Anyone else get LASIK eye surgery done? I go Saturday and I'm nervous...

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lowhighkang_LHK

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Nervous in the same way I get 'nervous' on an airplane. It's somebody else flying it and if the rare event shit does happen you're pretty much fucked.

I'm aware the complications of LASIK are low, but the analogy holds. I mean, it's your eyes....

So maybe I just need some feedback from other gaffers who've had it done. How was the surgery, how long did it take to recover? How long until you were started watching tv are doing normal activities? Were you able to study a few days after? Look at a lap top screen...etc.

Also, I guess, most importantly, was it worth it?
 
Whatever you do don't look at YouTube videos of it. My mother got it done like 15 years ago and her eyesight is still great. She was able to get a discount due to my dad's job.
 
I got PRK back in July. PRK is supposed to take longer to recover than Lasik. I was out of it for about a week/week and a half after. It took me a while to recover fully but now I have better than 20/20.

EDIT: one of the best decisions that I've ever made, totally worth it. If you have the money then do it
 
I got PRK instead of LASIK, similar-ish procedure. It was definitely worth it, only downside is that driving at night the headlights and streetlights are slightly erm.. more halo-y. I gotta drive slightly slower and more cautiously at night but its no bid deal imo.
 
Jarrod38 said:
Damn looks like I'll pass on that.
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Yeah, it ain't cheap and it's not something to go back-alley underground with you know?

But I realize I spend a lot of money on contacts and glasses. If I can get out of having to deal with that for the next 10 to 20 years than the cost would by far offset.

I'm just a little anxious right now.

For those who got PRK instead - what conditions did you have that resulted in the surgeon wanting to do PRK instead of LASIK?
 
Had surgery back in 08 i believe. I opted to not take medication to control my nerves; big mistake. I started panicking halfway through the surgery and it just got worse when the doctor sounded worried that I was fidgeting too much on the chair. Luckily everything went well. Took maybe a couple of weeks for my vision to seem improved. At first I thought that the surgery had not done anything because I still saw blurry, but my vision was perfect couple weeks later. I ended up with 20/15 vision. It was the best decision I've made it is most definitely worth it.
 
I had lasik done in July and have been very happy with the decision. First day there will be a lot of pain but they give you drugs for that. Just try to make sure you have someone to care for you. It took a week for my vision to clear up but has someone who could only see an inch in front of their face it was a huge difference. Will take a few months for your vision to reach its peak though. Only issue I've had is that the halos around light are much stronger now but it isn't a huge deal. I work nights and drive home with no issues. One thing to keep in mind is using computers and TV will be hard for a while. All text on a lit screen will have huge glare for a few weeks.

Anyway, you'll be fine. Enjoy seeing!
You can smell your eyes burning
 
I did it about 8 or 9 years ago.

Wished I did it sooner. Its awesome not dealing with contacts or glasses.


I had it during afternoon, my dad drove me home and dropped me off. I don't recall if I had to keep my eyes closed as much as possible, but that night I didn't open them. Stumbled around my apartment by myself and listened to the TV, good thing it was reruns that night lol (could play everything from memory as I heard it,) went to sleep, then next morning I could see pretty good without any lenses. It was a bit blurry at first, but as the next day or two went on it cleared up and was great.

I wore sunglasses at all times for those first couple days. Light hurts
 
I got LASIK. The one where they put this flap on your eye and then peel it back and shoot the laser and then fold it back so it heals. Something like that. Very simple procedure, took like 20 mins total. You just feel some pressure for a bit and then it's over. For the first few hours, things were a bit blurry. But after I rested, by the next day, I was up and about with no problem. I have 20/15 vision now. Only thing is now I get dry eyes so maybe every other morning I put in eye drops, but that's a small price to pay to not have to worry about contacts.

You'll be fine OP, good luck and enjoy not having to worry about glasses or contacts now!
 
My brother got it, and he hasn't needed glasses since.

Don't panic when you're out of it for awhile following the surgery.
 
I actually don't mind my glasses, basically the main reason I haven't looked into doing it. Would also be nice if my insurance would cover at least some of it (since they shouldn't need to pay for glasses again for many years to come)
 
I had surgery back in '07, was pretty quick and straight forward.

The procedure is painless (unless you can count as "pain" a couple of pinches for anesthetics). I joke that I got my eye cut open and then somebody threw fire in them.

Basically, you'll stop seen AT ALL for a few seconds (not pitch-dark, i-only-see-black, but a complete lack of feature, unless the doctor's practices is a cave), and then you'll see small black dot on the periphery of you visual field), then the doctor will cover you eye and that's it.

I was completely recovered the following day and my eyesight has been great since then, except when looking at blue lights in darkness (Watchmen was painful to watch for me).
 
