Laser Vision Correction

[Goatman]

I'm not looking at this option right now, but have you old fogeys looked into the "monovision" deal. They fix one eye for distance & the other for reading. Supposedly your brain gets used to it & switches from one eye dominence to the other depending on what you're doing (reading / driving). The only down side I've read about is that you may need glasses to correct the reading eye for night driving.

I'm going in next thurs. for a "consult" & to grill the doc. If I feel comfy they'll do it that same day...

Matt, that's how my eye glass prescription was before I did the laser surgery. One eye for close and one eye for distance. Must have worked well since I never noticed anything........until I got the surgery and then couldn't see an f'n thing up close.

 

[01XJLIMITED]

The monovision is awesome, and you do get used to it pretty quickly. Reading was a bit uncomfortable for a few months, but now it is a pleasure again. One of the strange things to get used to is periferal vision. My left eye is perfect for reading, my right eye is perfect for distance, but when looking from right to left, I sometimes find myself having to concentrate for a split second on using my right eye more than my left, but it is no problem. I can read the finest print in low light conditions easily, and distance vision is unbelievable and crystal clear.

The suction machine that holds your eyes when they do the procedure freaked me out a bit. Entirely alien sensation that only lasts a few seconds but it seems like an eternity. Not painful, but thoroughly uncomfortable.

Find out how many procedures the doctor has performed. My doctor has been doing it for years and has personally performed over 10,000 surgeries. Also expect them to treat any adjustments at no charge until they are perfect. The consultation and complete testing to determine if you are a candidate and the best options for you should be free and very comprehensive. Expect to spend at least 40 minutes being tested.

Do it. Spend the money, go to the best, and enjoy. It is awesome not to have to wear glasses anymore.

 

[MyJeepXJ]

http://www.nevershaveagain.com/default.aspx?source=google&adgroup=hairremoval

That would be great for ear and nose hairs! And mama's cooter.

 

[neonrog]

I had the Lasik done almost 5 years ago. I was in the Navy and had it done free. I don't recall what my final correction was, but I pass drivers license eye tests handily! I started at 20/400 left eye and 20/450 right. The Navy surgeon does the Navy SEALS eyes, thats NOT a group of folks I want upset with me!

Recovery depends on the individual. But eye drops are your friend!!! Took me about 3 months overall, I had both eyes done same time.

I STRONGLY suggest safety goggles when working under vehicles. I never really noticed how much crap hit me in the face until I had the surgery... I think I have three pair in my garage right now, and one pair in my lunch box here at work.

Night vision for me was unchanged. Starring around bright lights was pretty bad for about a year. But isn't that noticable now.

I healed with a bit of astigmatism that I didn't have before. It isn't so bad as to be a problem, but I do notice it now and again, especially when I am really tired.

I don't regret doing it for a second. 24 years ago I was motorcycle touring and was 800 miles from home, when I had a string of semis going the other direction went past me. As the last truck went by, the backwash of air lifted my glasses right of my face and to the side of the road. I got lucky that day, the glasses were only slightly scratched. I never went anywhere AFTER that without spare glasses... I think of the LASIK as being a safety upgrade.

 

[PhunkXJ]

Have you actually gone to a dr. for a consultation yet? I went to 4 different places before I made my decision.

1) what procedure did you have? Lasik

2) How'd it turn out? awesome, 20/15

3) How's your night vision? good, I had a problem with lights being REALLY bright but that's gone now.

4) Recovery time? I was fine after a 4 hour nap, complete healing takes about a year, and for about 2 weeks after the surgery I was over-careful about protecting my eyes in the shower, no eye makeup, no rubbing my eyes so the flap would heal and to avoid infection.

5) What did you pay? $2800 for both eyes plus lifetime accuity. I went back a year later to have it redone for no charge, so far so good 3 years later.

the place I went to is Lasik Plus, they are nation wide too.

good luck Matt! I know Ror wishes he could do it but his eyes are really bad and he isn't a canidate.

 

[bbaker80]

1) what procedure did you have? Lasik

2) How'd it turn out? 20/20, no glasses after 15 years of constant wear

3) How's your night vision? nothing noticeable changed at night, I do notice that I am uncomfortable without sunglasses on a sunny day. I don't know if that is just because I could never wear sunglasses before or if the sun bothers me mow.

4) Recovery time? Good from the time I woke up from my nap after surgery. 28 hours of sleep makes me believe I will never be taking Vicodin again for any reason.

