corrective eye surgery (LASIK etc)

anyone else had any experience with this? I've been investigating the options and I'm curious to hear from other people.

both of my eyes are -8.5, I'd be super happy if I didn't have to depend on glasses or contacts all the time. so I've pretty much decided I'm doing it soon (in the next couple of months), and which method I'm going to go with (PRK).

my cornea is not thick enough for the standard LASIK procedure, wherein they cut a flap in the outer layer with a blade, fold it back, and then use an excimer laser to ablate the inner layer. I am however eligible for either:

- iLasik: similar to the standard LASIK except it's bladeless, they use a laser on the outer cornea as well as the inner layer, so there's a higher degree of precision and therefore it's safer for people with thin corneas.

- PRK: no flap involved, they simply remove the entire outer layer, either with a brush or with an alcohol solution, and then go to work on the inner layer with a laser as usual.

I've picked PRK because it's generally safer, as there's no flap involved. one interesting thing I discovered while reading reviews etc is that certain aviation professions and military schools will let you pass if you've done PRK but not if you've done LASIK. so that seems to be a good indication. also it's cheaper. on the flipside, the recovery process is significantly longer (1 week til you're functional, complete recovery with 20/20 vision can take several weeks or longer - I'm taking 2 weeks off) and it hurts quite a bit initially. but I can deal with that, no problem.

the real kicker is the cost. the last clinic I consulted with was charging $3,250 AUD per eye of course this is related to the surgeons/staff they have, their collective expertise, post-operative care quality, and also the machines they use for the actual procedure. the latter is definitely a thing you want to consider - I hear that industry is quite fast-paced and consumer-driven, so you definitely want to know what your clinic is using and be certain it's not some outmoded old thing from 10 years ago (which would heighten the risk factor significantly).

anyway, this clinic seemed to check out in those departments but still... that's a lotta money. there're other clinics doing it for cheaper but I dunno how reliable they'd be.

as far as the actual risks go, the biggest one imo is getting permanent dry eye. clinics don't often talk about this. it's a pretty rare occurrence, but there have been cases of people having dry eye like years after their surgery. that would be disastrous... but given the chances, I'm willing to take that risk. another thing that can happen is over- or under-correction, which tbh is less alarming to me because this clinic offers a free correction in that event. other continued refractive-error type issues are also of negligible risk to my mind. there's also a small possibility of infection, but again, less alarming because it'd just be a short-term issue.

and then I guess there's your usual short-term issues that occur immediately after the procedure, like halos, starbursts, floaters, etc. which all should go away eventually. I've heard things about night-vision being altered in undesirable ways as well (less contrast), but after talking to the surgeon about that I think it's not a big risk.

tl;dr: has anyone else here had PRK or any other form of corrective eye surgery? whaddya think?

eh, sorry for the epic post. have an mild lol (see comments).

lol ^

but honestly I've wondered what it's like to have bad eyesight - and it sucks because I look good in glasses - but every eye exam I nail the last line from any distance with both eyes. GOT DAT 20/10

maybe later in life my eyes will fail me. Some of my friends are losing their hair already in their early 20s. This does scare me shitless. What makes me sleep at night is that my mother's father has a head of hair at 70.

One thing I have noticed is that after 4-5 years of loud sennheisers my hearing has noticeably dropped

  On 11/20/2013 at 3:52 AM, dr lopez said:

GOT DAT 20/10

you bastert, I keel you

  On 11/20/2013 at 3:18 AM, usagi said:

 

I've picked PRK because it's generally safer, as there's no flap involved. one interesting thing I discovered while reading reviews etc is that certain aviation professions and military schools will let you pass if you've done PRK but not if you've done LASIK. so that seems to be a good indication. also it's cheaper. on the flipside, the recovery process is significantly longer (1 week til you're functional, complete recovery with 20/20 vision can take several weeks or longer - I'm taking 2 weeks off) and it hurts quite a bit initially. but I can deal with that, no problem.

 

I've heard about this in detail actually, the reason LASIK wasn't cleared (and for that matter, PRK in the early years) was because the concern that in theory the cornea could be violently compromised in the event of depressurization and ejection from a jet. (I highly doubt these will be concerns on your end).

PRK is now offered for free for many military pilots. The first few years they did this was more or less to provide training for military doctors! My father, brother, and sister all have less than 20/20, whereas mine is 20/15 and possibly 20/10. Ironically I am the only one who has not served in the Air Force!

