Laser eye surgery

Same here. I know a guy who's had it done and he raves about it.

I've had it done myself Luckylad and eoe....

It was 5 years ago, and I'm still seeing 20/20.

It was one of the best things I ever did for myself


They have a new procedure now, where they actually replace the lens of your eye is an artificial one that has hinges on it that focus your eyes in an out, thus eliminating the potential need for reading glasses. My husband is going to get evaluated for lasik some time soon, and he's going to look into this new method as well.

NOTE: before lasik I was extremely near sighted, now, I don't need reading glasses for computer work or casual reading like scanning something at work. However, if I'm going to sit down and read the Sunday paper, or a book for a couple of hours, I use those little glasses you can buy at a drug store, with the least possible magnification, power +1.

Luckylad, I dont' know your interest in fashion, but I know eoe would be interested in knowing you can buy the most adorable, cute, whimsical, or business-like reading glasses on line. I've got about half a dozen pair, depending on my mood.


If y'all want to know more about the experience, cost etc. I'd be glad to share.

It's a REALLY great thing.

ONE IMPORTANT THING: DO NOT GO CHEAP...CHECK OUT YOUR OPTHAMOLOGISTS TRACK RECORD....GET THE BEST DOCTOR IN THE AREA.

There is absolutely only one doctor here in Austin I would recommend anyone to go to. He's done thousands of them, and teaches the procedure. He was instrumental in having lasik approved in the US.

I had LASIK surgery as well, back in 2000. I gather it wasn't an exact science back then: in my case they fell just shy of 20/20, so I still use glasses for long-distance seeing (at theaters, the backs of classrooms, etc.). However, I still consider it one of the best services I've ever done for myself. I was extremely near-sighted beforehand--I couldn't read signs five feet in front of me--so even without perfect vision my life has been made immeasurably easier.

HA! Just remember something....

I had it done in the middle of one April.

24 hours after the lasik you have to go back to have them look at you. (then you go back after 1 month, 6 months, etc., then yearly)

Anyway....my eyesight was 20/20 24 hours later.

After leaving there, I went and purchased a really cool pair of sunglasses and drove around for HOURS in the beautiful spring weather.....flowers blooming, sun shining....it was as if it was all for the first time.

A couple of things....You're eyes probably will be a little more sensitive to direct sunlight....hey, buy some ultra cool shades

For the first couple of months....I don't know how to describe it...it's not like fluctuations in eyesight...it's just sort of "weird" sometimes...but that goes away.

Dry eyes....at first you'll want to use artificial tears several times a day.
Now, when I first wake up in the morning, I put a drop in each eye, and I don't need anymore.

I experienced the dryness as well and relied on eye drops for a while. Eventually I stopped noticing.

Most likely you will be given the option to have the eyes done on separate days so that, in the worst case scenario, if something goes wrong with the first eye, you'll at least have the other. If you trust the surgeons and would rather just get it over with in one shot, you are of course allowed to do so, but they will probably make you sign something to confirm that you exercised that option on your own accord. That's what I did... maybe it was risky, but it worked out fine for me.

Thanks for the info everyone! That's what I wanted to hear.

Chai Tea, I have no fashion ! It's wranglers, cowboy boots, western shirts, etc. Just a farmer/rancher that is sick of dirt in the contacts! When a contact needs cleaned it has to wait till I can wash my hands(usually when I get home at night), don't want some crap, snuff, or chemicals in my eye.

I plan on getting it done in December when things slow down. Eat plenty of beef, bread and use e-85 and I'll be able to :wink: .

One thing to consider Luckylad....

Insurance doesn't cover lasik, but it can be used toward your flex-spending account (if you work for someone else, and have that benefit). That way, at least you save the income tax on that money. I'm just saying that in case it makes financial sense to put it off until January.

Oh, about the fashion stuff, you sound like my husband, jeans almost every day.

BTW, how old are you? The best candidates are people old enough where their eyes are in that long "holding pattern" of middle age. Remember, it won't keep your eyes from getting worse from that point on, that's why I mentioned that newer lens replacement method (which is quite a bit more expensive, so weigh the pros and cons).

I've said this before, as far as the cost of lasik....I had some people say to me "Wow, that's a lot of money to spend"...yeah well, #1 that ususally came from people who had good eyesight, #2, the cost was about the difference of buying a corolla and a camry, and no one would say boo if I bought a camry, and of course #3, who's money is it?

