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Refractive Surgery
CycloneRanger
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
As the title suggests, I want to correct my vision via surgery. I have myopia and mild astigmatism; both well within the bounds of what's correctable.
The trouble is—I have no idea how to go about getting this accomplished. I am all-but-certain my company vision coverage won't pay for it, but I'm willing to front the cash. What is the first step in making this happen? As silly as this may sound, I'm 23 and haven't gone to the doctor since moving out of my parents' house—I just don't get sick. I have no idea how to pick a doctor or where to look for a listing of them or anything like that.
I've done a fair bit of reading over the years on the various procedures and I have some idea what to expect on that front (I understand this is not a substitute for a consultation with an ophthalmologist). I am interested in one of the surface ablation procedures (likely PRK, and likely wavefront-guided). I've got enough money saved and I can handle the PTO situation with respect to work.
I suppose if I had to break it down, my questions would be as follows:
1) If my next step is something other than talking to an ophthalmologist, let me know.
2) How should I pick an ophthalmologist? Is there a list of these guys somewhere? What kind of criteria should I be using?
3) Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?
Thanks for any help; I have a good idea of what I want to have happen, but I'm not sure what to do to make it so.
The trouble is—I have no idea how to go about getting this accomplished. I am all-but-certain my company vision coverage won't pay for it, but I'm willing to front the cash. What is the first step in making this happen? As silly as this may sound, I'm 23 and haven't gone to the doctor since moving out of my parents' house—I just don't get sick. I have no idea how to pick a doctor or where to look for a listing of them or anything like that.
I've done a fair bit of reading over the years on the various procedures and I have some idea what to expect on that front (I understand this is not a substitute for a consultation with an ophthalmologist). I am interested in one of the surface ablation procedures (likely PRK, and likely wavefront-guided). I've got enough money saved and I can handle the PTO situation with respect to work.
I suppose if I had to break it down, my questions would be as follows:
1) If my next step is something other than talking to an ophthalmologist, let me know.
2) How should I pick an ophthalmologist? Is there a list of these guys somewhere? What kind of criteria should I be using?
3) Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?
Thanks for any help; I have a good idea of what I want to have happen, but I'm not sure what to do to make it so.
CycloneRanger on
0
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As for where to go, find big, find reliable. Costs are largely unimportant; these are your peepers, after all. Pay a premium, get a service with a guarantee. Definately get wavefront-guided tech, it's a huge step up in accuracy.
I needed to stop wearing my contacts for iirc 6 months before the surgery so you might want to get a head start on that front.
Also, how important is your night vision to you? They really don't know for sure what causes the halo complications.
the night vision does get worse afterwards, but...well, I'd say its no worse than it was with glasses.
I went with word of mouth for my doc, someone I trusted had their eyes lasered there as well. Also, they offered a "lifetime guarantee" in case anything were to change with my eyes or prescription. Overall, best decision of my life.
After I did that, I saved up money and considered my options for a year and eventually got'er done. Most places I've seen have these sorts of free consultation deals. I did a couple of different ones, but basically went with the clinic I did because of referrals by friends who had also done it.
I did the custom wavefront guided lasik thing. I did not investigate PRK too heavily because it didn't appear to have any appreciable benefits for me personally.
Lasik MD requires soft contact lenses be removed for 24 hours prior to the surgery, but I kept them off for two weeks. The requirement is likely to vary depending on what type of contacts you've worn, for how long, and the type of surgery being done.
This I did not know about. Fortunately I wear glasses, so I dodged a bullet there.
Proof? Aw, shit. I haven't even been to an optometrist in over two years. I'm wearing old glasses. I haven't noticed any issues, but it's possible my prescription has changed very slightly.
This is the one thing I'm most worried about. My night vision is mediocre with my current glasses. I see a diffuse glow around bright lights; I can't judge how severe it is either. It's also hard to tell how much of that is distortion from these old beat-up glasses.
Also, many of the surgery places do pretty affordable financing. I used the Katzen group about 3-4 years ago, paid 3400 total i think, over 2 years. a very affordable 150/mo payment.
go for a consult, and they will tell you what's next. check a couple places out if you want, if the consult isn't free, i probably wouldn't bother with the joint.
a thing most laser eye clinics wont tell you
most say somthing along the lines off 100% sucsess (or somthing like that) is corecting your vision to the lvl leagal for driveing and not to 20/20 legal for driveing at roughly 2 lines higher on the sight test chart.
alot of people after surgery find that a pair of glasses can then get them to 20/20 and because of the night vision problems find that the glasses are benafital at night (so for driveing at night and the movies etc..)
also alot have a clause that if the lasik goes wrong they can chage mid prosedure and do a prk.... witch you really dont want
also
no matter how it goes... when you hit mid 40's you will need reading glasses
If you're shopping around, comparing prices, one thing to keep in mind is whether their stated prices include follow-up appointments and/or touchups. The place I went with is more expensive than some but it includes the followups for a year plus one free touchup of the surgery within the next 2 years if necessary (not as good as locopostal's lifetime guarantee!) so it was worth it to me.