[Mike Cash]

My dentist in the US had a little placard on his reception desk:

Beware of bargains in parachutes and dental work

I would say that applies even more so to eye surgery.

[Pentaxor]

I had a similar experience to Marc, I have no trouble reading the bottom line on a standard eye chart post op (Aus $4k), making both eyes around 20:12 or so.

I went back to see my old optometrist this year, some ten years after having my eyes done, and she was amazed at the results. I must have been just lucky.

Anyway I've enjoyed sailing, surfing and hang gliding with the need for glasses. One downside is that my eyes are now more smoke sensitive than when wearing contact lenses. Another is using the money saved on optics to buy fancy cycling and flying sunglasses!

Anyway as others have stated, don't go cheap, go good and do everything you can to look after your eyes.

Of course age will still catch you up and eventually you will need glasses for reading.
D.

thanks ! I dont mind undergoing the whole normal aging eye wear cycle, rather than having an abnormal vision. surely a Katz-eye or a magnifying eyepiece would come in handy and solve minor eye focusing blur problems, but I don't think those would help my case.

[J.Scott]

Lasik = flap 'n' zap

The patient is conscious and cognitive of what is happening during the surgery.
There is absolutely no feeling what so ever during the procedure.
The entire procedure took less than 10 minutes.
2 hours after, I experienced a mild stinging sensation that lasted a couple hours, then it ended.
The next morning I returned to the Dr.'s office, he removed the eye cups, I read an eye chart (20/20) and drove home!
Over then next few months my vision increased dramatically until I was reading the tiny printing on the bottom of the eye chart - the manufacturers name and copyright! (To which my Optometrist exclaimed, "Wow!")
After a year my vision settled down to 20/15 which is more than acceptable by anyone's standards.
Night vision was a bit weird at first, but either I got used to it or it changed; I'm not sure which. Lights seemed to have a star-like quality to them.

Life is great now!

[Dale]

I had a slightly different experience, in that I had no flap, just the laser ablation. My simple understanding is that the lesser the correction, the less the need for the flap!

I had no pain, just discomfort from the device that holds your eye open while the procedure takes place. (ask for a practice before you get it done!)

I well remember walking out into the sunshine with protective contacts, gel, and eye covers with small holes. Through all the blurry bits I could see street sign with absolute clarity. It was a most amazing feeling. I had eyesight that was razor sharp in places and blurry elsewhere in the first week. This progressed over the next three months to having more than excellent eyesight.

My flying and work mates are always amazed at just what I can see. I'm always seeing oncoming aircraft or distant vessels well before anyone else. Night vision is as good as my old glasses.

To loop back to matters Pentax, I find that using a Katzeye and MF is my preferred method of focusing. The whole AF thing has me just slightly bemused.

[J.Scott]

To loop back to matters Pentax, I find that using a Katzeye and MF is my preferred method of focusing. The whole AF thing has me just slightly bemused.

Likewise!
Note the 4 manual focus lens in my signature photo.

[Pentaxor]

again, thanks guys for the motivation. I just went today to have my eyes evaluated for possible LASIK surgery and told that I am a potential candidate for it. they have a promo right now costing for about 700 bucks per eye + taxes. since I don't have a budget for surgery in both eyes, and I hate to sell some of my gears, I might just have my dominant eye fixed first and have my other one done after some time. boy does my head hurts today during that eye exam. my eyes were dilated for 3 hours.

[ve2vfd]

Pentaxor, don't get only one eye done... a know a few people who had that done and within weeks they had to get the other eye fixed as it drove them crazy plus they got wicked migranes.

My suggestion: give it time and wait until you have enough money to get the job done properly. Don't mess with your eyes! Research and go see the BEST ophtalmologist in your city and pay whatever it costs once you can afford it. Do not settle for second best when it comes to your eyes.

(Take it from someone who had a botched Lasik surgery 9 years ago... it took over a year to have my eyes fixed properly and and another year to recover)

Pat

[Pentaxor]

Pentaxor, don't get only one eye done... a know a few people who had that done and within weeks they had to get the other eye fixed as it drove them crazy plus they got wicked migranes.

My suggestion: give it time and wait until you have enough money to get the job done properly. Don't mess with your eyes! Research and go see the BEST ophtalmologist in your city and pay whatever it costs once you can afford it. Do not settle for second best when it comes to your eyes.

