
Two years after LASIK eye surgery - bemmu
http://www.bemmu.com/lasik-2-years-later
======
mikeash
I've been wearing glasses since I was 15 (found out I needed them when I
failed the eye exam for my driving learner's permit) and long thought about
LASIK. A few years ago I switched to contacts and since then the desire for
surgery is gone. Contacts are comfortable, I can stop any time they become a
problem, and only take up a minute of my day to put in and take out. And as my
eyes change, my prescription can change, so they're a bit more future proof.

Now, I don't mean to criticize people who choose LASIK at all. It's a deeply
personal choice, and what's right for me may not be what's right for you. I
just wanted to share this because I had previously overestimated the hassle of
contacts and I'm glad I gave them a try.

~~~
mdolon
As someone who had contacts and got LASIK later on, I would still highly
recommend considering it. For me, the deciding factors included 1) hassle of
putting on contacts, 2) ability to lose them when swimming and 3) lack of
access to new contacts when traveling or outdoors.

I've since found that my contact prescriptions were, apparently, never that
great, since after getting LASIK my vision feels noticeably better. The first
few days it felt like switching from 1080p to 4k, it was that significant. I
think it might have to do with how LASIK is done nowadays, where they make a
topographical map of your eye and adjust the curvature with extreme precision.
You just can't get that with contacts.

Anyways, it's been 2+ years for me too and I can truly say it was one of the
better life-changing decisions I've made.

~~~
T-hawk
LASIK patient here too, 8 years ago then at age 29, about 90% satisfied. Yes,
it is life-changing, especially for one such as me who couldn't tolerate
contacts. I played noticeably better in pickup sports games now that I could
move freely without always subtly adjusting to balance the glasses. My one
problem is persistent dryness, which is manageable with eyedrops but does
require keeping that with me.

My one particular miracle moment: stepping out of the shower, onto the scale,
and holy crap I can see the dial without squinting or bending! The other great
convenience is lying sideways on a couch watching TV without glasses digging
into your pillow.

That 4k vision is great but it's not permanent. Lasik doesn't stop your eyes
from changing, so it's now as if I'm wearing a contact prescription that's 8
years out of date. It's still perfectly fine for driving and should stay so
for several more years, but I do have trouble now with things like reading
signs from far across a train station. It's normal to need a Lasik redo or
lenses again after 10-20 years.

------
mattnewport
LASIK is definitely a contender for the best value purchase I've ever made. My
only regret after having it done is that I didn't get it years sooner. I think
you get used to the hassles and limitations of glasses and contacts and it's
not until you're freed from then that you realize what a pain they really
were.

I swam a lot as a kid but avoided it once my vision got bad and being able to
swim with complete freedom has made me rediscover the joy of being in the
water. I'd call that out too as a bigger than expected benefit. It's also a
big improvement over glasses or contacts for my favorite sport, snowboarding.

I can see slight haloing at night if I look for it but I find my night vision
for driving much improved relative to glasses or contacts and my memory is of
experiencing haloing and other worse artifacts at night with both so for me
this hasn't been a negative. Driving is probably the most demanding night
vision task I do and it's improved.

I was fortunate not to suffer any complications beyond dry eyes for the first
six months or so, something I also suffered from with daily contacts. During
that time I'd carry the little disposable moisturizing drops in my wallet but
I don't need them any more.

There are obviously risks of complications but when I looked into it at the
time it seemed that they were less over a ten year time frame than the
possible complications of contact lenses, worth considering when weighing up
the risks.

------
codysoyland
The thing that always bothered me about LASIK is that the flap never fully
heals. I considered doing PRK (an alternative procedure that omits the cutting
of the flap), but the healing time can take months. I was screened by an eye
surgeon who insisted LASIK is a superior procedure. Has anyone scientifically
compared the risk of LASIK vs. PRK?

~~~
buf
I've had PRK, and while the healing time is longer (you have to wait for your
eye's epithelium to grow back), the overall risk is less. There is no flap,
just a reshaped cornea.

You wear a contact lens for a week to prevent infection. And during the time
that you're healing (my case was about 5 days), you get to listen to a lot of
audiobooks.

edit: my surgery was 5 years ago and I've had no issues. Still see perfectly
today, although with my night vision, I sometimes question if I'm seeing
poorly, but I question my wife and she eases my worry by telling me she also
cannot see the dark-object-very-far-away-at-night.

------
batou
Off topic; does anyone know if there are any services that get rid of
floaters? I've got a nasty one right in the middle of my best eye and it is
very annoying. Has been there for two years and I haven't got used to it yet.

