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Anyone had LASIK?Follow

#1 Jul 12 2004 at 11:21 AM Rating: Decent
I'm pretty interested in the procedure now, and I would appreciate someone sharing their results.

Specifically, what was your vision before the surgery?

What did your doctor tell you your vision would be after the surgery?

What is your vision now, and how long has it been since you've had the surgery?

Have you experienced any negative effects attributed to the surgery?

How long before you were able to function normally, and how long did you have to keep up with the eye drops?

Was it WaveFront mapped?

How much money?

Thanks for your input.

#2 Jul 12 2004 at 3:36 PM Rating: Decent
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This is a 3rd party respnse.. but:

My mother had horrible vision before.... she couldn't even drive at nite. She wore glasses or contacts constantly. She couldn't see crap far away.

She had the Lasik procedure and said it was a breeze. She said she had to wear patches for 24-48 hrs afterward as per the doc's orders. She simply made some food in advance and had no problem.

She recovered and was seeing like a hawk the day she took the patches off. She can drive at nite now and says its awesome. She does see some slight halos around lights at nite.. but not bad. This was expected.
#3 Jul 12 2004 at 3:40 PM Rating: Decent
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My grandmother had it and her eyes are about 10 times worse now than before the surgery. Be careful, talk to more than one optomitrist about it before you let someone cut into your eyes with a laser.
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#4 Jul 12 2004 at 5:24 PM Rating: Decent
Smash, are you trying to scare me? Because it's working. Also, are you serious about your grandmother's vision?

They actually cut a layer of your cornea first and peel it back, then proceed to burn holes into your eye with a LASER. Funny, none of the sites call the microkeratome a knife, and they never say cut or burn, even though, that is exactly what they are doing.

Usually the sites I have visited describe the procedure thusly:
The basic procedure is relatively simple: a keratome is used to gently create a flap in the cornea and an Excimer laser is used to shape the remaining tissue. The flap is then carefully returned in place and forms an occlusive seal by osmopic pressure.

Never...
The basic procedure is relatively simple provided you are a perfect candidate: a small knife called a keratome is used to cut away a lyaer of your cornea in a moon shape. An Excimer LASER is then used to destroy the tissue identified during the screening process, possibly causing irreversible damage to your vision. The layer of your cornea which we cut open like a grapefruit is then returned to place, and it just kind of stays there on its own thankfully.

However, LASIK surgery has never been reported to have been the cause of blindness, so I figure they can pretty much fix anything else. Considering that >50% of the patients undergoing Wavefront LASIK wind up with vision better than 20/20, I'm seriously tempted.

Of course, large spiders and knives in my eyes are two of the three things I'm afraid of in this life.
#5 Jul 12 2004 at 5:28 PM Rating: Decent
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Smash, are you trying to scare me? Because it's working. Also, are you serious about your grandmother's vision?


I'm not trying to scare you, and yes I'm serious. Lasik has become a big money maker for practioners in recent years and accordingly there are some who aren't as skilled in preforming the procedure as they should be.

I'm just saying make sure you cover all the bases before you let someone mess with the one organ that provides the majority of your sensory imput as a human.
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#6 Jul 12 2004 at 5:30 PM Rating: Good
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IMO, the expertise just isn't there yet. The odds aren't something I'd really want to mess with.

Give it a few more years, and see if the number of bad cases is declining.
#7 Jul 12 2004 at 6:06 PM Rating: Good
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Yup. I agree with Smash on this one. Do a *lot* of research on the subject before proceeding. More importantly, do a *lot* of research on the team that's doing the proceedure.

There are huge degrees of quality with the proceedures depending on where you go, and who performs it. I would strongly discourage you from just going with one you saw advertised on TV and that seems affordable. Odds are they use a "generic" technique, that's kind of like an assemblyline. As long as you have no unusual conditions with your eyes, you're *probably* ok, but no guarantees.

My roomate had the proceedure done a couple years ago. She was planning on going on a dig in Jordan, and contacts would have been unrealistic given the environment. However, her family has a history of cornea problems, specifically with cataracts. A standard lasik proceedure can remove too much of the layers in the cornea, making future cataracts impossible to deal with. The same idea as with carprentry applies: Measure twice, cut once. But a standard treatment will often cut too much in a "one size fits all" kind of way.

