Lasik Eye Surgery

I just got LASIK done in July. It was finished in under 3 minutes, the surgery was painless. I had discomfort the day of the surgery because for some reason benadryl didn't knock me out but it just felt like there was sand in my eyes and my nose ran a lot etc. I actually drove myself to the doctors the next morning. I have no 0 complications other then the dry eyes which is normal.

It's wonderful actually being able to read signs and street signs etc. I highly recommend it.

I had mine done in July of 2001. Best money I ever spent. The advice I give to everyone who has ever asked me is not to make this a financial decision, but choose the very best doctor with the best equipment for your particular case. Good doctors will meet with you themselves during the pre-exam, and answer frank questions. Personally, I'd avoid any of the assembly line places that take your money, do an exam and then the surgery in one visit. Doing some basic research on google will give you a basic list of questions to ask. They are your eyes after all, and you should make an informed decision. If you have a regular ophthalmologist, ask their opinion as to whether you are a good candidate for lasik and who they would recommend you use and/or stay away from. If I didn't have a regular eye doctor, I'd visit one to get an unbiased opinion.

I'll give you a for instance. When I was researching to have my eyes done, there was a "celebrity doctor" who had non stop radio and TV ads featuring all the local San Diego celebrities and sports figures pimping his practice. I talked to my eye doctor, and he said to avoid him and go to a another doctor, who was low key and far more experienced. Not too long after I had my surgery, the celebrity doctor went to jail for tax evasion. As part of his money issues, the celebrity doctor was proven to have performed all kinds of unnecessary procedures on people who would not benefit, or on people that other doctors would not touch do to not being a good candidate for the surgery because he needed the money. You can google him, name was Glenn Kawesch.

Heh, I had a similar approach. If anything I was looking for the most expensive surgeon, not the cheapest. I spoke with a couple optometrists and they both pointed me to the same guy, who was fairly expensive as compared to most other clinics. At around that time, there was a news story about the founder of one clinic trying to kill his ex-partner or some shit, and they were the main clinic in the city, so I stayed the fuck away from them.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/edmo.../11777276.html

Eye surgeon guilty in murder-for-hire plot - Edmonton - CBC News

I went for an eye exam/consultation yesterday and am a good candidate for both PRK and Lasik. PRK sounds like its a longer recovery time, but no scarring from a flap being created. But it does sound like I have to be fairly careful in caring for my eyes after (2-3 weeks).

Anyone have experience with PRK?

His lawyers said the informant employee pushed Mockovak into the plot, after he initially raised it as a joke

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What sort of defense is that?

"I was just kidding about hiring hitmen to kill my business partner. But once my employee agreed with me, I had no choice but to go through with it. I was entrapped!"

Hilarious.

aaron_sl said:

I have also heard second hand that it's not good for those whose eyesight is still getting worse (i.e. has not stabilised).

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No shit. If the shape of your eye is still changing, your vision will continue to deteriorate after the surgery. Hence why any decent surgeon will strongly recommend that your prescription remain stable for 2 years before having the operation. Basically, it's probably not a good idea for people in their early 20's as your eye balls and brain are still changing shape. I didn't even start wearing glasses until I was 19, and my vision slowly deteriorated until I was 28 or so. I gave it a couple years to stabilize, and then got the surgery at 30.

aaron_sl said:

The very long term (decade or more) are also not fully known.

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The procedure has been done in large numbers for 20+ years now. I would imagine there's plenty of study done by now on the long term effects. But the fact of the matter is that virtually everyone's vision begins to deteriorate in their 50's and 60's, no matter how good their eye sight was when they were younger. So if you're getting the surgery done in your 30's, it's kind of irrelevant that your vision might start to deteriorate, because you'll end up wearing glasses one way or the other anyways.

