curious..has anyone had lasik done?

**amyb** · March 22nd, 2004, 12:26 PM

I'm going to have lasik done on my eyes on Friday. Wondering if anyone has been through it.

**jitBob** · March 22nd, 2004, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by amyb

I'm going to have lasik done on my eyes on Friday. Wondering if anyone has been through it.

Yep, I had it done in November of 2002. Worked like a charm for me.

I watched three people before me have the proceedure done and it worked out great for them so I did it. Great to see what the wife actually looks like during sex! Kidding. One of the guys who works here had it done after me and regrets it. He has a bad time at night. Starbursts around lights and dry eyes. Dry eyes seems to be the most common complaint. Two valiums and the proceedure was a breeze. Good luck and enjoy the new vision, I know I did after 35 years of wearing glasses! Oh and my vision is 20/20 from 20/200.

**Spork** · March 22nd, 2004, 12:46 PM

A friend of mine had his done and he amazingly now has 20/10 vision without any problems... or at least none that he has told me of.

**meatwad** · March 22nd, 2004, 12:59 PM

I've heard of people doing one eye at a time. Just in case. Anyone know if it's more expensive that way?

**amyb** · March 22nd, 2004, 01:01 PM

I'm having both done. Yes, it's more expensive.

**Spork** · March 22nd, 2004, 01:13 PM

Yeah, isn't it like $1000 per eye?

**amyb** · March 22nd, 2004, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Spork

Yeah, isn't it like $1000 per eye?

Something like that. My husband had it done (one eye) last month. This is our anniversery present to each other (19 years) (better eyesight). Is that romantic or what?

**meatwad** · March 22nd, 2004, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Spork

Yeah, isn't it like $1000 per eye?

Wow. That's not bad. When I first started looking into it, it was around $3000 each eye.

**amyb** · March 22nd, 2004, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by meatwad

Wow. That's not bad. When I first started looking into it, it was around $3000 each eye.

Really? Good grief! The bummer is that insurance won't cover it.

**dfilas** · March 22nd, 2004, 10:12 PM

If you have a reputable doctor you will have no problems nor any reason to have to wirry about having this done twice (i.e. one eye at a time). Don't shop for the bottom dollar clinic.

My doctor put it best: You don't call around to hospitals to find out who has the best price on heart transplants, do you?

I had this done by Henry Ford Hospital which is very good and quite reasonable on price. No problems at all. Went from 20/400 and 20/200 to 20/25 and 20/20 respectively.

You have the potential of having the starbursts at night... but if you're doctor knows what they are doing they probably wouldnt do the procedure in the first place if it looks to be problems. Most of these cases happens when your pupils are too big... bigger pupils = more starbursts/glare. 8 is usually the cutoff point.

Pre-op is what takes forever. The actual procedure, on both eyes, lasted the better part of 4 minutes for me. The only issues were when the anesthetic drops wore off, my eyes stung for a couple hours, but they will likely give pain medication anyway. Light is unusually bright for the first day, and they will give you heavy duty goggles to compensate for this. You vision may also fluctuate (clear fuzzy clear fuzzy) for a couple weeks... not enough to cause problems, just an annoyance.

All in all, I can't say i have ever spent money on something better. Being able to recognize people standing 10 feet away without heavy glasses or irritating contact lenses is priceless.

**Pinnacle** · March 22nd, 2004, 11:09 PM

I had it done at the Bochner Eye Institute in Toronto in September 1999. It is the best thing I have ever done for myself. Prior to the surgery, my left eye was 20/600 and the right eye was 20/400. For those of you blessed with good vision and have no idea what that means, my left eye was so bad that when the doctor put the eye chart on the wall, I could not tell it was an eye chart. To my left eye, it was just a dark smudge. My right eye was only a little better. Now, my left eye is almost 20/20 and my right eye is almost 20/15. I live in Michigan, but chose to go to Canada because they made this procedure available to the public years before the United States did. As a result, the Canadian doctors had more experience. That meant a lot to me. Plus, the doctors at Bochner had been researching this general concept for many years (back to the '50s if I remember correctly), so they really know their stuff. They have even wrote college text books that are used by colleges to teach other doctors these techniques. All of this combined to put my mind at ease.

**silencio** · March 22nd, 2004, 11:38 PM

Pretty encouraging posts. I've been thinking about doing this too but my eyesight isn't too bad yet... I can still see the fridge.

**Stalemate** · March 23rd, 2004, 10:46 AM

I see a lot of referrences to near and far-sightedness being corrected, but what about astigmatism?

Has anyone ever had that corrected through laser surgery?

**edball** · March 23rd, 2004, 10:59 AM

I had both eyes done about three years ago. I am still amazed at being able to see without glasses or contacts. It was a little scary when they were operating. I think the drugs took longer to affect me than they anticipated. I was really loopy on the way home.

**Cleetus** · March 23rd, 2004, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by a d e p t

I see a lot of referrences to near and far-sightedness being corrected, but what about astigmatism?

Has anyone ever had that corrected through laser surgery?

Certain types yes they can...