Experience or opinions on Lasik or PRK surgery?

[BelleGirl21]

I'm considering Lasik. Do you have any experience with it? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

Lasik is the best

PRK is the better option

Don't do it! Just stick with contacts and glasses.

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

PRK is the best. Here's why:

1.) It's preferable for people with chronic dry eyes-- Severe dry eyes is actually a very common long term complication of LASIK patients.
2.) In LASIK the cornea is peeled to create a flap that never fully heals-- this is very well proven and if you have an eye injury (metal shavings from work, sports contact, etc..) you could dislodge that cornea flap and surgery will be necessary. It might sound worse than it is. Of the documented incidences I've read, vision was able to be restored and pain and discomfort removed after 2 or 3 surgeries. In the few documented incidences where the cornea flap is lost altogether, the patients were completely and entirely fucked, not to mention probably had the worst year of their life.
3.) PRK has the same results as LASIK but offers a full recovery, opposed to a weakened cornea that LASIK leaves you with.

The only pro of LASIK is that the recovery times are significantly better, and I mean SIGNIFICANTLY. You get peak acuity sooner (in a month opposed to about 6 for PRK) and initial healing is faster too (you can drive right after LASIK; PRK can take up to a week to be able to safely drive again). But the end result is better for PRK-- significantly less occurrences of dry eyes, no weakening of the cornea.

I've researched this a lot because I plan on getting eye surgery-- I believe I'll be going with PRK. The extra recovery time is a nuisance, but I have chronic dry eyes and I can't imagine making them more dry! I also, frequently get saw dust in my eyes at work, and rub them vigorously afterwards-- and there's lots of metal shavings since I have to cut and grind a lot of aluminum, I shutter just to think of the pain, and surgical costs! if I got LASIK and then rubbed my eyes too hard.

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

If a blunt force trauma is unlikely, you don't work with air hoses and you don't have problems with dry eyes already... definitely go with LASIK. Those recovery times are too nice to pass up.

But if it's very possible you're gonna be picking shavings out of your eye with your fingernail or otherwise getting poked in the eye is a real risk (contact sports, frequent bar fights, asshole children, etc), go with PRK.

[BelleGirl21]

Thank you! My friend had PRK and loved the results but said it was incredibly painful :/ so I'm scared of that route! But even at that I'm highly considering it.

[BelleGirl21]

I seriously hope blunt force trauma isn't in my future ;) ;)

[BelleGirl21]

Although, I do get in frequent bar fights ;)

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

A fingernail (yours, an ignorant little child's or a drunken bitch's) is the usual suspect in dislodging a corneal flap! Be weary.

I personally would rather deal with longer recovery times and not have to live in fear of getting hit by a car and losing my vision.

[BelleGirl21]

I don't want to get hit by a car either! We are so alike! ;)

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

Yes, if we got LASIK, you could protect my cornea flap and I'll protect yours.

Or we could just get PRK and go around and poke LASIK patients in the eyes, not having to worry about them poking us back. #immunities

[Littlett25]

Lol... I read asshole children haha

[BelleGirl21]

Oh my gish that's so funny. Lets poke the ladik patients.

@Littlett25, ROFL you made my night lol.

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

Yeah! Let's kick some corneal flaps!

@Littlett25 ... I don't get it.

[Littlett25]

Lmao I thought you put a comma between asshole & children! But you didn't... So I read it normally.

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

Yeah, I was going to say-- that's what I wrote! (:

[Bandit74]

so pkr doesn't involve peeling the cornea?

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

@Bandit74 Hmm... depends how you define peeling. PKR removes the outer layer of the cornea, called the epithelial layer, entirely. It then heals back completely. LASIK creates a flap that goes through the epithelial layer, and partially into the deeper stromal tissues (which is the part that they're gonna be digging into and reshaping). After that, surgery is identical. All in all, it means LASIK cuts deeper (which means if you have a thin cornea, naturally or from previous procedures, you'll have to use PRK) and leaves an unhealed flap which 1.) makes recovery immediate, because you just close the flap and boom outer layer of your eyeball is back and 2.) means your epithelial layer is susceptible to dislodging and wrinkling 3.) potentially causes deeper nerve irritation that disrupts the tear ducts and causes dry eyes.

Basically PRK offers you a longer and yet fuller recovery. Whereas Lasik offers an immediate yet weaker recovery.

[Bandit74]

are there still risks for pkr?

