Below is the link to the doctor’s site who did my surgery. There is plenty of information on it.
Yeah, some pro’s and con’s to think about if you haven’t done it yet…
Flap+
The natural surface of the eye is left alone and healing time seams quicker with less pain.
Flap-
The flap risk never completely goes away as the cornea heals differently due to lack of blood supply.
No Flap+
No long term risk due to flap creation. Ability to try “monovision” and/or undergo touch-up retreatment in most cases.
No Flap-
The original contour and surface of the eye are changed. More pain and longer healing times are required.
Personally, I found the no-flap option to be a better idea for me. I don’t mind the additional discomfort during a longer healing process. I really do like the idea of being able to repeat the surgery for a touch up at some point down the road.
If you are considering doing something like this, be sure to educate yourself and make an informed decision based on the various available technologies.
My wife and I have thought about eye surgery. We both are pretty blind. We are concerned about any chance of error no matter how slim. It seems like a cosmetic surgery. You all say it takes a few weeks to recover. Can you drive and work after a week or so? How much vacation time did you take from work? Is it covered by most Short Term Disability insurances if we’re out for more than a week or two?
Thanks
I got mine done on a Friday, and by Saturday afternoon, I was moving to a new apartment (furniture,etc)…If you get it done right, you wont need time off of work (I would recommend a Friday, so you have the weekend to recover).
Again, I would definitely do my research and go to a well-known doctor, not one of these bs ones that will do it for $500-600. Im thinking the guy above that said his vision went back to how it was, more than likely didnt go to a good doc. Some people need enhancements after time, but most, if done correctly, are fine.
You will need someone to drive you home that day, but after that, you should be good.
hey vroom…can you post more about this procedure? cost? doctor?
I’ve been thinking of doing it for a long time…I’d like to do a PRK instead of “conventional lasik” since I plan to get involved in MMA. Anyways the idea of having a knife near my eye isn’t very appealing.
I also got my all laser LASIK on a Friday, the next day I was fine too. I was just wearing sun glasses b/c my eyes were still sensitive to light. I went back to work as normal on Monday.
I spent around $4000 on mine b/c I went to a quality doctor. They had a no interest payment plan, so it wasn’t too bad. I was not going to mess around with my eyes.
Skull,
There is a “Focus Eye Center” facility local to me. The cost was about $4K, but this group includes ongoing medications and potential follow up treatments in the original price.
The decision I made was really done on a risk avoidance basis. As you said, the thought of a slice being made to my eye did not appeal to me. The PRK procedure doesn’t impact the structural integrity of the eye in a significant way.
Also, doing PRK allows the laser to work on a larger area of the eye, lowering the potential for issues with respect to night vision issues. If you have large irises and do the slice, it is possible that the outer region of your lens will not be reshaped, leaving it with different focal properties.
I’m also not sure on the ability for a slice type procedure to allow repeat treatments should it become necessary.
If you are thinking about this, buy a book on it. I bought a book about ten years ago, but held off until recently. I figured the technology had matured and that there appear to be no significant long term problems. If some arise, there are groups of people ahead of me for whom they will have time to work out treatments.
Anyway, look around a bit. The procedure I had was “Wavefront PRK”, not just PRK. This is where an optical device hooked to a computer gets a detailed map of your eye surface and optics. This information is then fed into the operating laser, and honestly, who the doctor was had no bearing to me, as in this procedure the laser ran automatically… adjusting for minor eye movements and so on in real time.
I believe it used to be the case that the doctor would manually adjust for eye movements and have more of a role to play in the actual surgery. I’m sure if they are taking a slice, the doctor you choose would be more important also. However, given the technological nature of this surgery, the doctor did pre-work, is there in case of emergency, and does some post-work.
The whole procedure lasts only a couple of minutes.
However, I know I’m repeating myself, but keep in mind that healing times differ at lot between individuals. Also, the procedure type chosen will have a lot to do with healing times and visual acuity recovery rates as well.
As automation increases, I’d expect the cost of the surgery to drop, but bear in mind the time and effort for the doctor will vary according to the procedure. So, I’d certainly not go for a cheap procedure involving live doctor effort, but if the machine is well cared for and calibrated, I wouldn’t be too worried about the cost lowering a bit.
