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Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

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Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#61

Post by rnugent »

melling wrote: post #21
tmsh wrote: post #13

Had LASIK about five years ago. Mixed feelings. Still somewhat glad I did it, though I wear glasses with .5 prescription in both eyes to make sure vision is perfect and to filter polarize the light, etc. If you're a programmer or staring at a screen, I learned recently that you blink something like 1/5 as much as normal. This in turn causes eye dryness and potential irritation. So for a while I thought that LASIK had…

I'm now in my 40's and I no longer wear contacts because the long hours staring at a screen caused too much dryness. Other than taking lots of breaks, what else can be done to reduce dryness?

I had lasik in my late 40s and , while I had great medium and long range vision results, I could not see thing 3 feet in front of me - including a computer monitor. Now I have to carry glasses everywhere I go to read a newspaper, smart phone, labels and so on. If you're 40 or over be careful or you might trade one problem for another...

Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#62

Post by epo »

Remember your eyes degrade with age regardless of surgery and at some point you will need glasses again. The nearer you are to your mid 40s the less time you will have free of specs.

The procedure is a cosmetic one and the potential downside is devastating. I have never found that risk worth undertaking, but then my eyesight is moderate myopia.

Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#63

Post by aaronbrethorst »

weaksauce wrote: post #45

Has anyone done Orthokeratology? It seems cheaper than lasik and still fairly effective in what it does. Any thoughts on this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthokeratology

My mom did it for about 10 years and had generally good results. I tried it and found the lenses too uncomfortable to wear. Soft contacts don't bother me; just rigid ones.

Give it a shot! The worst possible outcome would be no change.

Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#65

Post by sbierwagen »

jakinne wrote: post #8

I had the procedure done almost 10 years ago and it has been a pretty positive experience for me. The biggest negative impact has been dry eyes similar to what lockem mentioned. I can't go without eye drops (just generic Visine) in the morning. Also - my night vision has suffered. Be sure to check whether or not you would suffer from these "halos". In low light, bright points of light appear to have a fuzzy halo arou…

    The coolest thing was that the doctor purposely over-
    corrected my vision, so for the first several months I 
    could see clearly at a ridiculous range.
This is a bit more marketing than straight up truth.

Optical systems don't work like that. You can't "over-correct", since obviously, that would be the ideal point of focus. You're still limited by the ultimate physical resolution of your retina, and it sounds like, for a while, you were operating at that limit. Vision much better than 20/20 isn't terribly uncommon, and it sounds like you're one of those people.

That is, if there wasn't any cognitive biases at work. Perceived visual acuity is like some kind of platonic ideal of something that would be very vulnerable to confirmation bias. Were you experimentally tested to be something like 20/10, then tested later to be 20/15?

Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#66

Post by jules »

ww520 wrote: post #35
jules wrote: post #17

How safe is Lasik compared to contacts? I tried soft contacts half a year ago for 3 weeks, and my eyes got very irritated and red. They are still redder and more easily irritated today (for example I used to have no problems with cutting onions or cycling in wind or swimming, but now I do, for example if I swim without goggles I will have red eyes for two days). Could this lead to extra complications with Lasik? (pro…

From my doctor, Lasik actually is better for your eyes than wearing contacts. The chance of getting your eyes hurt due to infection from dirty contacts is higher than Lasik operation goes wrong. Contacts also restrict oxygen to your eyes which can cause health problem.

Is that an independent opinion or does he do the Lasik operations or get money if he sends people to a Lasik operation?

Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#67

Post by rahoulb »

weaksauce wrote: post #45

Has anyone done Orthokeratology? It seems cheaper than lasik and still fairly effective in what it does. Any thoughts on this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthokeratology

I hated Ortho-K - they couldn't get the lenses to fit correctly so they hurt my eyes and some days I would wake up with imperfect vision (at a basically random power).

Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#68

Post by mdaniel »

lockem wrote: post #51
tocomment wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is PRK better?

The difference between PRK and Lasik is in the way they reshape your cornea. In Lasik they create a flap by cutting the cornea and then they use a laser to reshape it, then they reposition the flap back in place.This way the flap acts as a bandage on the wound and reconnects with the cornea. The Flap is never actually healed and may be dislodged even years after the surgery - Although will need significant force like…

I also chose PRK because I was uncomfortable with the flap, and was willing to risk the painful (and slower) healing process.

While I am not your scenario with the 3 days, I would say that one week is a proper expectation, with some deviation one way or the other.

The pain (in case no one has mentioned it) is very much like leaving a contact in for too long: it feels like your eyeball has been packed in salt. I mean that in both the extreme dehydration sense, and it occasionally actually feels like salt in your eyes.

I had a few instances where it felt like needles in my eyes, and that was my only need to use the prescribed pain medicine. It lasted until I fell asleep from the pain pills.

I do hope this doesn't come across as a horror story: I absolutely, with no hesitation at all, would do it again and would use the same doctor. I am _extremely_ happy, and sing the praises, but wanted to ensure it is an informed decision for those who might be weighing the pros and cons.

Re: Ask HN: experiences with Lasik eye surgery (programmers especially)?

#69

Post by mdaniel »

tocomment wrote: post #28
pingswept wrote: post #18

I worked on the redesign of a Lasik machine in 2005. As part of this work, I spent a few weeks just watching lasik operations in various locations around the US. I saw several events that made me very wary of the procedure-- specifically, a technician accidentally setting a microkeratome to the wrong size and thereby detaching the corneal flap. I also talked with several patients who were back for 3rd and 4th session…

Is PRK better?

"Better" is always a tricky word.

I think that it is likely a matter of what aspects are important to you (aside from those patients who are forced into using, or excluded from using, one technology or the other).

I received a comprehensive description from my doctor, and chose PRK because I was not comfortable with "the flap," and I was comfortable that there would be some pain and longer healing time. That was my tradeoff, and I am thrilled with how it turned out.

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