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

oops. point #2 was a bit off for sake of simplifying things-- but you should not that flap consists of more than your epithelial layer, if it becomes dislodged, you don't suddenly become a PRK patient and it'll heal back. Just thought I might have to clarify that.

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

Yes. PRK has an increased risk of eye infection due to the removal of the outer layer. Modern medicine and antibiotics makes this a non-factor though. It will be incredibly discomforting if you get one, but it is most definitely manageable.

[Levin]

I had lasik. I find out later that it never heals properly so you shouldn't get punched in the face; not that I ever intended to, but I've since taken up martial arts. Anyway, all this is my fault, due to lack of proper research. There does seem to be some inherent risk, and some lack of empirical understanding about the long term affects though. Maybe lasek would be the better option? I wouldn't like to sway you either way. I don't really regret it though. Having terrible eye (5 or 6) is utterly miserable. It's wretched and time consuming when you can't even see your face in the mirror in the morning. When I had the procedure done, I could see two lines below 20/20 vision. Now my vision has degraded I feel somewhat. So probably need glasses to correct being unable to see the tiniest detail in the distance. Driving glasses essentially. It's all a bit wretched this isn't it? Getting old, the body falling apart. Having to sit at a computer all day in many working environments likely doesn't help. Gosh, I'm whiny today, eh?

[BelleGirl21]

I feel your pain! And you're a baby compared to me ;)

[Levin]

In less than 2 months I'll be 30. Then it will be all over :P

[BelleGirl21]

You're going downhill fast! ;P

[Levin]

such is life eh. A blink of an eye ago, I was a young 14 year old lad, in school, bedroom bin overflowing with stuck together tissues. With such lofty hopes and aspirations, and would never have dreamed that I would turn into those 'old people' that I held in such low esteem. This is the ultimate cruel irony in life. You become, nay are, what you were prejudiced against. Young merges into old, before one knows it. If one becomes 30 in the bat of an eye, won't the same happen in becoming 60?

[BelleGirl21]

I seriously try not to think about it. I'm in denial of the aging process.

[Levin]

Pay no heed to me. I'm just being awry today. No need to resist things that are natural and unchangeable.

[BelleGirl21]

I always pay heed to you. Hope your day improves ;*

[Levin]

thank you :)

[Kiwedin]

I got Lasik done this past January and it was great. I would definitely recommend it. The procedure itself took about 4 minutes. Super quick, easy, and painless. I felt fine afterwards, but it does get uncomfortable the day of the surgery. After you get home your eyes will bother you more. That part wasn't fun, but it wasn't painful. It just felt like I was being blinded by the sun except I was in pitch black. I ended up just sleeping through it though, it's better that way since you can't open your eyes anyway lol. The next day my eyes felt a bit sensitive to sunlight, but the pain was gone and my vision was amazing. For something so drastic as giving your perfect vision, it's not a bad experience. I was expecting to be in pain for days, but I was only uncomfortable about 2-3 hours after my procedure and felt better by the time I woke up. They said I might get dry eyes, but I haven't experienced anything of the sort. All good comments from me :)

[BelleGirl21]

That is so awesome! I'm happy for you! :D

[bubble_tea]

I think it depends how shortsighted you are. I don't think you should bother if you have to still wear contacts and glasses afterwards.. just with less dioptres.
I'm kind of scared of the halo effect in the dark too. So whichever procedures with less side effects gets my upvote.

[BelleGirl21]

Good points. :)

[abundantlyrich]

I have heard that it fixes the short sightness but you'll again have to wear glasses for close up reading.

[BelleGirl21]

Thanks for the input.

[TripleAce]

Its a really tricky question!

I personally wanted it really bad, I was very close, just had to pay and I was good to go... But I backed out for a few reasons.

First let me say, for the right candidate it works pretty well. BUT the perfect candidate is not always a sure thing, even if everything checks out at the exams!

