I am debating it. contacts irritate my eyes and make them bloodshot all day and I hate glasses so is the $3000 dollars worth it. I haven't been able to see without aid since I was four. I pray there won't be complications if I go through with it, but I am nervous about going ahead with it.

Is it perfected yet? Is it safe? nothing is unbias on the net. I get sites that say I will cry everyday after I get it cause it is such a horrible mistake and I get sites that say it is the easiest...safest..blah blah blah.

Can someone give me an unbias truth?

Look into Laser PRK-- I think its better than Flap & Zap and you don't have to worry about the "flap" later on.

I had Laser PRK, and have had no problems. My eyes are still bloodshot though (never had contacts). Occasioanlly need eye drops.

You think? Once cut-- the flap can be "floated" later on, like for redoing the surgery. Other possible problems: when you get hit in the eye while playing tennis, scuba diving, etc.-- it never completely heals and will always be a major weakness sice your cornea has been sliced. And I bet it hurts like a bitch if it ever comes loose.

Here are two cases that I know of that had LASIK. I know others that have had Laser PRK, and have had no problems, including my eye doctor and my brother.

LASIK:
1. Coworker: had both eyes done about a year before I met him. Was always complaining about "fire eyes" where they are constantly scratchy and burning. He was also constantly complaining about his night vision: TONS AND TONS of halos.

2. Coworker: 1 eye done just over a year ago. Could not see well at all. Had to have it redone a year later, about a month ago, since it never healed to the correct vision. He still could not see well after it was done, and is *still* waiting for it to "heal". Good thing his other eye is almost perfect.

[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=102506[/url]
[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=101015[/url]

Energizer...

I have bee scuba diving for years and wonder how the hell you get hit in the eye while wearing a scuba mask?

IMHO, don't look for the deals.  And whatever you do, DON'T GO TO CANADA!  I have heard nothing but bad things from the people I know who have got it done in Canada.  I have been looking in to getting it myself but I hear tht there is an age limit of like 23.  I can't confirm that though.

Keving67  

I had Lasik surgery back in March. I'm happy as hell with it. I see better now than with glasses. Previously I wore glasses for 17 years. I would have it done again in a heartbeat. I did have to go back the next day after the surgery and have the flap smoothed out in one eye. I had a wrinkle in it. Since then no problems with halos or night vision. The Doctor told me the flap will be permanently healed in 3 months time.With eye exam and surgery it cost me $2149.00 Go For It![:D]
CAPITALIST

My Doctor told me that they won't do the surgery on anyone thats not at least in thier mid 20's

It has nothing to do with getting hit in the eye. It has everything to do with pressure. How do you think they float the flap for redoing the surgery within a year??? They use pressure, or they slice a smaller flap above where they sliced before...

oh darn, does that mean I have to wait until I'm 20 something for the surgery?

Be informed!!!
[url]www.surgicaleyes.com[/url]

Lost of sucesses, but some problems. Weight the issues yourself.

I had it done two years ago. No problems so far. Best money I ever spent.

More proof that LASIK SUCKS: (can also happen with Laser PRK, but no flap is involved in Laser PRK, therefore safer...)

[red]Brouhaha: Notice, "The flap never heals."[/red]

UPDATE: the guy at work that had the one eye redone on his second LASIK procedure: still cannot see well out of it!

Had it done last Sept and am very  happy with the results.  e mail me if you have any specific questions or concerns.  Good luck!

If you are ever up in the D/FW area, I can refer my eye doctor to you. (if he still assists with Laser PRK)

I had it done in September of 1998.  I paid almost $4000 for mine, and I went from 20/300 in my right to 20/10, and 20/200 in my left to 20/10.  I had halos and stars at night to the point that it was annoying for about 6 months. That has diminished to almost nothing. Now, I can see better than I ever did with glasses or contacts, and have had no complications whatsoever.  I followed the doctor's aftercare instructions EXACTLY...which seems to be a common thread with those who do well.

