Anyone here wear the contact lenses that reshape your eyes at night and then during the day you have corrected vision and no lenses? Mostly I don't mind glasses and contacts, but there are some activities I'd rather not have to rely on them.
Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
41–50 of 239 posts
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#42I had LASEK, it’s incredible. No side effects, and from what I can tell, LASEK has a much smaller risk profile vs LASIK as no flap is cut. My nyc surgeon is the best. If you’d like an intro, email me. A@175g.com
How does it compare to PRK?
PRK is very similar to LASEK.
In PRK, the outer layer ("epithelium") of the cornea is removed chemically, and the laser ablates the surface of the eye. Over a few days the layer grows back.
For LASEK, the outer layer of the cornea is peeled away. The laser ablates the surface of the eye, and the skin is pushed back into place.
For both of these, there is no flap. The cornea retains its original structural integrity. PRK and LASEK are quite similar in process and outcome. PRK is a faster procedure and gives the patient less discomfort. LASEK has a slightly lower risk of corneal haze.
Having experienced both... I'd never choose LASEK again.
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#43I had LASIK two years ago, and it was the best money I have ever spent. It was made clear that I will likely return to glasses as I age, but I’ll hopefully make it another 20 years.
> two years ago
Ok, so let us know how it goes in 20 years.
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#44My pupils are very large. I held off on LASIK for a long time because it seemed like it wasn't well understood. Then I considered getting it about 10 years ago and there was ample evidence that large pupils were associated with negative results (halos, stars, night blindness, etc -- all the stuff mentioned in this article and elsewhere). I'm very glad I didn't get it. It still surprises me that they wouldn't simply i…
Many years ago when I was thinking of getting it done I was told by the sales rep/doctor (I forget) the machines are limited in range. Women tend to have larger pupils than men apparently this wasn't thought of during the design phase. Kind of weird to go through all that trouble of designing and building a machine that needed just a few more millimeters of range. I passed on the procedure.
Tangentially - there was something I heard on the radio recently that drug testing was restricted by the FDA about 30 years ago to men only due to unforseen side effects possible in pregnant women, and medical companies took the shortcut of just limiting testing to men wherever possible and lifting that thought process is still an ongoing effort. It even impacts animal testing where they might test something mostly in male mice.
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#45This, and other summaries of trials / research in here, do indeed imply dramatically more complications than I've ever heard. Gonna have to dive in deeper, I suppose, but the fuzziness around this kind of stuff has been part of the reason I haven't done it already :| > A recent clinical trial by the F.D.A.[1] suggests that the complications experienced by Mr. Ramirez are not uncommon. > Nearly half of all people who…
I suspect a lot of people who have these procedures and don't like the results don't make a big fuss about it, because it's not like they can undo it. And they usually spent a bunch of money on it. You might as well try to be happy with the results.
For me, it never seemed worth it to deal with the permanent change leading to potential side effects for a temporary benefit. If my corrective lenses were big and heavy, I might reconsider.
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#46I think this is a unique view, but I've come to appreciate nearsightedness. Partially because I like having the ability to soften the external world by removing my glasses (like wrapping myself in a warm fuzzy blanket), but even more so because it grants me the ability to see things near me in sharper focus than someone with 20/20 vision. I can put on contacts or glasses to see something at a distance just as clearly…
I tell people I could walk through a room of naked people and not see anything private.
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#47As a subscriber I love the New York Times, but like many articles in the Wellness section this is low quality.
The article starts off with:
>A recent clinical trial by the F.D.A. suggests that the complications experienced by Mr. Ramirez are not uncommon. Nearly half of all people who had healthy eyes before Lasik developed visual aberrations for the first time after the procedure, the trial found.
And then five minutes of reading later leads to this valuable insight:
>But many of the trial’s 574 participants reported having visual aberrations and dry eyes before surgery, and the study concluded that Lasik slightly reduced the prevalence of these problems.
Why... didn't they put that in the same paragraph? The title of the article leads me to believe this obfuscation was on purpose.
Then, a few minutes later into the article, they state:
>The study’s lead author ... said the researchers had concluded that the multimillion dollar trial was too small to produce meaningful results, and that the purpose of the study had shifted from determining how many patients have problems functioning to developing a questionnaire that might be used in future research.
Ugh. I just spent 10 minutes reading an article formed around a flawed study that contradicts the title. Filled with circumstantial evidence and discussion about clearly biased people (like the guy with seemingly no credentials who runs lasikcomplications.com).
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#48I remember reading about a procedure where you surgically insert a lens into the eye to correct the vision, and one huge benefit was the process is completely reversible compared to Lasik. Seems like a much better option?
refractive lens exchange ? no idea if it's better https://www.google.com/search?q=surgical+lens+implants&oq=su...
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#49As a subscriber I love the New York Times, but like many articles in the Wellness section this is low quality. The article starts off with: >A recent clinical trial by the F.D.A. suggests that the complications experienced by Mr. Ramirez are not uncommon. Nearly half of all people who had healthy eyes before Lasik developed visual aberrations for the first time after the procedure, the trial found. And then five minu…
That's a wrap, folks. This comment is more valuable by far than the article.
Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus
#501) If you're a civilian pilot, then you should read this carefully beforehand:
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/av...
2) If you want to be a military pilot, then research the correct military branch. Historically, some allow eye surgery and some don't.
3) All surgery is major surgery, with the risk of infection or other complications.