Just be sure to check into what the cost actually includes… with respect to follow up care, repeat procedures, opthalmologist visits and so on. You might find some of the cheaper quotes bill you for things that you need after the surgery as well…
Take your time, figure out what is going on, know what you are going to hear before you get into someones sales spiel. This is your body you are talking about.
Carefull boys, you might wanna check this out before its too late - surgicaleyes.org
Scary, scary shit going on there
Thanks for the insights, vroom.
4k doesn’t seems much…here in Panama, I can get it in 2k both eyes, but since there is only one person who is certified to do this in the whole country(well, only one famous one), I don’t trust him. I’ll research some in Colombia, the epitome of eye surgery, right here in the border.
I’m going to be in the US next year, could you please post the address of this center?
Velvet, there are indeed horror stories on the net. The place I went to actually pointed them out… and asked if I had questions or concerns.
Time for an update. My three month follow up visit was just the other day.
I now have 20/20 vision. It is probably just a tiny bit better than that, but I’m not going to quibble.
The doctor wrote up a statement that I take to the drivers license people so that I can get my “corrective eyewear” stipulation removed from my license.
It was strange, but after about a month, when they took me off the steroidal anti-anflammatory, my eyes finally started to heal up. I can’t help but wonder if the good nutrition combined with the medicine kept my body from creating enough of an inflammatory response to heal the lenses quickly?
Anyhow, as they had been telling me, different people heal up at different speeds. I’m pretty damned happy these days, though I still reach for my glasses every morning when I wake up.
I’m hoping for just a slight little improvement. Maybe if I’m lucky and my eyesight gets a bit better I’ll be able to squint funny and look through womens clothing…
[quote]vroom wrote:
Time for an update. My three month follow up visit was just the other day.
I now have 20/20 vision. It is probably just a tiny bit better than that, but I’m not going to quibble.
[/quote]
Good to hear vroom. I had PRK several years ago, and it’s one of the smartest decisions I ever made.
Just for reference, here’s the url for the guy who did mine. There’s quite a bit of info there. He is an ophthalmic surgeon with over 40 years of experience, so I wasn’t concerned about his abilities at all. He doesn’t like Lasik, so he doesn’t do it.
|/ 3Toes
[quote]vroom wrote:
Time for an update. My three month follow up visit was just the other day.
I now have 20/20 vision. It is probably just a tiny bit better than that, but I’m not going to quibble.
The doctor wrote up a statement that I take to the drivers license people so that I can get my “corrective eyewear” stipulation removed from my license.
It was strange, but after about a month, when they took me off the steroidal anti-anflammatory, my eyes finally started to heal up. I can’t help but wonder if the good nutrition combined with the medicine kept my body from creating enough of an inflammatory response to heal the lenses quickly?
Anyhow, as they had been telling me, different people heal up at different speeds. I’m pretty damned happy these days, though I still reach for my glasses every morning when I wake up.
I’m hoping for just a slight little improvement. Maybe if I’m lucky and my eyesight gets a bit better I’ll be able to squint funny and look through womens clothing…[/quote]
hey vroom, can you post the address or website of that center, I’m considering doing the same operation.
thanks in advance.
[quote]vroom wrote:
Yeah, some pro’s and con’s to think about if you haven’t done it yet…
Flap+
The natural surface of the eye is left alone and healing time seams quicker with less pain.
Flap-
The flap risk never completely goes away as the cornea heals differently due to lack of blood supply.
No Flap+
No long term risk due to flap creation. Ability to try “monovision” and/or undergo touch-up retreatment in most cases.
No Flap-
The original contour and surface of the eye are changed. More pain and longer healing times are required.
Personally, I found the no-flap option to be a better idea for me. I don’t mind the additional discomfort during a longer healing process. I really do like the idea of being able to repeat the surgery for a touch up at some point down the road.
If you are considering doing something like this, be sure to educate yourself and make an informed decision based on the various available technologies.[/quote]
In the pro’s of the " no - flap " procedure what is the monovision thing you are talking about? Seems intresting to be able to have perfect vision i’ve had to wear glass all ma life.
Here is the company I used… and if you do PRK the machine really does the work, there is no manual slicing or anything like that:
Focus Eye Center
http://www.focuseye.com/inFocus/
The monovision concept is based on the fact that somewhere in our 40’s, most people become short sighted. It’s a normal part of aging.
Anyway, if you are getting closer to that age, they offer to make one eye perfect for distance and the other eye less than perfect for distance.
