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United States4991 Posts
I'm contemplating getting Lasik surgery... I hate having to wear glasses, but my vision is really bad, so I have no option but to wear glasses or contacts (and contacts are frankly a pain in the ass  ). I don't know exactly how bad my vision is off the top of my head, but looking at TL right now I cannot read anything on the screen except for the words TEAM LIQUID (in the banner), and even then I can only make it out because I already know what it says.
I'm 23 and in pretty good health overall. My main question is whether anyone has had any negative experiences with Lasik? Anything that you, looking back, makes you say "I wish I hadn't had Lasik surgery"?
I took a brief look at the other lasik topics on TL, but it's been a while since they were up, and I mostly just wanted to get any negative feedback. I already have decided to do it, barring any serious concerns, so positive feedback is welcome but not going to affect my decision 
Additional question: would I be able to work during the recovery period, or would I have to take vacation time?
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My dad got it over 10 years ago and his eyesight has gotten worse again... although that was probably due to the technology being REALLY new when he did it. He loved it though. Now with much better technology I believe the procedure: a) works more effectively, b) is cheaper, and c) is faster/easier.
I'm probably going to get it in the next few years, I would probably recommend it.
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I'm also in the same position as you, just a few years younger ^^;
My mom got lasik a couple years ago; her vision is typically better, but she still needs to wear glasses (so just make sure you're not thinking lasik = no more glasses). Also, she has some problems seeing when it's darker.
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United States4991 Posts
On November 26 2009 05:54 Xeris wrote:
My dad got it over 10 years ago and his eyesight has gotten worse again... although that was probably due to the technology being REALLY new when he did it. He loved it though. Now with much better technology I believe the procedure: a) works more effectively, b) is cheaper, and c) is faster/easier.
I'm probably going to get it in the next few years, I would probably recommend it.
Well as you get older (I don't know how old your dad is, but I'm assuming 50+), your vision continually degrades anyway I think, so it's not too surprising. That's also part of why I'd like to do it now: more years until I start needing glasses again to read etc.
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Snet
United States3573 Posts
My dad got lasik surgery and everything went very smoothly. It's been almost 10 years and his vision is still great. I would definitely suggest doing this if you have the money for surgery.
Also I believe it's typical for it to degrade and having to get the procedure done again later in your life or go back to glasses. Not that the procedure is bad, it's just your eyes naturally get worse as you're older.
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I'm getting it next spring... I've known 4-5 people who'v had it and no real negative experiences. One girl needed a touch-up because the doctor undercorrected, and her vision wasn't really 20/20 afterwards, but other than that, I'd definitely recommend it.
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United States4991 Posts
Additional question: would I be able to work during the recovery period, or would I have to take vacation time?
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My wife had lasik done. She had really bad vision before but now her vision is perfect. Checkups have shown her to have 20/10 vision now if that tells you anything. She has been having extra trouble with dry eyes since the surgery, but nothing serious. She told me it hurt like crazy after the pain medication wore off for a few days. She is completely satisfied with the result though.
Edit: She had the surgery about 5 years ago, I believe.
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On November 26 2009 06:03 HnR)Insane wrote:
Additional question: would I be able to work during the recovery period, or would I have to take vacation time?
Take vacation time, The recovery period is usually at least a week, sometimes longer depending on how well you take care of your eyes. You're told to stay away from bright lights and mostly indoors. I'm told you can't watch tv or use a computer since the light from the monitor can hurt your eyes, but thats only the day after the surgury.
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Snet
United States3573 Posts
On November 26 2009 06:03 HnR)Insane wrote:
Additional question: would I be able to work during the recovery period, or would I have to take vacation time?
You should take atleast two days off of work for recovery. Your vision will most likely be very blurry during the first few days until your eyes heal. You also can have really dry, irritated eyes and have to constantly take eyedrops for the first few days.
That's how long my dad took off from work. You will have plenty of time to plan ahead so just leave yourself enough time to recovery comfortably.
On November 26 2009 06:08 meeple wrote:Show nested quote +On November 26 2009 06:03 HnR)Insane wrote:
Additional question: would I be able to work during the recovery period, or would I have to take vacation time? Take vacation time, The recovery period is usually at least a week, sometimes longer depending on how well you take care of your eyes. You're told to stay away from bright lights and mostly indoors. I'm told you can't watch tv or use a computer since the light from the monitor can hurt your eyes, but thats only the day after the surgury.
So it seems it can very alot from person to person.
