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GetWellGamers posted:So, I came into a windfall lately and decided to get my eyes fixed once and for all. I was looking up various procedures and doctors and so on and it seems like everyone's just trying to sell what they've got. PRK? PTK? Hell if I know. Maximusi posted:PRK cuts your eyes with a blade. You probably want custom wavefront LASIK, it's more expensive than regular LASIK but it also produces better results. I don't know where you live, but in northern CA it cost about 4,000 and up for that. LASIK is the procedure that involves cutting a flap on your eye to open before reshaping, although newer procedures can use a laser to make that cut rather than physical tools. PRK involves simply removing the epithelial layer (mine involved something similar to a rotating toothbrush) before doing the reshaping, and the epithelium then grows back. That being said, the recovery from LASIK is supposed to be much quicker and painless compared to PRK, so that's something else to consider.
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Apr 14, 2013 00:38
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Maximusi posted:You probably want custom wavefront LASIK, it's more expensive than regular LASIK but it also produces better results. I don't know where you live, but in northern CA it cost about 4,000 and up for that. Agreed 100% on the custom wavefront. I had custom wavefront PRK done last summer and don't regret it, even though it did wind up costing about $6,000 total for both eyes. (Free touch-up, though, which is good since I'm scheduled to have one eye tweaked a bit later this month.) This was in the SF Bay Area.
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Apr 14, 2013 01:00
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Maximusi posted:PRK cuts your eyes with a blade. You probably want custom wavefront LASIK, it's more expensive than regular LASIK but it also produces better results. I don't know where you live, but in northern CA it cost about 4,000 and up for that. Well, "cuts" might not be the right word. "Scrapes away like frost off a windshield", maybe.
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Apr 14, 2013 02:18
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I went for my 9 year checkup on Friday. My acuity has remained the same since the surgery, but was warned to expect a shift to far-sightedness as I approach 40.
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Apr 14, 2013 03:09
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ibntumart posted:Agreed 100% on the custom wavefront. I had custom wavefront PRK done last summer and don't regret it, even though it did wind up costing about $6,000 total for both eyes. (Free touch-up, though, which is good since I'm scheduled to have one eye tweaked a bit later this month.) This was in the SF Bay Area. Hey Bay Area goon! Mine was about 3995 but it was custom wavefront LASIK. My brother got it done twice. Once with LASIK, the second time with PRK (a year after). He had bad complications, but he was stupid and went to an eye surgeon who didn't really do laser stuff. He did the PRK with a famous eye doctor in the san jose area. He said it was quite painful.
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Apr 14, 2013 04:16
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I'm going in for custom wavefront LASIK tomorrow morning, it's costing me a little over $4200 for both eyes.
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Apr 16, 2013 06:31
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Maximusi posted:Hey Bay Area goon! Mine was about 3995 but it was custom wavefront LASIK. My brother got it done twice. Once with LASIK, the second time with PRK (a year after). Wow. I don't think I'd ever consider doubling down, so to speak, but I'm ineligible for LASIK anyway. Maximusi posted:He had bad complications, but he was stupid and went to an eye surgeon who didn't really do laser stuff. He did the PRK with a famous eye doctor in the san jose area. He said it was quite painful. Thankfully my operation was completely painless. I'm trying to imagine how PRK would be painful and the only thing I come up with is that the surgeon forget the numbing drops, which is a disturbing thought. The pain didn't come for a couple of days later for me.
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Apr 16, 2013 07:02
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Yeah, I think it was a bad idea. Considering how dry the procedure makes your eyes, I can't imagine two of them almost back to back. He had really bad halos and starbursts and he says that the PRK helped with those complications, but he regrets getting the LASIK done. Oh well.
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Apr 16, 2013 07:08
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Maximusi posted:My brother got it done twice. Once with LASIK, the second time with PRK (a year after). He had bad complications, but he was stupid and went to an eye surgeon who didn't really do laser stuff. He did the PRK with a famous eye doctor in the san jose area. He said it was quite painful. On the second attempt it was decided it wouldn't be a good idea to create another flap and they had to opt for PRK instead.
