Lasik

Hannibal

 

This is the discussion that I have with my patients who ask this question:

 

LASIK is a safe procedure for the right candidate. The minimum age that LASIK can be performed on is 18, however I don't recommend it for anyone younger than 22 or 23 and the reason for this is because you want to assure that the patient has a stable refractive status. This means that their prescription has not changed dramatically in the past 2 years. LASIK is contraindicated for patients with certain systemic conditions, such as diabetes--due to poor wound healing and unstable refractive errors. The ideal candidate also has to have good ocular health (ie., no cataracts), no retinal or corneal problems (ie., corneal diseases, like Keratoconus or scarring) and preferably does not have ocular surface disease (ie., significant dry eyes).

 

To determine if you are in fact a good candidate, your eye doctor will have you remove your contacts (typically one week for every decade of soft lens wear) prior to your exam. This is important because the contact lenses will alter the shape of your corneas and we want the corneas in their natural state. A pachymetry reading will be done to determine if you have adequate corneal tissue to eliminate all of the nearsightedness and astigmatism. IF your corneas are "too thin" then you might have to go with an alternative procedure, such as PRK. A topographical scan will be done of your corneas (Orbscan) to determine if there are latent irregularities that will negatively affect your outcomes. A dilated fundus exam will be performed to look at the internal structures of the eye to ensure that you can achieve the best visual outcome.

 

LASIK corrects distance vision. However patients who are over 40 years old, might want to consider doing MONOVISION LASIK--this correction involves correcting the dominant eye for distant and the non-dominant eye for reading. This does impact depth perception so its not recommended if your job or your hobbies require perfect depth perception--professional athletes, pilots,driving fast exotic cars around a race track, etc.

 

The procedure itself takes no more than 5 minutes tops per eye. It is painless and performed under topical anesthetic. You will need someone to drive you home (preferably in a Lamborghini) after the procedure. You should be able to go back to work the following day, although I would recommend taking 2 days off of work, if possible. You'll be given 2 medications (eyedrops) to use for the first week--one antibiotic and one steroid. You'll be advised to wear an eye shield to bed for the first few days so as you don't accidentally rub your eyes in your sleep and disrupt the healing. There'll be several post-operative followups: 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 month, and 12 month.

 

Cost is anywhere between $1500-$2500 per eye. Anything cheaper and I would be concerned that you're not getting the latest technological laser treatment possible.

 

The prescription you described is a moderate one and you must have adequate corneal tissue (thickness) to achieve the best outcome. That's the first cut to determining whether you are even a candidate or not--your pachymetry readings. Hope that answers your question. For the right candidate and with the right surgeon, I think its a great choice. Good luck!

 

Having said all of this, I would recommend getting your wife a Hermes Birkin handbag instead with your tax refund

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Somehow I think the Hermes HANDBAG (got your back Toof) is way more then Lasik. Besides the wife wants Lasik too so I am the test subject for us.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will be sure to update the thread as I have more info. I will share whatever I can and maybe I can get some pictures from the surgery to share as well. I managed to get shots from my ACL reconstruction so you never know!

I have done the PRK/LASEK, it needs more time to get well.

The 2 days after the surgery i had pain to my eyes but the result is incredible. I can see better now than when i had glasses and also lenses. It change not much in your normal day but it completely change your life.

 

The LASIK is very fast, you can start to see well immediatly.

 

Do it, it change a lot. You'll understand the importance of it only when you have done it!

 

Thanks! Silly LP! I got your first reply on no RS4 and then your second on the price of cars. Did I miss anything?

 

That's it but I think I've sent the last one two or three times.

What about the fact that I'm an enormous pussy when it comes to other people putting anything near my eyes? Let alone something I know is going to peel them open like an apple.

 

 

Do they put you out?

Do you have an appointment yet? I have a friend that is a cornea specialist. His office is near me so I know it's a hike for you but I'm sure he would answer everything honestly. He actually talked me out of it but I am a -1.25 and -1.75. Feel free to text or email if you like. After you have it done we can see if you can still see the krypton Exige, lol

 

 

Hahaha. Thanks man! I def want your buddy's contact info! I took the S2K to work today and I am swinging by Docta's after work. Tell me you took the Exige to work today!

What about the fact that I'm an enormous pussy when it comes to other people putting anything near my eyes? Let alone something I know is going to peel them open like an apple.

 

 

Do they put you out?

No one is a bigger chicken than my wife. Flying, dentist etc etc. Yes, they put you out. When they woke her she could see the clock on the wall and burst into tears

No one is a bigger chicken than my wife. Flying, dentist etc etc. Yes, they put you out. When they woke her she could see the clock on the wall and burst into tears

 

They didn't put me out, local anesthetic and it virtually took under a minute an eye, very easy and painless.

What about the fact that I'm an enormous pussy when it comes to other people putting anything near my eyes? Let alone something I know is going to peel them open like an apple.

 

 

Do they put you out?

 

That's what we have Valium for! Typically, your surgeon will give you a Valium an hour before your surgery, if you let them know that you're anxious. Really, the hardest part is the speculum that is used to keep the eyes open during the procedure--just don't fight it by squeezing your eyes when the speculum is placed and you'll be fine. I tell all my patients TO TAKE THE VALIUM THAT'S OFFERED!

My wife tried it with valium. No workie. Doc gave her an IV sedative, done in 10 minutes

He also said that when we get old the people that are far sighted will lose that so they will need glasses for near and far. But as a near sighted person you will have one advantage, and that is that you will still be able to see stuff up close when you get older without glasses. If you do lasik you will lose that advantage.

