My turn for new eyes

[sergeant69]

read a thread here a while back about guys getting lasik (sp) surgery for their tired old eyes. am out recovering from back surgery and thought what the hell, why not now. i have to qualify 2X a year at work and its getting BAD find the sites and the target at the same time. the dr. today said i wasn't aiming, i was guessing. anyway, fri i go and get it done. hope it works as good for me as it did for you guys. he said no reason not to expect around 20/20 and then use reading glasses, maybe. so, we'll see.

[MtGun44]

A friend got some about a year ago where the lenses are flexible and hooked up to your
focussing muscles. He says in good light he needs no reading glasses at all now (took some
practice to teach his focussing muscles to work again) and only 1.5 diopters in very poor
light for reading, 20-20 at distance. He is just super happy with his. Seems like he said
they were called "Crystal Eyes" or something similar.

Good luck, even the fixed focus kind made a big difference for my mother. She said that
the brownish and dingey vision in her un-modified eye was surprising until she had the
second one done a few months later. She told me that besides having perfect sharp vision,
colors were much brighter and more beautiful to look at. Sounds like a heck of a deal.

Bill

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

I had both eyes done back in '97 no more glasses for me, however my eyes are more sensitive to lights at night, and I'm no longer able to focus up close (under 6") My distance is not as clear as I remember but I have a CDL and get my eyes tested every two years one is 20/20, other is 20/25!

[nanuk]

MtGun44: sounds like Catarac surgery.

I'm on the "Long Wait" list for that... probably in 5 -10 years or so

[songdog53]

My best friend had his done couple of years ago and finally rid of heavy glasses plus can see at distance. All he has to have now is part of reading glasses but then i have had to have them since my arms got too short of they made print way too small.

[AaronJ]

Had mine done last year went from 20/200 to 20/15. It was one of the best things i have done and would recomend it to anyone who is a good canidate.

[sergeant69]

actually had it done in the 80's but started having problems recently and dr. said last week my left eye was done wrong. so went to an eye surgeon and he agreed. said i am in a fix it or lose it (vision) type situation so tomorrow they won't recut the flaps but will "grind/shave" to shape both eyes correctly. said to expect issues such as lite sensitivity etc anywhere from a week to 6 months but will be fine soon enough. sure tired a getting hacked on though!

[white eagle]

had both mine done awhile(years)ago
best thing I ever did
nice to open your eyes in the morn and see without glasses or putting
contacts in
you will love it

[sergeant69]

well...got it done. first night was about as bad as it gets. bear in mind i didn't get the flap cut etc. that was done years ago. i got the equivalent of "sanding" the eyeballs to shape. so instead of one cut to heal i had lots, on both eyes. had it done 2 PM last fri. was back in his office for first check up sat 8 AM. he told me fri after it was done that the right eye took 7 seconds and left 37 seconds, and that i was gonna hate him when the meds wore off. went in sat and told him ur right i hate you! he just laughed and said tell me how you feel thurs. when next appt. is. i just may kiss him! by monday i could do something i haven't been able to do since i was a kid with coke bottle glasses. i can actually sight down a pistol bbl. and SEE the front sight and target. you have no idea how huge that is! to read i have to use my wifes 1x power (?) $1 reading glasses but i am typing this bare eyed. i keep looking for my glasses b4 i go to do anything and realize i don't need em. still have contacts soaked in antibiotics on but he will take em off tomorrow. hope nothing changes when he does that. he said they are non corrective so i don't think anything will change. in fact he said vision will improve over the next 6 months. if it gets any better i may wind up w/x-ray vision and since i live close to the beach and summers almost here and the bikini babes show up........!!!!

[Ajax]

Awesome Sargeant. glad to hear it worked for you.

Andy

[MtGun44]

Vision is such a gift, the technologies that we have today to fix and improve it are just
awesome. Congratulations on your new vision! How wonderful.

Are you aware that there is only one kind of surgery that has been getting steadily cheaper
and better over the last 15-20 yrs? Vision correction surgery. Why? Because many/most
insurance plans didn't cover it, so it was a NORMAL marketplace where price and performance
are judged by the customer and there is actual competition. Unlike the rest of our health
care when most of us have little idea what the price is and don't care because someone else
is paying. Works, but little incentive for efficiency and cost savings, so all cost is very high.

Well - congratulations again on your improved vision.

Bill

[sergeant69]

yea, the government stayed out of it and private industry made it work. what a novel idea! i was gonna go give em (my eyes) a test run at a private range today but its in the 20's and the wind is blowing. not gonna push my luck at this stage of the game.

[Smoke-um if you got-um]

I agree it's amazing what can be done today. My father was legally blind for almost 12 yrs. 2 yrs ago he had cornea transplants and can now see well enough to drive with special glasses. First time he looked in the mirror he laughed and told us he'd forgot how ugly he was....... It was a special day for all of us.