Reasons why I backed out
1. I almost never see optometrists that do Lasik, safest is still glasses
2. True complication rates are almost 20%, thats 1 in every 5 will have an issue
3. They take a healthy eye and make it less healthy, by weakening the structural integrity itself
4. It seems to increase the rate of near vision, which everyone gets as they age, but Lasik candidates seem to need glasses faster
5. They guarantee perfect 20/20 BUT they don't guarantee clarity, Its very common to have 20/20 vision but not actually 'see' clearly like double or triple vision BUT still 20/20...
6. Dry eyes is a big issue, just look at all the post Lasik dry eyes drops on the shelfs for sale, you think its just there for fun?
7. They are not honest most of the times, I told them I had dry eyes, just because the day I went for the exam they weren't dry, I was automatically a good candidate... dry eyes post surgery has ruined peoples lives... its horrible
8. The flap they cut, the healing process is not predictable which is why 1 in 5 people have issues
9. The same FDA guy who approved it, wants it banned! Yup, look it up... The companies separated adverse effects and complications in 2 categories, making it look like adverse effects are only less than 1%, it was closer to 20%!
10. Most people still need glasses after surgery... lol
11. Long term studies have not been released yet

So yea those are 10 valid reasons to be careful with Lasik

Lasik have contracts with local optometrists to send patients to them post surgery for check ups... Everyone has an incentive for you to do it...

BUt again for the perfect candidate, it does work

[BelleGirl21]

SCARY! All very good points, thank you!

[TripleAce]

sure thing...

Also not to mention, this is far like any other surgery.. most people will say every surgery has risk and what not. HOWEVER those surgeries are often necessary. In addition eyes can't be replaced, changed... unlike most other parts in your body... Geez even your heart which is vital for survival can be changed and you'd live... Eyes nope... they mess up your stuck with it

[DooMguy]

Lasik? No, just no

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eIHZ-zWBz0

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc

please no

33.media.tumblr.com/.../...02zJfR1sxcftfo1_400.gif

believe it or not. It's possible to improve your eyesight naturally, glasses and contacts aren't needed, neither is Lasik. You gotta trust me on this one bell girl. You trust me right?

[BelleGirl21]

I do trust you but I'm practically blind lol...👓

[Mustachekitteh]

How do you improve it naturally? For me this is how bad my eye sight is. So how the hell could it be possible to improve from that? theamazingeye.files.wordpress.com/.../...0_400.jpg

[BelleGirl21]

@Mustachekitteh I'm the same lol. Maybe we need to do more handstands or somthing!

[Mustachekitteh]

I'm going to look that up. Which I can believe that might working depending on what I find.

[Mustachekitteh]

Oh also @BelleGirl21 here's something to help you know what your Visual Acuity is. www.optiboard.com/.../14648-Diopters-to-Visual-Acuity

[DooMguy]

You trust me? Excellent

@Mustachekitteh how long have you been wearing glasses?

Just think of the eyes like any other muscle, with constant use of glasses the eyes don't need to work so they become lazy, they become weak. If a weightlifter doesn't keep working on his arms, his arms would never become strong

get my point?

[BelleGirl21]

@Mustachekitteh I'm even worse than you lol. Terrible :(

[BelleGirl21]

Doomguy... I could never get away with that!

[Mustachekitteh]

After I found that picture apparently the picture I showed was wrong. It was just the closes thing I could find to show how blurry things can be. My right eye is like between -7.50--8.00(20/700-20/800) my left eye is between -6.50--7.00(20/600-20/700)

[Mustachekitteh]

@DooMguy I've been wearing glasses since I was in the 2nd grade. Now my lenses are so thick due to needing to be strong enough for me to see. They don't fit inside my glasses. :( most objects have become invisible if I don't wear my glasses.:( I know that the muscles in the eyes are the strongest muscles in the body. Still not sure if working them out will 100% work. Just sounds to good to be true lol

[DooMguy]

You're bell girl, you can get away with anything

@Mustachekitteh Have faith kitty, what if I told you that I stopped wearing my glasses three years ago and my eyesight hasn't degraded, it actually gets better at times

If you decide to exercise those eyes it will probably take a while until you see some improvement but you just have to stick with it

At the end of the day these opticians, eye doctors or (whatever they call them selves) don't care about you. They just want your money

[Mustachekitteh]

If you told me that my reaction is www.quickmeme.com/.../...7936c8604a3f9b69b2a96.jpg

[BertMacklinFBI]

I don't get the gears of war reference D:

[BertMacklinFBI]

other than him just saying no but I thought it was a demonstration or some shit hahaa

[DooMguy]

@Mustachekitteh I got proof

s144.photobucket.com/.../...4_zpsfhbrinmx.jpg.html

see the letter? ^ dated 27th August 2013, they want me to come back. They're like "please come back ! Please come back, we want loyal customers who spend money ! Why won't you come back? : ("

And I'm like: i0.kym-cdn.com/.../71b.png

but seriously though, I ain't going back

@BertMacklinFBI

You might wana see this. . . www.youtube.com/watch

Anyway, I just used that vid because I needed a lot of no's. One no just wasn't enough for me, it wasn't a demonstration

[Mustachekitteh]

lol Ok i was wondering what the point of that picture was, lol. I read about if it does improve eyey sight. One thing said since eye video is based on the side of your eye. Like the curvature of it. Trying to do that naturally wouldn't fix it. Plus they also went into saying there isn't actual consistent evidence that it works.

