LASIK any good?

[thelm_harmon]

Hey everyone.
So I've been Astigmatic ever since I can remember and to be honest, I've not had issues with it as such throughout my life as I wore corrective glasses and later moved on to contacts. But lately, I've been facing issues with my contacts as my eyes seem to get infected because of it. I've tried changing my lenses, but that didn't work. I'm back to wearing glasses now, but find them to be extremely uncomfortable, especially given that I'd not wore one for a long time. I was talking to a friend of mine who suggested that I get LASIK done on my eyes. She even took me to this place near my house in Washington called Evergreen Eye Care. I was just going through their website and it looks quite good to me and they seem to have been testified of offering good service by many.( http://www.evergreeneye.com/testimonials.php ). Is there anyone here who might have undergone LASIK in the past and maybe share with me your two cents about it? I'd be extremely grateful. 
Thanks :)

[OneStepAtATime]

Several extended family members had it done, including a few of my brothers in law. There were some complications for one of them but overall they have been exceedingly happy with the results.

 

I would personally hesitate to take on eye surgery though until I had examined in some depth why you were getting eye infections with contacts when you didn't used to. Have you had a through health exam? Did you discuss your eye issues with your general care practitioner as well as an ophthalmologist? I'd just want to be sure there wasn't some sort of underlying undiagnosed health issue going on before doing any sort of surgery considering the risk of infection in general.

[kewb]

I haven't had it done. My anecdotal experience, I know a handful of people who have had it. Most loved it and had no issues. I know one person who ended up with a halo effect and can no longer drive at night.

[Prairie~Phlox]

My husband had it done and had no problems, before you get too far into it, I would go and see if you even qualify, I did not, my eyes were too rigid.Usually the consultations are free.

[Night Elf]

My DH had this done years and years ago and he said it was one of the best things he'd ever done for himself. He's 59 now and has only got reading glasses last year. He did amazingly well with it.

[arnold]

I had it done 8 years ago along with my sister. It was some of the best money I ever spent and I love the results.

[nd293]

I had LASIK about 7 years ago and have no regrets. I did have initial complications - the corneal flap slipped and I needed to wear a type of contact lense for a few days to fix it, and ended up having that eye redone as the results were not good enough. That eye still doesn't seem quite right compared to the other, but it's still so much easier than needing glasses to figure out which kid is which :-) At the time, though, the complications were very distressing as I was sort of 50/50 on whether I should have it done in the first place and I wasn't 100% comfortable with the place I had it done (foreign country with difficult-to-determine standards due to a very internationally diverse labour force).

 

My night vision isn't great, and I think that might be a result but I'm still fine to drive. Last year I got reading glasses, so it's worth remembering your eyes continue to deteriorate as you age. Reading glasses are a pleasure after the all-the-time glasses I wore for 25 years, though.

[Lanny]

If you have had eye infections from Contact Lenses, IMO you should discontinue using Contact Lenses, immediately. A late Aunt of mine was a very successful wearer of Contact Lenses. One of her eyes became infected. They could not cure the infection. Eventually, they had to remove her eye.

 

My LASIK surgeries were done here in Cali, Colombia, during November 1997. For me, it was and is a miracle. I had Extreme Myopia and Astigmatism. The M.D. Ophthalmologist who did my LASIK procedures was at that time #2 in the world for the LASIK procedure. She was one of the pioneering scientists and she was working on the FDA approval.

 

However, some of her patients who had surgeries the same days as mine were not so lucky. She had told my wife and me, before the surgeries, “I’m dealing with healthy patients, it is critical that my patients understand the risksâ€

 

Her office was in an Eye Hospital and the surgeries were done in their surgical area.

 

IMO, a lot of Charlatans do LASIK and other Cosmetic surgeries. As with any surgery, select the hospital and the surgeon with great care.

 

Before I had the LASIK procedures, there were several examinations I had to have, in the eye hospital, to see whether or not I was a good candidate for the LASIK procedure. Not everyone is a good candidate.  

 

I am   almost 19 years post surgery now and I have better vision than my wife and my DD. 

[Josh Blade]

I had it done 3 or 4 years ago. It was a quick and painless (yet terrifying) process. The whole procedure took about 15 minutes total for both eyes after laying down on the table. About an hour after the surgery, you can see perfectly.  It's amazing to not need glasses any more. 

[Amy in NH]

I used to wear contacts but developed an allergy that presented like an infection. I wish I could afford lasik. My sister ended up with a similar allergy a couple years after me. She got lasik and has been very happy with it.

[GailV]

Dh had it done  20 years ago.    He thinks it's one of the best decisions he's made, and wants to pay for our older dd to have it now that she's old enough (for the record, she's not interested -- but her eyesight isn't as bad as dh's was).  He says they've improved technique since then; also, it's a lot easier to find someone to do it these days.

[Ailaena]

 

lasik was my dream, but my unstable astigmatism disqualifies me and sadly, I'm still searching for a new dream :(

 

A brief exam from a lasik doc to see if you qualify for lasik will not be enough to pick up something like that, so make sure you work in conjunction with your normal eye doc.

[Lanny]

After one has LASIK surgeries, when an Ophthalmologist tests Eye Pressure, they will get a reading that is very low. That is a false reading. Someone who has had LASIK surgeries also needs to have another test, so the Ophthalmologist can correctly know what the eye pressure is.

 

As I recall, the age range for prospective LASIK patients is approximately 25 to 55 years of age. Very young people need to wait, until they are old enough that their eyes have stabilized completely.  

[catz]

DH had it 15 years ago. He has been thrilled with the results. His recovery was a little slow and complicated, but turned out fine. My dad had it too and had like 18 good years with it before he died at 71.