~~~
mharrison
I had a retina detachment earlier this year. My retina had torn and scarred on
the bottom of my eye and decided to detach while I was out of the country.
Recovery has been ok and I have 20/30 vision on that eye .... But that is with
staring at the letters for long enough until my brain has averaged the letter
out (the letters actually narrow and widen). I now have a permanent pinch in
the middle of my sight due to the retina not lying down perfectly flat. I will
have to deal with this as my doctor says this will not heal. It is not fun. If
I wear corrective lenses my eye tries to merge two images that aren't the same
size.

Anyway I'll stop ranting. One of the signs that you might be having tears
(precursor to detachment) is an increase of floaties in the eye. Also
nearsightedness (yes for to the eye shadow you have a higher chance of
detachment), and light flashes. If you are noticing more floaties you might
want to get out checked out.

~~~
batou
Sorry to hear this. Thanks for the warning - I'll get my eyes tested next
week!

------
sergiosgc
I did mine 9 years ago. Best decision of my life. Long term effects:

\- I suffered from the night halo effect for two years afterwards, but it went
away. Even then, I was happy having done the surgery.

\- I am more light-sensitive now than I was. I'm uncomfortable without
sunglasses in a bright summer day, something that didn't happen before. From
what I can tell I'm still in the normal light sensitivity band.

\- My eyes are drier now than before surgery. Again, not something that
affects day to day life. I notice it mostly when the eye gets irritated
somehow (after swimming in salty water or chlorinated water, after being in
smoky environments or being exposed to dust).

Doctors routinely downplay both the halo effect and the reduced tear
production. The halo effect is more common in high correction surgeries (my
correction was 3 dioptries myopic correction and 4(left) and 6(right)
asthigmatic correction, which is rather high).

If you have already reduced tear production, I'd advise against the surgery.
From people I know who did LASIK, that's the only relevant downside people
talk about. Having permanently dry eyes and permanent need for drops is worse
than wearing glasses.

It isn't painful, but I was uncomfortable for a couple weeks. For the first
couple of days it seemed I had a grain of sand in the eye (and I had to resist
the urge to scratch it out). On the plus side, recovery is very quick. I was
out and about on the day after, and working in front of a computer screen
three days after.

~~~
devy
9 years is a relative short term comparing to a normal human lifespan of 70-80
years.

------
amasad
Absolutely life changing. I have so many bad memories from growing up with the
burden of glasses. One of the worst is when my school took us to the beach for
a couple of days and I lost my glasses in the sea. For the rest of the trip (3
days) I wasn't able to be active, just sat at the beach, and worst of all I
was a burden on my friends. They had to walk me everywhere.

I'm so glad I got it done -- I did PRK -- but in recent years my vision
started deteriorating a little bit. It's not too bad though -- I passed the
DMV test. I hope it doesn't get worse than that. However, my understanding is
that I can do it again if I had too. Anyone here had to do it multiple times?

------
bstamour
I had my eyes zapped about six years ago, and it's been nothing but positive
for me. Like the author said, the procedure itself was painless (and very
fast, a few minutes per eye).

I had the surgery done early in the morning, and afterward slept through most
of the day to let my eyes heal. I woke up the next day and was able to read
car license plates across the street, where two days prior my vision was bad
enough that I couldn't make out facial features over an arm's length away
without my glasses.

I'll second the author: it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

------
jeremyronking
I had LASIK 15 years ago. I was saddened when I learned my vision has started
to decline from my eagle eyed 20/10 post surgery. It's currently around 20/40
right now, so I wear my glasses driving at night, bowling, and movie watching.
Part of the decline could be due to diabetes, but my ophthalmologist said it's
quite normal to experience regression as the LASIK population contributes more
empirical data.

I still think it's a tremendous value, even if it doesn't last forever. I may
go back for an adjustment some day...

