Lasik eye surgery any one?

[soccorsilly]

People you don't get it. You don't want CHEAP!!! These are your eyes. If you are bargain hunting for good vision, leave it to the teenager manning the eyewear counter at Wallmart!

[ConfusedInOC]

Originally posted by soccorsilly

People you don't get it. You don't want CHEAP!!! These are your eyes. If you are bargain hunting for good vision, leave it to the teenager manning the eyewear counter at Wallmart!

 

I understand what you're saying but don't you agree the extra costs from the "well known" places are due to their advertising budget?

 

I care if they are board certified....

[soccorsilly]

Some of their price may reflect in their marketing, but the criteria is Board certification, experience, equipment, and reputation. I imagine is you loko at the horror stories on Lasic most of them will be with the Board Certified new docs that see the next paycheck and are operator errors on the machine.

 

Man, I I am going for this, I want nothing but the best. Sorry just my opinion

[goodnbad]

I agree with soccorsilly. It's your eyes and once they're screwed up, you can't go back.

 

And yes, the expensive places charge more generally because they have went to the extra trouble to keep up-to-date and for additional training. This makes them more in demand, so those who want the best are gonna pay for it. So it makes sense here: the discount guys are less educated and aren't as popular for a reason. Do you want that guy fooling with your eyes?

 

Me, I would get several opinions from different doctors just to make sure they are in agreement with what I need, and to be sure that I am getting the best doctor for me.

[Chris777]

Originally posted by jacquelyn

to make sure i'm understanding you correctly, basically you had the lasik surgery done 5 years ago and wears nonprescriptive sunglasses which resulted in losing your night vision? hmm. that's really interesting because my bf got this really bad dry eye problem. he's always cleaning his contacts, at least 3 times a day. so does having dry eyes makes your eyes worse by getting the surgery?

 

it made my eyes more sensitive to bright lights so i can't stand to be in sunlight w/o sunglasses(which by the way is the only place i get the full 20/20 vision, as when i am indoor light my vision isn't as good)

 

and yes i lost my night vision, it was perfect (w/ glasses)

 

and I was told i had dry eues before the surgery, but i never had any problems with them until after i had it.

 

i have times where they dry out, and i have to sleep, or close them, or use drops, to re moistruise them.

 

where as before i never noticed anything wrong.

 

the guy who did mine, did over a hundred paitents , a week, possibly 250(for some reason that sticks out)

and he just up and dissapeared a couple o years ago.

 

think about it like you are dropping your infant child off with a baby sitting service, while you go on a 3 week vacation. out of state.

 

how well would you wan't to trust them?

 

this is permanent surgery, on the way you visually perceive the world. as well as potentially disabling

 

think about it carefully

[goodnbad]

I guess it goes without saying that you should have a specialist do your eyes.....that would be an opthamologist, NOT a regular doctor.

 

I would NEVER see anyone but an opthamologist....they are definitely superior (well, after all, they are eye surgeons). Would anyone want a general practitioner (family doc) to do their heart surgery? 'Nuff said!

 

Although even then, I would check their credentials and get some referrals to their patients to make sure.

[jacquelyn]

so how would i check to make sure which doctor is right? see if they're a opthamologist? how many patients they perform on a weekly basis? i dont know how else to convince my bf to go to a more expensive place. he keeps saying that this place is good because they're the ones who first started this whole eye surgery thing and that it's cheap because they don't advertise as much. see, if i were to be doing this, i would wait another 5 years to make sure they perfect everything and still go to a more expensive place. but the problem is, my bf wants to get this done right now for a good deal, which is $500 an eye. Seems to good to be true to me.

[soccorsilly]

the guy who did mine, did over a hundred paitents , a week, possibly 250(for some reason that sticks out)

and he just up and dissapeared a couple o years ago

 

Huh, do the math. At 40 hours a week that is 1 patient every 15 minutes (150) or 9 minutes for 250 patients.

 

My doc was an opthamologist and this lasik stuff was a new venture for her AFTER she did all the other stuff--corneas kerotomy and so forth. She was afilliated with reknowned eye hospitals Wills, etc. And had many good patients who recommended her. She has a practice and only does the lasik one day a week where she schedules 8 procedures each week so that is like 400 a year.

