Thinking about eye lasers

Well laser eye surgery anyway. I wear some seriously thick glasses. Contact lens prescription is roughly -6.5. Has stayed there for the last 10 years. Having to decide between 400$ for glasses, or for 500$ for surgery. The 400 is after insurance, funny thing is, with insurance the price of the surgery goes up. That's some funny E36 M3 to me, but I thought I would get the hives input on the decision. Point is, I hate being blind, and my eyes are not as tolerant of contacts as they used to be. Used to be I could wear them for a few days straight. Now days, if I try to wear them back to back days they bug the crap out of my eyes, even when taking them out at night.

Activities include, motorcycles, occasional autoX and track time, fishing, diving, paintball, reading and wrenching on cars. 

$100 difference sounds like a no-brainer. 

I thought surgery was much more expensive than that. 

To handle sports with shock and vibration, you'll have to get the type of laser surgery that doesn't involve cutting a flap in the cornea as this would render your eyes non-shockproof. PRK is the most common type of laser eye surgery that would leave you with shockproof eyeballs.

I think that after the healing phase, either procedure would be about the same from a shock tolerance standpoint.  That would be something to discuss with the physician. 

People who get the eye whack either really like it or really don't.  Ask the doc what his personal failure, or re-do or unsatisfied patient rate is. 

How much are your glasses on Zenni Optical?  I just bought 6 pairs for $174.  Some bifocal, some sun glasses, some single vision, readers, computer glasses, etc., with frames and delivered.  At the ophthalmologist, they were trying to sell some guy one pair of glasses for one large.  I said, no thanks.

SVreX said:

$100 difference sounds like a no-brainer. 

I thought surgery was much more expensive than that. 

Local place that does just that. And it's Lasik that is that cheap. I'm not sure about the PRK. Would rather have the PRK anyway, less cutting.

Edit: no so local. Lasik plus vision centers, aparently they're everywhere

DD#1 is seriously myopic.  I mean, like -11 myopic, plus astigmatism.  We have to get custom made contacts for her.  She really wants to get laser correction, but at 25, her prescription still hasn't stabilized enough.

I had lasik done in 2007. Right eye had 20/400 vision, left was slightly better. Post surgery, vision was 20/15 in both eyes, and a decade later remains 20/20.

Mind you, our dear uncle paid for mine and it was tailor-mapped to my eyes, but I’d still highly recommend it...

TIm had Lasik done 20 years ago. Post-surgery vision also 20/15, settled into 20/20 thereafter. He now wears reading glasses for close work; was on the bubble about that two decades ago, and decided not to go with the monovision because you lose depth perception and he races. He says he's never regretted it. I would've done the same, but I wasn't a candidate then (lot of astigmatism) and I now have dry eyes, so that's probably a good thing.

Margie

In reply to Dr. Hess :

I'll have to check. I've never heard of Zenni Optical.

In reply to Duke :

Tell her to have patience. Mine stabilized by 30. 

In reply to Recon1342 : 
 

Is that Binocular? The mono vision thing is a no go for me. I'm pretty sure I want to finish my pilots license up. Binocular vision is a requirement for a flight physical.

In reply to Marjorie Suddard : 

As I asked Recon above, what's with the mono vision thing? Binocular vision is a must.

ZenniOptical.com

I've bought my last 2 sets from them.  Just bought some custom bifocal sunglasses that came in Monday.  The bifocal part is at reduced additional stuff so I can see the dashboard and the stereo/climate control better than either the regular bifocal or the single vision sunglasses.

In reply to Mr. Lee :

Not sure what you guys mean by monovision. My eyes were laser-mapped and a burn pattern was created for each eye. These days I believe it’s called “custom” lasik, and it’s tailored to each eye’s surface.

SVreX said:

$100 difference sounds like a no-brainer. 

I thought surgery was much more expensive than that. 

With my insurance, it is.  Problem is, it wouldn't help me anyway and I am on my way to cataracts.      

From 3rd grade to 30 I was legally blind without corrective lenses.  Like -9.0 and -7.5 blind.  Then in 2001 I got the Lasik and it was BY FAR the best thing ever!!  My vision has been literally perfect ever since (until this last year when I graduated to readers but that is a normal aging issue not a surgery related one).

TLDR:  Doo EEETTT

Recon1342 said:

In reply to Mr. Lee :

Not sure what you guys mean by monovision. My eyes were laser-mapped and a burn pattern was created for each eye. These days I believe it’s called “custom” lasik, and it’s tailored to each eye’s surface.

It's apparently a proceedure for older folks. Not something I have to worry about. I remember my dad saying they offered it to him, but he passed due to needing bifocal vision for work. (ATC) disregard the question. 

Monovision, or monocular vision, is when they compensate for your eyeballs' aging lenses by surgically adjusting your vision differently from one eye to the other--one is lasered for close-up vision, the other for distance--because older folks' lenses lose flexibility and no longer adjust down as well, leaving us farsighted. Supposedly your brain quickly adjusts and switches between eyes seamlessly, but with only a single focal point for your distance vision, you lose depth perception.