I really would love to have this done, but the cost w/o proper insurance + astigmatism make it a no go for me.

edit*

just looked it up, looks like astigmatism correction is routine now. WOO YEAH.

get one eye done, wear a monocle. BAM i just saved you 50% and increased your dapperness tenfold.

Have been looking into doing a ces myself as well.

I believe prk is called lasek here, but whatever the case, the specialist who tested me said it is the better option because the surface which is treated is simply smaller and theres no folding back stuff going on. Simpler is better. Only downside is the recovery period is a bit more intrusive. With a lasik you could basically walk away right after treatment. With lasek you have to wear protective caps over your eyes for a couple of days and put some fluids on your eyes for about a month.

I would have gone for lasek instantly if it wasnt so intrusive on my life for a period.

would love to do this.

unfortunately, I can barely afford rent and food.

Hopefully once I get the next step up, I shall be able to save over the next 30 years to rid myself of bad eyesight for 3 years.

Stop saving. If you're poor, you prolly wont get passed those 30 years anyways.

My brother had it done, said it hurt more than expected and his eyes were fucked for the rest of the day, not the hour recovery time that he was told. But he gradually got better and now doesn't regret it at all. The smell of lazer on eyeball is similar to burnt mushrooms if you were interested.

I know a few people who have had lazer eye surgery, don't know what type.

2 worked perfect, one couldn't keep one of their eye still and ruined it the other got an eye infection....

my dad had both his cataract's done 20 years ago and has 20/20 vision still, i was meant to ask him if he had plastic lenses or donated ones...freaky

  On 11/20/2013 at 7:42 AM, goDel said:

Stop saving. If you're poor, you prolly wont get passed those 30 years anyways.

dont tell me what to do with my not money

get laser eye surgery and then wear glasses with fake lenses to be a douche

good luck !

I had severe astigmatism from the time I was 11 to around 23. Lasik completely corrected it and I now have 20/15 (yes, it's better than 20/20) vision. It's totally worth it. The only issue is price, but I fortunately got some help from my parents. I definitely recommend it provided it you don't cheap out on your doctor. I hear some Lasik centers put you in a room with 10 other people and they kind of just go around in a circle doing the procedure. My doctor had me in a low-lit room and put headphones on me and let me listen to The White Album while I was Valium'd out.

It didn't hurt me at all, and as far as I know I've had no side effects. I was pretty blind immediately after the procedure, but I felt like a holy light entered me a few hours later. I could read a book without glasses and the text was bolder and shinier than it ever was with eyeglasses.

lol thanks eugene. I did think of that Dead Space thing. pretty sure one of the devs on that game has had eye surgery done and wanted to put that in the game.

  On 11/20/2013 at 5:16 AM, joshuatx said:

I've heard about this in detail actually, the reason LASIK wasn't cleared (and for that matter, PRK in the early years) was because the concern that in theory the cornea could be violently compromised in the event of depressurization and ejection from a jet. (I highly doubt these will be concerns on your end).

 

PRK is now offered for free for many military pilots. The first few years they did this was more or less to provide training for military doctors! My father, brother, and sister all have less than 20/20, whereas mine is 20/15 and possibly 20/10. Ironically I am the only one who has not served in the Air Force!

oh yeah, you were a military brat, no? you probably know all about this. anyway yeah, I think PRK is the way to go. has anyone in your family had it done?

  On 11/20/2013 at 6:01 AM, disparaissant said:

get one eye done, wear a monocle. BAM i just saved you 50% and increased your dapperness tenfold.

monocles and motorbikes, could be a thing.

  On 11/20/2013 at 6:53 AM, goDel said:

Have been looking into doing a ces myself as well.
I believe prk is called lasek here, but whatever the case, the specialist who tested me said it is the better option because the surface which is treated is simply smaller and theres no folding back stuff going on. Simpler is better. Only downside is the recovery period is a bit more intrusive. With a lasik you could basically walk away right after treatment. With lasek you have to wear protective caps over your eyes for a couple of days and put some fluids on your eyes for about a month.

I would have gone for lasek instantly if it wasnt so intrusive on my life for a period.

LASEK is just a little different from PRK. outer layer is not removed entirely during LASEK. but what you've described sounds like PRK. I dunno man, shit is confusing. the terminology can be rather twisted.

on that note actually, with PRK, there's different ways of removing the outer layer, some using an alcohol solution and some using a brush. some people use both. I'd very much like to go with the brush technique and not use alcohol. there's a PubMed paper that concludes that it's only marginally safer/more effective but I'm still sticking with it. it seems to be better for reduced chances of dry eye.

this might be a sticking point with the clinic I've chosen, they seem to prefer alcohol.

