laser eye surgery...

i'm interested in possibly getting corrective surgery done to my eyes, to eliminate the need for glasses or contacts, as both have been troublesome for me.
i tried looking around on the internet, but it seems that most sites i found were either promotional sites or out of date.

has anyone had their eyes chopped at? especially recently?
the new customview procedure sounds nice, but also seems much more expensive.
my eysight is fairly bad, but i don't think i have any other issues that need to be addressed.

i plan on contacting someone to schedule a consultation, but before doing that i'd like to know a little more about the costs, procedures, and what to expect.

Had mine done way back in 1998. If I would do it today, I would have the custom wavefront and flapless procedure done. I'm pleased overall but had complications because of the flaps they cut in the cornea. The microscopic folds in my cornea diffract light in nighttime conditions and give me "halos" when viewing a light source. It can be pretty distracting and I try not to drive too much at night. The good news is that my eyesight has changed very little since the surgery and I see well enough to pass the vision test at the DMV without glasses. Bottom line - use a VERY experienced surgeon and go for the best procedure you can afford - don't skimp on something as important as your sight.

Rothrandir said:

i don't think i have any other issues that need to be addressed.

Click to expand...

:huh2: Are you sure? :thinking: :nana:

Hi Roth,

My Boss just had this done last week with a major complication. When the flap was cut a problem occured that required a "band aid" contact to be used for one week. After that daily visits for two weeks. It will require 6 months of healing before an attempt at correcting this problem can occur. The doctor who performed the surgery has 20,000 surgeries under his belt and said this occasionally happens. He is a very competent doctor. The other eye was done without complication. I hope this doesn't scare you away. I am also considering having this done and want to know all I can before having this procedure.

My dad got this done when it was still relatively new(and expensive). I don't think he ever looked back after it.

I wear contacts right now and would like to get the surgery, but I want to wait until I am sure that my eyes don't change.(I am 18, so hopefully soon they will stop soon)

One thing to think about here is the overall effect on your vision. Your cornea is capable of focusing over a certain range. Laser surgery moves the range more into distance vision at the expense of close-up vision. I thought of having this done but then decided it wasn't worth giving up the close-up vision which I rely on 99% of the time. If you only use your distance vision for driving and the like but do a great deal of very close work like soldering surface mount components don't bother. I've actually never had enough of a problem with my poor distance vision (20/200 last I had it checked) to require glasses except when I watch TV. I actually cycle just fine with no glasses despite my poor vision although I would need have to use glasses to obtain a driver's license.

Of course, if you do virtually nothing closer than about 12" then by all means consider it. I'm personally waiting on a bionic eye enhancement that gives me microscopic as well as telescopic vision. I think it'll be a while coming though.

I also want to add that once in a blue moon I've had inexplicable moments of clarity when outdoors in which I could see like an eagle. I really have no explanation for it other than maybe moisture on my eye forming into a perfect shape for a corrective lens.

I have not, nor will I have it done, but have friends who complain about the flap getting some debris underneath and they say it feels like a 2x4 in there. I am not trying to scare you, but be SURE this is what you want to do.

Hope all is well.

Now... where's that hamburger and pizza? IM HUNGRY !!!!

I am getting it in early 2006 when my medical pre-tax flex-dollars account is full again.

I agree with Joel. Get the "Wavefront LASIK", flapless if possible. It's what I'm researching now. I feel it's a good option for me as I'm nearsighted as it is. (LASIK is best for nearsightedness) I'm not too worried about haloes at night, as I've got them now with my glasses anyway, I believe this is caused by "spherical abberation" which is very difficult if not impossible to correct with lenses. At least with LASIK, especialy wavefront, I have a chance at getting rid of them. I do get haloes from LASIK I probably won't be able to tell the difference, and at least enjoy the clarity of better focus during the daytime.

Generally you can find out quick if it's Wavefront LASIK by asking if the clinic has a VISIX or Bausch & Lomb laser machine. Marriage and parenthood has left me 60 lbs overweight, and with a receding hairline. I hate poking my eyes with contacts. Even the best soft lenses feel as though they're a speed bump every time I blink. My ego can handle being bald, fat, or having glasses, but not all three at once, and ditching the glasses seems the easiest at this time… ("fat" is next, once all the kids are out of diapers and off bottles, and I have time to eat right, and exercise. Hair? Cest la vie...)

