Reply to: Anyone had laser eye surgery?

[TimberWolf]

Reading that on wikipedia made me feel slightly uneasy - especially when it says that when the flap is moved you effectively go blind until they replace it.

Yeah, the cornea does a lot of our focusing. A flap is around 100 microns thick (a fifth of the cornea's thickness) but with Intralase (All LASER LASIK) the flap more closely follows the contour of the eye, so doesn't affect the eyes refractive properties as much as flaps created by the older mechanical blades. The replaced flap only adds a little to the structural strength of the eye though, so I think its worth people knowing about the surface techniques that have become common again. These involve very little tissue (around 16 microns per dioptre) so have less or no long term consequences for the eye. Flaps give little problem too, though they never really heal in the conventional sense and add little to the structural integrity of the eye afterwards.

[NotAllThere]

Wifey had it done last year - femto-lasik or whatever it's called. She still gets visual distortions like halos at night, and still uses eyedrops, but it's getting better all the time. She had a bout of eye infections early on as well, but none for the last six months. Her eyes are better than 20/20, and she's very happy with the results, no regrets at all.

I, however, shall remain a speccy four-eyes. No way, no how, not ever am I ever ever ever going near laser surgery. The way I look at it - no pain, no pain.

( TBH, if I was going to spend any time in countries where it might be difficult to get replacement glasses, I might consider it. )

Her surgeon reckoned that a really thin flap produces much better results. "They say I'm mad, but I will show them AHAHAHHHHAAAAHHAH", he said at the first consultation. Really.

[d000hg]

With LASIK, a flap is also created and this involves the use of a suction ring and even though your eye is numbed you will feel a great deal of pressure. That is the most unpleasant part of the experience IMO.

Reading that on wikipedia made me feel slightly uneasy - especially when it says that when the flap is moved you effectively go blind until they replace it.

[TimberWolf]

Spot on !! Laser surgery is only temporary. So many people seem to think that they will have perfect vision for ever after.

The results are permanent, but the eyes still change with age or disease as normal.

[TimberWolf]

Can you elaborate? Painful, or more like the dentist where it doesn't actually hurt but you spend the whole time scared it's about to?

A topical anaesthetic numbs the eye, so no pain is felt during lasering. When this wears off in a couple of hours you may feel some pain for a few hours, but not too much and for too long. With LASIK, a flap is also created and this involves the use of a suction ring and even though your eye is numbed you will feel a great deal of pressure. That is the most unpleasant part of the experience IMO.

[TimberWolf]

From my brief research, the "take a flap off your eye" approach (LASIK) is no longer the newest... there is a system called LASEK which requires no cutting at all (I can't remember how it works) and sounded interesting.

What's also slightly concerning is it seems you can choose different systems depending on how much you want to spend... I certainly would not want to be thrifty with something like this.

That's roughly right. LASEK is a form of the older PRK technique that is performed on the surface of the cornea. The difference in name relates to how the epithelium is handled. The epithelium is just a thin membrane on the outer surface of the eye which grows back rapidly, so is pretty inconsequential long-term, though the newer procedures that preserve the epithelium rather than zapping it helps with healing and the healing response. Hazing used to be a problem with the surface techniques when treating high prescriptions. LASIK got around the problem as the eye does not respond to damage quite as aggressively deeper down, but since then LASEK (and in some cases high doses of quite a noxious topical agent) have all but got around the problem of hazing. Usually the patient has the choice of whether to have LASIK (a flap) or a surface technique. When LASEK goes wrong (e.g. the epithelium cannot be replaced) it's just the same as the old PRK technique.

[tay]

My optician says the jury's still out on it... I have excellent sight, so don't care... yet.

Yeah cause he doesnt have a vested interest in telling people not to get it done...

[d000hg]

The procedure doesn't actually hurt at all. They put drops in your eyes and even though the doctor is scraping the front of your eyeball off with a scalpel I didn't feel a thing.