What this means is that your brain will generally switch between eyes depending on what you are looking at. This is common anyway, with one eye generally dominant.
Most people adjust to this system fairly quickly, and hence won’t have to wear reading glasses as they age, since one eye will still be able to see things that are close up.
So, since I’d worn glasses or contacts most of my life, I decided not to do monovision. I wanted good distance vision, and I won’t mind wearing glasses for short periods of time if I need to read something close.
–
As a recap for why I went for this surgery…
The big annoyances for me were putting in and taking out lenses every day, having glasses fog during winter, having to be very careful when swimming with contacts, having to pack extra supplies when traveling, not being able to crash wherever you are without having crusty eyes the next day and having to deal with extra tearing and discomfort when contact lenses got a bit too old for comfort.
Now, I’m free, I’m free! 
Wavefront technology is certainly the way to go if you plan on having a corrective eye procedure done at this point in time. It reduces the amount of refractive error at your vision’s periphery as well as reducing the halo effect at night-time.
If, however, you’re able to wait a few years longer you may want to opt for a procedure that actually replaces your lens. With this procedure, you’re current lens is removed (similar to cataract surgery) keeping the capsule containing it intact. A pliable synthetic lens which has been corrected for your aberrent focal length is placed back in the capsule, and voila… you’re 20/20 or better.
This is, of course, a more invasive procedure, but it has many benefits. First off, once most people hit about 40 or so, they start losing accomodation; the ability of your lens to change shape via the ciliary bodies to focus on objects close-up. This is because your lens naturally stiffens over time.
With this procedure, you’re artificial lens is pliable and can do the same movements your natural lens could earlier in life. So, no need for reading glasses later in life or to have only one eye corrected for distance like the monovision procedure. Second benefit, no more catarracts. What do we do when a person develops catarracts? We remove the old, clouded lens and replace it with an artificial lens.
With this procedure, we’ve already done that. Third major benefit, although it has improved, with current LASIK and PRK techniques, you still have issues with haloing and peripheral acuity. Not so with this procedure since we’re not reshaping your cornea to correct your vision. We’re actually giving you a lens that focuses the light were it should on your retina.
This may sound great, but remember it’s a more invasive surgery which carries greater risks and probably won’t be really available to the masses for about 10 years. (Way to kill the excitement, I know)
So to recap, Wavefront is the way to go if you want to fix you vision now, but if you can wait, hold out.
Aaron T. Boyer, M.D., C.S.C.S.
Ironvigor,
Interesting post. I’ve read about accomodating lenses used in place of natural lenses, but I was under the impression that the resulting vision was not that impressive. You seem to believe that the lenses you write of produce excellent visual results. I’ve also read about non-accomodating lenses placed in the eye, either in front or behind the natural lense. I’d prefer one of those to any laser eye surgery, as laser surgery has permanent consequences (thinning of cornea, reduced contrast sensitivity, permanent change in visual acquity when one may not want this to be permanent-say when a cataract develops from natural aging). Anyway, I’m interested to learn more. Can you provide me some references?
Vroom,
It will get better. My father had the same thing done and it took him about 3 to 4 weeks to get his shit right. But, now he sees fine and is very glad he had it done. Hell, Im trying to get the procedure done on myself through the Air Force. Its like pulling teeth when you try to get something done in the military. But, its free and Ive talked to alot of people that have had it done and they said they love it.
The only thing that they complain about is now having to wear sun glasses all the time because the sun hurts there eyes and makes them water.
It will get better.
Goku
Vroom, did you notice a size difference in objects (waits for someone to chime in with a penis joke). I know there is like a 12-15% reduction in objects with glasses but is there a difference compared with contacts?
PGA,
I didn’t notice anything like that. Since I predominantly wore contact lenses, I’d already noticed the size difference between them and glasses.
–
Ironvigor,
That sounds pretty cool. I noticed it is mentioned by the company I had went to. I’m wondering if things like astigmatism and so on will still be done by something like wavefront PRK while lens replacement will occur as a separate procedure.
For example, now that my corneas are shaped properly, due to laser surgery, I should be able to opt for lens replacement at some point in the future if I wanted to.
Maybe before long they will instead find ways to reinvigorate your original lenses so that thay don’t have to make an incision. I dont like the idea of having an incision done, unless they figure out how to make it heal better than it does currently.