------
noobermin
I remember getting glasses for the first time when I was 13. While I found the
better definition of far away objects nice (useful is a better word), I
actually found that I liked how the world looked (in an aesthetics way)
without glasses vs. with it...like I always liked how the trees[0] looked in
the afternoon sun but glasses sort of ruined it.

I would later learn about "impressionism"[1], and fall in love with those art
works. Apparently there are/were people out there who enjoyed seeing the
"impression" of something over its definition like I did. Today, my instagram
has a number of blurry photos.

EDIT: I should mention that my eyesight is not extremely terrible, and at that
age, my eyesight wasn't good enough to function, although I need glasses now
to drive, etc.

[0] I would learn later there is a word for it in Japanese, komorebi:
[http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/181055/english-
eq...](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/181055/english-equivalent-
of-komorebi-%E6%9C%A8%E6%BC%8F%E3%82%8C%E6%97%A5-sunshine-filtering-through-
leaves)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism)

------
bluedino
I had LASIK done 3 years ago, the cost was $6,000. It cost more than usual
because I had 'laser cut flaps' and the 'wavefront' option. My contact
prescription was around -9.00 in each eye.

Very simple procedure, I wish I had done it ten years ago. It was worth every
penny. I had halos at night for a few weeks afterwards, and my eyes are a
little bit dry to this day, but it's slowly gotten better. I used to have to
keep a bottle of eye drops at my desk but haven't even bought a bottle in a
few months.

I was happy with just using inexpensive daily wear contacts. But at some point
my eyes changed, one got a little worse than the other, and I had noticeable
astigmatism. This required me to get toric lenses and they were much, much
more expensive. Like $99 for 6 pair vs $29.99 for 50 pair.

Having worn thick glasses since the age of 7 it was a dream to finally not
have to wear them or deal with contacts any more. The only real complaint I
have is my vision is still pretty bad in low-light situations, and I can't
focus on anything that isn't at least 8" away. I used to be able to take my
glasses off and look at a part or something very close and see it quite well.

------
tdees40
I got LASIK four years ago. No haloing, and in general I'm really happy about
it. I did have vicious dry eyes for about six months, which was much worse
than it sounds, but it went away. Overall, I'm thrilled with the procedure,
and as I previously had terrible vision, it was legitimately life-changing.

~~~
jcfrei
How poor was your vision before?

~~~
tdees40
My prescription was approximately -8 in both eyes. I was a pretty fringe-y
candidate for the surgery and had to do the most expensive one (laser flap,
wavefront) to get it done.

------
scorpioxy
I got mine a couple of years ago too. It wasn't painless at all. In fact, the
first week sucked. And I developed light sensitivity although it went away
after 5 or so days.

I also suffered from dry eyes. Something that the doctor says rarely happens
but seems to happen more often than is being recorded(from personal research,
seems to happen when person suffers from high astigmatism). But it does
decrease within a few months and now I occasionally have to use the eye drops
to keep them hydrated so no big deal.

Regarding the blurry night vision, it happens sometimes to me. I noticed that
i notice it more when my eyes are more tired and less hydrated than usual.

Overall, I am also happy with the experience. The greatest thing about it is
enjoying the underwater views as mentioned.

------
malthaus
I did Relex Smile in Bangkok, Thailand 2 months ago and am very happy. Can
only recommend this procedure as it's quite uninvasive (at least compared to
the older approaches).

I've had all pre-exam checks & the surgery on one day and could work the next
day (after a beautiful 16h valium-induced sleep).

My left eye took a bit longer to adjust but now i'm fine and only really need
my eye drops when i wake up in the morning.

------
anotherevan
I’ve worn glasses since my mid-teens, and in my mid-forties now. I’m near
sighted but also have an astigmatism, so I pretty much need glasses to see
anything, be it close up or far away. I’ve also found contacts never really
worked well for me. On account of the astigmatism they have to be oriented at
just the right angle. They are usually weighted to help this, but I never
found them as good as my glasses for staring at my computer screen all day.
Too much squinting and dry eyes after a while.

I wear contacts occasionally when going out. (I’m fine putting them in, but
digging them out again at the end of the night I find difficult, probably
because I don’t wear them often enough to become adept.)

Having grown up before laser surgery was available, the thought of cutting up
your eyeball was pretty scary. The 3% dissatisfaction rate another comment
cited seems far too high a risk to me when talking about your eyes. And given
your prescription changes over time, it seems like an impermanent solution
with permanent side-effects.

