done in my L eye and lasik in my R eye. Would do it again in a heartbeat.0
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5 years for me, wish I had it done sooner,
Afterwards I had an adjustment period for about 4 to 5 months where I needed to wear -1 prescription lenses for night time driving.0 -
I had it done in 2007. So glad I did. My vision in my good eye was 20/400. Now both are 20/15. No problems at all, just make sure you follow all the pre and post-op instructions.0
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Had it done last September, wish I would have done it years sooner! My procedure took about 19 seconds per eye and I could already see better seconds after it was done.
I'm 45 so I know at some point I will still need to wear reading glasses but for now, it's so great not having to wear any!0 -
Thanks for your stories everyone. The thought of something lasering my eyes is terrifying!
I'm so sick of wearing glasses though. I just want to run in the rain and be able to see!0 -
I've had laser surgery. I had been seeing flashes of light and went to my doctor, he referred me to a specialist who got me in half an hour later, examined me, told me my retina was beginning to detach and rushed me into immediate surgery. Didn't have time to be afraid. It didn't actually hurt, though it was uncomfortable, but far better than losing my sight due to a detached retina.
I didn't do it to be able to give up glasses... I didn't want to lose my vision.0 -
I am so jealous of you guys that have had it done! If I take out my contacts or take my glasses off I am pretty much blind. I couldn't tell who was standing right in front of me.
I am 21 and my optometrist says I want be able to get it until I am 25 because my eyes are still worsening every year at the moment.0 -
I had laser about 10 years ago. It took 10 minutes and after a good 24h rest I was good to go. Had dry eyes for a couple of months, but after that no complaints. Had perfect vision ever since, and I'm truly happy I had it done.
And I agree with the other posters: the thought may be terrifying but the procedure is in no way painful nor scary. Just listen to the doc and "look at the light"
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It's been probably about 12 years now. It was worth every penny. My eyes were so bad I couldn't read the big E on the eye chart.
The procedure was nothing, I did get two Ativan so that helped, but looking back the idea of it was more scary than the actual procedure. I could read the clock in the waiting room when I left. It took a couple of weeks for my vision to be completely normal again, which I was told was normal during healing. Some things would be clear, others fuzzy.
They told me not to expect 20/20 vision due to how bad my eyes were but I would be able to see pretty well without glasses. I ended up with better than 20/20 vision and no problems since.0 -
My eye sight is bad. I'd never get this surgery.
A) There are no guarantees. If I wind myself up into a state where I hate glasses/contacts that are as natural to me as brushing my teeth or showering daily, I'd be really really disappointed if the surgery would merely bring me closer to zero, yet I'd still have to use the glasses and contacts. And I save the money, too; glasses and contacts will never be as expensive as that surgery, in particular if I've paid for surgery, then end up paying for what I was running away from too.
I wouldn't want to mess with this surgery because nothing is fool proof. If I get glaucoma later in life, I'd want to be able to have surgery rather than go blind, but if I've had Lasik surgery, the glaucoma surgery may not be possible. Rather glasses and contacts than risk blindness. Plus glasses can be quite hot. 0 -
I strongly recommend visiting an opthomologist first. I have a rare disease called keratoconus that was only diagnosed about 15 years ago. If I had had laser surgery in my twenties, like I considered, I would be blind now, or would have had to have two corneal transplants from donors. There may be other conditions that might put you at risk also. It's worth it to be sure before you go ahead, I think.0
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I like my glasses/lenses too much to consider it. I can rock the geek look!0
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I got PRK, and I can now see 20/15. Only thing bad I can't say about it is my eyes are sensitive as far as rubbing them or getting something in my eye. Your cornea is a lot thinner therefore a lot more sensitive.0
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I got PRK, and I can now see 20/15. Only thing bad I can't say about it is my eyes are sensitive as far as rubbing them or getting something in my eye. Your cornea is a lot thinner therefore a lot more sensitive.
A fellow PRKer!!!
As far as seeing an ophthalmologist... Honestly, anyone performing lasik should be an ophthalmologist. No optometrist should ever be performing lasik. I don't know their scope of practice. But, I am a nurse, and I am willing to bet lasik is not within the scope of practice of an optometrist. If you ever find an optometrist performing lasik, run far far away... Anyone performing lasik should have MD or DO behind their name.