"Wavefront LASIK" is actually astronomy and "Star Wars" technology. To see things in space as well as the Hubble space telescope through turbulent air which makes stars "twinkle", or shoot a laser up at an enemy ICBM, they needed a way to cancel out all the imperfections the air causes. By measuring how a reference beam wiggled, a flexible mirror wiggles the exact opposite, giving a near perfect image. The Wavefront LASIK does the same thing to your eye. A low powered measuring beam measures out all the divergence from "optically perfect" in your eye, then maps out how to carve your cornea to cancel out as much of the imperfections as possible. Sometimes the results are better than 20/20.

There is an excellent site www.surgicaleyes.com that talks about LASIK and what kind of questions to ask. The site is mainly geared toward people who have had bad LASIK and want to commiserate and complain, but if you dig through it all, it's got lots of good medical info to quiz the doctor about and make your own decision.

I figure I need to hurry, as my mother tried to get LASIK at 58 and got turned down as she failed the test for EBMD (epithelial basement membrane dystrophy), essentially, it's a condition in a layer of the eye where her cornea was at severe risk for not healing enough. It's possibly inheritable, and gets worse with age. I also want it done before presbeobia (spelling?) sets in, where your ability to focus gets stuck.

I mainly want to improve my vision because I enjoy the shooting sports, and hope to get active in them again once the kids are older and we have more time. Also, you get so used to it, you don't realize what a pain glasses/contacts are until you can get rid of them...

My chemistry teacher in high school had his wife undergo the procedure a while back and he showed us all a video of it. They did the "classic" one where they did cut the flap. That didn't seem like much at first. The "scary" part was on one eye when the laser was activated, part of that eye emitted a small ammount of smoke :duck:

It dosen't take too long to "burn" it but it does look frightening on tape.

My teacher did mention about the halo thing when viewing lights and at nightime plus how closeup vision was affected. The other thing he mentioned that I remember was that they made one eye better than the other for distant viewing or something similar.

I had Lasik done in early 2000. Yes, I saw the whiff of smoke emanating from my eyes while the laser was operating. I also smelled it a tiny bit. Not a strong, horrible odor but it was like nothing else I've encountered.

Having said that, in retrospect I would have waited for the custom wavefront surgery, and I might have to wind up being re-treated with it eventually. My pupils are significantly larger than the maximum ablation area of their laser at the time (A Visx, max 7mm treatment area) so I have significant halos at night due to looking through a portion of my "old" eyes (the untreated area that my pupils open up to at night). Daytime vision was spectacular following surgery but has regressed a little bit in the past few years.

Yes, it was a tradeoff between distance viewing and close-up work, so I have to work with reading glasses for up-close stuff, but for me I need my distance vision as badly as my close-up sight, so the glasses aren't a bad tradeoff.

My main advice is to have them measure your fully dilated pupil size, then get a second opinion at another Lasik place (it's often free for prospective customers). Then find out what's the maximum fully ablated area they can treat with their laser (NOT counting the "transition" or rolloff zone).

I had Lasik preformed in 1997 and have had no problems. I am now 44 and am the only one on my crew who can still see good enough to splice fiber optic cables without reading glasses. A couple of the guys are much younger than I so I'm not sure you will lose your close-up vision. Just get a competent doctor and don't shop soley by price.

I had Lasik surgery several years ago & it is the best thing I ever did,as I was sick & tired of wearing glasses & the cost. I had My surgery done over the border from me in Niagara Falls,Canada by Dr. Andrew Taylor. The cost of my surgery was $1000.00 for both eyes. The surgery was painless & the care was excellent. Here is the URL for thr clinic in Canada that did My operation..........

http://www.lasikniagara.com/index2.htm

One of my best friends had it done about six years ago by supposedly one of the top guys in the country, one of the "pioneers" of laser surgery.

He was ecstatic about it immediately afterward and for a few months. Things started going wrong about six months after it was done, and within 9 months, he was almost totally, irreversably, blind.

I know a few other people that have had it done and no problems at all. But based on my friend's experience, I personally would never consider it.... at least not for the sake of convenience. I'd rather just put up with glasses than risk it, even if it is a million to one chance of something serious going wrong..

jtr makes a good point about close up work. I found out that the vision correction is more for long distance viewing than close up work. My doc said that if you are at that age where you need reading glasses, laser vision correction will not stop you from requiring reading glasses. My doc said they can correct to the point where it gives you slight nearsightedness, but you will need glasses/contacts for distance viewing. Bottom line is that you may need glasses period.

I wont myself for now, maybe 15 years down the road.