But at the end of the day, I’m a risk-averse nerd. YMMV.

------
outworlder
I've always wanted to correct my eyes and was hoping for a story with a happy
ending this time but no, there's the halos!

I hate my glasses with a passion. Some form of allergy made my eye doctor tell
me I should stop using contacts. But still, I won't do LASIK(1). For a few
reasons.

First, there's this thought of having a software-controlled laser beam digging
pits in the cornea. And pits they are, it's not like the laser pulses create a
smooth surface, we are long ways away from that.

Second, there's the corneal flap, which never fully heals.

Third, related to the second point, there's the fact that the cornea is cut
and some nerves are permanently damage, which could create a dry eye
condition. Apparently people commit suicide over that. And my eyes are not
that moist to begin with, AC already bothers them.

Reason four is the fact that, even if 100% successful and a 20/20 results is
achieved, your vision can still be really poor. Halos are just one of many
(common!) conditions that aren't really correctable and you'll have to live
with forever.

Last, LASIK surgeries are rather new. The first LASIK patients should be now
reaching old age. And the first generation LASIK equipment was pretty poor, so
any problems they have are blamed on that. But what if I do a LASIK today, and
have really nasty complications as I age? They are unlikely to be corrected.

Does anyone remember that procedure where surgeons would cut the patient's eye
radially to try to correct nearsightedness? Some of those patients tried LASIK
later, with really poor results due to a weak cornea. Not to mention the nasty
complications. That procedure sounds barbaric now.

I just hope LASIK won't be seen like that too in a few years.

[1] I'm still on the fence about LASEK. Recovery is reportedly horrible, but
at least there's no deep corneal cutting.

~~~
briane80
I had the LASEK (also called PRK) and the recovery isn't as bad as it sounds.
The next day was painful and I had patchy vision for a few days afterwards but
within a week there was no discomfort at all and my vision was fine. (It does
take a month or 2 to settle down but your vision is competely fine during this
period).

It does have the advantage of less risk due to no cutting and allowing natural
regrowth of the removed upper layer of cornea.

The procedure itself lasts about 10 mintues for both eyes. You lie down and
they put numbing drops in your eyes and wait a minute. Then the alcohol paste
(for removing the top layer of the cornea) is rubbed on to your eye with what
looked like an eyeliner brush. This was the only uncomfortable bit of the
procedure - even then it wasn't physical as you cannot feel it, it was more
just the idea of it.

A few minutes later they apply the laser; this is over in a matter of seconds
for each eye. Now with the expensive procedure I opted for (called wavefront)
they do a 3D mapping of your eye and program that into the laser so it's not a
random shot. Also the laser tracks any eye movement at 200 times per second.

The LASEK carries less chance and severity of halos (according to studies I
believe are referenced in wikipedia). I have them but they are hardly
noticable.

------
stuff4ben
Interested to know for everyone who has had it, how old they were when they
got it done and how old they are now? I'm curious if there's an age factor
involved. I'm a 40 year old male with not too bad uncorrected eyesight and a
little astigmatism.

~~~
jdkeller
I got it done when I was 22 (The Navy paid for it) and my vision was
considered severe low vision[0] and an astigmatism. I am 28 now and I have no
problems (last test I was 20/15). I was told, however, that my vision would
might start to taper off around 40 (I may need reading glasses), but I am sure
it varies for everyone.

[0] [http://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/caring-for-your-
visio...](http://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/caring-for-your-vision/low-
vision?sso=y)

------
manuelflara
I had LASIK 7 years ago, for free actually (luckily my company's health
insurance covered it if your sight was as bad as mine). I do see as well as I
saw with glasses, so not having to bother with them has been amazing. But I
never saw that well with glasses, and I see the same now. By this I mean I
still use more zoom on my screen than anyone I know, for example. Otherwise it
isn't comfortable. I've gone to the doctor and there isn't any problem with my
eye, nor glasses would help, so maybe it's a problem somewhere. Anyone else
have this problem? It isn't a huge one, but it would be great to see as well
as most people do (wearing glasses or not).

~~~
wasyl
How bad was your eyesight, then? I'm curious, I heard LASIK effects are weaker
when you have smaller defect (~2 diopters)

~~~
manuelflara
IIRC I had 5 diopters in one eye, 6 in the other (not sure if that's how you
measure eyesight in the US, I'm from Spain). I was farsighted (I've heard
shortsightness is healed better with LASIK?) and had some astigmatism as well.