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Apr 16, 2013 21:35
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EVIR Gibson posted:Has any experienced having to get a surgery again a long time after the original one? Yea, there is no guarantee that you'll maintain 20/20 or better. Eyes can continue to adjust and start to regress to what they were before many years later. Most people who have had the surgery prior will remain candidates for further surgeries (if wanted).
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Apr 16, 2013 22:36
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Beep Street posted:I doubt it was as simple as your brother being stupid and the surgeon "didn't do laser stuff". All surgeons have to be fully qualified to perform the surgery. Probably what happened was your brother got Lasik the first time round, it was undercorrected or his eyes changed again (happens sometimes). Guessing he had a massive prescription to begin with. His pupils were quite large and yeah, his eyes were really bad. I think at least -8 in each eye. If it were me, I would've done mine at a doctor who's done thousands of them. Maybe he was a bad candidate. I don't know for sure.
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Apr 16, 2013 23:02
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Getting a consult tomorrow, hopefully this place won't give me the pushy sales tactic that Manrique gave me earlier this year (and wanted like $6000 dollars  ).
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Apr 17, 2013 04:31
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EightBit posted:Getting a consult tomorrow, hopefully this place won't give me the pushy sales tactic that Manrique gave me earlier this year (and wanted like $6000 dollars Anyhow you're more likely to be offered a better deal if you don't book on the day. It works out cheaper for clinics to discount for people they already know are suitable for surgery compared to the cost of marketing for new customers.
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Apr 17, 2013 19:24
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How do you go about finding a good LASIK surgeon? I've been trying to find directories and such with reviews online but haven't had any luck. It seems like there has to be a better way than just randomly picking one off google or from ads.
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Apr 18, 2013 03:32
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A combination of Yelp reviews and calling doctors and asking for quotes.
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Apr 18, 2013 04:15
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A good surgeon doesn't have to have done millions of Lasik surgeries. I'd go for someone that has a lot of experience with eye surgery in general. Look for someone that has memberships of a few medical organisations. Some surgeons also write papers and do research, that is usually a good sign they know their poo poo. Most of the work is done by the technology anyway so as well as comparing surgeons check out what lasers they're using. You could have the best surgeon in the world but you'll get lovely results if they're using an outdated laser.
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Apr 18, 2013 19:39
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Jd7154 posted:How do you go about finding a good LASIK surgeon? I went by word of mouth and recommendations from friends/family.
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Apr 19, 2013 04:47
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Zogo posted:I went by word of mouth and recommendations from friends/family. Same here. I also went to multiple free consultations and chose the one with the most modern equipment.
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Apr 19, 2013 15:59
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I'm 38 years old have terrible vision (-6.00 -1.25X178; -6.75 -0.75X152), astigmatism in both eyes, and a lazy eye. Should I even bother considering something like LASIK at this point? Edit: I quit wearing contact lenses around 1999 or 2000 and have been wearing glasses exclusively since then. My lenses are either heavy and thick or thin and expensive.
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Apr 19, 2013 19:33
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Aleph Null posted:I'm 38 years old have terrible vision (-6.00 -1.25X178; -6.75 -0.75X152), astigmatism in both eyes, and a lazy eye. Should I even bother considering something like LASIK at this point? Depends on your expectations. If you're wanting great/pristine vision I'd lean towards caution. The astigmatism can usually be corrected but you aren't that far away from the age of most likely needing reading glasses (LASIK can't correct this). Sometimes people in their 40s get the surgery and it gives them good distance vision but they immediately need reading glasses when they didn't prior to surgery. Also, both of your eyes being that level increases the likelihood of multiple surgeries (an enhancement a year or two after the initial surgery) being necessary to achieve a nice 20/20 or better. The worse your vision is at the start the harder it is to apply the perfect amount of correction to your eyes.