 

This is why I haven't had it done. I'm modestly nearsighted (-3.25) and over 40 but can still read just fine without glasses. If I have Lasik now it will kill my reading vision, and given that I spend a lot of time reading things, I'd rather have glasses on my head all day due to my nearsightedness than have to worry about keeping up with a pair of reading glasses at all times so that I'm not screwed when I need to read something. I would have had it done years ago if it wouldn't hurt my reading/up close vision.

That's what we have Valium for! Typically, your surgeon will give you a Valium an hour before your surgery, if you let them know that you're anxious. Really, the hardest part is the speculum that is used to keep the eyes open during the procedure--just don't fight it by squeezing your eyes when the speculum is placed and you'll be fine. I tell all my patients TO TAKE THE VALIUM THAT'S OFFERED!

 

Valium? Valium? Valium doesnt do shit to me...

i guess i am one of the few who did not like it i did it 10 years ago

i have found like many others my night vision is now horrible from it and i need glasses at night i am going to need to go in for another touch up in about 2 years

Valium? Valium? Valium doesnt do shit to me...

 

LoL...that's about all we can do. I don't know of any docs anywhere that do IV sedation for LASIK. for LASIK, you need patient to be coherent enough to follow directions (stare at the red light and dint move your eyes), that's why we use Valium--comfortable but not shit faced

make sure your cornea is thick enough. otherwise, you can go blind when lasik burns your cornea and it starts to fall apart. my GF had to get surgery for like 1/2 day and nearly went blind. her eyes are ruined.

 

my doc that qualified me told me it's okay to get lasik at 40 but did say i may choose to do partial correction, leaving a little near sightedness to compensate for avoiding reading glasses. that's what my brother did and he regrets doing so because he doesn't have perfect vision after lasik.

 

i am holding off on it since i don't mind wearing glasses.

 

price was $3600 for regular and $4600 for wave front where the flap is cut and lifted by suction.

Best thing I ever did in my entire life.

 

Epi Lasik with Customvue Wavefront here.

All this talk about nearsighted people losing their reading ability has me slightly worried, as any negative consequence would.

 

But has anybody talked about what nearsighted people have to deal with in a few important daily functions?

 

For instance I wear glasses to watch TV, use computer, drive a car.

 

I broke my glasses a few months ago and had to go about a week without them. I was able to get by but it did suck a bit.

 

CAD drafting 24-30" from the screen all day without glasses sucked, and I had dual monitors (big ones, don't remember the size).

 

Watching basketball or football.....unless I'm sitting unnaturally close to a TV, I'll be able to follow the action but not with the clarity I'd like, and forget reading the score!

 

With driving, the big deal is reading street signs, particularly the smaller ones. Not such a big deal when the driving is familiar, but still a little annoying. Visibility at night is reduced. All of this is doable but requires quite a bit more attention and caution.

 

And of course, I tend not to wear glasses when I go out at night. So it makes noticing the girls in bars checking me out harder.

 

Also if I don't intend on getting contacts, I won't be able to get the sunglasses I want.

 

So you get LASIK, solve all of these problems and my only issue will be I'll need glasses to read? I tend to read with them anyways.

 

I did notice that reading at close distances right now is slightly better without glasses. So to not be able to read at all without reading glasses would probably be scary at first, frustrating over the long haul.

 

But still not as big a deal as some of the stuff I've read in this thread. The whole routine of waking up blind just sounds terrible, and I feel for everyone that goes through that. My sister is one of those people too.

 

 

My eye doc said everyone who is 50 will need some sort of reading glasses at some point.

I literally just got off the phone with my doc, ordered 90 1-day contacts for the 8338th time.

 

These stories are sounding good. I am only 20 and hear the sweet spot is mid-upper twenties because as young as I am I hear my vision could still not have "leveled out" to what it should stay at for a good 20-30 more years. Maybe that logic is off...

 

But either way I deff see myself putting off the next motorcycle purchase and putting the $ into a small "I CAN SEE!" account I won't touch until it's time to go under some lasers!

 

This is one thing I'd bet many MANY people regret having not done thinking back, when they're now 40-50 yrs old.

Eyedoc's good people.

Eyedoc,

 

My corneas measured in the 400 range.. not quite sure what that means, but I was told very thin. I do not have a degenerative disease that they worry about.. can't remember the name...

 

Would PRK be a possibility? I have pretty bad astigmatism in both eyes..

 

I am told by my eye doc that it wouldn't be worth it, but I was going to go to hoopes and double check.. Is it a waste of my time to look into?

 

thanks!

 

Heard that in some cases, even after getting it done, theres a possibility of still needing glasses. Any truth? I want to get it soon, I'm sick of not seeing shit! (-6.00, -6.50)

I was blind as a bat. -6.75 and 6.00 with bad astigmatism. I Got lasik done 10 years ago and still have 20/15 vision. best 4000$ I have ever spent. Your close up reading does get slightly affected.. Overall i would do it 100 times over

Heard that in some cases, even after getting it done, theres a possibility of still needing glasses. Any truth? I want to get it soon, I'm sick of not seeing shit! (-6.00, -6.50)

from what ive heard (wait for eyedoc for a legit answer) is that the lasik just fixes your eyes as they are now they still will deteriorate over time most likely requiring glasses at a later date.

from what ive heard (wait for eyedoc for a legit answer) is that the lasik just fixes your eyes as they are now they still will deteriorate over time most likely requiring glasses at a later date.

 

I was meaning that in some case you'll always need them, even day 1 after surgery.