QS

I had the LASIK procedure done this past february and it is the greatest thing I have ever done. So either it is really cool or I have a pathetic existance. There are some side effects though. For the first two months, I had to use eye drops every 30 minutes or so because they were so dry. Other than the dry eyes (which are no longer a problem) I have not had any problems. There are a couple restrictions that you should be aware of.

1.) Corneal Thickness: If you have a thin cornea, they will not be able to operate. I'm not sure why but you can get tested for free usually.

2.) Diameter of your pupil: This is where the "halo" issue surfaces. If your pupils are over a certain diameter, the laser will not be able to remove tissue consistantly around the eye and will cause halos.

3.) Age restriction in the U.S. is 18.

My brother had his eyes done the same week as myself and has trouble with night blindedness, halos and starbursts. This is because the laser that was used could not adjust for his pupils. Make sure that you get your procedure done with a NIDEK or a Bosch & Lomb laser. Those are the ones most up to date.

All things considered, I have no regrets. I had 20/400 vision before. On an eye chart, I couldn't see the big "E" at the top. Now I see 20/15. No problems with night vision/halos/starbursts. The procedure cost me nearly $4,000 though. Also make sure that your doc has a couple thousand procedures to his name.

Don't forget-- you can do do this with pre-tax money if you set it up at the beginning of the year. It was about $4K for me too, but I went the pre-tax route.

Wife is going in Tuesday to get it done. I'll send in a report.

Not telling you to do it or not. I don't know about your particular case or the surgeon involved.  Just wanted to relate a funny side note. A while back, there was a segment on a television news program about this. They talked to three surgeons on how magnificent the procedure was. ALL three wore glasses and said the surgery was great for their patients, but they would defer for themselves. Interesting.

Definitely check out surgicaleyes as mentioned above.

My uncle had it done 2-3 years ago in both eyes and now regrets it every day of his life.  He saw great for the first month or so, but then his vison rapidly deteriorated as apparently scar tissue was forming.  Went to doc to report this, doc said he was fine.  A few more visits to the doc with no results, he purposely flunks the eye chart test - doc says he passed with flying colors.  He finally went to a new doc, when he looked at his medical records from the first doc there was zero mention of any of the problems reported.  He had another corrective proceedure performed.  Now, not only is his vision worse than when he started, he has constant pain in both eyes - worse during light changes at sunrise and sunset.  Had to have his tear ducts plugged.  He says the pain is getting better now, but I have a feeling he is just more or less getting used to it.  He seems in much better spirits now, which is good - he seemed really depressed for quite some time.

Anyway, long story short, he can no longer do the things he used to enjoy as well - hunt, shoot, etc.  He still deer hunts every year - I think he has figured out which copy of the deer he is seeing is the real one, but I rarely see him shoot long guns otherwise.  He still manages a pistol pretty well.  He has a decent bit of property and I like to shoot there sometimes.  Before he would have shot with me, but now he usually just stands there and watches.

His depth perception is really bad now, as I believe he is legally blind in his left eye.  He sees multiple halos, as someone mentioned above.  This is, of course, in addition to the constant pain.  

It turns out, he was a poor candidate for the proceedure, but of course the money grubbing doctors will usually not tell you this.  The doc he went to did not even perform all the tests that he should have.  I don't have the name of the specific test I am refering to, but my uncle has copies of his medical records from both right when he left this doc and when he started talking lawsuit.  The test (that he never had) is of course mentioned no where in his earlier copy of the medical records, but somehow the results of the test (which, once again, he never had) are there.

This doctor considered (and still does) my uncle's case a "success" in his success records.  So, keep this in mind when the docs throw a 95% success rate at you.  Sure, there are plenty of people who are fine (at least for now - there are, of course, no long term results yet), but there are a significant amount of people who are worse off.  Do you really want to screw with your eyes?

