Another LASIK thread

[whysman]

I've considered going the LASIK route for some time but until recently I never really "needed" to pull the trigger on getting it done. I'll explain...

I have glasses for distance vision that I have used since college. Back then I only wore them if I was in a large auditorium to see what was being written on the whiteboard or (gasp) chalkboard. The prescription has changed over the years but it wasn't until last year that I really noticed how much. Now, these "distance" glasses are used more and more.

I've read a few posts here when searching for "LASIK" and was able to gather some good info. The question now is what procedure? I realize this is a personal thing and varies greatly on the individual. It will certainly be something I discuss in great detail with the optometrist. My starting position is to get a procedure that mimics my glasses (distance vision) realizing that up close viewing might suffer. I am wary of having one eye for close vision and the other for distance as I have read about.

As an F Class shooter, I would like to hear about your experiences with LASIK and looking through a scope.

Thanks for any input you may have.

 

[JohnKielly]

Don't know how old you are, and I have no information on the effectiveness of Lasik, but when it came time to blow away both lenses in my eyes because of cataracts ,my ophthalmologist thanked me for not having laser surgery as in his words, it's near impossible to prescribe a replacement lens accurately. Apparently on "normal" eyes, the lens can be calculated by measuring the depth of the eye & they did that with several different methods, but once you change your cornea from plano to a prescription, that might not be as readily or accurately achieved.

As it happened, I opted for full distance vision lenses for both eyes (one for the scope & one for the flags). The master eye turned out ¼ dioptre out & the other spot on. That was fine considering those lenses come in ½ dioptre jumps & as I still have astigmatism, I correct both in my right eye with my shooting glasses.

 

[Sniper338]

I know lots of leople that have got it done and no problems.

Buddy at work just did it this week. $3900, 14 minute procesure, 7 min each eye. Went to sleep after the surgery, wole up and was fine no issues.. he said the first hour it kinda felt scratchy... but cleared up fast..

 

[Auto-X Fil]

It took me a long time (10 years) to finally sack up and do it. I am very risk-averse when it comes to something like vision, so I wanted to be safe. I waffled between LASIK and LASEK, and chose LASIK. It worked out, but I wish I'd gone LASEK in hindsight.

LASIK offers faster initial recovery (back at work the next day), but side-effects linger for months, and potential complications exists. LASEK takes a couple days to get back at it, but you heal 100% much faster.

In LASIK the doc cuts a flap, lifts it up, and then zaps your cornea. Then he folds the flap back down and you go home. The epithelial tissue on top of the cornea (just a few cells thick) grows back over top with a couple days. Fluid buildup in the cornea from the trauma dissipates over many months, and side-effects like itching, dry eyes, double-vision, etc. will go away over that 3-12mo timeframe. However, the cornea usually never completely heals since there's no blood in it. Theoretically you could have trauma to the eye that displaces the flap and causes issues.

In PRK, an alcohol solution is used to dissolve the epithelial tissue, exposing the cornea. Re-growing the entire epithelial surface takes a long time and it's uncomfortable, but there's no flap.

LASEK is a combo of the two. They use a soft spatula-like device to push the epithelial tissue to the side, and then laser-shape the cornea. Then, the tissue is replaced, where it can heal back into position. Because it was peeled off and stuck back on, this is slower than LASIK (you might want to take 1-3 days off work, instead of just an afternoon), but there's no flap to cause side-effects and complications that last years or months. Absolutely worst-case, the flap doesn't stick and the doc pulls it, giving you PRK-like recovery (this is very rare, and still heals up 100% long-term).

In other words, LASIK is a bit of a shortcut, trading long-term (3-12 month) annoyances for being back on your feet the next day. PRK was a tougher pill to swallow, but LASEK offers a best-of-both-worlds option, with only a day or two of down-time, but also without the corneal flap side-effects and possible complications.