 

This is elective surgery and you need to be sure to check the references. Inquire at your local hospital, ask your general doctor, ask friends or people you meet who have had it.

 

I did not know this doc before, but when I was discussing (in general conversation) that I wanted to do it, I had three people say that they had it done and loved it...the common factor was the same doc. So that is how I made my decision.

 

I am sorry about all the bum effects you have--that really sucks. I can say that after 4 yrs I have no side effects and can see as well in and out day or night. On occasion my eyes may be a little dry, but I just put in some drops and that solves that.

[moimeme]

The ABMS has a website where you can check a physician's credentials

 

http://www.abms.org/bcdata.asp

[goodnbad]

Yeah, soccorsilly, that's a great idea. It's not too likely that a large reputable hospital (NOT a private clinic!) is going to refer you to someone they don't trust themselves. A private clinic, on the other hand, just might make some profit from doing so---heck, they may EMPLOY the guy!

 

I keep seeing posts here where people are saying, well, it's such a good deal, I should go for it, shouldn't I? IT'S YOUR EYES!!!!!!!!! It's not like it's just a pinky finger or something, holy crow, you could be BLINDED! Please please please don't let a few dollars decide it for you.

 

jacquelyn, you know what they say about something being too good to be true......I would think that for $500 an eye, maybe they are either cutting corners or they are using outdated techniques. Please tell your bf to research carefully before going under their care. I would ask around and get doctors' and hospitals' opinions on that place, too, it can't hurt.

[soccorsilly]

Look at it this way...$500 an eye=$1000. My last CHEAP pair of prescription glasses ran me almost $300. I imagine spending a grand on a pair of specs is not that hard to do.

 

What do contacts cost? After the lenses and all the crap, I bet you spend more than $1000 in a year. This procedure is supposed to be for the long haul and if you plan to spend $100 a yr on Contacts you ought to spend $4000 on somethign that will last for four.

[jacquelyn]

thanks goodnbad. i heard there's this new thing; corrective contact lenses. i don't know much about it (e.g. price, effective, etc). i agree with you soccorsilly. it's just kinda hard to talk into not going to that place. because $500 an eye seems just way too good to be true. i actually dont even want him to get the surgery period. there are just too many risks in it. is it really worth risking a chance of being BLIND FOREVER just so that you dont have to wear glasses/contacts anymore?

 

if anyone know anything about the corrective contact lenses, that'll be a really great help!

[goodnbad]

Huh? What do you mean by corrective contact lenses? ALL contacts with a prescription are corrective---they correct your vision. That's why ALL lenses, contacts or glasses with lenses, are called corrective eyewear.

 

Not sure what you really mean by that, can you tell me a little more about what you mean? Are you referring to lenses that are surgically implanted under eye tissue like they do in cataract surgery?

[MWC_LifeBeginsAt40]

I posted this in another thread about lasik. I had an assessment done. Because my pupils are too large (9mm...laser is 7mm) I would get the halo. Because my cornea is too thin, the healing process would not be sufficient.

 

Therefore I didn't qualify for Lazik nor did I qualify for PRK which is similar only the control the healing a bit differently.

 

There is a new custom procedure called PRK Wavefront. They just started doing this where I am from, and it would be $1800 PER EYE. Lazik can be done for around 800-1200 per eye (Canadian$).

[jacquelyn]

Hmm.. I'm not quite too sure about it myself after what you just pointed out. My cousin just told me that they have contacts that will correct your eye sight. I'm wondering if she meant the hard lenses. Don't those just stop it from getting any worse instead of actually improving your vision? I think she's mixing up the name of it because I remember her telling me that these contact lenses will improve it somehow so that after a certain period of time, you wouldn't need contact lenses anymore. Oh I don't know. I'm gettin confused myself. Let me ask her more about it and I'll get back to you on that one k?

[soccorsilly]

I have heard recently about (my term no theirs) a contact implant of sorts. I know nothing about it. To the Canadian poster...$800 to $1200 Canadian seems to me to be very inexpensive.

