Lasik

[Brickman]

My wife went in this afternoon and did the laser surgery for her eyes. I got to watch the action on the big screen..


The machine: http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/MDA/DOCS/p930016s025.html

Simply fascinating procedure. They create a flap on the eyeball with a "femtosecond laser "... pull it back with a small 1/16th inch surgical tool, then the corneal tissue is reshaped with the laser. It looks just like the picture, with the laser grid placed over the eyeball. A few zaps, a countdown and done. Fold the flap back over. Took less than 10 minutes.

The Dr. was a board certified Ophthalmologist... but what he is in realiity... a multi millionaire knocking out about 10 of these today. It's no doubt why they offer 24 months no interest financing.

http://www.usaeyes.org/images/video/prk.jpg

[devilmaster]

I had it done about 10 years ago now. Worth every penny even if I lose my sight tomorrow...

I found an old post I did here years ago about it....


I wasn't nervous at all going in to the procedure. But what they did for lasik back then was patch one eye, they pinned open the other eye - a little painful because you want to blink but can't. Then they put a device with a suction cup on the open eye. This device sliced the eye open. That was un-nerving because for a brief moment, you couldn't see anything. (they gave valiums for the surgery, happy to have them)

Once the corneal flap was opened, my vision went all blocky and foggy, like looking at life through a frosted pane of glass. I assume it may be similar for you - everything looks really foggy and blurry until the implant goes in, then possibly good eyesight right away.

After both my eyes were done, I walked out into the post-op waiting area, and could see across the room right away.

I think most people are surprised how nervous they get when going under the knife with their eyes. Like I said earlier, I wasn't nervous until AFTER the first eye was done. I knew there was one more eye to go.

There is pain and discomfort for a couple days (have someone drive you home from the surgery, and expect to be down the first day), along with anti-bio drops and painkiller drops, and I probably think you can't get your eyes wet for a few weeks.

Its tough, but more and more it is commonplace for these types of surgeries. Even if I lose my eyesight tomorrow, it was completely worth it having the surgery done. For the first few weeks I marveled at a world I was seeing differently from the way I knew it.

I would recommend it for anyone who thinks they want it, with the caveat that you need to research properly how its done, and the drawbacks involved. I had glasses since I was six, and hated it. I didn't research it as well as I should have, but got through alright. As an example of a drawback, for 6 months after the surgery I had halos from oncoming headlights at night... problem is, the halos feel like someone shining a flashlight right beside your eye. I realized that the halo made me not see pedestrians that were between me and the other car. That was disconcerting.

Still worth it if one truly wants it.