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Apr 20, 2013 00:30
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Aleph Null posted:I'm 38 years old have terrible vision (-6.00 -1.25X178; -6.75 -0.75X152), astigmatism in both eyes, and a lazy eye. Should I even bother considering something like LASIK at this point? Regardless of having the surgery or not you will develop the need for reading glasses in your 40's/50's. Beep Street fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Apr 20, 2013 |
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Apr 20, 2013 20:57
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I am getting an astigmatic intra ocular lens implanted into my left eye, because I have developed a nasty cataract after I had retinal reattachment surgery on the eye. Apparently this procedure will treat all residuals and get my vision to near perfect. That leaves the question of what to do with my other eye. Untreated vision is terrible, I can't see my glasses on my night table when I'm laying an arm's reach away. Right eye has bad vision and stigmatism. The retina in that eye did not detach, but it was weak. At the time of my left eye retinal reattachment, the ophthalmologist used a laser to circumscribe the weakest parts of my right retina to enduce scarring and hopefully maintain a stronger hold. My question is, what are my options? The doctor outlined 3: which I don't remember the names of at the moment. One was lasik (suction required), and the other was a type (photorefractive keratectomy?) that seemed great, but wasn't applicable because my vision was so bad. Luckily my eye thickness is juicy, so there's material to work with, which apparently is a good thing. My various eye doctors have told me of risk, but aren't straight saying "here's the best, here's the worst option". However that's partly due to my communication. I'll be more direct when I go to see my cataract specialist tomorrow afternoon. Has anybody with weak retinas had laser eye surgery? edit: According to this scholarly article, yeah it's the PRK HOA effect of corneal haze. The right eye would need such extensive PRK treatment that corneal haze risk was increased. However my cataract doctor was talking about conventional PRK, not wavefront-guided PRK. I dunno, but being nearly blind is loving lame. BRB MAKIN BACON fucked around with this message at 18:37 on May 9, 2013 |
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May 9, 2013 18:22
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So I found an Amazon Local / Living Social deal on LASIK in my area. $2150 for wavefront LASIK. The deal is here: http://local.amazon.com/phoenix/B00CWI46WG?src=email&cid=em_dd_850_101_na_s1_&ref_=pe_254660_30115870. The surgeon is Dr. Daniel Peters, who from some cursory research seems to be respected in the research side of things, but I have no idea if that translates into being competent at surgery. Here's a press release when he moved to Phoenix: http://nationwidevision.com/blog/tag/dr-daniel-peters/. There's a lot of stuff in there I don't quite understand, as a lot of it relates to research. Does he sounds like a good surgeon? Should I go for the deal? Are there any questions I should call up with and ask the surgery center first?
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May 29, 2013 04:25
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I went for my consultation for Lasik at the London Eye Hospital and they were very thorough. They checked out my eyes for almost two hours. The place looked very swanky but I expected it to be because its on Harley Street. I couldn't get a look at the room where my surgery will take place because the actual hospital itself is on the next street. I'm absolutely bricking it about the operation though. They put some numbing drops in my eyes and were poking them which was reassuring because it was completely painless so its a taste of what to come I guess. I'm prone to panic attacks at the best of times though so I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this. I can barely stand getting a haircut.  I've booked it anyway. £3750 for Lasik Wavefront. Thats after a 50% discount too! June must be a slow month.
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Jun 2, 2013 22:52
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Galsia posted:I'm prone to panic attacks at the best of times though so I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this. I can barely stand getting a haircut. luckily for you they'll most likely give you some valium/xanax/benzo to keep you calm, which is also the best (pharmacological) way to kill/prevent panic attacks just tell them you're prone to panic attacks and they'll dope you up all good
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Jun 3, 2013 18:28
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Totally Normal posted:luckily for you they'll most likely give you some valium/xanax/benzo to keep you calm, which is also the best (pharmacological) way to kill/prevent panic attacks
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Jun 3, 2013 19:02
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Totally Normal posted:luckily for you they'll most likely give you some valium/xanax/benzo to keep you calm, which is also the best (pharmacological) way to kill/prevent panic attacks Unfortunately I already take another SSRI so I don't think I'll be able to take a valium. I think I'll be more at ease if the surgeon explains everything before hand. I know the procedure but it would be reasuring if he was to talk me through the steps while he does it.
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Jun 3, 2013 21:18
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Had my pre-op today prior to my surgery on Thursday and they switched me from LASIK to PRK, so it'll be a fun weekend.
