KeithR3

I'm going to take the plunge and get Lasiks done on oct. 16th. Anyone here have this procedure done? If so how do you like it? Any comments or advise...?

Mark in Baltimore

Keith,

Believe it or not but there is an old thread on this procedure that's about six months old. It's amazing how many people here have had it and been happy with the results, save for a few problem stories. Check the archives.

Good luck.

STLPCA

The waaay OT Lasik thread

I wonder what qualifies for the OT Forum?

Tech-Law

However off topic this may be... LASIK is a true medical miracle. I can't tell you how much it's improved my life.

OldGuy

I am a recent laseree. Memorial day weekend. I went from a
-7.0 in both eyes to 20-15 vision with some minor close up
problems that I would have had without corrective lenses due to the
fact I am an Old Guy. This should be corrected in my touch up.
But I have a word of caution about this procedure.
Be VERY careful who you go to. I went to a world renowned
doctor named Doctor Tooma. He did Tiger Woods eyes also.
I paid $4k for both eyes. There are cheaper guys and there is a reason
they are cheaper. they are trying to get expereince in putting the
flap back in place. Getting the flap back in place is VERY important.
Getting it not perfect causes the star bursting and halos at nite.
The only way to develop this is to do thousands of LASIK procedures.
You dont want to be patient number 130. My office mate's sister
works for a cheaper guy in LA. He went to the doctor to
get a break on price.he suffers from the halos at nite.
Then on his touch up he was supposed to go from a -1.5 to 0.
The doctor did too long of burn and now he is far sighted +2.0
and he doesnt know if it can be corrected. The moral is do your
homework, and pay the big bucks to a REALLY GOOD doctor.
These are your eyes we are talking about! by the way the halos
and teh star bursting for me just went away this week! By the
way the greatest joy (beside not having my contacts cloud
up while going over a double on my dirt bike at the motocross
track) is wandering through the house at 2AM to the bathroom
and acutally hitting the toilet more than 50% of the time while
taking a leak! My wife is happy about that too.

Randy M '96 Silver 993

I had it done three years ago and I still love it.

Take the plunge, the only thing you will regret is that you waited so long to get it done!

kevin993c4

OG,

Was it the wavefront technology that you spent $4K on? My friend is going for that but he will wait until the end of the year for the 2nd generation wavefront. It will cost him $5K for both eyes. I am quite hesitant about Lasik totally because I have Glaucoma. I am currently using the Paragon CRT just to play it safe.

vjd3

I was the original poster on Lasik six months ago ... and I am happy with the results. I was extremely nearsighted, a -9.5 in my left eye, and it's incredible to be living without glasses. I went to 20/25 in that eye which is an amazing swing considering I was virtually blind without my contacts.

In a sense, I got lucky because I wound up 20/25 in the left and 20/30 in my right, so my right is very slightly nearsighted. (BTW, 20/40 is the minimum to drive without glasses.) This enables me to read without reading glasses which, judging by my left eye, I would've needed (I'm 40).

They do this deliberately if you request it; it's called monovision. In my case, with my large prescription, they told me some regression was likely during the three-month healing process. I am amazed at how detailed my vision is in broad daylight, but be prepared to deal with some issues at night, such as some loss of contrast in your vision and, if you have a high prescription, some haloing and ghosting. I had halos which have since dwindled and they don't trouble me at all now, but for the first few weeks I was driving with the interior light on to help keep my pupil smaller.

The most important thing in the world if you're contemplating this surgery is to realize that the percentage of people who are happy is in the 90s, but that's not going to help you if you're one of the few who get a bad result. There's a forum called Surgical Eyes which is where this fraction of folks who have problems get together for support, and it will scare the hell out of you if you read their stories. I read it after the surgery, which was a huge mistake!

It's also absolutely vital to get your eyes done at the right place. If you have a higher prescription ... say, above -4.00 ... there's a newer technique called wavefront lasik which is a more individualed procedure that corresponds to a detailed scan of the shape of your eye and accounts for irregularities in your eye. I went to Canada to a very large clinic to have my eyes done -- I'd mention their name but they're not a Rennlist sponsor ;-) so PM me if you want to know. Their prices were very reasonable compared to surgeons in the US who were not even doing wavefront at that point. And you can get wavefront in the US now but there is a lot less experience among the doctors performing it than you will find in Canada or Europe, where it's been done for years.

