Lasik eye surgery

Had cataracts about 10 yrs ago (52 now).. they laser off the cataracts, and then put lenses inside your eyeball via a needle, but you are out during operation (I paid extra for the high end lenses, otherwise you get the lenses every 80 year old gets- basic). then after healed did lasik on top of it. Nothing painful during the process. they do one eye at a time so figure about a month for each eye.
the lasik was short and sweet, think I only went 1 day off work for it.

the only reason My night vision suffered is that light has to get through the lens now... but it is not horrible, over all more light is better

 

I was at the eye doctor last time and asked about Lasik. I have dry eyes to begin with, and she said don't even think about it, because dry eyes are a side effect of Lasik. So my already dry eyes could get worse.

I wear contacts, and because of my normally dry eyes, I tend to have some issues every so often. She told me that the latest craze in contacts is implants. They basically drill a hole in the eye, and implant a contact lense in the hole. I cannot even fathom the thought....

 

YUP The lenses I have are rolled in a needle... inserted into your eye and when at the right spot they inject and the lens unrolls and pops into place.... In the right light like at a fire scene...It freaks people out, it looks like Terminator eyes

 

mitmaks, how old are you?

I went for Lasik surgery 15 years ago when I was 52. I went to a Doc who was highly recommended by several of my coworkers.

When I went for evaluation I said "So, when this is done I won't need any glasses will I?". And the tech answered that if I got my eyes corrected for distance vision I would need glasses to read, or if I got my eyes corrected for reading/near vision I would need glasses to drive.

What?

She explained that because of my (then) age that Lasik could not correct both eyes for all vision requirements without glasses. Younger people (in their 20's and 30's) somehow can have "normal" vision after Lasik surgery. So I asked, how about my friends who have done it, they are my age. She explained that what they had done was Mono-Vision, one eye corrected for near vision and one corrected for distance vision. For a variety of reasons I went for it. After a while the brains sorts it all out. My dominant eye was corrected for distance. I was so near sighted anyways they left my non-dominant eye the way it was, just correcting a small astigmatism.

The biggest problem I have is shopping at the market. I have a "dead zone" between 4-8 feet where everything is blurry to me. I can read close up and I can see far away. The brain does the adjustments keeping the sharp image in view and using the other eye only for depth perception. For my dead zone I got to an optometrist and have special glasses made that push out my left eye and pull in my right eye. I can read prices at the market, but need to remove the glasses to see down the aisle or read a label. Ugh.

My distance vision is deteriorating a bit, but I still passed my recent eye test for 20/20 by squinting (lol).

If newer techniques allow older folk to get dual eye Lasik without restriction, then great. I do not regret having it done, though it makes certain activities kind of interesting.

Good luck.

OD

teaching an old dog new tricks

 

Doesn't the thought of it all bother you any? Just thinking of itmakes me queasy.

And how long do they last?

 

Had it done at 40 (51 now). Best thing I ever did. Went from 20/400 to 20/15 in less than 10 minutes.
Life changing procedure and I wish I'd done it sooner

 

I was told I am good to go for life

 

I had it done in August. I'm not to happy with it. Didn't improve my vision as much as I had hoped it would. My vision wasn't horrible prior to the surgery. The night vision was a little bad for a month or two after but has since gotten back to normal. I went back to work 2 days after the procedure. I paid around $3500.

 

I had a serious condition Keratoconus bad in my right eye had to leave truck for 2 years now I’m getting back to driving truck and I can see 20/30 in both my eyes best I’ve ever seen in my life

 

Had mine done 3 years ago. It took 6 months before my vision settled into what it is now. Vision at night was terrible for the first 3 months, but now it's fine.

I need reading glasses to read BOLs, and to see my gauges and my GPS clearly at night, but during the day I don't. To be fair, I've had the low light close up vision problem since I was around 40, so about 9 years. LASIK didn't change that, but it didn't make it worse either.

If you can take 2 weeks off work for recovery, then go 3-6 months doing only daytime driving on familiar routes, you should be fine.

Also note that you'll need to budget about $800 more than the price of the procedure to cover the cost of the necessary medications.