With my opthamologist, there's a lifetime 'guarantee' that if I go back there every year for an eye exam, if I ever need to have the procedure refined, it's at no cost.

Like Shapeless said, you'll have the option to do one eye at a time, but I think most people just want to get it done. For me, I remember laying on the table and thinking for a second "Wow, I'm glad I'm not going to have to do this again"...there's absolutley no pain, but it is quite frankly, slightly unnerving. Once they got done with the first eye, I was able to say, "OK, so I know what's gonna happen on the other one right now." The whole procedure literally takes minutes.

When I sat up, my eyesight was like as if someone had smeared vasaline over my eyes....but, and this was the kicker....I sat up and saw a sign on the wall....one that I know if I didn't have my glasses on I could never had read....I looked at it and said "Oh...My...God....I can read that sign" The nurse said..."yes, of course you can" When I went out to the waiting area, my husband looked up and said "Did they tell you to come back out here to wait?" He couldn't believe it when I said I was done.

You'll have to stop wearing your contacts for a few weeks or something before, since they change the shape of your eye.

The worse part of the whole deal were these eye drops you had to put in your eyes for several days before, to toughen your corena.

They stung like a son of a bitch...no lie. But hey, ya know? When the doctor had finished one eye, I heard him say "give me a bottle of (whatever it was called)" and I thought..."OHHHHH ****!" because your eyes are being held open (yes, think A Clockwork Orange) but, because your eyes are numbed, you don't feel a thing. He poured the entire bottle on, running down my face and everything.

If you want to know what it feels like during the procedure...take your index finger and put it along the curve of your brow bone. Take your thumb and put it along the curve of your check bone. Now press both fingers down HARD to the point where it just starts to hurt. That's it, that's absolutley all it feels like.

Again though, start to do all the research you can on getting the best person. If you're like most people who are blind as a bat, you know how important your eyes are.

One other thing, they do have to screen you to see if you're a good candidate....When they looked in my eyes, they said my pressure was a little higher than they liked...they had me go through about 2 hours of further testing (no extra cost) to determine my risk of glacoma, since they wouldn't do it then. I remember asking someone, "what if it's just a little beyond your limit"? The answer was a definite "NO. we will not do it if there is ANYTHING that isn't right".....THAT made me feel really good, like they weren't just trying to sell me something.

Can you tell I'm really excited about this?

I'm curious: how much does LASIK go for these days anyway? As I remember, it was between $2000-$3000 per eye back in 2000.



I'm impressed that it happened so quickly for you! It didn't really hit me until the next morning (partly because it took that long for the dye and eye anaesthesia to clear up completely). The shock of being able to see came in two stages: first, when I rolled over in bed that morning and discovered to my amazement that I could read the time on the clock; second, during my morning shave, when I discovered I didn't have to have my nose pressed to the mirror in order to see what I was doing! The whole thing really did take some adjusting in weird and amusing ways: I had to relearn how far I should sit from the TV, at what distance I should try to read road signs as they approached, etc.

Good Morning Shapeless...

I had mine done 5 years ago...so we're talking the same time frame. I remember paying it off interest free over the course of a year...I think 350/month, so that's 3800....I can't remember if I put anything down.

What dye?! They sure didn't use any for mine.


Anyway....every individual is different...they don't guarantee 20/20 vision. Plus, skill of surgeon, experience, etc.

Chai, I'm 35 and am hoping this is middle age 'cause when I'm over 70 I bet I'll be a real SOB :wink: . Already can't stand some of these punk kids in jr high and high school. Lazy little MF!

Anyway, around here it will cost about $1800/eye. Could do it cheaper in Colo Springs, but with the check-ups and everything I'll just do it here.

My main problem is that if I spend $3600, I don't ever want to wear contacts or glasses again. If I come out'a there and have to wear reading glasses I'll be a grumpy sob by 40, and my wife will make middle age for me at 20.

Haven't talked to many people that have had it done, about 5 counting you. Only one has "halo's" at night. She still is glad she did it. Everyone else has had no problems and has said it was the best thing they have ever done for themselves.

Anything else you want to add, please do. I enjoy hearing from you and trust what you say............oh yea did I tell you I was a dumb ass too? :wink: Just a joke. Don't burn up down there in Texas and keep your boots on........there is a lot of b.s. in Texas :wink:

I believe my friend has done it and no problems that I know of.

well, I guess the only thing I can think of is about the reading glasses....