The point is ... get the right doctor with the right experience and the right equipment. Lasik surgery is not regulated or overseen the way brain surgery is; any clinic can purchase the machine and hang the sign up there; this is where the horror stories come from, in most cases. Is the equipment properly maintained? Is the surgeon very experienced or just learning? The computer handles the lion's share of the procedure, but the surgeon makes the vital cut (the flap) and you want someone to do it correctly because if it's off a little, there are serious consequences. Price is not an indicator; a quack can charge $4000. I paid almost half that at a clinic where three of the four surgeons were pioneers in the field and teach other surgeons how to perform the procedure. And many local eye doctors who don't perform the procedure get a commission from Dr. X in town, so don't just assume that your regular doctor's referral is based on who's the best locally.

And be positive that you are a good candidate for the surgery. Do the research. Find out how thick your corneas are; some people are just not good candidates or borderline candidates and there are clinics who will just do it anyway. If you have dry eyes to begin with, be really careful about it, because you could be making a mistake. One of the things I liked about the clinic I went to was the extensive testing done before you even found out if you could have the surgery, and if you were not a good candidate or decided not to have it, there was no fee involved. The other comforting thing was that I had it done with my girlfriend at the time, and they only recommended the more expensive wavefront procedure for one of her eyes; they told her they could do it on both eyes if she wanted, but there was no real benefit to be had for the extra $700 or so. This told me that they were interested in providing the correct treatment not just the more expensive treatment.

And don't forget -- this is surgery. You can see when you walk out, but not that well, not at first -- it's hazy. And the first four hours or so can be very uncomfortable. They tell you no pain -- and that's true, you really don't feel much during the procedure itself, but you've essentially had tissue burned off your corneas and it's gotta heal and you're going to feel that for a while.

Vic
95 C4
(for sale)

98993c2s

I had Lasik in May 2001...cost $1000/eye...20/20 vision, even though I only had it done on one eye (the other is still uncorrected and I could get even better vision if I did the other eye.)

The recovery was a little annoying as I had a lot of tearing (as in tears) but once that was over, no halos, no ghosts. I have to remind myself every once in a while what life used to be like...especially on the water or at the track...

I wouldn't associate high price with quality, either. The guys I went with had solid educational backgrounds and experience, but had a very good price.

amfp

With any surgery, as "routine" as it may sound, get multiple opinions. Especially from unbaised doctors, like your GP.

Even though I now have positive results from the surgery (read achieves), I would not have my wife, and neither would my GP recommend the surgery to his spouse. Realize we are minorities on this, but we are all different, and comparing great results (as some professionals do in ads)with young professional athletes is different than the non professional athlete who probably gets less attention and is perhaps less healthy/ slower healing person, imo.

KeithR3

Thank you all. I am going in with a very positive mental attitude. I will also have just the left eye done "monovision". The doctor performing the procedure is one of the top opthalmologist in Chicago. Thank you again!

OldGuy

Kevin
i dont know what machine he used. Tooma is the FDA Doc for
new machines so he has alot of different ones. he does
an exam and then decides whats best for the patient .
I figured if it was good enough for Tiger Woods it was good
enough for me!

STLPCA

Keith
I have no opinion re: Lasik, but this site & the "Lasik SOS" link it contains provide some balance to the discussion, as well as highlight that even "Tiger Woods' doc" doesn't have a perfect record. In fact, no doc does. If they did, you wouldn't be required to sign a pre-op informed consent form.

Lasik Link - another "view"

and here's a link to the FDA's Lasik risk site

OldGuy

Of course no ones perfect there is a 1-2 % complication rate.
Dr Tooma has done thousands of these operations and he
will have hundreds who have complications.
But reading 50 horror stories does not allow a person to
make an educated decision. It would be the same as
reading a bunch of NTSB airline accident reports before
flying to Hawaii on vacation.
You can also die having your wisdom teeth pulled out. No
2 people are the same and there is no way to predict with 100%
certainty in anything in life. But this is a fact LASIK had given
1000's of people a new freedom they did not have before.
given the pecentages this post and the old post
has given more balance to the
complications than the successes.

Brett - 1996 C4

Quote:

If you have a higher prescription ... say, above -4.00 ... there's a newer technique called wavefront lasik which is a more individualed procedure that corresponds to a detailed scan of the shape of your eye and accounts for irregularities in your eye.

FYI, wavefront LASIK (at least the VISX variety) is only approved up to a -6. If you're above that (like me ), you're going to have to wait another year or so before the FDA approves it for the higher degree of myopia.

Brett