has anyone had laser eye surgery?

[mtowngman]

I'm thinking about doing it this summer.

Today I forgot my glasses for work and had to use a co-workers' who wasn't there and keeps a pair in her drawer. Made for a tough day and has me thinking more about doing this.

[AirmensMom]

1. Yep.

Harleydad and I both had it done. Happy with the results.

But don't expect to escape reading glasses if/when you're over 40 unless you get "monovision" which I couldn't tolerate (one eye sees near and one sees distance).

[mtowngman]

2. Oh, that's exactly what I'm trying to get away from

My distance vision is just fine, so I went to progressive lens glasses, which I thought were great just expensive and I'm pretty rough with things like that, so after destroying a couple of 300 dollar pairs, I figured I'd just use readers.

[AirmensMom]

3. Can't get away from it.

I wear progressive lens glasses now, not for distance, but for reading and sunglasses. It's easier to just have them on my face all the time than to take them off, switch them, etc. My glasses used to be very thick and heavy, so it's a big improvement. I can get any frames I want because my lenses are so thin.

[mtowngman]

4. From what you're telling me it sounds like going back to progressives is

the best option, just need to be more careful with them. Thanks.:hi:

[AirmensMom]

12. That's exactly what I'm saying.

And add Transition so you always have sunglasses on when you need them. If you have no excuse to take them off your face, they will fare much better. ;) :hi:

[leftyclimber]

5. Had LASIK 9 years ago.

Still wear glasses.

But the objective was to get me out of hard contacts, which worked. I save about $700 every other year on glasses and contacts (last pre-LASIK glasses $720, pre-LASIK contacts about $225, versus $150 every other year now for glasses). So from an economic standpoint (and not having to wear RGP contacts) it was worth it.

If it's only for reading vision, they'd do one eye and leave the other eye alone. You'd have to retrain your brain to do distance out of the un-done eye and reading out of the done eye. Reading glasses would be cheaper.

I'm one of the 5% who had complications (posterior vitreous detachment -- I have a very high likelihood of retinal detachment and have to have an annual exam to make sure my retinas aren't falling off), so I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole thing. YMMV.

[mtowngman]

6. Thanks, it is just for reading

and if monovision is the only option, I'll probably pass on it.

[blue neen]

7. Laser eye surgery was one of the smartest things I ever did.

I am extremely near-sighted...Contact lenses were -7.5! I had been wearing Contacts for 34 years, and my eyes were actually starting to deteriorate.

I chose to have the monovision done. The left eye is for reading and the right eye is for distance. It took about 6 weeks for my brain to adjust to that, but now both reading and distance are automatic. No reading glasses, and I am 53!

If someone is very near-sighted, the laser surgery does not take away the risk of detached retinas. I've had a hole in one retina and a tear and hemorrhage in the other, both corrected with emergency surgery.

[ashling]

8. You mean opthamalogic "arc welding"

I've never had lasik, but I have had tears to the retina which were then tacked down with laser. over 150 laser bursts to both eyes.

[Generic Brad]

9. You're getting laser eyes?

Cool.

[Flying Dream Blues]

10. I did monovision lasik surgery and I love it. No glasses whatsoever, for the first

time since age 8. The best money I've ever spent.
Good luck!

[kedrys]

11. All my eye doctors in the past 15 years have worn glasses

That tells me something. ;)

I wear contacts, and my eyes are corrected for monovision. Since my vision keeps improving (don't ask, nobody knows why), I don't want anything that requires more of a touch-up than a new prescription.