5) What did you pay? I had Custom Lasik at TLC, which included a pre-scan so they could create a custom map for the lasers. I think it was around $4600 for everything, and included the TLC lifetime guarantee. If at any time I'm not satisfied with my vision I can have the Lasik done again for the cost of pre and post-op (about $500).

 

[RichP]

I had the Lasik done almost 5 years ago. I was in the Navy and had it done free. I don't recall what my final correction was, but I pass drivers license eye tests handily! I started at 20/400 left eye and 20/450 right. The Navy surgeon does the Navy SEALS eyes, thats NOT a group of folks I want upset with me!

Yea, the service academies are doing that now for all freshman, it opened up a lot bigger pool for pilot candidates, before that anything below 20/20 was a disqualifiter for flight school and gave those with 20/20 an in and they did not have to compete with the other 80% of their classmates.. I've noticed that alot more people wear glasses in HS than they did when I went, wonder if diet/ transfats has anything to do with it...

All your comments here has me interested, I need 1.5 reading glasses and I too keep a couple of pairs stashed around my computers and when I go shopping to read the fine print [which seems to me has gotten alot smaller as printing processes have improved or is that my imagination ]... maybe, but at 54 is it wothwhile ?

 

[Goatman]

I wonder too. I only had one eye done, so maybe I could do the other eye for reading. I tell you, it's a royal PIA to not be able to see anything up close or in low light. I can't read any labels, can't work on much of anything, can't even see my damn socks in the drawer without good light or reading glasses.

But I can sure see everything else.

 

[RichP]

I wonder too. I only had one eye done, so maybe I could do the other eye for reading. I tell you, it's a royal PIA to not be able to see anything up close or in low light. I can't read any labels, can't work on much of anything, can't even see my damn socks in the drawer without good light or reading glasses.

But I can sure see everything else.

Screw it, who's gonna notice one blue and one black dress sock ? If I ever go back to work at a normal job and have to wear anything but my newbalance sneaks and white socks though I'll be in trouble...:wow: I'm just glad I put up a 4 tube flourescent fixture over the dryier area rather than the 2 tube my wife wanted...otherwise I'd be mixing browns in there too...

 

[FarmerMatt]

Have you actually gone to a dr. for a consultation yet? I went to 4 different places before I made my decision.

1) what procedure did you have? Lasik

2) How'd it turn out? awesome, 20/15

3) How's your night vision? good, I had a problem with lights being REALLY bright but that's gone now.

4) Recovery time? I was fine after a 4 hour nap, complete healing takes about a year, and for about 2 weeks after the surgery I was over-careful about protecting my eyes in the shower, no eye makeup, no rubbing my eyes so the flap would heal and to avoid infection.

5) What did you pay? $2800 for both eyes plus lifetime accuity. I went back a year later to have it redone for no charge, so far so good 3 years later.

the place I went to is Lasik Plus, they are nation wide too.

good luck Matt! I know Ror wishes he could do it but his eyes are really bad and he isn't a canidate.

I went to one of the "seminars" last week & watched a guy have it done. I called around to every office that does it locally & they're all in that one building & share the same equipment & are priced comparably. (how can there be 5 seperate eye Dr. associations run out of the same building?...) I found 2 different companys that are doing their own & one is TLC. They'll do the consult locally, but I'd have to travel to San Diego or Sacremento to get it done... This other guy has his own local practice, his own machines & has been in business locally for over 20 years. He does the "wave front" mapping & a quick internet search didn't net any bad comments of lawseits against the guy. I did find some interesting reads about TLC, but they are cheap... I'm going in Thurs. & if the guy sustains by barage of questions than I'll pull the trigger & get it done. You & Ror need to head west some time...

Thanks for all the comments, it's a little comforting to see you're all not blind & disfigured...:wow:

Matt

 

[johnnyc]

I had vision correction surgery BEFORE all this fancy laser stuff. RK, I think it was. I actually needed two different procedures. First, they sliced a thin flap off my lens, flipped it up, took a scoop out of each cornea, and put the flap back. Then they made radial cuts around the cornea with a diamond blade.

And yes, I did have the monovision done. Now, ten years later, my eyesight in my right eye (distance) has gone down a bit. I may need to get an enhancement.. But my left reading eye is still good.

I now sometimes need to wear glasses. For distance and night driving. But my eyeglass lenses are very thin, compared to the coke bottles that I grew up wearing.

