Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus • Hacker News Board

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#231

Post by aschneid » Wed, Jun 13, 2018, 6:34 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #203

gameshot911 wrote: post #40

I 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…

Bah, my eye Rx is -8.5 diopters. Taking off my glasses/contacts doesn't "soften" the external world - it makes me unable to function. If I forget where I put my glasses after taking out my contacts at night before going to bed, I have to call my wife to find them for me. If I try moving around too much, I'm liable to hurt myself. I'll probably want to get LASIK at some point :)

I was at that point when I had it done. The only problem with having that bad of an eyesight, they have to use the laser for longer. It helped I had extra thick corneas, but the surgeon I went to said some folks can't have the surgery with eyes that bad.

Of course, that was 15 years ago, so maybe different guidelines now.

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#232

Post by aschneid » Wed, Jun 13, 2018, 6:46 PM UTC

RaceWon wrote: post #225

aschneid wrote: post #29

I had Lasik done at a university teaching hospital by a surgeon who had done thousands of surgeries. This was in 2003. Every follow-up was by a resident and then the full surgeon. I had significant dry eyes and blepharitis (probably from the dry eyes) for about 12-18 months. 15 years later, I can still see 20/20 in one eye and 20/25-30 in the other. I still occasionally have dry eyes and blepharitis. I wear glasses a…

FWIW I'm 58 and still have 20/15 vision with corrective lenses (yes I typically eat bushels of veggies and carrots too), but the fear of only having 20/20 vision or worse is why I never opted for LASIK. I consider my night vision poor--but I thought that even when I was in my teens. My eyes have always been a bit light sensitive... IDK if the two are related. Contact lenses? Nope. All the wetting solutions I tried bl…

I always was corrected to 20/15 when I wore glasses and could actually be corrected in the office setting to 20/5 (fairly rare). I was very particular about my vision, similar to you. I haven't had issues with it being 20/20 now, but I do wear glasses for driving because I like the clarity.

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#233

Post by jitowix » Wed, Jun 13, 2018, 8:38 PM UTC

If people would learn about how to reverse their myopia before doing crazy surgery like Lasik’s there would be less problems. It took me 1 year to reverse it and I know most people are too lazy to do the research so I try to ignore posts like that but it’s not that easy...

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#234

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 13, 2018, 10:49 PM UTC

naravara wrote: post #168

otterpro wrote: post #146

We should also "focus" on preventable myopia, which is so common, especially in Asia (For example, in Korea, 96% of younger population suffered from myopia, which is insane). If I have kids, I will make sure to let them play outside in the sun daily, in order to get enough exposure to the bright sunlight. As for me, I didn't get a lot of exposure to sun when I was in my early teens, when I developed myopia. I should'…

I played tennis competitively as a teen. So that was about 1 to 2 hours a day, every day in the Florida sun. Still developed myopia by the end of high school though. . .

[deleted]

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#235

Post by neofrommatrix » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:40 AM UTC

meow81 wrote: post #219

neofrommatrix wrote: post #57

I had Lasik done in India to both my eyes in 2009. The total cost came out to Rs. 25000 (~500 USD) for both eyes. I went from a 20/600 to 20/20 in 15 minutes. Best decision of my life. I made sure to get the surgery done from a highly reputed ophthalmic surgeon who had performed 1000s of surgeries with success. As in every surgery, there are side effects. For me, there was temporary mild dryness that lasted a few mon…

The flap heals. Where did you hear that it doesn't? https://www.huntervision.com/blog/5-lasik-myths

Is that true for surgeries that use the microkeratome as well? I remember researching quite a bit and reading a few well sourced studies about the effects of trauma on the flap, but I don’t remember where.

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#236

Post by SomeHacker44 » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

Sharlin wrote: post #166

enobrev wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the _one_ thing I miss about getting my eyesight fixed. Within a month of getting laser surgery, it was so natural that I'd essentially forgotten the experience of glasses and contacts, as though I'd never experienced the previous 20 years with them. One of my very favorite things to do before then was sit in Central Park, or at the Diversey Rocks in Chicago, or anywhere with lots of color, remove my glasses,…

You can train your eye muscles to focus at whatever distance without needing something to fixate on. This allows you to blur your vision at will simply by focusing close.

Only until presbyopia sets in, starting in your 40s and completing in the early 50s (usually).

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#237

Post by davio » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 5:39 PM UTC

tjpnz wrote: post #124

raverbashing wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it might dislocate the flap

This is what worries me the most about taking the plunge, not the videos I've seen of it being done, not the potential side effects, just the fact that I could seriously screw my eyes up by rubbing them after the fact.

My doctor said there was a case of a lady who removed her flap when she woke up at night and tried to remove her contacts out of habit :|

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#238

Post by dilap » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 6:13 PM UTC

titzer wrote: post #130

dilap wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not a candidate for lasik?

No, given that my eyes are already so dry, and this plus contacts led to me injuring my corneas on more than one occasion, one of which meant I spent ~2 weeks in a dark room, essentially blind. So doctors recommend I do not do Lasik. :(

ah bummer. yeah i had noticable dryness after mine, which went away only after a few months.

contacts are really dangerous, and i feel like this is not emphasized nearly enough. i didn't even realize that as a contacts-wearer until i started to research lasik (i learned that wearing contacts was more likely to end up causing me vision problems than lasik, which is what convinced me to get it).

Re: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming into Sharper Focus

#239

Post by ada1981 » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 6:49 PM UTC

hartator wrote: post #15

ada1981 wrote: post #13

I 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?

According to a text from my surgeon.

“LASEK is ASA or Advanced Surface Ablation. PRK is the old painful kind of surface ablation prone to scarring.”