------
iN7h33nD
So I am 23 and have a large astigmatism and a -9 prescription in both eyes. I
used to wear contacts but gave it up because they were more hassle than they
were worth for me. I was constantly dealing with dry eyes, and shifting
vision. Now I use glasses but I have trouble driving at night. I have thought
about LASIK and even though the risk is low, I feel that I would rather deal
with the problems I have now instead of new ones. Are there any other
procedures other than LASIK that are recommended? Would I even be a candidate
for LASIK with such bad eyes?

~~~
cholantesh
PRK is has a higher success rate, albeit with a longer recovery time (IIRC,
about a month). There's also ICL, where, to put it simply, a ontact lens is
implanted behind your cornea, though it's not really worth it if your
prescription is -9, which is pretty midrange...everyone on my mom's side of
the family is blind as a bat; my grandpa has a prescription of -15 in both
eyes, same as my uncle. I'm sitting at -13 now and I'm 26 so I will probably
never beat their high score.

------
yason
I've been wearing glasses since I was seven and I've never felt they're
particularly annoying or cumbersome. (I swim and ride a motorcycle, so
potentially I might be.) Therefore, I don't really need to think at all
whether a surgery might be a good choice. This means that, I'm kind of
_blessed with being perfectly happy with what I have_ , for once. Now that I
read the article and the comments below, that feeling is priceless.

------
ThrustVectoring
The biggest benefit I've found from getting LASIK is the astigmatism
correction. Specifically, it basically instantly made me more physically
coordinated.

------
briane80
Got it done September 2013 and overall very happy.

I had poor eyesight (-4.5) and astigmatism in one eye.

Cost £3000 for the top end surgery (3D mapping etc.) also due to my thin
cornea I had to have the PRK rather than LASIK. This took longer to recover
and was very uncomfortable for a few days after.

I now have 20/20 vision though I do have a slight halo effect at night and
very dry eyes most mornings but this will hopefully clear up like many others
have.

Edit - I had the PRK procedure.

~~~
Numberwang
Where did you do yours?

~~~
briane80
Optical Express in Belfast

------
meapix
I went to a clinic to get a quote, as soon as they analyzed my eyes and we get
to paper work, the lady wanted to sell me stuff. You're playing with my life
with money, I never returned. For those who want to do this, either RUN or
look for insurance policy in case you can't see anymore. I'll live with
glasses for now.

------
kgtm
Slightly unrelated, but has anyone developed floaters (moving or static) in
their eyes (late 20s)? I find them quite irritating, especially on solid
light-colored backgrounds, not to mention the white background on most apps.

I'm slightly worried about them, especially if it means i will develop more as
i get older...

~~~
outworlder
Black-ish floaters? There's a discussion on those in this thread.

Floaters usually move. If they are static, they may be something else.

It's common and normal to develop floaters. What is NOT normal is to develop a
bunch of them very suddenly. That could mean many things, such as possible
retinal detachment. Which is a very common Google search result, but uncommon
otherwise.

If you are worried, get your eyes checked. I did, as part of my checkups. My
doctor told me that she had one, she couldn't see mine, but that she sometimes
had to move her eyes to make sure it was a floater in the patient's eye and
not hers :)

Just include add this conversation at your next eye doctor visit but don't
worry about it. Floaters can appear and disappear with time and can become
more frequent as you age.

~~~
kgtm
Indeed, i see the other posts now. Must have taken off while i was writing my
reply! :/

I have been to the doctor, he wasn't able to see mine either. I think i might
pay another visit.

By static, i mean their position relative in the eye, they do follow my
tracking. Otherwise, they roam around mostly free, and blinking a couple of
times pushes them outwards and out of my way.

------
gambiting
My Dad had LASIK done few years ago and he said that while his daytime vision
improved to being perfect, his nighttime vision while driving actually
worsened - he said that the halos around bright lights were so distracting
that he would rather not drive at night if he absolutely doesn't have to.