As a resident of a rehab center for the blind, Ive met many who had botched laser surgery. Majority were African American. Not sure if the technique is to blame, technology or operator. Some how they injure the eye, it bleeds and the fluid in the eye ball fills with blood to block out your vision or bits of blood that make it look like crap floating around.

i've got pretty good closeup vision, and i need it for what i do at work. does the new customview method still have this problem? i hadn't heard of that before...

i'm 20 years old, so old age isn't really a concern, and i'm not too concerned about the long-long term effects (anything more than 10-15 years).

anyone know the approximate cost for the customview nowadays?

Best $3,700 I ever spent. Had mine done seven years ago when PRK was approved and Lasik was still classified as under review by the FDA. A friend had PRK done just before Lasik existed in this country and he was in pain for months and it took a year before he could actually benefit from the procedure. PRK zapped all the layers and you had to re-grow your cornea, bad, bad, bad.

I have the halo around lights at night but it's never bothered me and I don't notice it now. Also, I've never had a reading issue and I lost no up close focusing ability. I could see 20/15 about 10 hours after surgery and I'm still 20/20 seven years later - that's after losing about 1/4 diopter every year since I was 10. I was 20/600 and 20/650 at the time I had it done.

You can get the same procedure I had done today for about $1,000-$1,200 in Arizona. Wavefront and intralase are new procedures and cost more but I can't imagine them being any better than the procedure I had done say accept for the night vision thing.

http://www.nationwidevision.com/ Let the banner scroll up top and you'll see the advertised price.

By the way, Christmas time is the slowest period for eye surgeons and your best deals will more than likely be around this time. The procedure was actually $2,400 an eye at the time but I had mine done just before Christmas so I'm going from experience on that one.

having worked for one major medical laser equipment mfg recently was an "eye opener", there are many pluses and minuses, laser has limits

for minor correction laser is cheaper/quicker but there is that smell

( smell has always been an issue, have to use a vacuum, no air can be blown across the eye ) hard to make a decent vacuum over the eyes.

Most major astigmatism not correctable with laser ( some minor correction possible though)

night vision always an issue with either procedure

finding a doctor who does 20/month is better no matter what equipment is used vs. those that do 3 or 5.



had my eyes done by RK in 94, laser came out back then but went with RK cause doctors had more experience with RK and i had high astigmatism in one eye



there were serious problems first couple of years with laser, its more stable now....



i went to 6 doctors for exams, paid for 3 of them out of pocket

end result went with doctor who charged the most but if a redo was necessary, it was free in the first 6 months, $100 bucks for 1 yr, $200 for 2nd year, $300 for third. he will presently do any minor correction for me with the laser for $600/ both eyes....he used the equip that cuts a flap so i have held off for my own squeamish reasons.... ask about cost if a redo is necessary, doctors that charge the less, usually charge as much as the first time for a minor redo correction.



skill is important, depending on your eyes some doctors overcorrect to compensate for reading down the road, your age and what you do for a living plays a part….good doctors know this and consider it for your amount of correction



expect Excimer flapless end of next year, with auto energy correction and iris registration ( up to 11mm pupils) as the procedure occurs. 2nd generation wavefront also expected that timeframe. Eye "data" transfer, from exam equipment to the surgery equipment will be automated from a manual entry.



one major company was acquired recently by a large medical org, going thru the pain of acquisition "might" take a year to get back on track…..

I had Lasik in early 2001 and it was the best money I've ever spent on myself. My vision was and has remained better than 20/20 and I used to have real coke-bottle glasses. Playing sports, skiing, swimming, showering, biking, even (ahem) being in bed are all far better with clear vision and no hassles of glasses or contacts! Also it's nice to have good quality sunglasses available.

PhotonWrangler said:

Yes, I saw the whiff of smoke emanating from my eyes while the laser was operating. I also smelled it a tiny bit. Not a strong, horrible odor but it was like nothing else I've encountered.

Click to expand...

I had that happen too. A bit unnerving at the time, but worth a moment of discomfort for a lifetime of great vision!

Go for it, I know the technique has advanced some over the past few years. My only other advice is buy the doctor, not the machine or the technology. Find someone who's an actual opthamalogist, not a fly-by-nite assembly line "McEye" clinic type of thing.

Good luck,

Dave

I did lasik a while back, had a problem with my right eye, the flap unpeeled, thank god it stick back and healed, my left eye is perfect, my right is about is still off 20/20 by a tiny bit.

Since no one has posted this site, PLEASE READ THIS SITE CAREFULLY prior to doing any corrective eye surgery, this is what could go wrong.

http://www.lasikdisaster.com/

HTH
AlexGT