If you have any doubts or anxiety, go through with it, and it does go wrong, will you be able to live with yourself?

If not, bail man. If so, go for it.
 
sant said:
I got PRK back in July. PRK is supposed to take longer to recover than Lasik. I was out of it for about a week/week and a half after. It took me a while to recover fully but now I have better than 20/20.

EDIT: one of the best decisions that I've ever made, totally worth it. If you have the money then do it
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Same here with the same PRK. I'm 7+ years in without issue.
 
i got it done about a year ago. Great decision as I no longer have to wear contacts or glasses and have 20/15 vision.

The actual procedure is very quick and painless. But it will feel like something is in your eyes after the numbing drops wear off. I just slept through it.

Also, the only weird thing about the procedure is I could smell my eyes burning while they were cutting away at them.
 
lowhighkang_LHK said:
It's 1,500 dollars per eye. We got a discount due to referral. Normally it's 2,000 per eye.
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Might look into this in the near future, contacts & glasses are a real hassle to me.

My eyes prescription has remained relatively stable the past few years, that said I heard LASIK recommends the procedure done on ages 25+ is this true?
 
M1ch04c4n0 said:
Basically, you'll stop seeing AT ALL for a few seconds (not pitch-dark, i-only-see-black, but a complete lack of feature, unless the doctor's practices is a cave), and then you'll see small black dot on the periphery of you visual field), then the doctor will cover you eye and that's it.
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That, and I could smell burning during the procedure. Smelled like burning hair.

I think they used something to hold the eyeball in place also. I recall a "pressure" on them. I didn't care much for that feeling lol. Hard to remember, but other people's comments bring it back to memory for me.
 
You shouldn't be nervous. I'm a guy who can't put on contact lenses without flinching. The numb your eye, so you can't move your eye around. Just keep your eye lids open, and you should be fine.
 
Did LASIK and it was the best thing I ever did :D

No glassesness is super awesome aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw yaaaaaaaasssssss

procedure was short and painless. i didnt get drugged or anything. could see fine in 48 hours

GL OP!!
 
TheJLC said:
Man that's three-four paychecks... I'm considering it but like you said, it's my eyes.
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Its the best decision you'll make though.

everybody is nervous. I had mine done in October of last year, actually the day of my birthday so when I went in I was only in operation for 15 mins.

Without my glasses I was basically legally blind, couldnt see a damn thing not even four feet in front of me without em. Now I got perfect 20/20 vision with very very little issues. Sometimes if I stay up late at night I get a little bit of dry eyes every now and then, but other than that everything is perfect.

Recovery is barely two months, I kept bordering on 20/15 then 20/20 and back because there was some oil buildup but that naturally went away and have had 20/20 since November.

Like you said it's your eyes, one of your most important parts of your body.

I 100% recommend it.
 
I got LASEK about 5 years ago. So glad I did it. The actual process didn't hurt at all, and took like 60 seconds, tops. I honestly thought we were in the preparation stage, but they said "No, you're done."

The only part part was the recovery time, but LASIK has a 24-hour recovery time (as in, recovering to the point you can live your normal life again; it will take longer for your eyesight to be perfect), whereas with LASEK it's a week.

You have absolutely fuck all to be nervous about. You should look forward to it.
 
I got PRK done too. It takes about a week to recover from and us the better way to go despite being more expensive. The traditional Lasek is about $800/eye.

Got it done about 5 years ago and still 20/20. Best decision of my life. The only bad thing about the surgery is while the laser is shooting your eye(usually about 30 seconds each eye) you can smell your eyeball flesh being burned. I thought it was cool but I can see where it might freak someone out.
 
Surgery itself isn't bad at all. You go literally blind though for about 30 seconds to a minute which is scary. But it doesn't hurt.


They will give you an ambien right afterwords. I hope you live close to the place. GO TO SLEEP ASAP! I made the mistake of going to a place an hour a way and on the way home it felt like shards of glass gouching my eyes. Painful! UT if you get to sleep you literally never feel a think. Your eyes will be completely normal 8 hours later like nothing ever happened. You can go to work/school next day for sure.


This was about 6 months ago.


Oh yeah and it smells bad when getting it done. Everyone always mentions that.
 
My cousin got it. His vision is now 5/5. He can see me typing this and he lives 25 minutes away. J/k.. He got it and loved it. I am too broke to get it but I would love to.
 
I think this is what my sister got done right before Christmas. She said it was quick, painless, and she can see better now than she ever did with contacts. The only thing I could tell that was annoying was she needed a lot of drops in her eyes (like every 20 mins. she was awake for the first week after surgery). Something about a temporary lens in the eyes that needed to be lubricated. Also, the drops made a lot of crap form around her eyes and she was always afraid of rubbing her eyes to remove it...
 
