vjd3

Anybody had their eyes "fixed" out there? Good, bad experiences? It's too expensive to have my windshield ground to my prescription ;-)

Vic
95 C4

viperbob

My wife had it done last year. Best thing she ever did. $2500 and she could see instantly. Minor recovery for a day and then NO problems at all since.

This year invisiline braces for her, next year I told her to skip the boob implants, but if that is what she wants to do, then who am I too argue...
<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Mike in O.C.

Yup. About 4 1/2 years ago. Started out with 20/200 vision, ended up with 20/20. Vision still great. Best investment I ever made!
2 words of advice: make sure you go to the best/most experienced doctor, and make sure he is using the lastest machine. Be willing to spend more for the best, just like our Porsches. <img border="0" alt="[byebye]" title="" src="graemlins/wave.gif" />

vjd3

Interesting. I am looking at a clinic in Montreal, where they are doing more advanced "wavefront" Lasik which has not been practiced here in the US, as far as I can tell. It's better for people with a really high prescription because it's customed-tailored to the unique abberations in your eye, unlike regular Lasik which is calculated by prescription only.

Their prices are quite reasonable by US standards. Big operation, lots of patients, but lots of experience, too.

Vic
95 C4

stedge

All I can say is be careful. I am not a cornea or refractive specialist, but an academic vitreoretinal surgeon, and I am also a moderate myope. I have not done it yet, because a small percentage of folks experience a loss of best-corrected visual acuity, which I could not tolerate personally (I have young kids I want to see grow up, and I'm a type A personality and would notice any degredation in visual acuity), and certainly which could be limiting surgically. There are still some issues with glare, etc, etc.

So, is it a good surgery for most folks? Absolutely. But it has risks, and don't let anyone tell you it does not. Make sure you talk to a good surgeon, and ask alot of questions. If after you understand the risks vs. benefits (especially if you are a high myope) and you still want to do it, then all the best. Just research it MORE THAN YOU DID YOUR CAR!

Oh, and BTW, forget prices, Go to the best you can find, whatever the cost.

Best of luck.

JPL 993-C4S

I thought about it, but wondered why I would make the tradeoff for a minor benefit (not wearing glasses, which isn't all that inconvenient) vs massive downside (yes, there are massive risks when they cut your eyeballs open, although they are attached to small probabilities).

Furthermore, the benefits only last a few years, not for a lifetime.

Maybe I am thinking about this incorrectly?

hn

If I listened to the my sister in law's stories from her work before I did mine (one of the biggest clinics in LA)I wouldn't have done it. Anyway, mine was about 5 yrs ago and everything went smooth . Depends on your age, there is a chance you'll need reading glasses afterward. One more, I read somewhere to avoid touch up.

4flynlow

I had lasik surgery three years ago and received 20/10 vision.After twenty plus years of wearing glasses it was fantastic to see things never seen so clearly before.I would highly recommend it with the right doctor.I understood that it originated in Canada and that their procedures were cutting edge."no pun intended"Good Luck!

993,951,944

Had Lasik done three years ago in Vancouver Canada for $1K
and they did my third eye for no charge. Vision was 20/200
and corrected to 20/15. I could read 2 letters on the 20/10 line
a week after the surgery. (20/13) Currently my vision has regressed
to 20/20. Only draw back is some minor "ghosting" of lights at night,
due to normal uncorrected residual outer astigmatism, otherwise I'm
very happy with the results.

The electric drill, saw and cutting torch are a bit frightening at first;
however, they strap you down and immobilize your eyes before they start... It's painless...

Robert Henriksen

I had a prescription of about -12 diopters. The 20/20 scale doesn't go that high, but I could only focus w/o glasses about 1" in front of my cornea. Been wearing glassed since age 5, and -12 diopters means *serious* coke bottle glasses. Been wearing contact lenses (thick ones!) so long I'd started to get blood vessels growing up into my corneas to supply the tissue w. oxygen, or so I was told.

The feeling of being at risk w. the loss of my glasses, and concern about the health of my eyes w. continued contacts, made it worth it to me to go ahead w. the risks.

I wound up with 20/25 in both eyes. The right eye has pretty bad dryness, such that I've got plugs in both tear ducts to preserve what that side's tear gland produces. That's worked out okay. I do also have halos at night on the right eye, that vary from non-existent to definitely-there.

Given my prescription, would I do it over again? You bet.

I went to one of the best opthamologists in the city, and paid $2,200 an eye.

Edit: BTW, with as extreme a correct as I had, I was *not* seeing clearly the next day! In fact, it was several days to a week before the first eye was reasonable, and a few weeks for it to really get dialed in. I had the two done about three months apart.

DJF1

My wife had it done with great results. We went to a really good clinic ( read expensive ) after extensive research. She had some dryness in her eyes because of the contacts she used to wear for a long long time, but after wearing only glasses for 2 weeks before the surgery everything was back to normal. Actually her doctor was pretty adamant that if the dryness would not go away they would not perform the operation. After the surgery she noticed a huge difference, she had to follow a strict eye drop and medicine procedure for a week and now 3 months past she still puts a gell in the evening before bedtime. Dryness is one of the by products which will be more acute to some. According to her doctor the eyes are going to settle within 6 months, now she has 20/15 on both eyes. No more "blind as a batt" as she used to say...
Just avoid discounted clinics and 2 for one specials. Do an exostive reaserch for the best doctor you can find...

Terry Adams

My wife had it 4 years ago. We got the best locally, and expensive, but I got a free T shirt. Huge improvement, and they did one eye slightly different so she can even read without glasses. It brought tears to my eyes when I saw her through the glass partition, sit up and be able to see me from 20 feet away. Brought tears to her eyes, too, when she realized that what she would have to look at from then on was no longer the blurred studly dudly, but a now well in focus middle aged slightly overweight thinning hair..... and that's not why I got the 993.

993chaz

Whats it cost......I currently wear monthly contacts, there not bad, but they do have a tendancy to get cloudy in the mornings and evenings.

solsrch

I had it done a little over a year ago. Some significant discomfort for about 4-12 hours afterward, nothing to complain about after that. I went from about 20/500 to 20/15. Seems I've settled out at 20/20 and have been there for about 9 months. I'm 41 and would do it again. I have a number of friends who have already done it and would gladly do it again.
I've heard of the waveform technique and would guess that would be a good option. It is being experimented with in the US.
On the downside, another buddy got his eyes done the first time last October. He went in last week for what was intended to be the FOURTH touch up in one eye, both eyes have had 3 procedures. Basically, he has double vision out of his dominant eye. I think the folks working on him were way too aggressive in resorting to additional procedures and should have provided more recovery/stabilization time, but that is not my area of expertise.

I love it but you've got to realize the risks. You can get information from the doc on what results his patients have seen (no pun intended).

Jeff96-993

Another satisfied customer here, and the doc is a Porsche owner to boot. He enjoys taking his car out to the track, so I get to see him there quite often. Standard joke every year is to pretend I can't see a thing...

Eye's work perfect, 20/15 the day after, 20/15 2 years later.