Has anyone had laser eye surgery?

[TJ]

My eyesight has never been good and contacts are uncomfortable for me to wear so I'm considering laser eye surgery. Has anyone ever had it? Please share your experiences.

[AKA]

I'm also considering lasik surgery. I've been wearing glasses since age 5. Contacts are virtually impossible for me, as my eyes don't take too kindly to 'em.

Besides, my vision is getting worse and worse every passing year, which means my glasses are getting thicker and thicker...

I saw an ad in the paper last week. A place here in town is charging $749/eye. Tempting.

[mamamiasweetpeaches]

I have gotten it....last winter...and I am a success story...almost perfect vision and no longer need glasses.HOWEVER...I did not go the cheap route and wouldnt advise you to either. Mine was $3000.00 an eye. My father paid for it because he says he always felt bad he couldnt do more about my bad sight as a child.I dont know if you live anywhere near Astoria New York,but if you do go to the Mackool Institute on Gramercy Park .It was quick and painless and the recovery period just consists of eye drops and sunglasses.It was the best thing I've ever done. All that corny stuff like "seeing the world through new eyes"..it's true.SO my advise to you is find a specialist in this field and avoid the quick-ee-cheap--ee places. All the news shows I've seen featuring botched jobs are in those places.Good luck.

[Kristina]

Well I have good eye sight but I'd say don't take the risk. Glasses are better than taking a chance on going blind. Lasik is too much of a new thing - it's too new to take chances and alot of the stories have been unsuccessful, one of the people ended up with eight images in one eye.

[Max Whittaker]

If you feel strongly enough about it I don't see why you shouldn't try it. But I wouldn't recommend rushing into it. Knowledge is power! Plus, there are alternatives,as you know. Glasses aren't that bad of a fate.

If you feel laser necessary, I say go for it! But be sure you know what your getting yourself into first.


Luck!

[mamamiasweetpeaches]

Hi. Its me again,the one who had Lasik last year.I've been thinking about you guys all day. I looked at my doctors card and it says his email address is mackooleye@aol.com. I know you probably wouldnt be going to my doctor in Astoaria but I thought maybe he could suggest someone good near you.I also forgot to mention that the reason my surgery cost so much was because they didnt accept my insurance. They do accept some insurance...maybe you'd get lucky. From the way you were talking I assumed your eyesight was always pretty bad and getting worse.....as was mine. I was legally blind in one eye,had astigmatism and very bad peripheal vision in the other eye.Just wanted to make totally clear this was not a vanity "I dont want to wear glasses "thing. After wearing contacts for so many years my eyes were in bad shape from not getting enough air.The thing that made me decide to do something about it was when I had my baby and was stumbling around half blind in the middle of the night to do feeedings.So ONCE AGAIN I advise you to at least go to a professional for consultation...some give free consultation...mine did. If your nowhere near blind as a bat...dont bother,but if you feel like "Gee,its this bad now..I'd hate to know what its gonna be like in ten years"...then go talk to someone.
P.S:I'm 30...and to feel so lost at 30 is an awful feeling.I'm glad I went.

[Barnabas1]

Just wear glasses! Those Laser things will make your sight worse, maybe blind!

[Pitooey]

TJ - I say go for it. I'm going to do it one day myself. I hate having to wear glasses and contac lenses. I'm like the person who posted that they wore glasses since the age of 5. So have I. Go for it!!!

[JDS84]

No but I am a canidate when I turn 21 years old.

[FolFanatic151]

I've been wondering about this too. Do you think it'll be, uh, perfected in a few years? I'd love to be able to see without glasses or contacts, but I've heard it's so risky. Are there any unknown things that might happen to your eyes years down the road? I just don't know.

[Bootsy Whoosh]

I have not personally had the surgery myself, but as I have seriously considered it I feel I have a few things to add:

First, and perhaps most important, not everyone is even eligible for this kind of surgery. Whether or not you will be able to have LASIK done depends on the size of your pupils, the shape of your eye, and how thick your corneas are. Me and mom both went for the consultation/eligibility appointment, I was eligible, my mother was not.

Second, back to the thickness of the corneas thing. When they do this surgery what they do is cut a flap in your eye, peel it back, and blast away at your corneas for a bit until it has a proper curvature. Some people speculate that if your cornea is cut too thin, it could cause problems in the future, such as if you develop cataracts, or something (I forget what exactly it is they are afraid of).

Third, about this whole "fear of going blind" thing. I'd say, that is not something you have to worry alot about (of course don't take MY word on it, talk to your doctor!!) As I understand it, risk of blindness is very low. However, you may not acheive perfect vision and may still have to wear corrective lenses after the surgery.

Also, my thinking on the whole paranoia of blindness thing is this (and trust me, I am paranoid of going blind....my sister is blind so I know pretty well what it's like)...I always figured I could just get one eye done at a time. (and the doctor I spoke too thought it was unneccessary, but said he would do it that way if that was what I wanted. Of course, it could end up being a tad more expensive too). But anyway, that way, I could know I have at least one good eye before I get the other one cut on. As long as you have one good eye, even though it would suck, you can adjust.

Fourth, I recently heard that the U.S. military is going to start offering this surgery to all of its personnel, and I believe they are going to move into making it mandatory for all personnel (with the exception of pilots, since they are worried about long-term side effects.) I am willing to bet that once those military doctos get ahold of this technology, it will be greatly improved upon and possibly nearly perfected in a short amount of time.

I think that's all I have to say. Personally, I decided to wait, hoping that in a few years the surgery will be less risky and perhaps cheaper. Of course I agree with mamamiasweetpeaches, do not go for cheapo surgery, it's not worth the risk. For right now, I don't mind wearing contacts.

[mamamiasweetpeaches]

One more thing to add:If your eye sight is getting so bad that you think you'll be blind in another ten years......you know what I'm saying?People say to me all the time "what if after the surgery you go blind a few years down the line?"I say "I felt like I WAS going blind before I had the surgery"...few years down the line or now? Anyway,get consultation,theres a lot they can do:they can do lasik,they can replace the lens in your eye.....but I only recoomend if your sight is really bad.

[Brian]

My father had Lasik eye surgery a few years back. It worked for him. Until then, he always wore glasses. Now he doesn't need them.

[Swimfan85]

i have had 3 eye surgurys in my life... heh most recently last summer


since my eyes never have worked together and 99.9% chance they will never work together i couldnt get laser surgury because that would do no good. but my brothers friends mom had laser eye surgury and it went fine

my surgury was weird they put me to sleep and they pulled on my eye muscles and made my eyes straight, cuz i have lazy eyes and a stigmatism and wht eye condition dont i have? lol but my eye surgury was weird, cuz i couldnt get water in my eye*and a week later we go to bermuda...ouch* but i had to wear sunglasses when the sun is out and take drops for a month...and my eyes were all red and everyone always asked me if i was high or drunk...but yah...it was ok though it helped