(Take it from someone who had a botched Lasik surgery 9 years ago... it took over a year to have my eyes fixed properly and and another year to recover)

Pat

hi Pat,

what did you mean by drove them craxy and migraines? what caused it? anyway, I would ask the surgeon about that once the results come out. the lasik center and another optometrist had similar findings to my problem. they had to clear me up first before I go and see the attending surgeon. I had done some research about the surgeon and read that he is one of the company's leading surgeons in North America. anyway, I got the option to have my eye re-touched for free if something doesn't go smoothly. I dunno what your thoughts about this and I might consider those things and talk about them to the surgeon. thanks.

[J.Scott]

I'm with Pat. Do not do one eye at a time. My Dr. wouldn't even consider it when I went in for my LASIK. Save up - go to the BEST place in town and get both eyes done at the same time.

I don't think I need to weigh in on this topic again - I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

[Marc Langille]

Agreed - get both done at once. Otherwise your brain tries to compensate for the differences and it takes time to adjust - possible migraines, etc..

I was 20/20 in 24 hours post-op and obviously you know the rest - well beyond that.

[Pentaxor]

I'm with Pat. Do not do one eye at a time. My Dr. wouldn't even consider it when I went in for my LASIK. Save up - go to the BEST place in town and get both eyes done at the same time.

I don't think I need to weigh in on this topic again - I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

I wouldn't mind listening to a broken record. it's the same old music to my ears !

[ve2vfd]

what did you mean by drove them craxy and migraines? what caused it?

Having both eyes with wildly different acquity levels all of a sudden is not normal for your brain. It causes massive headaches, migranes and severe eye strain. It takes a long time to adapt to that, and many people never get used to it.

I would ask the surgeon about that once the results come out.

ALWAYS remember that Lasik centers and ophtalmologists who work in them are performing COSMETIC surgery and are in it for the $$$. You are not a patient, you are a potential customer. Always keep that in mind and please keep a skeptical attutude. Be critical, don't be afraid to get a second and third opinion from other doctors.

I got the option to have my eye re-touched for free if something doesn't go smoothly.

"Don't go smoothly"... Do you have any idea what that REALLY means? People think the worst that can happen is that they won't have 20/20 vision...

Do you realize that if you see the eyechart like this after the operation:

Your operation is considered a success because you can read the 20/20 line regardless of ghosting, pain or anything else that doesn't prevent you from reading the 20/20 line. You are not counted in the "complications" statistics and as far as they are concerned, things went smoothly...


When I had my Lasik done, I hit a doctor who was supposedly the best in his field... he on the other hand was more interested in my $$$ than my welfare. He zapped my eyes, botched the job and then when he realized the job was botched he dumped me and wanted nothing to do with me. He claimed that because I could read the 20/20 line my operation was a success.

I could read the 20/20 line, so what was my problem?

- The flap was cut too far, corneal micronerves were cut too much and it affected my tear production (eyes did not know they were dry, so no tear production). To this day I walk around with a bottle of tears for dry eyes.

- Excruciating pain from dry eyes on a daily basis for almost a whole year until I could get the problems fixed by another doctor.

- The doctor did not irrigate the flap adequately during the operation and left debris under the flap. That lit up like a christmas tree and blinded me any time I walked in a place with UV lights. It also caused abherations. This was fixed by relifting the flap and cleaning the debris (VERY unpleasant!) by another doctor.

- Post op and until another doctor fixed me, I had halos and ghosting in both my eyes. One of them was so bad it was practically double vision from one eye.

- To this day I still have mild halos around lights at night and a loss of contrast (affects me mostly at dusk).

There were many other problems, but I don't remember many of them and prefer keeping such a unpleasant experience behind me.

This is ghosting similar to what I saw out of one of my eyes, the other was much worse.



I also had halos around bright lights at night post op...



(simulations done at: VisionSimulations.com - Home)

The halos mild now thanks to the second doctor who fixed the problem. The ghosting was also helped by the second doctor, but only time fixed it. It took nearly 2 years for me not to see ghosting anymore (and I am lucky as in many cases halos and ghosting are unfixable).


My biggest mistake was that I did not do my hopework properly... I was in such a desperate hurry to get my eyes fixed NOW that I just rushed into it blindly ignoring all the possible complications.

In the long run I am still happy I had the Lasik done, but I wish I had researched it more to know what the REAL possible complications were and chosen a better doctor.

Pat

[Pentaxor]

Having both eyes with wildly different acquity levels all of a sudden is not normal for your brain. It causes massive headaches, migranes and severe eye strain. It takes a long time to adapt to that, and many people never get used to it.



ALWAYS remember that Lasik centers and ophtalmologists who work in them are performing COSMETIC surgery and are in it for the $$$. You are not a patient, you are a potential customer. Always keep that in mind and please keep a skeptical attutude. Be critical, don't be afraid to get a second and third opinion from other doctors.