What's the differences between all the surgeries? Also, have there been any advances in the eye corrective field lately? One that doesn't mess up your night vision?
 
Best of luck to you OP

I personally couldn't do it, not that I'm scared or anything, but I actually like wearing glasses =). The geek in me is strong.
 
So I take it the recovery time for PRK is longer than it is for LASIK.

A friend who got it done said he went back to work a mere two days after surgery.
 
I had LASIK done last March. I think I might be one of the few who is not squeamish when it comes to eyes and eye check ups. I was not nervous at all. They give you valium before the surgery to calm you, but I felt no different even after taking it...

The surgery itself is a little uncomfortable because they put a suction machine in your eye. That's the thing that actually cuts a flap in your epithelium. And then because of that, after the surgery you end up with red bruises in your eyes...but don't worry it looks more painful than it actually is lol. Once the laser does its thing, the surgeon will put the flap back in position and then 'paint' your eyeballs. Sorry for the detailed description, but that's what it's like! I never felt any pain, only slight discomfort.

I can go into waaay more detail about the pre-op, and post-op and my own results if you like, let me know. For me the surgery went great, but unfortunately I had some residual power in my right eye. So just last week I went in for a touch-up. That one was a PRK, so I can tell you about that too if you're interested.
 
Dart said:
Might look into this in the near future, contacts & glasses are a real hassle to me.

My eyes prescription has remained relatively stable the past few years, that said I heard LASIK recommends the procedure done on ages 25+ is this true?
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Yeah. I'm 28 and he said it's perfect age really. Anything above 25.

Also, when you consider how much contacts and glasses cost, I think in the long run it can be considered cost effective.
 
False Witness said:
I kind of want to get Lasik before joining the Navy, but I really don't want to fuck up my night vision.
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Make sure you verify with the Navy about eye surgery. I heard that some military programs won't take you if you get the surgery done. I don't know why...but whatever.

And what's this business about halo's at night? How bad are we talking here? Is it going to be like I'm constantly watching a J.J. Abrhams movie?
 
My friend described the surgery as going from VHS to Blu Ray! Now everything's in HD!
 
False Witness said:
I kind of want to get Lasik before joining the Navy, but I really don't want to fuck up my night vision.
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Yeah, you should think seriously about that question, especially if night vision is crucial for your job. It can take up to a year for the night vision side effects to clear up, and for quite a few people it never completely does. I still see small starburst effects on tiny lights, like christmas lights for example. Of course it is not debilitating at all, but it's definitely not the same as when I was wearing glasses.
 
LASIK was the best thing I ever did. Prior to it I couldn't see beyond three inches without glasses (no hyperbole).

Afterwards I could see perfect, however you will see a haloing affect over lights for a few months.

The coolest thing though was for a week after the surgery it looked like everything had a bloom effect, so I made a joke to my friend that I was finally seeing in HD (this being done at the time where video game developers went overboard with bloom).
 
So, right now I'm studying for my board exams. So I'm doing a lot of practice questions on a laptop.

How long before I can start looking at a computer or tv screen?
 
lowhighkang_LHK said:
So, right now I'm studying for my board exams. So I'm doing a lot of practice questions on a laptop.

How long before I can start looking at a computer or tv screen?
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Next day.
You can essentially resume all normal tasks the day after.

Keep in mind outside you will be required to wear these really bleh shades to protect the eyes from UV rays for two weeks, you will need to sleep by taping some plastic covers over your eyes for two weeks, and you will need to shower with swim goggles. All this is during the recovery period.
 
I had it done almost two years ago. One of my best decisions. The procedure itself was just uncomfortable. The nurse missed my left eye with the numbing drops though so I could somewhat feel my eye get sliced and it was a brief stinging sensation but not painful enough to be traumatizing by any means. The real discomfort for me was afterwards. Until the valium kicked in and knocked me out, it was like having my eyes filled with sand. Eyes open = pain and irritation. Eyes closed = pain and irritation. There was no escape from it. But by the time I woke up the next morning my eyes no longer hurt. I even tried to go into work but my boss made me go home and rest. Talking with others though, I found this to not be an across the board experience. Many people said they had only slight soreness immediately after, while only a few shared my experience of sand in my fucking eyes goddamit! It may have to do with how sensitive your eyes are.
I have perfect vision now. The money savings are an obvious benefit but it's the small things that make it worthwhile. Being able to swim with my eyes open without worrying about my contacts coming out. Never having that "shit my contact is in wrong, ow ow ow ow fuck my asscrack bloody demon whore shit I can't get it out!" moment again. Waking up in the morning and being able to see the things around me. Not worrying about getting my glasses or contacts knocked out while doing something physical. There are tons of little moments that happen that I remember being just a little more annoying when I wore glasses/contacts and they make the whole procedure that much more worthwhile.
 
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