My dad had it done when he was in his early 40's, and at 63 his vision is still quite good. He wears glasses when driving at night, but otherwise lives his day to day life without glasses, whereas he spent the first 40 years of his life wearing coke bottles on his face. He had it done by this dude, who apparently was one of the pioneers in it:LASIK Cataract Surgeon Calgary Edmonton AB Howard Gimbel MD

Looks like it's been going on for closer to 25 years commercially at this point, longer research wise. Plenty of time to have a good handle on the long term effects.

My girl should really do this but she is scared to death of this procedure... I can understand it... but if it was me I'd do it without second thoughts.

I agree, 2 decades might not be that much but it's not exactly a new technique.

My wife had PRK done a few days ago. First two days after were miserable, between the pain of having a laser to here eyeball and the dilation of her pupils lasting so long, but today was better. The only downside is that she has to keep the contacts in until next week (PRK removes the epithelial layer entirely around the iris, contacts are necessary to prevent infection until a new one forms) and there's water underneath them so it's disorienting at times. She can see though. So if you can handle a couple of days of unpleasantness then you should be okay.

Oh, and her surgeon was the guy who did Lindy Ruff (former coach of Sabres, current of Stars). Apparently the first couple of days afterward he was a huge cry baby so the surgeon told him to grow a pair. I found that highly amusing.

Without contacts I'm around level 2-3 on that scale. It's difficult to compare since many features look much worse in the blurred picture than they do in real life. However, getting the text sufficiently blurry makes the rest of the picture too blurry, if that makes sense.

Honestly, I'm worse than a 20 on that blur scale on that site. If you look at the second picture of the menu, my vision would make the large white letters on the green background at the top just look like a solid white blur, you would see no breaks of the background green in between the letters.

I'd probably need that scale to push to a 30 to simulate my vision without contacts/eyeglasses. FYI that's a -8.75 contact prescription.

The last time I did an old-fashioned eye test with no correction whatsoever to start with, I couldn't even make out the giant E at the top, I needed a little correction to even make that out.

sonicmaster_sl said:

My girl should really do this but she is scared to death of this procedure... I can understand it... but if it was me I'd do it without second thoughts.

I agree, 2 decades might not be that much but it's not exactly a new technique.

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My laser was on each eye for less then a minute and you literally feel nothing. First day felt like sand was in my eye and I couldn't rub, after that dry eyes.

I had PRK done when I was 18. I was disqualified for LASIK because of the width of my cornea (as I understood it back then). I had TERRIBLE vision. -8.25 in both eyes, legally blind, jail-time if i was driving without glasses. I was that kid in high school with bottle-cap glasses.

Best thing my parents ever did for me. Ever. I'm 20/15 now "eagle eyes" still to this day. And it has been 13 years. My parents paid a little extra for a highly recommended doctor in Houston.

My post op experience was a bit rough and probably not the norm but I would endure it again and again and again to have perfect vision.

Had this done about 8 years ago with the "cheap" laser at the time at Lasic Plus and it is by far the best money I have ever spent. Don't bother with the "free touch ups for X years" bullshit as it is just wasting money but if you have the funds (or the credit) just fucking do it! You won't regret it.

I started wearing specs at aged 16 (i'm 44 now) and it wore pretty fucking thin many years ago tbh.

Costs are not that bad, ?1500-3000 depending on the treatment taken, I just need to grow a set and have this done

I'm getting this done mid-january. Hoping things go well. I've only been wearing glasses since 06..probably should have been wearing them before then, but didn't go for a regular eye exam until 06. I fucking hate glasses and will be thrilled once I no longer need them for distance. I tried contacts, and hated those as well.

Got PRK yesterday to correct my nearsightedness. Everything went fine, just need to heal. The protective contacts arent as bad as I thought theyd be and they come out Monday, so not terrible. The procedure took 5min, prep took 4 hours (paperwork, imaging, etc). Moving my eyes left/right is kind of uncomfortable and the overall sensation is kind of like getting shampoo/soap in my eyes, but its constant. I have to put 3 different eye drops in my eyes every 4hrs for the next week as well. I'll update in a few weeks to see if this shit actually worked and I can see things from more then 10 feet away in detail.

Why did you go with PRK over lasik?