Margie

I go to an ophthalmologist, not an optometrist.  I know their training, or at least the first 4-5 years of it.  The one I go to now specializes in this kinda stuff.  I think he has a nationwide presence, actually.  He told me that the latest thing in cataract treatment (ahem...) involves putting in a new lens that will change shapes like your OEM one did and not be single vision.  The previous treatment, from my understanding, was to make one eye near vision and one eye distance vision and tell you to suck it up.

So they have non-cutting Lasik?

The idea of somebody cutting my eye ball creep me out. Anything involving a "flap" creeps me out. 

What is PRK like? Just looking at laser beams while they should into your retina? How long does it take? Do I have to wear a fixture that hold my eyelids open like some sadistic torture?

In reply to Dr. Hess :

Yeah, That's the one dad was telling me about

Marjorie Suddard said:

Monovision, or monocular vision, is when they compensate for your eyeballs' aging lenses by surgically adjusting your vision differently from one eye to the other--one is lasered for close-up vision, the other for distance--because older folks' lenses lose flexibility and no longer adjust down as well, leaving us farsighted. Supposedly your brain quickly adjusts and switches between eyes seamlessly, but with only a single focal point for your distance vision, you lose depth perception.

Margie

YEARS ago, as in almost 20, I was working in a fast food joint as a manager, someone dropped cold chicken into a hot fryer and the spatter got me in the eye. I quickly flushed it, and popped out the contact lens I was wearing (which was melted). Work covered everything but the replacement lens, being young, broke, and not wanting to call mom and dad for help I just lived with one eye that worked, and one eye that didn't for about a year till insurance kicked in, and I was able to get to an eye doc.  The ride home on a motorcycle was very uncomfortable to say the least. I learned to compensate rather quickly, but I'm not sure everyone would have. 

For more than 5 years, I was prescribed mismatched contact lenses - one for near vision, one for distances.  It worked very well for me, until it didn't.  I had 20/15 distance vision, and I could read text that was like .0050".

As I aged, though, that quit working.  I switched to 1 multifocal contact, and then again to both multifocals.  I wish I had my old vision back.

pheller said:

So they have non-cutting Lasik?

The idea of somebody cutting my eye ball creep me out. Anything involving a "flap" creeps me out. 

What is PRK like? Just looking at laser beams while they should into your retina? How long does it take? Do I have to wear a fixture that hold my eyelids open like some sadistic torture?

Mine involved the flap.  And the Clockwork Orange style eyelid hold opener. 

And Valium,  Valium is the key because trust me when I say that I'm an eye-phobic.  Closest I ever came to shooting someone involved getting jabbed in the eye (long story involving a loaded M-16 and a gas mask) so believe me when I say that it's worth it.  It's just a modern miracle that we, as a species, have invented a way to use coherent light to correct our very vision of the world. 

I had natural monovision from the time I was 16. One eye short sighted, one eye normal. I used to wear one contact because of it. I wasn't happy with how things worked with the mismatched eye, even though I could (and occasionally did) drive that way. I preferred sharp depth perception. My eye doc thought I should keep it that way because it would be better when I got old and lost my close up vision. I listened to him for a while, then decided not to listen.

Had Lasik (of some sort, I forget the acronym but it wasn't the strip mall sort of job, it was custom) done a while back. 12 years, maybe? Haven't regretted it at all. No problems with vibration, swimming, anything. I know they did have to cut a flap to do it and that eye is a bit more prone to irritation now - but far less irritated than it used to be with my contact.

Now I'm old enough that my close vision is going, but having experienced monovision I'm happy with my choice.

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

pheller said:

So they have non-cutting Lasik?

The idea of somebody cutting my eye ball creep me out. Anything involving a "flap" creeps me out. 

What is PRK like? Just looking at laser beams while they should into your retina? How long does it take? Do I have to wear a fixture that hold my eyelids open like some sadistic torture?

Mine involved the flap.  And the Clockwork Orange style eyelid hold opener. 

And Valium,  Valium is the key because trust me when I say that I'm an eye-phobic.  Closest I ever came to shooting someone involved getting jabbed in the eye (long story involving a loaded M-16 and a gas mask) so believe me when I say that it's worth it.  It's just a modern miracle that we, as a species, have invented a way to use coherent light to correct our very vision of the world. 

Being "eye-phobic" is my biggest problem. I can't wear contacts for that reason. Touching my eye is basically impossible.  I fear the only way I could have Lasik done would be if I was unconscious.  Wearing glasses for reading I could deal with. Especially since my bifocal script stinks (I am still removing my glasses to look at close detail stuff).

Dr. Hess said:

ZenniOptical.com

 

I've bought my last 2 sets from them.  Just bought some custom bifocal sunglasses that came in Monday.  The bifocal part is at reduced additional stuff so I can see the dashboard and the stereo/climate control better than either the regular bifocal or the single vision sunglasses.

So, how do you get frames fit to your face like they do at the office? 

I had, unknown to me, monocular distance vision for quite some time.  My right eye was 20/15, my left was 20/40 or so.  Still better than many people, but it wasn't until I needed (I thought) reading glasses that my high school buddy the optometrist sold me bifocals and suddenly my brain had to function with proper stereo vision again.  It was damn weird for about two weeks.

I don't know whether I would do laser.  I know several people who had it done, and they were all happy, but the idea freaks me out a bit.  The potential for a mistake, no matter how small, would have me squinting until I couldn't see at all.