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Jun 3, 2013 21:23
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psydude posted:Had my pre-op today prior to my surgery on Thursday and they switched me from LASIK to PRK, so it'll be a fun weekend. My first weekend after PRK wasn't so bad. Though that was largely due to taking Vicodin and sleeping as much as I could.
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Jun 4, 2013 00:35
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Welp, just scheduled LASIK Wavefront surgery for the 26th of this month. Gonna be $90 a month to pay off $4500, but I'm willing to pay that to be able to see and ditch the glasses. Is a bladeless surgery, it's at TLC Vision in Little Rock, who seem to have the best technology in the area for LASIK. Comes with a Lifetime Commitment that takes care of any enhancement surgery's after the initial one at no cost. Comes with free annual eye exams. Had my consultation a few days ago and apparently I am a "great candidate" with my eyes. I'm scared 
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Jun 6, 2013 22:50
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Had it done today. Whole thing took like 10 minutes and was relatively painless except for the freezing cold drops they put in your eyes after the laser part.
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Jun 7, 2013 01:28
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psydude posted:Had it done today. Whole thing took like 10 minutes and was relatively painless except for the freezing cold drops they put in your eyes after the laser part. What did you go for? LASIK?
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Jun 7, 2013 14:01
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Galsia posted:What did you go for? LASIK? PRK. So it'll be a bit longer before my eyesight is perfect.
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Jun 7, 2013 16:13
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Galsia posted:I've booked it anyway. £3750 for Lasik Wavefront. Thats after a 50% discount too! June must be a slow month. Good God, £3750 after a discount?! I got mine done a year ago at Optical Express on Harley Street and it was something like £2200 or so for both eyes.
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Jun 14, 2013 15:45
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Caryna posted:Good God, £3750 after a discount?! I got mine done a year ago at Optical Express on Harley Street and it was something like £2200 or so for both eyes. You pay cash money. We laser eyeball I kid I kid. Mine was less than that for PRK.
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Jun 14, 2013 17:26
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Caryna posted:Good God, £3750 after a discount?! I got mine done a year ago at Optical Express on Harley Street and it was something like £2200 or so for both eyes. I got another quote at Accuvision for £3500 two years ago so if you take inflation into account its not far off. I went to both places after reccomendations by an ophthalmic surgeon. I was ready to go to Accuvision until I found out that the surgeon I had chosen had retired. No doubt the equipment used in most places that perform laser eye surgery is about the same; its the surgeon that you pay a premium for. Is it worth the extra money? Maybe, maybe not. I suspect the "50% discount" is something that they do all the time to make it seem like a bargain. As somebody with a very nervous disposition I'm prepared to pay more if it gives me a greater confidence in the procedure. Its going to be hard enough to get me on the operation table as it is. I'm pretty nervous already. My surgery is due next Thursday. Has anybody taken Diazepam (Valium) before having LASIK? I've got some from my GP to take. I am going to try taking a tablet (2mg) tomorrow to see how drowsy it makes me. Galsia fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jun 14, 2013 |
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Jun 14, 2013 18:58
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Galsia posted:Has anybody taken Diazepam (Valium) before having LASIK? Yea, that's the standard thing to do before the surgery. I didn't feel any different after taking it but it did make me tired eventually. I remember my doctor telling me and all his patients to not get drunk prior to the surgery (he's had to turn away many people and reschedule because of this).
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Jun 14, 2013 23:35
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That was my experience with the Valium as well. If I get my right eye tweaked next visit, I don't think I'll bother with the Valium.
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Jun 15, 2013 09:56
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I'd just tried one of the pills my GP gave me today as this is the last day I have off work before the procedure. The Valium didn't really seem to do anything. Obviously I'm not nervous about it today so maybe thats why. I was expecting to feel drowsy but it's a small dose. I presume that a lot of patients end up taking it so I'll call the clinic on Monday and ask for their advice.
Galsia fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Jun 15, 2013 |
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Jun 15, 2013 18:45
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I called the clinic and they said that taking a Valium before the procedure is fine but I can't take it until I have signed the consent form. The procedure takes place immediately after signing the form. I understand that it takes at least an hour before it takes effect so doing so would be pointless. Should I just take it an hour before the procedure and not inform them?
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Jun 18, 2013 09:42
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