Its when the drops wear off that the pain begins. They did it on a Friday arvo so I slept pretty much all weekend with my eyes bandaged shut. It wasn't pleasant. But then I had 7 diopters lasered off, which is quite a bit. I spoke to other ppl who said it didn't hurt much at all. Maybe I'm just a bit of a girly-man.

I think the new way of doing it is less painful, the whole lifting the flap off and then lasering and then putting the flap back. Also you get less 'ghosting' with this method as its not the front of the eye that is getting the laser treatment.

Go for it. Who wants to be a 'speckoid'? with those little snappy cases...

From my brief research, the "take a flap off your eye" approach (LASIK) is no longer the newest... there is a system called LASEK which requires no cutting at all (I can't remember how it works) and sounded interesting.

What's also slightly concerning is it seems you can choose different systems depending on how much you want to spend... I certainly would not want to be thrifty with something like this.

[d000hg]

Bollocks! Specs are a nuisance. They break. They can be forgotten. They need to be kept up-to-date. They are a pain in the whatsit.

People who don't where glasses don't realise just how annoying rain is... I wear a cap outside solely for the purpose of trying to keep my glasses dry!

[Bunk]

Can you elaborate? Painful, or more like the dentist where it doesn't actually hurt but you spend the whole time scared it's about to?

That's pretty much how someone described it to me - uncomfortable but on the same level as getting your teeth cleaned rather than getting them drilled. I know a few people who've had it done and they all say it's the best money they ever spent. However, I can't bring myself to get it done so I'll be sticking to contacts for the moment.

[Bob Dalek]

I think anybody who's worried about what they look like wearing spectacles probably has serious issues relating to more general aspects of their self-esteem - they might be well advised to waste their money on counselling rather than on having their eyeballs zapped

FWIW, about fourteen years ago there was this bloke who kept on wittering on at me about what a difference it had made when he had it done. Unfortunately, he was one of those people who are framed by nature to have very scary eyes - seriously, if he'd walked past a film studio, they would have rushed into the street to ask him to come inside and be a psychopath for them. When he had glasses, this aspect of his physiognomy wasn't really noticeable. He was pretty much the converse case to the one I suggest in the paragraph preceding this one

Bollocks! Specs are a nuisance. They break. They can be forgotten. They need to be kept up-to-date. They are a pain in the whatsit.

[NickFitz]

I think anybody who's worried about what they look like wearing spectacles probably has serious issues relating to more general aspects of their self-esteem - they might be well advised to waste their money on counselling rather than on having their eyeballs zapped

FWIW, about fourteen years ago there was this bloke who kept on wittering on at me about what a difference it had made when he had it done. Unfortunately, he was one of those people who are framed by nature to have very scary eyes - seriously, if he'd walked past a film studio, they would have rushed into the street to ask him to come inside and be a psychopath for them. When he had glasses, this aspect of his physiognomy wasn't really noticeable. He was pretty much the converse case to the one I suggest in the paragraph preceding this one

[Stan.goodvibes]

Can you elaborate? Painful, or more like the dentist where it doesn't actually hurt but you spend the whole time scared it's about to?

The procedure doesn't actually hurt at all. They put drops in your eyes and even though the doctor is scraping the front of your eyeball off with a scalpel I didn't feel a thing.

Its when the drops wear off that the pain begins. They did it on a Friday arvo so I slept pretty much all weekend with my eyes bandaged shut. It wasn't pleasant. But then I had 7 diopters lasered off, which is quite a bit. I spoke to other ppl who said it didn't hurt much at all. Maybe I'm just a bit of a girly-man.

I think the new way of doing it is less painful, the whole lifting the flap off and then lasering and then putting the flap back. Also you get less 'ghosting' with this method as its not the front of the eye that is getting the laser treatment.

Go for it. Who wants to be a 'speckoid'? with those little snappy cases...

[Stan.goodvibes]

I've had laser eye surgery.

Seemed to work ok for me.

Brilliant!

[d000hg]

It's certainly an uncomfortable procedure.. but definitely tolerable or I wouldn't have gone back for more! Plus it's over in minutes..

Can you elaborate? Painful, or more like the dentist where it doesn't actually hurt but you spend the whole time scared it's about to?