Lasik surgery nerves
Equipment
I'm set up for lasik surgery on Tuesday. Excited and nervous. Will let everyone know how it goes after Tuesday and shooting bow in a couple weeks after.
Sick of my specs and contacts we'll see!
You'll be a happy camper once that's done. Nothing to stress or be nervous about.
I had the PRK done 20 yrs ago...corneas to thin for LASIK...it was one of the best moves of my life! Good luck with the operation!
Closing in on two years down since mine. Almost forget I plugged contacts into my skull every morning for nearly 20 years. Well worth the price of admission and brief discomfort.
18 years ish. Ince I had it.. It's a piece of cake and probably the best thing I did for myself!
You be fine. Been 5 years for me. My eyes were terrible. Like -7.5. I had to get my left eye re done shortly after the first time and is 20-20. My right eye isn't perfect but I'm left eye dominant so doesn't bother me much
I had my left eye cataract surgery done on the 28th. It went a lot better than the right eye. I'm a squinter and don't like pointy things or lasers poking my eye balls. However, if I can get thru it, anyone can. No fear.....
I enjoyed it for 15+ yrs. then had to have cataract surgery and that spoiled the party and had to go back to specs. It was wonderful.
Best of luck.
I'm going on 10 years after lasik. It's been great! You will enjoy not needing glasses or contacts especially on those crappy weather days while hunting!
I had it done a year and a half ago, one of the best decisions I have ever made. You won't regret it!
Talked to my wife, its been over 20! Eyes are better than my memory. Still 20-15 and 20-20.
May need readers soon but that's unrelated to the surgery.
I had it done last year. It works well. But I regret it. If I could do it over again I would have left my eyes alone and look at corrective lenses.
If I knew then what I know now I would run from lasik. Along with dry eyes I had never ending changes to my vision and ended up wearing glasses anyway. That was after 2 enhancements. Some of the bad effects don't show up for years afterward.
Pat and creed kinda my fear. My wife had it done and she wear glasses now but this was 15 yrs ago and before 4 babies?
Pat what don't you like? Dry eyes make me a little apprehensive.
I enjoyed it for 15+ yrs. then had to have cataract surgery and that spoiled the party and had to go back to specs. It was wonderful.
Best of luck.
Dry eyes only lasted two weeks and my distance vision is 20/15. I can see perfectly now for distance.
The problem was something they warned me about and that was to correct my distance vision they said there was a “chance” it could affect my short vision which was perfect. I asked everyone I knew who corrected their distance and everyone to a person said it had no negative affect on reading or close vision. So I had the procedure and now I need readers for anything closer than 20”. It sucks. Basically I traded one problem for another. And given my profession which is computers I’m wearing reader’s all day long.
I will say that it is fantastic for hunting. Distance is perfect and I have none of the potential side effects like dry eye, night halos, decreased night vision.
I wore glasses with progressive lenses before lasik then after lasik I have great vision beyond 30”. Now I have to wear readers for anything close but not all day long. Also got a verifier peep and everything is good.
Wife got hers done in 2011.. went from damn near blind to 2020 and has no degradation since.. we went to a movie after the surgery.. wasn’t a big deal for her at all..
I had Lasik 17 or 18 years ago. I had night vision issues for a few years and like Pat was in cheaters almost immediately. Overall I'm still super happy about mine.
On Wednesday, you’ll think it was a mistake and you’re going blind. Give it about a week, that’s how long mine took to settle down. No need to worry, that’s what the Valium’s for!
Had it done 17 years ago, I’m 20/10 at distance and night driving is fine. I’ll take readers all day over loosing my distance vision.
It's been almost 14 years for me and no regrets; what I've found is more often than not outcomes are directly related to the quality of the surgeon you get. In the early days of vision correction surgery marginal candidates were taken simply because it was viewed as a financial gold mine. What history has shown is that marginal candidates have the greatest risk for a bad outcome.
Any competent, ethical surgeon will first map your eyes to determine which procedure, if any is best suited for your eyes. Key in this will be determining the thickness of your cornea (how much material do they have to work with). Based on this mapping you should be presented with the best of at least 3 options.
There is a procedure in which they can correct one eye for distance and either leave the other alone (if it's great for near vision) or make a slight correction. I don't recall what this procedure is called but it does work as your brain is able to "switch" based on what you're looking at. I know a few people who have had this procedure done and are very happy to have great distance vision and not need reading glasses.
Interestingly enough I had the procedure to correct for distance vision in both eyes and as my eyes healed it seems my body "corrected" so that I have 20/15 distance vision but maintained my near distance vision; my surgeon told me this does happen sometimes and it's just good fortune.
Some mornings I do experience a bit of dry eyes but after a few blinks I'm good to go.
I would agree completely with Pat in that you really need to weigh what your most consistent need is; if it's near distance vision then either the procedure to only correct one eye for distance or none is what I'd recommend. If your need is distance vision and you don't mind the potential to need readers AND you have a highly-qualified surgeon with a lot of procedures under his or her belt then I'd say go for it.
Best of luck!
Mike, good advice. They discussed the option where you have a different correction in each eye (near/far) so I wouldn’t need readers. The downside to that is it affects depth perception as your distance eye is basically monovision after having that done. Hunters rely heavily on depth perception and so it didn’t work for me.
