Lasik, Any Experience/Opinions ?

[going_home]

Anyone had lasik ?

Regrets, love it, opinions ?

[Unfated33]

I had lasik surgery in 2006. The surgery itself lasted about 10 minutes total and I could already see 20/20 (from a limited circle of view) immediately after surgery was over. They gave me vicodin to relax and then had me sleep until the following morning (surgery was at 5pm on a Friday). My wife had to wake me up periodically to put in eye drops. By Sunday I was driving.

The first few weeks I felt like I had a little dryness, so I had lots of disposable eye droppers. I haven't used one in years, though. My vision ultimately corrected to about 20/15, and I've not had any other problems. My total cost was around $3500 and I've never regretted it.

[Lurker27]

Paid something like 3600, elected 2500 to flex spending (pretax dollars) currently 366 days post op

It gave me chronic dry eye that MAYBE now is trying to get better. I can't see stars at night. Driving at night is markedly more dangerous. I have tried everything to restore a normal tear film - supplements, lid scrubs, restasis. Only time has any effect. My vision is usually better in the morning. I would not do it again.

Note the flaps never heal, if I was going to do it again I would try to get PRK, which is less invasive. Chronic dry eye happens in LASIK because they are cutting into the eye and causing nerve damage. The extent to which this affects the tear production process varies massively between patients and can't be predicted, though higher prescriptions are at more risk because the cuts are deeper. You won't read shit about this in their brochure but its easily available on pubmed.

[Stygshore]

My wife - a photographer had Lasik done about 9 years ago. She has had no issues, and like mentioned above could see 20/20 within 15 minutes of coming out of surgery.

[Unfated33]

As I thought about it more, it occurred to me that I did have night halos around lights for a short time after the surgery - it's been so long that I can't remember when it stopped. Probably within the first year. I also felt uncomfortable with driving at first, but over time my night vision has improved significantly. I remember twilight being especially bad for halos and discerning shapes the first few months after.

I also used medical flexible spending dollars to reduce the cost and would recommend it to anyone thinking about getting the surgery. Incidentally, I was considered a good candidate for lasik and my vision before surgery was around 20/80-ish. I have a friend that was not a good candidate for lasik because of bad vision that went with prk - he had a very bad experience with prk but was probably not ultimately a good candidate for it either. He ended up having to repeat the surgery 3 times to attempt to correct his vision, and still occasionally needs glasses for driving or reading from far away. I do not know if it is typical for prk candidates, but said friend also had a longer overall recovery than I did. In general, I'd suggest being wary of any eye procedures if the amount of correction is significant - talk to multiple doctors and/or go with a trusted specialist. The doctor I used also was the team lasik surgeon for the Carolina Panthers and had treated a few friends and family before I had my surgery. There are other doctors that are local that have a bad reputation (and one of the bad reputation docs was the doctor for the bad prk experience my friend had), and by doing some upfront investigation I ruled out anyone that sounded remotely questionable first.

[Lurker27]

I had mine done with bladeless wavefront at Kremer. I just want to impress on people that the skill of the surgeon (and by that I mean the machine) is almost completely irrelevant, and while the odds are certainly in your favor, it's a non-zero risk.

[UV Halo]

Year before last, I had a scratch on my shooting eye's (left) cornea that gave me an astigmatism when it healed. Last fall, I had LASIK and I stuck to the recommended recovery regimine (eye drops, eye shield while sleeping, etc) and in my final test I came out the same or better than before I was injured (20/20)

My doctor made it very clear to me that there were risks associated with the treatment and, he went over other options with me.

Presently, I sometimes suspect that my left eye is occassionally a bit drier than my right but, it's very hard for me to say. I've had zero discomfort in any case. I was referred to the clinic by my regular (internal medicine) doctor, and a friend checked out the doctor on Angie's list, and he had great reviews.

EDIT: clarification on my treatment

[Nobody]

1) if you vision is stablized, i.e. run with a Palmer reg, i mean your eyes aren't changing yearly, then you should get it.
2) like everything, the doctor and yourself really depends on the outcome of the surgery. everyone is different and unless you have the same vision, and use the same doctor, then your results will still be different.
3) look at all the options available. LASIK works for many people, but there are and will always be cases were the surgery had complications, or even damage was done where you came out worse than going in.
4) are glasses that much of a hassle? contacts don't work for you? if no to those questions then its the only option.

i wear glasses, but use contacts 90% of the time. i don't mind the contacts, though if you ever had a contact roll into your eye, then you know pain. but some people don't like "poking themselves" in the eye. i know it took me nearly 10 years of putting in my contacts wrong till i learned how to do it properly. in that case, the doctor means a lot.

now is the time to get it. i know that the first couple of weeks, you need to keep sweat and everything out of the eye till it heals. i can't get it, but i don't mind contacts. it takes me longer to wash my hands than it does to pop in both contacts.

[cockerpunk]

my mom had hers done, and always is trying to convince me to do mine.

i have had glasses since i was in 2nd grade, so they no longer annoy me in anyway.

and i think i look better in glasses, so i have never really considered it.