(con't)

If anyone is in NE PA and thinking of getting this done up there, please email me and I'll tell you the name of who NOT to go to.  I don't want to post his name in a public forum on the chance I could get nailed for libel/slander.  He's a a pretty prominent doctor in the area, but then again, we are talking about NE PA...  If you still want to get this done, please make sure to consult multiple doctors.  Don't go to the guy advertising with the billboard advertising $500/eye - go to a reputable place.  Kremer near Philly is supposed to be one of the best in the country - my uncle seemed to have a decently high regard for them (though he is pretty fed up with everyone in the profession at this point) as they at least told him straight up he was screwed, instead of telling him to get additional proceedures (which only seemed to make him worse - think he had 3 total) like everyone else.

Rocko

wifes eyes went from R:20/300, L:legally blind to R:20/30, L:20/60.  Halos were a problem at first but got better.  She has been very happy with it.  If I had bad eyesight I would probably wear the glasses.  

I went in for the consultation at the medical school at the university of Iowa in Iowa City. I highly recommend these guys.

A nurse/technician did all of the testing (which involved looking into three or four machines) then She took me into a dark room and numbed/dilated my eyes. They do a little ultrasound thing on your eye which is somewhat uncomfortable. Then after all the numbers were gathered, the doctor came in and whipped out his calculator.

Conclusion, they would have to remove a good chuck of my eye. It would be within the "safe" range by five percent, but that's pretty close. He said he wouldn't do the operation unless I could give him a really convincing reason why I *needed* (not wanted) it.

So, looks like unless the technology improves, I won't be having this done.

I'll stick with my coke bottles and resulting crappy shooting skills.

Looking back (hind sight IS 20/20). I would have gone with PRK. But I was wow'ed by the short healing time of LASIK.

I had orginally planned on making a trip to Canada have my eyes done. Canada is the closest place that has the newest techinques. There is an eye institute that is known around the world.

But I was my typical procrastinator self, and the technology finally came to the US. So I had it done locally.

Everything went well. In and out without any issues. Ended up with 20/20 vision. But it is CRAPPY 20/20 vision. The quality of my vision is not the best. Night halos, corneal "islands".

The part that REALLY drives me up the wall, is looking through red dot scopes. I USED to be able to see perfect red dots, now they are fuzzy and weird shaped. I have learned to compensate, but it almost ruined my desire to go out shooting. I did this to IMPROVE my shooting (yea right).

Talking to other doctors, they listen to my complaints, look at my eyes, and say that I should have gone with PRK. But they finally fess up that they can't really tell which is the best for you till AFTER you go through a procedure.

One thing about PRK, is that it takes a couple of weeks to heal. During that time you are wearing protective contacts. And your eyes don't feel the best, dry and itchy. And you can only have one eye done at a time.

One consolation for other people... There is in the works of a laser system that will be like LASIK but with NO flap. They will be able to focus the laser to zap tissue inside the cornea layers. Something about using 2 lazers and where they cross path is where the tissue is zapped. Or something like that. They are hoping that this new system will be able to correct the peopel that had problems with LASIK. I am waiting and praying.

I had Laser PRK-- eyes sometimes dry/scratchy, but not that big of a deal. I only had to wear my contact-band-aids for a couple days.

Cool! I didn't have it done, just repeating what I have heard.

I only ment that eyes are dry and scratchy during the healling process.

But one thing that I did find out, odd triva. People who live in dry climates (the southwest as an example), their eye's heal more quickly than those who live in humid climates. But are prone to more complications. Odd. No official study done yet, just what eye doctors are starting to notice.

My eyes were really dry and scratchy for a while (always had bloodshot eyes, even before surgery). Occasionally they get scratchy, mainly if they get really dry from being in smoky areas, or with the wind. But even without surgery, dry eyes will be scratchy.

Got back from the check up vist. She is seeing 20/20 24 hrs after the procedure. She says it hurt for about 2 hours after but it quickly got better.

She woke up today and found out how really ugly I am!!!

I had Lasik at the end of March.  I'm seeing 20/25 or so.  I'm totally happy with the results so far, but will go back for an enhancement surgery.  They should get me to 20/20 this time.  I was told before the first surgery that I'll probably need to go back.  Even if I never go back, I'm still happy with the current results.

P.S.  I've pretty much been wearing glasses all my life.