[Kinstrome]

It's not for everyone. If you want to see if you're eligible, find someone impartial who will actually tell you whether your eyes are going to be okay with Lasik. Some doctors won't check for anything and just do Lasik on you anyway.

Someone else said eyes naturally improve back to normal vision. I haven't seen evidence for this, including talking to my optometrist. Eyes can improve a lot, but as far as I know they don't naturally go back to 20/20. If it were possible for that to happen, I would sure as hell like to know.

[BelleGirl21]

That is the dream right? :)

[Kinstrome]

Yeah, I had fantastic eyes for 20 years. I was practically in denial that my eyesight was bad... until I had to renew my driver's license. I'm a little more used to it now, but if there's a safe or natural way to get back to 20/20, I'll sign right up. Glasses are really my thing, and while I'm getting a little more accustomed to contact lenses, they are far from ideal.

[TadCurious]

I had LASEK (with an "E" not an "I") done in January. I'm really happy with the outcome. I'd worn contacts for years, and glasses before that. LASEK is the procedure my eye doctor does not, instead of LASIK (which I think is an older procedure). Your vision is blurry for a while after the procedure, but at this point I'm seeing things really well, both close up and far away.

[BelleGirl21]

Lasek is a form of PRK actually I believe. That's great for you!

[JustinCaseUDontKnow]

My cousin had corrected vision so she wouldn't need wear glasses
it went good for her i believe she had lasik.

[BelleGirl21]

Cool :)

[JustinCaseUDontKnow]

I hope it works out for you whatever choice you make:)

[BelleGirl21]

Thank you!💙

[JustinCaseUDontKnow]

You're welcome ;)

[Watermelonoma]

i plan on getting some sort of corrective eye surgery myself in the future, but i haven't done quite enough research on it yet. My friend just got it because he's joining the army, and it seemed to be pretty quick and painless for him.

[BelleGirl21]

It's a tricky decision, I'm not going to jump quickly into it!

[Watermelonoma]

yeah spend some time looking at the side effects. i think its generally pretty safe, but when it goes wrong, it can be really bad for you

[Outofthegrey]

I have to suggest being born with 20/10 vision. Worked out well for me, plus no chance of complications!

More realistically though, go PRK.

[BelleGirl21]

Rub it in lololol! 😄

[hypno-trip]

I had Lasik and now don't need to wear glasses so i recommend it. it's very quick and overall painless. It was scary though since I couldn't close my eyes while they pried it open and shot lasers at it.

[BelleGirl21]

Yeah, that would scare me too!

[hypno-trip]

mhm I highly recommend it.

[BelleGirl21]

Cool thanks!

[justbeinghonest]

I can't wait to get my vision improved. Glasses suck and contacts do too.

What is the PRK thing?

[BelleGirl21]

It's a different form of lasik (sort of) actually it's older. Read the opinion from notjustanotherguy up there^^
I totally agree with you! They stink :)

[Tokana]

I'm considering the same thing. I hate wearing contacts cause you always have to remember to remove them right before bed.

[BelleGirl21]

I know and they are a pain when you work out a lot huh?

[Tokana]

doesn't bother me when I workout.. but it does when I need to take a post-workout shower.

[Random_chick_2384]

I'm not sure. But I wanted to see what everyone else said so I voted c.

[Ihav2fart]

I want to get Lasik when my vision goes to the 3. s
I'm at 2.25 atm. :(

[BelleGirl21]

I'm at like 6 lol!

[Ihav2fart]

WHOA!

[BelleGirl21]

I know... it's like my one flaw ;)

[Ihav2fart]

"Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections"
-John Legend

[BelleGirl21]

Heart officially melted...😶

[Ihav2fart]

It's working!!! !;)

[BelleGirl21]

Oh its been working for a while and I don't know any girl that can resist John Legend!

[Ihav2fart]

My man John! Best Wingman ever!
He usually sweeps the ladies away from me though.