Mike

[44fanatic]

The Army did Lasik on my eyes back in 2005. One of the best things Ive ever done. No more fogging glasses, able to wear sunglasses (just a little light sensitive now).

When it comes time to weed eat, make sure you are wearing glasses. Eyes will be a bit easier to injure.

[lyktohunt]

Had mine done about 5 years ago, its been great. I had the option of getting one eye done for distance and one for close up but chose the conventional correction for distance only The doc said with the two part operation it was sometimes a bit of comprimise and might not have perfect results for far vision . The brain very quickly adjusts to having both eyes corrected differently. One fellow who is a mechanic had the two part done and said it works great, no more having to put glasses on and of while monkey wrenching the cars

[AaronJ]

I know what you mean sergeant I looked for my glasses every morning for a month after having my eyes done.

[mpmarty]

I'm 72 yrs old. I don't wear glasses except for 1.25X reading glasses. How does one know if they need this operation?

[white eagle]

I'm 72 yrs old. I don't wear glasses except for 1.25X reading glasses. How does one know if they need this operation?
start walking into things [smilie=f:
tripping over yer feet [smilie=b:
when I turn 72 I just hope I am in as good as shape ;)
good news sarge
glad it worked for ya
MTgun44 you hit the nail on the head

[Poygan]

mpmarty - I really noticed it when stop lights at night had tremendous flair. A few years prior during an eye exam, the doc said I had the start of cataracts. After the first eye was done, I immediately noticed how bright everything was and that whites were vividly white again! That eye was now 20-15.
The second eye was done about six weeks later and came out at 20-25. Naturally that was within spec for the doctor. The good news is that I can see to read with that eye with good light and, more importantly, I can see the front sight on pistols. Usually I use cheap reading glasses to read books and do anything close up. I also had a set made that corrects the 20-25 eye but I normally don't wear them. Its so nice being glasses free.
This was about two years ago. At that time, there were three types of multifocal implants but they would cost me an additional $1700 per eye. I'm glad I went the fixed focal route because if they can screw that up, I wouldn't want to see the result with multifocals. BTW, the doctor is very well respected in the community. Its the office staff that take the eye measurements that were off for the one eye.
Medicare paid most of the cost but wouldn't cover the multifocals.
I would do it again in a heartbeat!

[mpmarty]

Guess I'll have to wait a while yet. I can still see the sights and pretty much know where my feet are going.

[AZ-Stew]

I had Lasik about 10 years ago. My contacts were starting to injure my corneas and prescription glasses (20-400+) caused so much distortion that it made me nauseous. I now have 20-15 in the right eye, and something else in the left eye. I can drive quite well without glasses, but need readers for my work and for reading. Had a H--- of a time convincing the eye doctor NOT to make the reading glasses only for 8-15 inch distance vision. I need them stretched out to about 30 inches to work. He wanted to give me two sets, one for close and one for medium distance, but to me, that's stupid. One set works quite well if they're set to the right distance. I just had to convince the Dr. He claims that I was seeing at different distances with each eye. Well, whatever.

I wish they had gotten the left eye corrected as well as the right. The Dr. says they'll be able to make the final correction when I get cataract surgery in 5-10 years. They'll make the lens to correct for the improperly Lasik-corrected cornea.

It's a great time we live in, being able to get precision surgeries such as these to correct what millenniums of folks before us had to suffer with.

Regards,

Stew

[khamill2000]

The only down side I noticed to my Lasik was that my dominant eye seemed to switch from my right eye (20/25) to my left eye (20/20)

[AZ-Stew]

The only down side I noticed to my Lasik was that my dominant eye seemed to switch from my right eye (20/25) to my left eye (20/20)

Ditto in reverse. I'd always been left eye dominant until I had Lasik. Now I'm right dominant. The brain is an amazingly adaptable machine.

Regards,

Stew

[sergeant69]

well i finally got to take em out for a test drive. took the MP 40 cal and 300 180 gr cast and popped em off in the wind and sun. never felt a thing uncomfortable. sunglasses off or on, still saw sites/targets clear as could be. was amazing! haven't been able to do that since i was a kid w/the coke bottle glasses. dr. says i'm at 20/20 and 20/25 now and expects to go to 20/15 soon. we use a small screen GPS in the truck when needed and have to either hold it up to face or let passenger do it. used it yesterday mounted it on the dash and might as well of had a magnifying glass in front of it. wife was scrolling thru the directory on the cordless phone last nite looking for a # and finally just handed it to me to find. i could not only clearly read the infor. but could make out small nuances in the letters. is this how "normal" people see?

[bbqncigars]

Good for you, sarge. The only bad thing about Lasik is that I didn't get it sooner. I went from 20-450 to 20-20. Yeah, I still need the OTC reading glasses (1.50) for up close, but other than that, I'm FREE! No more crappy vision in outdoor precipitation. No more virtual blindness through lens fogging. Best of all: no more divot in the bridge of my nose from damned thick glass lenses. Modern medicine is wonderful!