At the time, LASIK was great as I went away the next day and was fully active. But it didn't take long before I worried about flap displacement, and was annoyed by double-vision and halos at night. That's all gone now, but in hindsight I'd have gladly traded that one weekend for the ~1year of annoyance as it healed up, plus my continued concerns that if I catch something in the eye, I might displace the flap.

 

[Tim Singleton]

I had the PRK
10 years ago ended up out of work for a week wasn't prepared for that.
Alcohol to burn melt away tissue from cornea that has to re grow
Totally dark room for days.

Now after that week all has been great 20-20 vision until about a year ago
I'm just turning 50 things are a changing

 

[LarryDScott]

I had Lasik about 4yrs ago. I see fine at a distance, but have to
use readers. For several yrs before the surgery, I couldn't wear
glasse w/o getting a headache. The Drs. thought it was due to the cataracts. After the surgery, wearing readers over 10 min still gives me the headache. I recommend the surgery to clear your night time vision driving issues. I hope you like wearing sunglasses, because after surgery they will be your best friend.
It worked for me, it was quick, painless, but I do have dry eyes as a result. LDS

 

[nmkid]

I was 55 when I had LASIK done. I had dry eyes before and after. My night vision went totally out the window!! Halos around lights continue to be a problem. The first operation lasted almost 10 years. What a joy to trample up and down mountains looking for elk without having to worry about fogged over glasses. Now at 71 I've had cataract surgery and lens implants and my vision has remained stable. I opted for both implants for distance. From about 10' out everything starts to focus perfect. However, the focus adjustments on all my scopes is about maxed out because of the distance. The reason I mention the scope, "problem" is it might be a consideration as to whether or not a person gets the scope eye done for a different distance from the other eye. My brother-in-law went, close and distance and he loves it. Besides it's not like you can't see at a distance with the "close up eye" because your dominant eye will take over. Enough. Good luck with your choice.

 

[tuttlefarm]

I had mine done in 2004 at the age of 48........ I could not see close or at a distance. My sight has remained very good at a distance, but have started to wear cheaters for reading some fine print. Procedure is fast, my eyes are very light sensitive and I wear sunglasses when outside (I do live in AZ)........ One of the best things I have ever done, no regrets.

 

[CharlieNC]

I'm 67 and had lasik over 10 years ago, at which time the technology advanced to address my astigmatism. Results have been great. I wore bifocals, and reading vision is worse. To get an idea, put on your distance glasses and try reading, and thats about what post lasik will look like. I can load a gun and bait a hook without readers so my outdoor activities are good to go. In terms of shooting, I wear the lowriding readers so I can read my dope and dial scope adjustments. So this does not affect my Fclass shooting as this is infrequent.

 

[sawcarver]

I am 34 years old and I had it done at 26. Before I was blind as a bat without my glasses, had astigmatism and a tort too. Surgery took about 40 minutes, I felt like I had really bad welders flash for about a day but even walking out of surgery I could see! I remember reading all the signs on the walls without my glasses. I had my surgery done by U of Michigan, it was the best $4k I've ever spent. I dont have dry eyes or halos, nor do I have any issues looking through a scope. The doctor said when I get older I may need reading glasses because that's just normal as one gets older.

Again best $4k I've ever spent

 

[bdale]

I've considered going the LASIK route for some time but until recently I never really "needed" to pull the trigger on getting it done. I'll explain...

I have glasses for distance vision that I have used since college. Back then I only wore them if I was in a large auditorium to see what was being written on the whiteboard or (gasp) chalkboard. The prescription has changed over the years but it wasn't until last year that I really noticed how much. Now, these "distance" glasses are used more and more.

I've read a few posts here when searching for "LASIK" and was able to gather some good info. The question now is what procedure? I realize this is a personal thing and varies greatly on the individual. It will certainly be something I discuss in great detail with the optometrist. My starting position is to get a procedure that mimics my glasses (distance vision) realizing that up close viewing might suffer. I am wary of having one eye for close vision and the other for distance as I have read about.

As an F Class shooter, I would like to hear about your experiences with LASIK and looking through a scope.

Thanks for any input you may have.

