Has anyone had successful Lasik eye surgery?

The prospect of ever getting it done fah-reeeeks me out!

I see so many people (who have money) wearing glasses....I guess I'm not the only one who's a little bit chicken.

Okay, a lot chicken.

a friend had it done recently. went well.

Get it?!
;)

A friend had a very good outcome, recently.

I've heard several other positive outcomes.

One person, however, did wind up with a halo effect around lights, which would suck... :(

reading and one eye corrected for distance. (didn't know it worked that way) - - -

But everything in between is blurry now, such as reading the scores of a football game off of the TV screen :cry:

semi panic attacks thinking about having anyone F with my eyes!

The first time I saw somebody put contacts in I was scared half to death. I can't even wear mascara, I'm so freaked out at the thought of something poking me in the eye.

I could try a contact in my eye to see what it was like.

OMG, I was such a baby.

After she put it in, it felt like someone put scotch tape on my eye ball.

I could prolly handle the mascara much better! LOL ;)

;) Just don't do the Gwyneth Paltrow goth thing. It wouldn't look good with your coloring.


:rofl:

that you brat! :rofl:

I know a number of folks who've had successful Lasik surgery.......

But not for me!

The long-term effects are not known.....:scared:

Glasses are not a problem, IMHO!

:hi:

not for you! :hi:

Unfortunately, I needed reading glasses almost as soon as I got it done, because I had hit that magical age. But my distance vision is perfect. I wear bifocals for convenience -- they have reading glasses and transitions (sunglasses) lenses in them so I don't have to keep taking them off and putting them on. The glass is really thin, though, not like how it was before the surgery.

Harleydad also had it and he doesn't wear glasses at all anymore. He DOES hold things a little far away to read, but he's hit that magical age, too ... he just doesn't want to admit it. :D

They can do a thing called monovision where they leave one eye a little near-sighted. It's supposed to help you read without needing reading glasses. But I couldn't tolerate it -- my eyes wnat to see exactly the same thing and I got headaches otherwise.

Believe me, it's the coolest thing when you get home and wake up from your nap (you have to rest afterwards) and can actually see the wallpaper on the wall, light switches ... whatever it was you couldn't see before surgery. TOTALLY cool!

vision goes bad.

But for now... :scared:

You know, they don't promise that you'll be able to throw away your glasses, even though they typically have baskets full of people's glasses in the waiting room. They just promise to reduce your dependence on them. I passed my driving vision test without my glasses just last summer, so that's a great improvement. I used to be pretty blind without my glasses -- could barely see my hand in front of my face.

print, but it's not nearly bad enough to consider Lasik at this point. (or even glasses)

I had just seen Regis talking about Laskik, and I got to thinking.

I'm glad you're having success. :)

I can't imagine having terrible vision. It sounds really scary to me.

It was a very weird experience. The smell of layers of my cornea being singed off was disgusting. Thank goodness for the valium that gave me pre-op.

Anyway.........

Aside from wanting to crawl up the walls of my room for the first six hours post-op, recovery was great. My vision flucuated for the first few months, and it seems to have settled at close to 20/20.

I still have some problems with dryness, but I'm down to using eyedrops about 3x a day. More if I stay up really late at night. I had issues with night driving for the first six months, but that diminished significantly.

All in all, it was worth it. I'm in my 30's, so I figure I have at least a few non-glasses years left.

On edit: I should add that I was pretty much blind without my contacts. I couldn't even read the top line on the eye chart without my contacts. Now I can actually get up in the morning and *see*. And in the middle of the night. I notice details that I didn't notice before - like seeing the leaves on the trees very clearly.

keep your focus for 60 seconds, otherwise you can screw up the alignment, so to speak?

Maybe Valium is the key! LOL!!

to pay for mine.

I talked to my bro a little bit, and he said it worked out fine. I'm most concerned about the halo effect at night. He said it's really not noticeable--if he looks for it, he notices it and thinks, "Oh yeah, there's a halo."

I dunno, though. I wear extended wear contacts, a month at a time, and it's no big deal. Besides, I have a sweet pair of Alain Mikli frames, and if I don't need glasses I can't chew thoughtfully on the earpiece.

Piece of cake. My left eye is 20/20, and my right is a little worse, which makes it easier to read without glasses. I was scheduled to go in for tweaking so my right eye would also be 20/20, but when the doctor explained I'd immediately need glasses for pretty much all reading, I decided to stick with what I've got now. I do need reading glasses for small-print reading.

Two days after my surgery, I watched my husband's. Even though it was a piece of cake, I'm glad I went first. I would have been :scared: if I'd watched my husband's first.

me that does!

I think the bottom line, and maybe everyone worried about this, is what if something goes wrong and I go blind. :scared:

I went to a place that only does corrective eye surgery, so the doctor had lots of experience. I figured if I was going to do it, I should put my trust in doctor who does one thing, and does it well.

The smell of burning eyeball and all. I only "do surgery" while completely knocked out.

MrsG! LOL
:hug:

before I drive anywhere.

Redstone

it is looking for my keys and my wallet before I leave the house!!

leave them in the car, but am I sensible enough to do that? Nooooo.

Redstone

I was blind as a bat without contacts...about 20/1000. What a miracle! Took less than 10 minutes and I could see. I use non-prescription reading glasses...but I was at the point where I was going to need those over my contacts.
The "haloing" is not as bad as the halos I had from the contacts.