Thanks for some explaining some of the details. I probably spend 2-4 hrs day at computer at work. Gotta keep depth perception for hunting and flying. My eyes just don't handle contacts more than 4 hours a day anymore. Hopefully cheaters for 2 hours a day wont be that bad.
I had monovision done 5 years ago. Best thing ever. Didnt effect shooting my bow at all. Basketball with my kids somewhat. I only wish I wouldnt have waited so long
Would the monovision mess up binocular use?
I have to wear glasses for everything and now I have to take them off for really close up stuff, like tieing on a fly
If you had RK in the past DO NOT GET Lasik. It causes Glaucoma later on. It happened to both my wife and I according to our eye surgeon.
Had mine done back in the late nineties, in Canada. Eyes were 20/15 for quite a few years, now about 20/20. Have started to use cheaters in the last year or so. It's really worked out well for me.
Had Lasik 14 years ago and it was nice to put the glasses away, did need readers approximately 4 years later. Life changing for sure but there is a catch, you do become more susceptible to cataracts down the road. Last May my vision became monocular, right eye was good close and left eye was good far. Shooting the bow with both eyes open was great but no bueno for long guns. I tried a Lasik touch up which failed and ended up changing the lense in my right eye. Vision is 20-15 now and I would not change anything I did except maybe the touch up.
Had lasik done almost 20 years ago. One of the best things I have ever done in terms of distance viewing. It did force me into having to wear readers for close up viewing. Distance viewing is still better than ever. Do research on the doctor. The best price is not always the best doctor.
For me, it’s not the reading glasses that suck. It’s the fact my low light vision is leaving me daily.
Do these surgeries increase low light visibility? I have a scar on my cornea blocking a lot of light from coming into my right eye. So, I’d need a new cornea. But, my unscarred eye is losing it too.
Had mono vision done and it did not mess up my shooting.
Bob H it doesn't mess with binoculars either. You can adjust both sides of the binos and they work just fine.
Update: 27 hours after surgery seeing about 20/20 or slightly better. Some halos on lights this morning but so far pretty happy. Not really any pain just little discomfort in eyes.
Surgery was easy but yesterday was very boring after my 4 HR nap. See how thing shape up nxt couple weeks.
I thought about doing it, but ultimately decided against it. Aside from being near sighted my eyes are otherwise healthy.
I just can't bring myself to have surgery an otherwise healthy organ when my vision is correctible by other means.
I passed on LASIK and kept glasses, just didn’t want some of the possible issues listed above. Then at a very young age had to have cataract surgery on both eyes. Like WV, my evening vision is toast. I basically have to quit hunting at sundown because I can’t see my pins - hate it. You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it. Man do I miss hunting till dark. And I’ve got a lot of hunting years left - Lord willing.
I wear contacts now and when I do I need readers. So getting lasik and having to wear readers is no big deal to me. I'd like to have it done. But sending kids to college is taking priority, and contacts have worked for me for 40 years +. I would be getting it for more consistent distance sight and to get rid of buying contacts and putting them in everyday. My toric lenses don't always sit just right and therefore don't have consistent distance vision.
My eyes are horrible, both near/far. I have bifocals and when I wear contacts I have to use cheaters to do things like punch a hunting tag, read a menu, tie on a fish hook. Hell even with my glasses/bi-focals for fine close up work I take off my glasses. but 8 inches out I can't see squat like that.
I've considreed it buy my current eye doc recommends not something about future cataract surgery. Still consider it from time to time
My experience was that I wore contacts for decades. While I thought about lasik, contact did the job until I had trouble with a corneal ulcer. This left a scar on my eye that took the option of lasik off the table as incision would be on the scar tissue. Doctors told me it would not "heal" properly. Years later, cataract surgery corrected vision. The needed incision was not on the scar. I had lenses put in that corrected my distance, but also allows for focusing for close work as well. I do use readers with extensive close work, but I am very pleased. My son had PRK, as he was in the military, and is more "rugged" that lasik. PRK was a painful healing experience. He does see very well now. I don't think he would go through that again, but would choose lasik. I would recommend doing lasik sooner than later, but after finding a very reputable doctor. I hope the original poster has comfort in making a wise decision.
I had it done in the late '90's. Was one of the best things I ever did, especially from a hunting standpoint. No glasses needed for any sort of distance. Made spotting game, and just generally being outside, much better and much more enjoyable. But did have the drawback of close vision getting blurry. Initially, it was REALLY close vision -- like just a few inches. I could still read without an issue. But as I got older (I'm 55), that has gradually extended. (Can't fight old age, and my arms won't get any longer...). I'm in front of a screen most of the day as well, which means readers. The one drawback I'm experiencing now from a shooting standpoint is the blurry sight pins. When I draw back, I can see the target clear as bell. However, the pins I can barely see. I've gone to a verifier for several years now, and that definitely helps. But,...I've also switched to a larger .029 pin. Works fine up close....but at long distance, those pins sure are big!
Congrats on your success. I remember reading a license plate from 80' away that first day and thinking to myself "wow". It really does work well. Best of luck.
