Posted on 02/12/2011 8:33:57 PM PST by Nachum
As someone else said, I'd really be hesitant to take Wiki as the final authority. Considering that anyone can put an article there, and that there is a lot of money in this field--the info in Wiki may not be unbiased. If you want to find out about it, I would suggest going to a source like PubMed, or Medline (whatever the one for the general public is).
I've heard that the risk of bad outcomes is more like 5%. I don't remember where I saw that. There's a reason people who get Lasik are not allowed to pilot airplanes. My concern (aside from having headache-inducing vision problems afterward) is that LASIK would weaken the structure of the eyes. I'll take being nearsighted, as long as the eye structure remains strong.
I want lasers to come OUT of my eyes.
Like in some cheap Japanese monster movie.
Do lots and lots of research first. Know exactly what you're getting into. They offer free consultation and will absolutely tell you if you're not a Lasik candidate. That isn't the only option anyway.
So, I went through the thing and rested for about 20 minutes and toddled toward the hotel - you really want to sleep right away to let the tissue start to heal. The Doc says, "Oh, those glasses in your pocket? You'll never wear them again. Drop them in the box at the door. We'll give them to the homeless."
When I got up the next morning I opened the curtains in the hotel room, which was overlooking the harbor. Vancouver is stunningly beautiful. Saw a seaplane landing, and I realized I could read the side numbers. Unbelievable.
The Wiki article actually does discuss the common side effects of Lasik.
Also, the full in-context quote regarding the loss of vision is this:
On October 10, 2006, WebMD reported that statistical analysis revealed that contact lens wear infection risk is greater than the infection risk from LASIK.[33] Daily contact lens wearers have a 1-in-100 chance of developing a serious, contact lens-related eye infection in 30 years of use, and a 1-in-2,000 chance of suffering significant vision loss as a result of infection. The researchers calculated the risk of significant vision loss consequence of LASIK surgery to be closer to 1-in-10,000 cases.
In other words, the 1-in-10,000 risk of significant vision loss quoted by the other poster refers ONLY to loss from infection, and no other cause.
The Wiki article also said that studies show that 92-98% of patients are satisfied with the procedure, with a metastudy showing 95.4% satisfaction. The dissatisfied patients are presumably those whose vision was damaged by the procedure--a failure rate a little too high for my liking, considering how precious vision is. Elsewhere, the article more or less confirms my fears that the eye structure will be weakened by such a procedure--some of the bad outcomes involve obvious eye structural damage, like bulges in the cornea.
Long story short: LASIK, no thanks.
Woods’ lasik lasted 8 years and he had it done a second time in 2007.
I take care of a friend who wore glasses all her life and the ripe ole age of 85 had Lasik.
Been 15 years and she doesn’t wear glasses anymore.
Won’t throw them away but doesn’t wear them.
I can tell you a friend of mine, who is 100yrs and 6mnths, had Lasik 16 years ago.
Wore glasses her entire life and hasn’t worn them since.
Powder..patch..ball FIRE!
I had lasik surgery done in March 2001. I was extremely nearsighted with astigmatism.
I haven’t had to wear ANY glasses since then, unless I am reading a 3 point type in poor light and then use a magnifier.
Best procedure ever.
Mine turned out fantastic.
Mine was done 2001 I believe and it has been one of the best things I have ever done. I also have eagle eye vision. No more contacts or glasses for me. :-). Glad to hear you like your results. :-)
My wife and I both had LASIK in ‘03 doing I’m still 20/15, 20/20. It’s better then 20/2600 and wearing coke bottle glasses.
*save for later reading*
Three yrs. ago for me. At first, car lights at night were awful, but that corrected itself after a while. My night vision isn’t good, but it wasn’t before the surgery either. If I’m tired, the monovision factor (and I’m not sure the surgeon didn’t get my dominant eye mixed up)doesn’t kick in like I wish it would. If rested, it does. - I won’t rate it for fear of influencing someone else either way.
LOL
My fireteam partner in battleschool had laser eye surgery, and when it got dark, even in winter with snow on the ground and a full moon, he’d have to hang onto my webbing to let me guide him to our OP.
He also cannot drive after dusk.
My neighbor had LASIK years ago in his one good eye.
He ended up with his previously blind eye, and a severely damaged ‘good’ eye from the LASIK. Now 10 years later, he’s nearly 100% blind.
I had LASIK in September 2003.No problems, and I went from being nearly legally blind (20/850-20/900; legal blindness is 20/1000) to having 20/15 vision. No problems to date, though the doctor’s statement that I would still need reading glasses when I got older (over 40) proved correct.:-( I hear there’s a new form of LASIK being developed that’ll fix presbyopia as well as crappy vision in general.
Let me add that my reading glasses (got late year) are 1.25s. Anything above that is too strong and distorts my vision too much. No dry eye, and my night vision is unchanged. No regrets.
I regret it.
Never mind the inaccurate correction that required a redo, or the poor healing that required another redo.
I previously had perfect sharp vision (when corrected with glasses) and now I have soft vision in the dark, and night driving is a challenge. (Some newer “Waveform” systems allegedly correct a larger area and should be considered. Imagine selling me that hack service, knowing that it does not correct over my entire dilated pupil!)
Oh, and the lasik correction drifted, and I STILL need glasses for all activities.
About one minute on Google showed me that people who have had the procedure CAN become pilots, both commercial and military.
My experience over time is that the info on Wiki is usually about 10 times more reliable than what I'd get with FreeRepublic as my sole source. On FreeRepublic, like most any other forum, there are often a ton of people making a ton of statements of fact about things that turn out to not be true.
I have no problem with people deciding they don't want to take the risk of getting the surgery. However, I get a bit aggravated when I see people making up a bunch of stuff to steer OTHER people away from getting it done.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.