"Don't go smoothly"... Do you have any idea what that REALLY means? People think the worst that can happen is that they won't have 20/20 vision...

Do you realize that if you see the eyechart like this after the operation:

Your operation is considered a success because you can read the 20/20 line regardless of ghosting, pain or anything else that doesn't prevent you from reading the 20/20 line. You are not counted in the "complications" statistics and as far as they are concerned, things went smoothly...


When I had my Lasik done, I hit a doctor who was supposedly the best in his field... he on the other hand was more interested in my $$$ than my welfare. He zapped my eyes, botched the job and then when he realized the job was botched he dumped me and wanted nothing to do with me. He claimed that because I could read the 20/20 line my operation was a success.

I could read the 20/20 line, so what was my problem?

- The flap was cut too far, corneal micronerves were cut too much and it affected my tear production (eyes did not know they were dry, so no tear production). To this day I walk around with a bottle of tears for dry eyes.

- Excruciating pain from dry eyes on a daily basis for almost a whole year until I could get the problems fixed by another doctor.

- The doctor did not irrigate the flap adequately during the operation and left debris under the flap. That lit up like a christmas tree and blinded me any time I walked in a place with UV lights. It also caused abherations. This was fixed by relifting the flap and cleaning the debris (VERY unpleasant!) by another doctor.

- Post op and until another doctor fixed me, I had halos and ghosting in both my eyes. One of them was so bad it was practically double vision from one eye.

- To this day I still have mild halos around lights at night and a loss of contrast (affects me mostly at dusk).

There were many other problems, but I don't remember many of them and prefer keeping such a unpleasant experience behind me.

This is ghosting similar to what I saw out of one of my eyes, the other was much worse.



I also had halos around bright lights at night post op...



(simulations done at: VisionSimulations.com - Home)

The halos mild now thanks to the second doctor who fixed the problem. The ghosting was also helped by the second doctor, but only time fixed it. It took nearly 2 years for me not to see ghosting anymore (and I am lucky as in many cases halos and ghosting are unfixable).


My biggest mistake was that I did not do my hopework properly... I was in such a desperate hurry to get my eyes fixed NOW that I just rushed into it blindly ignoring all the possible complications.

In the long run I am still happy I had the Lasik done, but I wish I had researched it more to know what the REAL possible complications were and chosen a better doctor.

Pat

I see, thanks for the heads-up Pat. the optometrist that I referred to doesn't work for the Lasik Center. actually, the Lasik Center asked for my medical file before they would ask me to see the surgeon. actually I had undergone a visual examination from an eye clinic (not associated to the Lasik center) prior to the Lasik appointment, it is aside from the other visual test that I had undergone in the Lasik center. all in all, I got 3 eyes test done in a week and it caused me some headaches due to dilation and eye strain.

to tell you frankly, my eyes had been out of equilibrium for a long time (4+ years). I could feel that the other eye is much heavier than the other one but I just don't pay attention to it too much. I don't focus too hard or for a very long time coz that would cause me headaches and eye fatigue.
the reason that I am considering surgery is not because I could not handle the imbalance but rather my dominant but defective eye got worse with distortion (blurry and curvy elliptical images that tends to create some blindspots).

I also think that the Lasik center may want to make a quick buck out of potential customers, but of course they don't want to have lawsuits for medical malpractice at the same time. that's why I also read the terms before I undergo surgery so that I would know and have the edge of protecting my own welfare.

again, thanks Pat for your concern.

[khardur]

I'm with Pat. Do not do one eye at a time. My Dr. wouldn't even consider it when I went in for my LASIK. Save up - go to the BEST place in town and get both eyes done at the same time.

I don't think I need to weigh in on this topic again - I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

+1 to that. If you're going to get it done, get both done. Pop a lens out of your glasses and try walking around like that for half an hour, you'll get the picture.

My vision is far from perfect, but the risks seem to great if someone botches it. Not to mention the fact that I rely very heavily on my vision for my day job as well as photography, it would be great if my vision was better but it would be super bad if my vision was screwed up (especially if I had any ghosting as per Pat's examples it would really hurt my performance at my day job, where I type and proofread copy for a living)

[ve2vfd]

I also think that the Lasik center may want to make a quick buck out of potential customers, but of course they don't want to have lawsuits for medical malpractice at the same time.

Again here beware, before the operation they'll make you sign an iron clad release. No matter what happens during and after the operation, you'd never be able to sue. They are not even remotely concerned with malpractice.

Just a heads up...

Pat