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I can't say enough good things about LASIK. I'm 37 and have worn glasses since I was 9, contacts since I was 14. I also travel a lot for work, often overseas with weird hours, and having to sleep on planes or buses with my contacts in was a nightmare -- I'd have to take a 3 hour ride from the airport or hotel to my destination and would fall asleep, then wake up with my contacts stuck to my eyes. My eyes would ache like mad or even be scratched from it. After a few years, I just ended up wearing my glasses most of the time, but it was a pain in the rear end to constantly have to switch between my regular ones and my prescription sunglasses every time I went inside or outside, which could be pretty often -- sometimes every 5 minutes or so. I get migraines and have light sensitivity, so I pretty much always had to have sunglasses on outside. I also hated toting my cleaning and storage crap, along with my glasses case, everywhere I went. Has anyone here had laser eye surgery done? I had the wavefront done in February of this year. I got some kind of discount, and it ended up being US $3900 for both eyes. I was told the wavefront was better, because instead of making the same cut on everyone's eye, the computer actually maps out the surface of your eye and cuts along with all the unique bumps and curves and irregularities that everyone has. I could see perfectly immediately after the surgery -- they walked me from the surgery chair to a recovery chair and I could read the signs on the wall clear across the room. Do they see as well as they did with glasses? My vision is now better than 20/20, but I can't remember the exact number. Does it hurt (before/during/after)? I didn't feel a thing during; maybe a little pressure, but that was all. Afterwards it stung a bit, but that only lasted for a day or so. I've been told it messes with your night driving, is that the case? Not for me -- I actually used to get really bad starbursts and halos before the surgery; afterward, I still had them -- but not as bad -- for a few weeks. Six months later, they're completely gone. I have no issues at all with my night vision; it's much better than before the surgery. Does it make working with a computer more difficult? (Using contacts slows down your blink rate which can cause dryness when working at a computer, did this happen to anyone?) I'm at a computer all day and have no problems. There was some dryness immediately after the surgery that lasted for a week or two, but no problems now. Having done it, would you still choose to do it over again? If I had to do it again every year to maintain this level of vision, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Seriously, it's made a world of difference for me. There are so many little things, like waking up in the middle of the night and being able to read the clock without fumbling for my glasses. Traveling is now a breeze without worrying about losing or breaking my glasses/contacts, forgetting my saline/cases, or falling asleep somewhere and having my contacts stick to my eyeballs, or having them do so because of the dry air in planes or hotel rooms. Also, I'm 7 months pregnant and happy that when my baby cries in the middle of the night, I'll be able to go in and check on him without having to find my glasses or put in my contacts. Although I didn't know I was pregnant when I got the surgery, I had been trying, and knew that I wanted it done before I had kids. My sister had her LASIK done after her daughter was born; before she had the surgery, when my niece was only a few months old, my sister was at home alone, napping on the couch with the kid. Someone rang the doorbell and she wasn't able to find her glasses quickly, so she just answered the door, baby in her arms. The guy at the door said he was with the gas company or electric company or something and wanted to come in; he was pretty pushy, and she couldn't see to read his uniform, name tag or any ID, so she sent him away and told him to come back later (when her husband was home). The guy never came back. He may have been totally legit, but it freaked her out that she was pretty much blind and vulnerable. It made me decide to get mine done ASAP. Is there anything bizarre (like your eyes falling out) that I should know about? Nothing for me. I did have some redness around the cut that lasted for about a week. In my case, I consider this the world's easiest surgery. It took less than 30 seconds for each eye, and there was no recovery period other than having to put eyedrops in for a few days. They also give you Valium prior to the surgery and a painkiller for afterward. Maybe I'm just really lucky, but I don't think I'd have needed either. It was a minute of my time, and then a week or so of dry eyes afterward, all in exchange for better than perfect vision. I do recommend spending more and going to a real eye surgeon, though, if you can afford it. I wouldn't trust my eyes to anyone that charges $500 an eye for it. My sister's friend works for an opthamologist and said they get a lot of patients coming in from those places with some messed up eyes. So, do your research, get references, and go with someone trustworthy. If you can get someone affiliated with a major hospital (mine was through the Cleveland Clinic), all the better.
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Aug 4, 2009 22:17
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 05:15 |
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OpusD posted:
This is a good point -- they stress that you might still get age-related nearsightedness, if you were prone to it. Most people end up needing reading glasses in their 40s, 50s, or whenever, so the odds are good you might end up needing them too. The good news is that you'll only be dealing with reading glasses at that point if you've had LASIK, and not struggling with constantly switching glasses or wearing bifocals.
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Aug 12, 2009 14:41
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