~~~
dmarcelino
I had LASIK done some 10 years ago and I experience the same halos. It's quite
annoying and disturbing. Not only that, the positive effects of the operation
are not permanent. 3 years ago my vision worsen and I had my eyes checked
discovering my myopia was back with 0.5 dioptres. The worst part was that the
doctor said it was usual for people operated with LASIK to experience the same
7/8 years after the operation. My advice is don't do it, the short term
improvements are not worth the long term issues.

BTW, have you ever noticed that many ophthalmologists wear glasses? I wonder
why...

------
AYBABTME
Had it 11 years ago and I've had no issues at all. Sometimes I think my vision
is deteriorating but then vision tests confirm that it's just paranoia.

I recommend it to everyone, it's one of the best decisions I've made.

------
richerlariviere
Did you have "dry eyes" symptoms after your surgery? For some persons (like
me), they can't have this treatment because it can damage lacrimal glands. My
eyes are naturally to dry to try this securely.

~~~
bemmu
Maybe sometimes. I was unsure whether to mention it, because I'm not totally
sure it's because of the eye surgery, as I only feel it on days after using
sleep medication, so I figured it was more likely to be a side effect from
that (or perhaps an interaction).

------
jchernan
When I made the appointment in the LASIK center, I did it through QualSight
LASIK instead of directly with the center. That center offered discounted
rates if booked through QualSight.

------
phantarch
I went ahead and read his post about the actual process of getting the surgery
and I think that's scared me off of it forever. It's not an invasive
procedure, but just the thought of being strapped down and having my eyes
mechanically restrained so a miniature band saw can slice pieces of them off
is absolutely terrifying. I'm sure the doctors are all qualified for the most
part and it's well within reasonable safety parameters, but even with sedation
I would be incredibly anxious.

Is there a similar procedure to LASIK where they can put you completely under?
Or can they do that with LASIK too?

~~~
davio
My LASIK was all laser, so the flap was cut with a laser instead of the
microkeratome. My doctor gives you a Valium before the surgery.

Total time in the surgery chair was 6 minutes. First laser cuts, doctor opens
the flap, second laser does the correction, doctor closes it up. Repeat for
the other eye. Freakiest part is when they open the flap up and your vision
goes completely hazy.

I was a long time contact wearer, so I was squeamish about having my eyes
touched. I think it would be a lot more uncomfortable for someone who only
wears glasses.

Best $4k I've ever spent. I had halos for a couple of days but no discomfort.
For a couple of years, the reflective letters on highway signs seemed WAY TOO
BRIGHT, but that's gone away now too.

------
blrgeek
11 years ago. Good results. Halo-ing is present, although not a big problem.

I do think my vision is deteriorating a bit now. Although not enough to need
glasses yet.

~~~
vog
It may be worth mentioning that the Halo-ing is also present with contact
lenses, at least for large lens strengths.

~~~
blrgeek
Didn't know that! Had -8.5 but never wore contacts. Friend of mine had a
severe allergic reaction to contacts, and was advised to never wear them
again, and I was scared off of them.

------
baakss
LASIK cost me about $3500 in Texas at the best place I could find.

It is easily the best money I have ever spent. I highly recommend it if you're
a candidate.

------
sigzero
LASIK (all laser), no pain, no halo. One of the best decisions I've made.

------
devy
I feel that the author may end up regretting spoke too soon. The long term
effect on human eyes after LASIK has not been studies enough as the technology
has only been around for a few decades, much shorter than a normal human
lifespan.

------
igvadaimon
I had one 7 years ago, never looked back.

~~~
nacnud
Was that because it worked, or because you couldn't? :)

~~~
meapix
He never looked back, he didn't even try :P

------
ekianjo
Note that LASIK is not recommended if you have any kind of inflammation in
your body.

------
WorldWideWayne
I wish there was a common procedure to remove these damn floaters from my
eyeballs. Ever since I was a kid, they've been there, floating around and
making me see things that aren't there. I think there's one place in the USA
that removes them but I'd have to travel to another state to do it and since
it's not very common I'm not sure I want to risk my eyes on that one.

------
anti-shill
ah, the power of propaganda over homo sapiens...when we they learn that
medicine is a business?

~~~
meapix
Exactly, people think it's about ethics, it's not, it's a pure dollar making
machine.