Edited: I said DO.. not OD (that's an optometrist)... lol0 -
I got PRK, and I can now see 20/15. Only thing bad I can't say about it is my eyes are sensitive as far as rubbing them or getting something in my eye. Your cornea is a lot thinner therefore a lot more sensitive.
A fellow PRKer!!!
As far as seeing an ophthalmologist... Honestly, anyone performing lasik should be an ophthalmologist. No optometrist should ever be performing lasik. I don't know their scope of practice. But, I am a nurse, and I am willing to bet lasik is not within the scope of practice of an optometrist. If you ever find an optometrist performing lasik, run far far away... Anyone performing lasik should have MD or DO behind their name.
+1
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Definitely need to check with your eye doctor to see if you're a good candidate.
Unfortunately, I'm not. Nearsighted, farsighted, & astigmatism in both eyes. LASIK can fix one issue but I'd still need glasses for the others.0 -
Best thing I ever did, and it has been 12 years for me. Before it I could only see 2 feet away, now better than 20/20. Fixed my astigmatism too. It was really quick and painless, but you have to be very vigilant with the after care. I had no problems at all. I do have to wear reading glasses but that is from age as well as the large correction they had to make.0
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Bump!0
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Lasik in one eye, and PRK in the other. Had to get the PRK because of a super minor complication o0n the day of my surgery. They cut the second flap just a little too thin, apparently it happens to about 1 in 300 people. Lucky me.
I do find my eyes are a bit more sensitive to light now, like bright sunshine, but that may just be from getting used to wearing sunglasses while recovering. But you should be wearing sunglasses when you're outside anyways, so not really a problem at all.
DO IT 0 -
I had LASIK done last summer and frankly it ruined my night vision. I get halos of light, starbursts, and double vision in my left eye whenever I'm in low light or looking at something dark like a movie. Apparently lots of people get this problem post-surgery but doctors write them off, and mine's done the same he claims my eyes are dry and I need to constantly put drops in my eyes. I may have 20/20 vision but I can't drive at night and I can't sit in a movie theater without constantly blinking the whole film because I can't see. It also gets worse if I'm tired or haven't had enough sleep or have been reading for too long.0
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I like my glasses/lenses too much to consider it. I can rock the geek look!
Lucky you. A lot of people can rock glasses, I can't. They just don't suit me. I had worn my contacts so long/so frequently that I was not allowed to wear them anymore.
Plus, I needed my vision for my job so that sealed the deal.0 -
Best $2000 I ever spent.
Get "Surface Laser" Lasek (sometimes known as PRK or ASL).
Avoid Lasik. It's the older technique which leaves the flap in the eye that can come loose.
Lasek has a longer post-surgery recovery time, you'll spend 2-4 days feeling gritty and sore in your eyes, as well as a longer overall healing time, but the flap risk with Lasik was far too great for me to even consider that.
I ended up with better than 20/20 vision. No side effects, no night driving problems, no starbursts or halos or anything, mine went perfectly. I wrote a long write-up on another forum, here are the crib notes (I had this done 3 years ago in July 2011):
Friday: Did the surgery. After a few final checks by the doctors in charge, the procedure went eye scrubbed, kept open with a tool, then lasered, smell of ozone, crackling laser, it's something of a weird experience since you don't know what's gonna happen, but the second was fine. The eyes getting flushed with ice cold saline was more of a shock than the actual surgery.
There are a variety of drugs to help get through it (digesic, xanax, valium).
Saturday: Had valium to help sleep and dull the pain, it was extremely hard to read or write or do anything, my eyes felt like sandpaper.
Sunday: The grit feeling was gone, one eye was healing better than the other, no side effects at all. Pain was pretty much gone, the valium resulted in an extremely weird dream involving a tv actress.
Monday was fine, Tuesday I went to get the post-op contact taken out. A few days later I accidentally scratched my eye and was in a lot of pain but it eventually cleared up.
6 weeks later after going through the post-op eye drops and so on, I was happy with my vision, but it got even better over the months later.0 -
Best $2000 I ever spent.
Get Lasek (sometimes known as PRK or ASL).
Avoid Lasik. It's the older technique which leaves the flap in the eye that can come loose.
