LASIK

[snatchel]

So, I wanted to share my personal story about LASIK and whatnot.... I learned something and figured it would be good for some of y'all.

About 5 years ago, while in the military I recieved LASIK surgery to correct an astigmatism and farsightedness. Lately, I have been getting headaches and whatnot.. and it felt familiar, so I scheduled an eye appointment.

LASIK is supposed to be something reserved for people with steady persriptions..... meaning that your vision doesn't significantly worsen over a 3 year period or so. If your vision is deteriorating quickly, it will continue to do so even after LASIK. They may be able to correct your vision to 20/20, but your eyes will immediately start deteriorating after surgery. I had perfect vision for about 4 years.. and then all of a sudden the headaches started again.

So, take this into account if you are concidering LASIK surgery. Understand that you may get your eyes corrected for a while, but that will fail eventually. Doc said that his best candidates are those in their mid 30's-50's, who have had steady perscriptions for 3 or 4 years. Guess I jumped the gun

So here I sit, typing this out with my bifocals.......

[sjfcontrol]

Interesting range of ages -- usually around 40 most people start losing the ability focus up close due to the lens losing its elasticity.
I had vision surgery (rk and prk) in my late 30's to correct extreme near sightedness. Worked fine to my mid 40's when I had to start wearing glass again, for far-sightedness this time.

[Crossfire]

Don't get me started on my LASIK experience. Did it twice. And then once more on just one eye. And then two surgeries for detached retinas (which the LASIK surgeon SWORE was unrelated). Then the lens implants for the cataracts. At 50. Also, completely unrelated to the LASIK experience.

All told, a total of 7 separate surgeries. And this past week, I had to renew my driver's license, and could not pass the eye test without glasses.

Do some research before you just let people start cutting on your eyeballs, and then burning them with lasers. Its not all fun and games like they said it would be.

[Kythas]

I had LASIK done about 10 years ago. I turn 43 tomorrow and just started wearing reading glasses this week. My far vision is still perfect, though. All in all, I don't regret getting LASIK one bit. It was one of the best things I ever did for myself.