I wondered too if that would be a drawback, but it hasn't been at all. I don't have them on now, and the computer screens, what? a foot and a half away? Everythings totally clear. And looking up and off, you can see forever.
The reading glasses are just when I'm sitting around reading for a long time.
Sometimes, like at a store, I do find myself doing that "holding the box out at arms length to read the small print" but hey, you know, big deal.

Halos? Yeah, I remember having them for a bit, nothing that made driving unsafe though.

Since you work outside in the dust...I think you'll want to carry natural tears around with you, not eye drops, natural tears. Plus sun glasses. Remember though, when your eyes are done, they still age from that time. That's why it's not recommended for people in their teens and 20's since their eyes are still changing. That's why I was mentioning that lens replacement option. Also, check to see if the doctor does "touch ups"

I can remember only one bad time, it was sometime during the first 3 months.
I came home and was tired, out of sorts, had a headache and just felt like I couldn't focus totally on anything, near or far.
I'd look at the TV, look at a book, look out the window, and just nothing seemed right.
I laid my head back on the couch, closed my eyes and though "Oh Christ, did I make a mistake doing this?"
I was feeling so crappy, I went to bed.

The next morning when I got up, everything was totally fine.

Here in TJ you CAN have the operation for 500 dollars per eye. Now, dont take this wrong, there are medical facilities with state of the art equipment. I have seen them myself since a client of the company I work for is a certified surgeon that performs LASIK. My dad, insurance broker, undergoed the operation with him and, considering that he is 55 years old and had terribly eyesight, is 100% satisfied. Almost perfect vision.

Lots of Californians come here to have the procedure!

Another thing to keep in mind is that, under current law, eye surgery will make you permanently ineligible for service in the armed forces, police work, etc. I'm sure that law could be changed if the powers that be deemed it necessary, but this is the way it stands now. In order to get my LASIK surgery, I had to sign several forms acknowledging that I was willingly giving up my right to serve in the military or the police.

I'll let you decide whether this is a discouragement or an incentive. 8)

Shapeless, my brother lives in Colorado Springs and said there is an eye doctor there that does all the air-force cadets. I had a friend in school that was in the air-force and he said you had to have 20/20 to be a fighter pilot.

Why couldn't you be in the military or a policeman after having Lasik?
I've never heard of that. Sounds like this eye surgury is questionable. I always thought the military & police would take anyone that could breathe, or so it seams around here.

Very strange. Every so often military recruiters would come to my high school to give information about serving in the armed forces, and we were frequently told that the military will not take anyone who's had any kind of "corrective surgery," like bone-supporting screws, metal plates in one's head, etc. The reason they gave us is that the military doesn't want its soldiers discovering side effects of these procedures at inopportune moments--i.e. in the midst of combat! I'm assuming that was the same reasoning behind the forms I had to sign for eye surgery. As you and Chai mentioned, some people who've had LASIK surgery have experienced difficulties in night vision; there are also stories of LASIK people experiencing vision problems at high altitudes... I was given to believe that the military will generally not take these risks in its recruits. But maybe things have changed? Maybe eye surgery has been perfected enough that the military will do it now? Dunno.

Shapeless, perhaps Lasik has passed some safety benchmark since then? I remembered reading an article about how very COMMON it is in the military, and found it:

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060620/ZNYT02/606200345

Excerpt:



I'd love to not have to deal with contacts or glasses but just won't take ANY chances with my eyes.

I did some snooping on the internet and found that military-approved LASIK is indeed a recent phenomenon. According to this site, the Air Force began to allow LASIK to certain pilots in 2003; before that it was possible for them to receive PRK, a different kind of corrective eye procedure. Here's an excerpt from another site outlining the various restrictions on armed forces personnel:

Sosobe, I feel the same. I hear almost nothing but good about the procedure. My brother had the first version done when he was in the military decades ago. He's had no problems. One doctor in my city had a bit of a scandal--the father of the olympic swimmer; he does most of his work now in a minority section of town. Scary.
I've worn contact lenses, without incident, since 1952 (the inventor of one of the lenses named after him--Dr. Touhey (sp?)--put them on me. I assume, however, that I won't be able to wear them forever. So I AM considering--but putting off--a lasik type procedure. The dilemma is that I want the LATEST but I also want one that is TIME-TESTED.