Definitely, go in for the consultation. Some people, for whatever reason, just are not good candidates for vision correction surgery. In which point, this would all be a moot subject.

But...I hope that this is not the case for you. Good luck, Matt. I thoroughly enjoyed the box of almonds.

 

[neonrog]

Matt, I think you will be very happy afterwards. I was able to see well enough 1 hour after surgery to drive, but glad I didn't as my eyes were very "gritty". I was driving the next morning. I can't repeat enough, eyedrops are your friend. If you can't stand them now, start practicing about a week before surgery so you are comfortable.

More importantly, if you watched someone going through the surgery, and still want to do it, you're going to be fine. Not to scare you, the worst moments are when the suction is applied with the ring on your eyes, you go "blind". Then the little motorized blade that slices the flap vibrates a little. But they warned me about those. What I WASN'T prepared for was the slight smell of burning flesh as the laser does its business. Sorry for the graphic description.

But I would do again if I needed to.

 

[imma honky]

I'm not looking at this option right now, but have you old fogeys looked into the "monovision" deal. They fix one eye for distance & the other for reading. Supposedly your brain gets used to it & switches from one eye dominence to the other depending on what you're doing (reading / driving). The only down side I've read about is that you may need glasses to correct the reading eye for night driving.

I'm going in next thurs. for a "consult" & to grill the doc. If I feel comfy they'll do it that same day...

That is what they did for me when the replaced my lenses. One for distance, one for clost. It was great at first, but the difference in vision is VERY noticeable now. Often times, depending on what im looking and and how far away it is, i find one eye over powering the other completely (tunnel vision of one eye only) and its very hard to focus with both eyes again. Glasses help fix the problem though.

 

[Kejtar]

1) what procedure did you have?

Standard Lasic

2) How'd it turn out?

Love it!

3) How's your night vision?

Haven't had any problems: my optometrist is still somewhat surprised because everyone supposedly is supposed to have at least for a day or two some flashes or something.

4) Recovery time?

Depends what you're looking at. For about a year I was spending a bank on eye drops: my eyes were drier then sahara. After a year the eyelid adjusted enough to start lubricating the surface of the eye again. I still carry eyedrops (just in case) but they eyedrops dry out more then get used.
Oh yeah, I was able to see the next day.

5) What did you pay?

Too much... but I do have lifetime warranty. This means that if my eyesight starts to go back they will correct it at no charge. Btw, this is the doctor that did my lasik: http://www.usaeyes.org/surgeons/thomas-tooma.htm


Oh yeah, don't go too cheap. When I did mine they only used a blade to cut open the flap (now you have option at added cost to do that with a laser) the places that did it for less reused the blade for more then one cut (I think it was 3 or 4 max). Towards the latter cuts the blade was slightly dulled and ended up with not as clean of a cut. Anyways, there are other things involved in the price as well. If they do more volume they might not be doing as good of a job as places that take their time and prepare longer and so on...

 

[FarmerMatt]

Well, I done did it...
The doc ended up having 40 acres of almonds in Madera & we seemed to talk more about farming than eyeballs. I figured that he wouldn't mess up my eye balls by threatening to burn down his orchard...
I wasn't quite expecting that amount of pain. I was done & home by 12:00 & it felt like one of the worst arc flashes I've ever had. We got a little worried & went back in around 2:00 when I couldn't even stand to open my eyes in a dark room. Doc through in some numbing eyedrops & said everything looked good. By 5-6:00 pm the bad part was through & I was feeling & seeing pretty good. Went back this morning & I'm 20-20 in the right eye, 20-25 in the left 24 hours after having it done. It's, supposedly, supposed to improve as things settle in & heal, but I'm happy if it stays this good! My biggest problem now is I keep reaching up to adjust my glasses on my nose that aren't there!

Goat,
Doc was saying that there are better things than the monovision deal out there right now to get rid of the reading glasses. He didn't delve into it too deep, but from the way he was talking you can have your cake & eat it too...

 

[Goatman]

Glad it went well, Matt. I didn't have any pain at all, but they did give me some numbing eye drops. They gave me some really dark glasses to wear home, and I took it easy the rest of the day, then went to work the next day as usual. I had to use eye drops for awhile, but not more than a month or so, and I had some glaring around lights at night that gradually went away in a month or two.

I'm due for a vison check up, I'll ask about the reading thing.