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Lasik eye surgery
Jaded
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Good day H/A. I come to you again!
I've been wearing glasses for the last 13 years of my life and am looking into the potential of laser eye surgery.
My left eye is lazy and wanders, my right eye is decent, but strains as I tend to focus more out of it then using my left eye.
My right eye is not 20 / 20, my left eye, for all intents and purposes is blind as I've just more or less learned to not use it.
Does anyone with previous knowledge know if laser eye surgery could correct this deficency?
If I did get the surgery what kind of receovery would I be looking at (no pun intended).
I've been wearing glasses for the last 13 years of my life and am looking into the potential of laser eye surgery.
My left eye is lazy and wanders, my right eye is decent, but strains as I tend to focus more out of it then using my left eye.
My right eye is not 20 / 20, my left eye, for all intents and purposes is blind as I've just more or less learned to not use it.
Does anyone with previous knowledge know if laser eye surgery could correct this deficency?
If I did get the surgery what kind of receovery would I be looking at (no pun intended).
I can't think of anything clever.
Jaded on
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One of the best decisions in my life. YMMV!!
And yes, I absolutely love Lasik. I got it a few months ago. The operation was a complete success, and it takes less than 10 minutes, closer to 5. Be warned, though, that during the operation there is a period of around 5 seconds you will go completely blind. My brother had his done years before me, so I knew to expect it.
Also, it takes about a full month or two for your vision to heal. You're completely functional, but it will be a tad blurry. Eventually they ease you off medicated drops and your vision returns. I'm still taking non prescription drops for dryness though. Dryness can pester your for 5-6 months, and this is the norm.
Oh, and after the operation your eyes will hurt for the day. Just sleep it off. You can't read or go on the computer anyways, your vision will be awful right after.
My lasik center didnt charge me a dime until the day of the operation. Had 2 consultations beforehand, one as a preliminary thing to see if I was a candidate at all, and another to get the exact measurements to get ready for the operation. Everything was explained very clearly too me. Be wary of a place that just kinda rushes you through the process.
I can seeout of my left eye, it's just that if both eyes are open I really favour my right eye. I can close the right eye and see "decently". I guess as an example I typed this whole reply with my right eye closed. My right eye kept wanting to open, as I favour it quite a bit, but I can funtion for short amounts of time without it.
I get halos and stuff occasionally as people have stated, but well worth never having to worry about/buy glasses again.
I'm talking LASIK here, there are a few different kinds of surgeries i think, so take this with a grain of salt if you are a candidate for a different one. I got it done like 6 years ago, and they mentioned a surgery that had potentially better results, but it was more expensive, and recovery was way longer or something... they said in my case it probably wouldn't make much difference so i didn't even think twice.
My god! I could be part of the Hart Foundation? Sign me up!
Seriously though, the company here (Lasik MD) states that initial consultations are free... what could it hurt?
Also they give away one free surgery every 3 months, so I tossed my name in the hat for that as well... maybe I'll get lucky!
Anybody have something like this?
@mr_mich you can't see it happen. everything's blurry when you're getting it done - you barely even feel any pressure. and they use a really specific tool. the weirdest part to me was the miniature squeegee they use to put the flap back down.
So wait, you don't actually see them slice open your eye?
In intralase they dont cut it with a blade, but with a second laser.
They use a plastic looking thing to keep your eye open as well.
I had 2 sets of eyedrops I had to use. One for the weekend, the other for 2 weeks, then just regular eyedrops as needed for dry eyes.
I'm pretty close to you there, I can handle eyedrops, but barely. The place I talked to said they'd prescribe something like Valium so you really wouldn't give a fuck about what was happening.
Until then, I stick with the air-puff glaucoma tests instead of the UV cone thing.
Devoutly Apathetic is correct in that my surgeon prescribed valium (along with two other tranquilizers). The purpose of these is both to numb the pain (for which purpose local anaesthetic is also used) and to help calm the patient so that they can look directly into the laser during the entire procedure--wiggling your eyes is, obviously, to be avoided.
Due to a communication error between the surgeon and myself I ended up not taking any of these medications and was fully aware during the surgery. It was really not that bad. First you'll lie back on the table and the surgeon will prop your eye open with a plastic tool before applying anaesthetic. A technician will wash your eye periodically with saline so you needn't worry about it drying out (or even worry about blinking--I was encouraged to try to blink whenever I felt the need; it's futile anyway). This bit was actually really uncomfortable because the saline solution was cold as hell; no idea if there's a reason for that or if most people just don't notice. The surgeon will then attach a little machine with a suction cup to the surface of your eye* (I'm guessing this part is consistent between PRK and lasik--or at least those types of lasik using a physical keratome to create the flap; newer procedures can accomplish this with another laser). That thing hurt like a bitch--moreso than anything else, in fact. To get a good seal the surgeon will apply a lot of pressure to your eye; the pressure was sufficient in my case to interrupt the blood flow to my retina, causing my vision to temporarily fail in that eye. There may be some temporary cosmetic damage (I had a mild subconjunctival hemorrhage in my left eye) as a result. The suction-cup machine has a little blade on the end of it that spins around your eye, cutting through the epithelium and then removing it. The actual "cutting" bit is completely painless--there are few (if any) nerves of the right type to perceive pain in that part of your eye and the surgeon has by this time used a local anaesthetic anyway.
After that, the surgeon swung the laser arm into place and I was instructed to stare unwaveringly at the small light in the center of the laser apparatus. The ablation took a little under 40 seconds. It was more difficult than I expected to avoid any movements during this period (I think I was getting a little nervous), but nothing too tough. This part is probably much easier with the tranquilizers, and I'm told that the laser itself will automatically shut off if you move your eye past some threshold. As the laser clicks away you'll notice an awful smell--it's a very intense "burning hair" type of odor. That's your cornea vaporizing. Neat!
The healing processes for PRK and Lasik are quite different, so I won't go into that in any real detail unless someone wants to hear it. Overall I'd say the surgery itself was pretty simple and easy. It was actually very cool to be alert for the whole thing and to see my vision change as layers were removed or ablated, and to be able to ask the surgeon any questions that popped into my mind. I did keep thinking back to that scene in St:TNG where Picard is assimilated--you know the one. As a kid I found that scene frightening, but it no longer bothers me.
*This is for the mechanical epithelium removal version of PRK. Because the surgeon was unable to get a seal on one of my eyes with the little suction cup armature I ended up having the old-fashioned version (in which an alcohol solution is used to degrade the epithelium, which is subsequently removed with forceps) on one eye and the above-described procedure on the other. They differ only in the method used to remove the epithelium.
(But thanks, it was certainly informative)
I had a massive eye phobia which is why I never wore contacts. Got fed up with glasses and thought "fuck it, it's only ten minutes of horror, then a life of good vision". Got the LASIK, and not only did I have awesome vision, my phobia was also totally cured.
I also got a huge, badass eyeball bruise which made me look like the terminator.
For some reason the moment a contact lens touches my eyeball it triggers an unstoppable reflex of my eyelids and it immediately falls out again. Well the reason is clear; my eyes dont like stuff in them. But it's annoying nonetheless.
Anyway; LASIK. I'm worried because I read somewhere that it's strongly adviced not to do martial arts after LASIK because your eyes will be much easier to damage for the rest of your life. I really enjoy doing Krav Maga and it gets really rough so thats a dilemma. Specially since I can't wear glasses during Krav Maga (for obvious reasons) and im unable to get contacts in. This results in always having to stand close to the trainer at all times to see the techniques etc.
blegh