I think the doctor will give you suggestions on recovery time when he's consulting you before scheduling surgery.
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When I did Lasik 5 years ago, I was almost legally blind (20/200 or -11.00). It was particularly terrible because my vision was not only extremely myopic, but I had a large number of aberrations on my eyes (aberrations cause halos, severe light refraction). After the surgery, my surgeon actually over corrected one of my eyes and under corrected the other so I had 20/15 vision. So my myopia was corrected, but my aberrations still remained...modern lasik technology isn't really good enough to fully correct aberrations but it was nice to at least be able to see during the daylight very well. Make sure you find out where your bad vision comes from so you can somewhat know to expect. I knew that I had an abnormally large amount of aberrations so I knew that I would still have light distortions after the surgery.
As for actual complications, the first couple weeks were a little brutal as my eyes were super dry during a particularly dry fall, but aside from that I've had no problems. A couple years later, my eyes have gotten a little worse but that was probably because I did it a little early when my eyes weren't completely settled. One of the most amazing memories I've had was when I was first able to open my eyes from sleeping and actually be able to see what was in front of me. That was pretty neat.
Edit: I was knocked out for 2 days before I had functional eyes.
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I've read a decent bit on LASIK through other forums and fully plan on getting it in a couple years or so. I'm 21 now and my vision has been getting worse, and while I haven't received any consultation I'm positive my eyes are still growing. It's also recommended that you don't get it at some place where it's extremely cheap as those places have a higher chance of failure, etc. for obvious reasons.
Neat story gchan, my eyes are like -8.00 now and I've always wondered what was considered severe to the point of near blindness. I also anticipate the day I can wake up and not have to fumble around to find my glasses .
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I am interested in this topic and I appreciate every contribution. Sadly I have no experience to share at all but I too want to this one day.
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Why not just eat a bunch of carrots?
Lack of Vitamin A can cause poor vision, including night vision, and vision can be restored by adding Vitamin A back into the diet.
My eyesight sucks too, but maybe I´ll just try to make it better with carrot, it´s not that bad...
Also I think my sister had Lasik very young, I think she was under 10 years old or so, nowadays her sight is pretty bad again.
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United States4991 Posts
On November 26 2009 06:42 HwangjaeTerran wrote:
Why not just eat a bunch of carrots?
Lack of Vitamin A can cause poor vision, including night vision, and vision can be restored by adding Vitamin A back into the diet.
My eyesight sucks too, but maybe I´ll just try to make it better with carrot, it´s not that bad...
Also I think my sister had Lasik very young, I think she was under 10 years old or so, nowadays her sight is pretty bad again.
Eh? I don't think it's possible to correct terrible vision just by eating carrots -_-
Secondly, my impression was you were supposed to wait until your eyes had finished dramatically changing before you had Lasik. Maybe there was some other reason she had Lasik, but from a purely vision correction point of view I can't imagine why you'd have someone < 10 years old have Lasik.
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On November 26 2009 06:46 HnR)Insane wrote:Show nested quote +On November 26 2009 06:42 HwangjaeTerran wrote:
Why not just eat a bunch of carrots?
Lack of Vitamin A can cause poor vision, including night vision, and vision can be restored by adding Vitamin A back into the diet.
My eyesight sucks too, but maybe I´ll just try to make it better with carrot, it´s not that bad...
Also I think my sister had Lasik very young, I think she was under 10 years old or so, nowadays her sight is pretty bad again. Eh? I don't think it's possible to correct terrible vision just by eating carrots -_- Secondly, my impression was you were supposed to wait until your eyes had finished dramatically changing before you had Lasik. Maybe there was some other reason she had Lasik, but from a purely vision correction point of view I can't imagine why you'd have someone < 10 years old have Lasik.
Well that´s what I thought too but she was very young when she had the surgery, maybe her sight was already so bad they just had to do it :S Or then it was some other surgery that improves your eyesight, I don´t really know if there is any others that you can have even very young.
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My brother and his friend have had it. Both about 4-5 years ago. My brother slept for the night, and was a bit disoriented, but was fine the next day. His friend had a minor eye infection, and had to use drops for about a week.
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I did it when I was 18 yrs old ( like 5years ago ) and I dont regret it, only bad thing I can say about it is that my eyes are more sensitives to bright light or sun, I need my sunglasses...
my opinion : go for it!
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I am going to get it in the future when I have the money. I'm at like -6.5 in both eyes right now so I have pretty bad vision as well.