[jacquelyn]

well, if you're gonna have something implanted into your eyes, why not just do the surgery you know? i'm trying to avoid surgery because there's a really huge risk during the procedure. to make matters worse, before you go into surgery, you have to sign a release form stating that they won't be reliable for any problems such as blindness. and you'd have to deal with it for the rest of your life. can't even sue the living crap out of them either.

[goodnbad]

Originally posted by jacquelyn

Hmm.. I'm not quite too sure about it myself after what you just pointed out. My cousin just told me that they have contacts that will correct your eye sight. I'm wondering if she meant the hard lenses. Don't those just stop it from getting any worse instead of actually improving your vision? I think she's mixing up the name of it because I remember her telling me that these contact lenses will improve it somehow so that after a certain period of time, you wouldn't need contact lenses anymore. Oh I don't know. I'm gettin confused myself. Let me ask her more about it and I'll get back to you on that one k?

 

Most people wear contacts in order to correct their vision, although there is a small percentage that will wear non-presecriptive lenses in order to change their eye colour.

 

Are you asking if contacts are generally used to stop eyesight from becoming worse? Contacts do the same job that glasses do: they correct your vision. They do NOT affect the way your eyesight will be in the future. Basically, contacts are eyeglasses in your eyes, if you wanna look at it like that.

 

However, if you have a condition called lazy-eye (cross-eye), it is better to wear glasses. If lazy-eye is caught when someone is still young, it can be corrected to some extent (the condition is due to weak eye muscles and the prescription helps to 'pull' the eye straight) and contacts are not recommended for people under 12 years of age in any event.

 

Not really sure what your friend is referring to.

[jacquelyn]

okay. i just spoke with her yesterday and i asked her what she meant by "corrective contact lenses." she meant that they're not the ones that improves your vision temporarily when you have them on but instead, your eyesight is suppose to improve and i guess eventually you wont need contacts or glasses anymore. she said it's called oxy-something. or ortho-something. she forgot. her aunt told her about it. hmm.. maybe we should ask an optometrist. hehe. because she's still not too clear on it for the simply fact that she doesnt remember. but she knows for sure that there's something like that. she just doesnt know how it works or what the name of it is.

 

if anyone finds out, please let me know too. thanks!

[moimeme]

Orthokeratology, or Ortho-K, is a procedure that uses RGP contact lenses to change the curvature of the cornea to improve its ability to refract light and successfully focus on objects. Unlike regular RGPs, Ortho-K RGPs have a design that can reshape the curvature of the cornea. This method, however, does not produce a permanent result.

 

For a good article on Lasik and corrective lenses:

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/vision-new/eyes.html

[ConfusedInOC]

Going to get CustomView LASIK in a few weeks.

 

Anyone else done the CustomView ? I am going to use Dr. Garrana up in Long Beach. Has anyone had LASIK from her?

[jacquelyn]

Originally posted by ConfusedInOC

Going to get CustomView LASIK in a few weeks.

 

Anyone else done the CustomView ? I am going to use Dr. Garrana up in Long Beach. Has anyone had LASIK from her?

 

Update me on how it goes! gimme the before and after please. oh by the way, how much are you paying for it?

 

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR LASIK! HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR YOU.

[ConfusedInOC]

Originally posted by jacquelyn

Update me on how it goes! gimme the before and after please. oh by the way, how much are you paying for it?

 

Lots But I got $1k off so it's down to $3800.00 for the who schpeel.

 

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR LASIK! HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR YOU.

 

Thanks. Tired of poking myself in the eyes every morning and every night. Plus it'd be nice to hit 140mph+ at Willow Springs without the contacts drying/fogging up.

 

Plus...my eyes are always so red-shot from the contacts I look like I've been smoking that funny green stuff.

[jacquelyn]

ConfusedinOC, are you in any sportsbike forums?

 

$3800 sounds like the average price everyone has been telling me about. I'm only wishing that my bf would spend more money on his precious eyes.

[friskywife]

I asked my eye dr. about lasik.

He said that it would last maybe 7 years, 11 at the most and then I would need reading glasses.

I am 31. He said if I had it done at 21 it would have lasted me 20 years maybe.

I don't need glasses to read right now, I just need them for far away (actually for anything past a book length away)!

What's up with that? I might get 7 years free of contacts or glasses????