Lazer to the eyeball

[adina]

Anyone had lasik surgery? I have my consultation in 2 weeks. I'd love to not have glasses, but the whole idea of a lazer in my eyeball kinda freaks me out. Although everyone I talk to says it's fine. And now that I made the appt, everyone I see has had it done, and say it was no big deal.

[paulnj]

While I haven't had "lasik" lazer surgery, I have had lazer surgery on my eye TWICE and 2 under the knife eye surgeries too. All my eye surgeries were for my glocoma in the early 90's and lazer was not a big deal at all(though a scar from 37 stitches on my eye was a bit painful)

I do recall a burnt taste in my mouth , but might be mistaken?

Some day I must get a macro of the scar on my eye..... it is so FREAKY!!!

[Lara]

You know what Adina? There are risks with any surgery. What you need to find out when you go for your consult is, how successful the doctor has been with previous procedures. How long has he been doing lasik. How many has he done, his success rate etc. You have the right to know. After your visit with the doctor for a consult, weigh the pros and cons. Above all, you should come out of the visit feeling confident. If you aren't, then you need to re-think the procedure or the doctor.

I have a cousin who had it done, and is back to wearing glasses after 5 years post surgery. I have heard that this can happen more often with far sighted people, as was his case.

Just my thoughts Adina. I hope they are helpful to you.

[paulnj]

DO YOUR HOMEWORK ;)

2 quick finds off google search of "lasik in wisconsin"

http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/

http://www.lasersightwi.com/index.html these guys are top notch assuming they don't misrepresent themselves. ( click their names )

Ya know..... I bet a call to the better business bureau could give you how good your doctor may be ;)

[opus]

I had a consult a year ago, after building up the courage to do it for about four years, only to be told that I wasn't a candidate at the time. I had a keritonitis that needed to be cleared up first, and since I think a contributing factor to the keritonitis was the fact my thyroid needed to be treated differently, I had to wait till that whole issue was settled first. So now, it's about time to go back for another consultation, and again, I'm nervous. But now I'm also almost 40, the age at which the eye muscles get tired and most people have to wear glasses for reading anyway.

I'm rambling, but the point is, I'm with ya.

[Peter_AUS]

I have a friend who is an Opthalmologist, one of the best in Australia that does Lasik as well. He is very selective in the people that he performs the procedure on and only does it for those that he feels will best benefit due to the cost factor to the patient. It works for some and not for others, you just need to remember that. To keep the keritonitis under control, make sure you wear good wrap around sun glasses when you are outside in the sun. Remember once you get them, you get them reoccuring again and again, even when removed.

Most surgery these days isn't what is was like over 10 years ago, certainly isn't what it was like 25 years ago when I worked in an Eye Hospital here in Sydney full time. Patients had to stay in bed for up to10 days after surgery of just about any kind, eyes covered except for drops and dressings etc. Now they go into a day surgery centre, my wife works at one, and has most of the typical surgeries and then go home. Apart from Retinal Detachments, most are day surgery patients due to the new techniques, liquids used and types of lenses that are use. OK this doesn't include Corneal Grafts, but hey they are another story.

Yes muscles get a bit lazy when you get older, but doing excercises, like convergence exercises help to stave off that laziness. It is the actual changes to the structure of the lens in your eye that makes the difference in having to wear glasses eventually, and a lot of that has to do with our life style these days compared to the older days, if you look at the condition of elderly patients some 25 years ago compared to equivalent age groups of today. Hence why there are more wearing glasses and haveing eye surgery a little younger than they did 25 years ago. Remember a lens replacement is quite a lot more expensive compared to the cost of Lasik surgery, hence why it has developed and growing more popular. But nothing is ever permanent, there are other factors that come into play, like the degeneration of your intra-occular lens as well, which eventually becomes a cataract (opaqueness to the lens or white looking lens), which eventually leads to a lens replacement, which is quite interesting to actually watch being done. What used to take 2 hours as an operation can now take all of 20 mins or so, due to the massive changes in technology.

Just make sure you take all the information in, take what ever liturature you can get hold of and see if you can speak to other patients in a similar eye condition to you regarding their thoughts of the outcome. Hype can be very infectiously convincing sometimes. A bit like the Hype with Cameras and all the bells and whisltes they come with these days compared to the old, press a bulb camera and use an egg timer for duration, which have produced some of the most spectacular photos ever taken. I know a big statement, but it is true, atleast to me.

[another view]

I'm with Lara - any surgery has it's risks. I'm nearsighted and chose to go with contacts when glasses became too much of a pain with the camera. I know someone who had it done and still has to wear glasses on occasion - but his perscription was pretty strong (don't remember if near or farsighted).

[paulnj]

Pete, I am sure you have figured out that I had 3 retinal detachments due to uncontrolled pressure in my eye(glocoma) But I bet you didn't know I had a "viscerectomy" so it was told to me (replace the fluid inside your eye) to removal the excessive floaters.

With my lazer surgeries I was driving in an hour or two, but under the knife I was on a morphine drip once and both were over night stays with a patch for a week or two.

BTW I am legally blind in the other eye, so BLINDNESS of 7-14 days can REALLY make one appreciate sight!!!!!!

[adina]

I have the evaluation in two weeks, and we are going from there. A coworker of my husband's recommended the dr.

I figure if my Grandma can do it....

[opus]

actually, my husband had it done, way back when it was still a very new procedure. He had coke bottle lenses before, now he can go without glasses at all. He does get haloing at night, but they have since figured out why, and when I went for my INITIAL initial consult (back in 1999), I couldn't get it done at all because my pupil was too large for the laser at the time.

Can't believe I've forgotten about that.