PRK is the predecessor to Lasik.0 -
I had LASIK done last summer and frankly it ruined my night vision. I get halos of light, starbursts, and double vision in my left eye whenever I'm in low light or looking at something dark like a movie. Apparently lots of people get this problem post-surgery but doctors write them off, and mine's done the same he claims my eyes are dry and I need to constantly put drops in my eyes. I may have 20/20 vision but I can't drive at night and I can't sit in a movie theater without constantly blinking the whole film because I can't see. It also gets worse if I'm tired or haven't had enough sleep or have been reading for too long.
I have these same issues.
I can no longer read without glasses.
My vision is such that I'll be needing glasses again, albeit a much weaker prescription than before.
I wouldn't do it again.0 -
My eyes were too bad for LASIK, but I was a candidate for ILCs (Implantable Collamer Lenses), which I got last spring. Basically in a nutshell they made a small incision in my cornea under twilight sedation, implanted lenses under my corneas, and sent me home. I went home, went to bed, woke up four hours later and had perfect vision. While the actual procedure was scary, it all went fine and I had nothing to worry about, it was all in my head. I've loved it ever since and have had no problems.
The upside to ICLs is that they are removable (in case of glaucoma or cataracts or other eye problems later in life) whereas lasering is permanent. With ICLs there's no eye dryness or itchiness, and no irritation.
I did have mild halos around lights at night, but it never caused more than mild annoyance, and it went away after a few months. It's totally gone, now.
ICLs are quite a bit more expensive, it was about 3k per eye (because it's a full procedure, with anesthesia and sedation and all that). I used last year's tax return to pay it all up front so I didn't have to finance it. My husband and I figured if the cost of ICLs was going to keep us from having to buy new contacts and glasses for the rest of my life, it'd be worth it. And it has, 100% been worth every penny and more.0 -
Best $2000 I ever spent.
Get Lasek (sometimes known as PRK or ASL).
Avoid Lasik. It's the older technique which leaves the flap in the eye that can come loose.
PRK is the predecessor to Lasik.
I know. But some places call their Lasek "PRK".0 -
I had Lasik done 15 years ago. My eyesight was bad enough that if I put my glasses down, I needed glasses to find them again. I'm very glad I had it done. I had no astigmatism and thick corneas, so my risks later in life should still be acceptable. I have 20/20 vision, no problem with needing reading glasses, and while I had really dry eyes for a few years it has gotten better. I only need eye drops first thing in the morning, but that is also because I conditioned myself to never, ever rub my eyes. Allergy season makes the eyes itchy, and made it so that contacts were never an option for me. Lasik really helped. I don't regret it at all.0
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Best $2000 I ever spent.
Get Lasek (sometimes known as PRK or ASL).
Avoid Lasik. It's the older technique which leaves the flap in the eye that can come loose.
PRK is the predecessor to Lasik.
I know. But some places call their Lasek "PRK".
Sorry, my comprehension was off. I focused on you saying Lasik was older than PRK.
But even so, PRK and Lasek are similar, but not the same thing. Lasek is the hybrid version (basically) of Lasik and PRK. If some place is calling Lasek PRK, then you might want to recheck that.0 -
My eyes were too bad for LASIK, but I was a candidate for ILCs (Implantable Collamer Lenses), which I got last spring. Basically in a nutshell they made a small incision in my cornea under twilight sedation, implanted lenses under my corneas, and sent me home. I went home, went to bed, woke up four hours later and had perfect vision. While the actual procedure was scary, it all went fine and I had nothing to worry about, it was all in my head. I've loved it ever since and have had no problems.
I did have mild halos around lights at night, but it never caused more than mild annoyance, and it went away after a few months. It's totally gone, now.
ICLs are quite a bit more expensive, it was about 3k per eye (because it's a full procedure, with anesthesia and sedation and all that). I used last year's tax return to pay it all up front so I didn't have to finance it. My husband and I figured if the cost of ICLs was going to keep us from having to buy new contacts and glasses for the rest of my life, it'd be worth it. And it has, 100% been worth every penny and more.
My 80ish year old Mom had this done and has never had any problems. At her age, she does need reading glasses but can get away with it if she holds the reading material out far enough. She's never regretted having had this done.0
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