She ended up going with a specialist who deals with exactly that kind of condition, and has been very happy with the results. She's had no adverse health issues from the surgery. Of course, she did get anemic disentary on the dig (huge disaster, long story, most of the people ended up hospitalized due to some idiot not washing their hands), and will have digestive problems for the rest of her life, but the lasik surgury has been no problem. ;)


In this particular case, you really get what you pay for. You can get lasik at a bargain price, but do you really want the cheapest proceedure being performed on your eyes? What they do is permanent. They are removing tissue from the lens of your eyes. You don't get to take that back if they ***** up. Shop around. Find out your family's history with relation to eye problems. Get 2nd and 3rd opinions. Don't skimp on the cost. Ultimately, a couple more grand today is worth it if it means you don't end up with some irreversable change in your eyes that may cause you problems 30 years down the line.
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#8 Jul 12 2004 at 7:13 PM Rating: Decent
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gbaji wrote:
Yup. I agree with Smash on this one.

::faints::
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#9 Jul 13 2004 at 9:39 AM Rating: Decent
Try here for more info.

There are some relatively new procedures out that appear to be promising. These include LADAR and Custom Cornea. There is no karatome used in these procedures. Everything is done by laser. Custom Cornea actually takes any imperfections in the shape of your cornea and corrects it, thus making a higher quality 20/20 than you could get otherwise. It also eliminates the halo effect found in earlier procedures.

I've spoken to my doctor about this, and the full "rainbow package" will run you about 6 grand. Now I live in the NYC metropolitan area where prices may be higher. So check with your local doctor for the actual cost.

There are a lot of Jiffy Lube LASIK centers opening up that offer 400 dollar surgeries. DON'T DO IT! Anyways, good luck.
#10 Jul 13 2004 at 9:56 AM Rating: Good
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I had a coworker that had it done several years ago. He was legally blinded in one eye, and near blind in the other. He has traveled to South America several times since to have it slowly corrected as the surgery to correct errors like this is not available in the U.S. It has cost him at least 20K last time I spoke with him. That was several years ago however and procedures may be better now.
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#11 Jul 13 2004 at 10:28 AM Rating: Good
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I've had 3 people pretty close to me have it done. One of my buddies from High School, my uncle, and another friend of mine. All 3 of them love it. It improved their vision immensely.

As a result I've been seriously looking at getting it done. But as Smash and Gbaji said, do some research and be careful who you choose. It's a big money maker right now, and people are coming out of the wood-work saying they've been doing it for years. All 3 of the folks I mentioned had theirs done in Canada, because the eye doctors up there have been doing it for years.

Obviously this isn't an option for everyone, so just make sure you check out perspective doctors and ensure they have plenty of experience and a good track record.
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#12 Jul 13 2004 at 2:35 PM Rating: Excellent
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About 10 years ago, before laser was so cheap, I had my eyes surgically corrected. That was when they still used a scalpel to cut your cornea. I still have 20/20 or better in my left eye. However due to pregnancy a few years ago and some blood pressure problems my right eye has faltered a tad. However it's not bad enough to warrant eye wear, just irritating on those days my BP is up and one eye can see and the other cannot. I love it, and even all the pain I had to withstand, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

My sister in law just had Lasik on both eyes, only had a problem with one eye as she couldn't keep it hydrated after surgery, but is now fine. She can see at night, read road signs and doesn't have to put on glasses just to see her clock while in bed.

IIRC it cost her about 3k, she good see quite well the next day, and has been problem free since she healed.

It is your choice, your money, your eyes. Do research, see more than one opthamologist and take everything you learn into consideration. Make sure your doc is board certified and demand to see feedback. Where I went, they had three books filled with positive feedback. Also when they offer free follow ups including corrective surgery for problems or complications, that is the sign that they want to take care of you.

Good luck!

Edit: fixed typo, added more info.

Edited, Tue Jul 13 15:38:17 2004 by Darkflame
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