  On 11/20/2013 at 12:30 PM, tec said:

My brother had it done, said it hurt more than expected and his eyes were fucked for the rest of the day, not the hour recovery time that he was told. But he gradually got better and now doesn't regret it at all. The smell of lazer on eyeball is similar to burnt mushrooms if you were interested.

it's definitely not an hour recovery ever, they pulled some bs there. recovery rates vary from person to person but you need one full day at minimum. if you're lucky you might be able to drive and read a computer screen the next day. that's with LASIK though, PRK takes longer.

I will attempt to confirm the burnt mushroom odour for the watmmassive.

  On 11/20/2013 at 2:40 PM, miim said:

I know a few people who have had lazer eye surgery, don't know what type.

 

2 worked perfect, one couldn't keep one of their eye still and ruined it the other got an eye infection....

 

my dad had both his cataract's done 20 years ago and has 20/20 vision still, i was meant to ask him if he had plastic lenses or donated ones...freaky

the laser scans like thousands of times per second and stops if you move your eye depending on the machine, of course. if it was an old machine then maybe it didn't.

  On 11/20/2013 at 4:01 PM, sergeantk said:

get laser eye surgery and then wear glasses with fake lenses to be a douche

 

ok, Steve, if you say so. you know I trust you with my health. it's why I kept my pennis and didn't turn it into a vajanna.

I'm about to go in for this in a few hours. Will report results.

Hope it doesn't hurt too much mate, keep us posted.

Haha!

Well done! Now I'm jealous

update:

so the procedure went super-smoothly. clinic and staff were well professional and competent, as I had sussed them out to be. I went in on the day, was given a quick rundown of what would happen and was given optional Valium (which only took effect as I was leaving the clinic lol). lying in the theatre, the doc scrubs my eyes with a brush, which is momentarily uncomfortable but quite painless due to the local anaesthetic drops administered just prior, and then I'm under the laser. I stared at an orange point of light as the laser went tak-tak-tak-tak-tak-tak and ablated the lens. as I watched the orange dot it began to diffuse and blacken from the inside spreading outward, which was kind of cool and mildly alarming. smelt nothing so I can't confirm the burnt mushroom odor, tec. I was told by one of the ladies after that there's a thingo in the machine that sucks away the vapour, so that's probably why.

anyway, same thing for the other eye, then I'm done. procedure took no more than 10 mins, lasering itself just 20 seconds or so per eye. eyes are flushed, bandage contacts are laid on, I'm given a bag full of medication and drops (4 different kinds to be used 4 times a day: anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and artificial tears), my friend arrives to pick me up, I go home, I eat noodles, take the prescribed sleeping pills and knock myself out til next morning.

functional recovery took about a week, I was laid up and slept a lot. I had a follow-up appointment the very next day after the surgery though and managed to get to it by myself via train, so I could see well enough for that, even in spite of the sunlight half-blinding me. I gotta say, maybe I'm lucky or something, but I felt no pain at any time during the procedure, not during the op or during recovery. there was however significant irritation during recovery from the protective contacts, you can feel them right on your eyeball as there's no outer layer, so they kept me tossing and turning some nights. that, and having to wear these clear plastic covers over your eyes taped to your face (so nothing rubs or brushes against your eyelids), were probably the two main discomforts/annoyances involved. all that was done with after 5 days however and I was quite relieved.

I could read a computer screen by day 5 so I whiled away a lot of time playing Fallout and scarfing delivered pizza. couple more days later I'm confident enough to ride around on my bike, so I did heaps of night riding. like, at 3am. I spent so much time sleeping during the first week that I became a full-on night person by the second, waking at 4pm and sleeping at 6am. this aligned nicely with my Fallout playstyle wherein I picked the Night Person perk which grants +2 INT and +2 PER during dark hours oh yeah, there is some loss of contrast at night. darks sort of blend in with each other. long-distance sharpness and clarify are still fluctuating, so I often can't read street signs or license plates. I was told to expect this so I'm waiting to see how it works out. today is kind of blurry (can still ride), though that just may be because it's my first day back at work and my eyes are fucking tired due to just 3 hrs of sleep.

so yeah, it's probably too soon to say conclusively, but so far so good. just waiting to see how well it clears up by my next checkup which is towards the end of the month.