(no subject)

[camwyn]

For the past eight years, I have had 20/20 or better vision. Yep, today is the anniversary of the day I got LASIK; prior to 1999, I had 20/400 vision without corrective lenses, and had to wear hard contacts or eyeglasses made of high-index glass. My prescription was -3 in one eye, -3.5 in the other. These days? Nothin'.

Dr. Theodore Perl, I salute you.

Comments

[agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind me prying...what was the procedure like?

[camwyn]

While it was the most frightening thing I've ever done on purpose, and I am including traveling into Manhattan on 9/11, it really wasn't bad at all. The doctors offered me Valium beforehand, which I declined. You have to be awake for the procedure and keep your eye pointing at a particular dot of red light, and I was afraid that on the Valium I might get so relaxed I'd try to look away. But they numbed the eyeballs with drops of pharmaceutical cocaine- standard procedure, whether you're on Valium or no- and taped one eye shut and did the poke-prod-slice-flip-ZAP to the other, then put things back, taped that eye shut, untaped the other one, and did the same thing there. All in the space of about fifteen minutes total, from the time I lay down on the laser's bench to the time they told me to turn around and tell them if I could read the clock on the opposite wall.

I can go into more detail if you like, but that's the very basics.

[agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com]

*is twitching*

I have this eye "thing", so more detail might put me into convulsions.

My eyesight isn't quite to the level of your original prescription, but every now and again I think about looking into the procedure. That's when the twitching and eye watering begins.

[camwyn]

Yeah, I figured as much. A lot of people get that way about their eyes, so I make sure to ask before I get specific.

When I had the procedure, Dr. Perl wouldn't do LASIK for anybody less than about a -2.5 or 2.5 prescription, because the benefit from the procedure wouldn't be as great as the risks. I don't know if things've changed since then or what.

[lasa.livejournal.com]

As a lasik patient myself, I can only echo your thoughts - some of the best money I ever spent! Scuba diving, biking, heck, even waking up in the morning and seeing the alarm clock - it's all so much better!

And the procedure was quite easy and painless - much easier than getting a cavity filled - as long as you didn't think on exactly what they were doing as they were doing it.

[camwyn]

Unfortunately, I'm the kind of person who thinks on the exact details of my medical procedures a lot, so I spent most of the fifteen minutes hearing my own pulse thanks to the fight-or-flight response. But overall? I can deal with that.

[trinityday.livejournal.com]

Can't wait to get it myself. Especially considering the price of glasses, especially considering how much more expensive thick glasses are for us poor souls who have really bad eyesight.

[trinityday.livejournal.com]

Curiously, my mom had it done and her night vision is poor now -- but she isn't sure how much of that is the surgery and how much is her age. What's yours like?

[camwyn]

My night vision's not as good as it oculd be. I get a lot of glare and stuff at night. On the other hand, I've had as much glare as a result of my prescription eye stuff since I was eight, so I don't even remember what it's like not to have the glare.

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

My eyes ended up degrading after about five years, but they're still much better than they were (20/1000 to 20/40). I'm very happy with my results.

Personally, I found the surgery on an discomfort level akin to getting your wisdom teeth removed without sedation (which I did). 15-20 minutes of uncomfortable sensations, smells, and sounds, followed by a day of rest before full results.

[camwyn]

What pleases me is that the procedure I'd heard about is now being offered for older people- a radio-wave based lens reshaping for people with Arms-Too-Short Syndrome. Hopefully they'll have it perfected by the time I get to that stage of my life.