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glasses make me looks cool so I plan to keep them xD
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It's kinda weird. Apparently high-percentage of doctors with bad eye vision who perform lasik surgery wear glasses instead of getting alasik themselves...
The technology is still pretty new.
You don't know the side-effects of it 30-40 years after the surgery.
it's all up to you but I personally would not get them.
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Katowice25012 Posts
My mom got it a little under 10 years ago, and has no bad experiences and constantly said it was one of the best things she ever did.
She has to use reading glasses sometimes now because she got older but she was pretty close to legally blind before so it seems like a fine deal.
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I'd love to get eye surgery. I have a bad vision but I haet to wear glasses, I only wear them while driving, watching tv and during school.
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i asked my optometrist about it incase my eyes get worse (i think about -.25 and -1.25 respectively - very mild but enough that i have to squint sometimes) and he said its a great option only expensive
are you going for lasik or lasek? also theres some other things they can do, i read about these mini contact inserts they stick into ur eye that act as normal contacts except they are under the surface so u dont take them out. also, if ur eyes get worse, they can remove them easily and insert new ones to fit your grade. pretty sweet
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3861 Posts
I LOVE my new eyes. I got them done in 2006 and best choice I've ever made. Needed at least a good 4-5 days - my right eye got infected (there was a wrinkle in the membrane) but it's all better now. I'm 20/20 in my right, 20/10 in my left.
I'm not sure if it was lasik or lasek - it was where they cut open my eye and inserted something and then closed it again. regardless, it's great.
I was -4.5 in both eyes before I did this.
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i had lasik done last June.
one of the best investments i've ever made. My vision is perfect (20/15 actually :O)
It still boggles my mind that i can see (better than i could with contacts or glasses, no less).
you need to take 48 hours off of work. If you work at a computer screen, 72 hours might be better.
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On November 26 2009 11:09 lilsusie wrote:
I LOVE my new eyes. I got them done in 2006 and best choice I've ever made. Needed at least a good 4-5 days - my right eye got infected (there was a wrinkle in the membrane) but it's all better now. I'm 20/20 in my right, 20/10 in my left.
I'm not sure if it was lasik or lasek - it was where they cut open my eye and inserted something and then closed it again. regardless, it's great.
I was -4.5 in both eyes before I did this.
lasik and lasek are the same thing.
the other operation (where they don't cut open your eye) is PRK.
Lasik is better.
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I did my eyes almost a year ago to the day. My eyesight has been bad but now it is pretty much perfect. I had gotten to the point with contacts where they would hurt my eyes to have them in all day. Glasses suck for me, I just can't keep them on my face. It was interfering with work and I could not work out and was frustrated.
Anyways I seem to have got it for a lot less than most people do ($2000), but it was phenomenal. They say that 10 years from now I'll probably have to use glasses for reading, but that is a small price to pay for not having to wear those hell frames every day.
I was off for maybe a couple days? One for the surgery in the morning, then the next day, then the weekend went by then I was at work like nothing happened.
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Both my parents got it done like 5 years ago or so I think, though they did go to the supposedly best clinic in the world for it. Super happy with their results. And of course you'll be out of action for a few days.
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On November 26 2009 12:13 Divinek wrote:
Both my parents got it done like 5 years ago or so I think, though they did go to the supposedly best clinic in the world for it. Super happy with their results. And of course you'll be out of action for a few days.
Pacific Eye Center?
That's where i went too.
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On November 26 2009 12:09 onmach wrote:
I did my eyes almost a year ago to the day. My eyesight has been bad but now it is pretty much perfect. I had gotten to the point with contacts where they would hurt my eyes to have them in all day. Glasses suck for me, I just can't keep them on my face. It was interfering with work and I could not work out and was frustrated.
Anyways I seem to have got it for a lot less than most people do ($2000), but it was phenomenal. They say that 10 years from now I'll probably have to use glasses for reading, but that is a small price to pay for not having to wear those hell frames every day.
I was off for maybe a couple days? One for the surgery in the morning, then the next day, then the weekend went by then I was at work like nothing happened.
$3500 for me
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3861 Posts
I think mine was around $2200.
I say do it. It's amazing to not have to put in contacts or wear glasses... and be able to wake up and open your eyes and SEE.
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konadora
Singapore66364 Posts
uh I want to ask, does your eye have to be at a certain bad degree to get lasik done?
Also, what are the short-term (besides some eye dryness and possible infection) and long-term side effects? (long-term as in, 20-30 years later on)
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EPT
