I have a LASIK consultation / pre-exam scheduled for next week.
Just now – before I make my decision – would be a really good time to tell me any reasons not to or questions I need to ask. Once I decide, I will have a moratorium on horror stories.
I’ve already asked one of my major questions: whether this surgery to correct my far vision will damage my near vision, which so far is fine. They said it won’t, though of course I can expect it to degrade as I get older.
I always said I didn’t see much point in surgery if I’d eventually have to wear reading glasses anyway. But that was when I could wear contact lenses every day. These days I can’t – a couple years back they began to irritate me eyes / sinuses enough that I feel like I’ve got a minor cold by the end of a day in contacts. So it’s a good time, now before I’m attacked by old age (more).
ETA: When I have assembled my list of questions, I will post them – might be useful for others. Also, don’t worry: I have been wearing glasses for 39 years now (and let me tell you, a 3-year-old in bifocals is damned funny-looking). I am perfectly prepared to go on wearing them if I don’t like the answers to my questions.
I had LASIK in 2000; it’s one of the best things I ever did. I went from 20/800 to 20/20. I was in my late 40s and already had a slight need for reading glasses.
However, I do have very bad astigmatism, so I needed a second surgery a year later. (It was called an “enhancement.”) At that time, I opted to correct only one eye, effectively giving me a monovision solution. This meant that I no longer needed reading glasses. My vision is still 20/20 and I still don’t need reading glasses.
So – if you have astigmatism, be sure to ask about the possibilities of enhancement. In fact, ask about it anyway. I was lucky in that my optometrist (who did the consult, pre-op exams, and post-op care) managed my expectations very well and I knew up front that I would need the enhancement.
Also, be aware that you will have to quit wearing your contacts completely for about three weeks before the surgery.
Good luck!
Like Mary, most of my friends who had Lasik needed a fine tuning. All surgeries healed very quickly though. The only complaint I heard (one friend) was a mild case of dry eye. My ex-SIL who was nearly legally blind had it done 6 years ago and has pilot perfect vision now and couldn’t be more thrilled.
Good luck! ~LA
My daughter had it over a year ago, over my objections because I was worried about long term implications.
Like Mary, she raves about it. (She’s had to wear glasses for distance since Grade 8 and like you had been suffering from contacts issues.) She also works for the Lasik company, so she got a humungous employee discount and access to one of the top surgeons.
Make sure you’ve got a surgeon who has done many, many procedures. In this case, practice *does* make perfect. It also makes the surgeon more expensive, but, well, these are your *eyes* right?