The only bad thing was I could now see myself in the shower!!! AHHHH! :)

Ah yes, the shower.

You could always wear one of these yah know?! ;)



And put on the cool wig also! (unless you're a boy!)

Shower with eyes closed..or Don't look down!

:rofl:

to self. ;)

Except me, because I look like



HEHEHEHE

when the procedure was first introduced. He was very happy about it. Several years later he's still without eyeglasses.

She had it done about 6 years ago and her vision has deteriorated and now needs a touch up. Its not uncommon to need it a second time.
She had a lot of pain immediatly afterwards but I don't know of anyone else who had that problem.

:scared: :cry:

I know a lot of people who have had it done and she is the only one who had pain afterwards. It lasted a day and that was it.

Oh who am I trying to kid.

I'm concerned about ending up blind!! lol

30 yrs of wearing glasses and contacts gone in less than a minute!! Truly changed my life for the better.

Complete transformation.

I am a total success story and I still give thanks everyday for my improved vision.

:hi:

Well.

Decisions, decisions.

I could go on and on....

:D

:hi:

I was 20/20 in my left eye and 20/15 in my right eye.

Go for it.

that's for sure. :thumbsup:

make my sinus hurt. I had the surgery, and as my sister drove me home, I could peep out of the sunglasses at cars and read their license plates. Before the surgery, I would not have know if there even was a license plate.

I've considered Lasik, though our insurance won't pay for it. How much pain is there immediately after the surgery? Could you feel anything during the procedures?

minutes. I had it on Friday and was back at office work on Monday.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

five minutes total? I'm squeamish about eye stuff. :scared:

I'm glad it's working out well for you, patricia. I remember when I used to wear extended-wear contact lenses; I could wear them for a week (or two, can't recall) without taking them out, and I loved waking up in the morning and being able to SEE! :bounce:

exhilarating it must be to see things with your bare eyes that you couldn't see before.

Thank you for your story! :)

I'm not that afraid, I just think it's really expensive and considering that in 12 or 15 years, I'm going to need glasses anyway, I might as well just stick to the way things are.

...my eyes are very dry, so apparently I'm not a suitable candidate for the surgery. Can't wear contacts for the same reason. I guess I'll be a speccy bastard for the rest of my days.

I can wear contacts but not all day, only for a "night out" or when sharper vision is really important (for instance, on vacation - just bring along the eye drops)

But I spend all day looking at a computer - we don't blink as often when we're gazing at our screens, so computers are not great for us dry-eye folks.

I've thought about Lasik but:
1. dry eyes
2. two hobbies that require excellent close vision (which I still have - I can see things that other people need a jeweler's loupe for)

I went first by a year or two; my vision was (not kidding!) 20/1400, and yes, I was pretty much legally blind without my glasses or contacts. Only a few months before I went in, the doctor I saw had gotten the "latest upgrade" that enabled me to NOT have to wear glasses or contacts despite my astigmatism and poor eyesight. (The software and the machines get upgraded very regularly; I highly recommend investigating and going with "the best" instead of "the cheapest" if your eyes are "bad" -- nothing personal, but I didn't want a student doing mine!)

Anyway, what finally got me off my duff was one day my morning "reach" for my glasses accidentally knocked them off the nightstand, and I COULDN'T FIND THEM because my eyes were THAT BAD. In an emergency situation that meant I wouldn't be able to drive a car -- heck, I couldn't count the fingers on the end of my hand if I held my arm out in front of my face! I had always worn "coke bottle lenses" so the weight/discomfort were something I was used to, and I periodically wore contacts, etc. but again, if "something happened" involving water and my contacts (like when my husband lost his white water rafting), without "replacements" immediately available, I would have been SCREWED.

So for me, it finally became a safety issue, and that was what motivated me. My vision is now 20/15, and I LOVE IT. It did, however, hurt like heck the first day -- I recommend going with two people: one who can drive, and one who can put drops in your eyes -- but things were fine by the next day.

Also, I could see my toes in the shower, which was cool, and it was MONTHS before I quit "automatically" reaching for my glasses in the morning. I am grateful as anything I got it done. And I'm not afraid of babies or puppies knocking my glasses off, them ending up broken, and me being unable to do what needs to be done because of my poor eyesight....

My husband's eyes weren't anywhere near as bad as mine, but he finally went. He was much more uncomfortable during the surgery (which lasted under fifteen minutes), but is also "20/15" and very pleased that he did it. Personally, I think its some of the best money we've ever spent.

I highly recommend doing it, but also recommend researching the different facilities AND doctors for their success rates. One local hospital had the following "personal" recommendation -- "some of our doctors are very experienced" which automatically translated in MY head to "and some aren't" which had me fleeing them VERY QUICKLY despite the fact they were substantially cheaper than the guy we ended up going with.

Final reason we picked the guy we picked is going to sound a little odd: he had a book of "letters of recommendation" from happy people, and more than half of them were written by LAWYERS!!! That clinched it for me! :)

both! :)

had it done. All successful. I went and my eyes are really bad, but I can't get it done because my corneas
are to short. They did not like the minimal "comfort zone" that they had so they wouldn't do it.
Told me to check back in a year, new treatments coming down the pike all the time.....
The only discomfort any of them had was trying not to rub their eyes.
The drops they give you for the itching works great.

lost

to hear it's worked out well for the rest of your family!