Don't know how old you are and this doesn't help with info regarding using a scope but I will say this, I wear glasses and my last visit to the eye doctor resulted in a pair of glasses that I can read part of the 2015 line, best I've had in a while. With that said my brother had cataract surgery and as we were sitting together one day I noticed he could see things at distance and distinguish numbers and letters much quicker than myself. I could see them but had to study them for a moment.

 

[Bbear]

I grew up nearly blind in my left eye due to near-sightedness and severe astigmatism. My right eye was only marginally better. Coke-bottle glasses were the norm. When I was 42, I had LASIK done on both eyes. The next morning I could barely read the large print on the newspaper but my distant vision was amazing!
On my 6 month check-up, the doc did an eye test and figured that my left eye was now 20-25 (I see things at 20' the way a 20-20 person sees them at 25') and my right eye was 20-15! I stopped by and picked up a pair of 1x magnification cheaters (aka reading glasses) and went on.
I'm now 58. I still use the 1x cheaters and my eyesight has stayed at 20-25 and 20-15. Immediately after the surgery, I went about 6 months with 'stars' around all of the lights at night. My eyes dried out fairly quickly. I now only use eye drops in the afternoons/evenings or when spending long hours on the computer.
Best $$ I ever spent.

 

[rifleman700]

I've considered going the LASIK route for some time but until recently I never really "needed" to pull the trigger on getting it done. I'll explain...

I have glasses for distance vision that I have used since college. Back then I only wore them if I was in a large auditorium to see what was being written on the whiteboard or (gasp) chalkboard. The prescription has changed over the years but it wasn't until last year that I really noticed how much. Now, these "distance" glasses are used more and more.

I've read a few posts here when searching for "LASIK" and was able to gather some good info. The question now is what procedure? I realize this is a personal thing and varies greatly on the individual. It will certainly be something I discuss in great detail with the optometrist. My starting position is to get a procedure that mimics my glasses (distance vision) realizing that up close viewing might suffer. I am wary of having one eye for close vision and the other for distance as I have read about.

As an F Class shooter, I would like to hear about your experiences with LASIK and looking through a scope.

Thanks for any input you may have.

I had Lasik 10 years ago and am only now needing readers. It has not affected my use of a scope at all except for illuminated or red dot scopes. The illumination shows as a star burst except at very low brightness level and I have no problems with this since most of my scope use is magnified non illuminated. I do not use the illumination in any of my magnified scopes anyway but do use two red dot sights on an AR and a rimfire. And they did tell me this before the Lasik that I would have this star burst issue so there was no surprises.

 

[jsn]

Watch out for any laser eye surgery.

Homer Simpson went blind twenty years after his surgery. I saw it on an episode of the Simpson's.

 

[BrushyHillGuide]

Best thing I ever did for myself!

 

[nmkid]

Watch out for any laser eye surgery.

Homer Simpson went blind twenty years after his surgery. I saw it on an episode of the Simpson's.

WRONG!! He went blind from doing something else!!!

 

[XTR]

I had my LASIK done 14 yrs ago. Before the procedure I was -6.00/-6.25 my max clear focal distance with out correction was about 18 inches. My glasses were limited to small lenses due to thickness at the edges, and at 42 my eyes were drying out and getting really unhappy with contact wear.

At the time I was beginning to have trouble with close vision when I had my contacts in, after lasik it was definitely more noticeable.

I don't notice night vision issues often. If I think about it, when I am sitting at a traffic light, if I look directly at the light I will notice a slight halo around the light, so I do have some haloing but it isn't something I notice.

I'm 56 now. I am pretty sure my vision has slipped down to about 20-30 these days. One eye is better than the other, I wear 2.0 readers from walmart for computer work, my near vision plane is pretty far out there, so iron sights are not happening. Scoped rifles are no problem for me (I'm even going to try service rifle this yr I think)

I may go have a re-adjustment one day, right now but it's definitely not a priority yet.

Still think it was one of the best decisions I ever made.