I was considering getting lasik… but now I’m not sure. I have astigmatism (I think high), but my glasses prescription is relatively low. (I don’t know the exact number, I’ve just been told I don’t need a whole lot of correction.)
After talking to a doc (salesman?) about lasik (and researching online), I learned lasik mainly improves your distance vision. The doc said, I’ll probably still need glasses for up-close work.
But. Don’t we constantly do up close work? Read a message on my phone -> close up work. Read a menu -> close up work. Read a price tag -> close up work. Type on my computer -> close up work. Having to constantly put on and take off my glasses based on the task seems like a huge step backwards compared to today where I just have my glasses on all the time and don’t think about them. (Or lose them.) I heard I could get some glasses that let me see far and close… and I could wear them all day…
So… what’s the point of lasik in that case?
I’ve heard after lasik, my overall un-assisted vision would improve. I would only need minor corrective lenses. But. Why does major vs minor correction matter?
If I still need glasses (with minor correction), what’s the point of lasik?
Am I missing something here?
Why do tons of people online seem extremely happy with their lasik experience?
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Ever play with a pair of binoculars or an old camera where you had to manually turn knobs in order to focus on something in the distance? That’s the ‘focal point’. This is what LASIK changes. So, if you can currently see stuff up close but not far away, LASIK can move your focal point to make it easier to see things clearly at a different distance.
What LASIK does not change is how wide your focus range is. That’s controlled by your eye muscles and how flexible your cornea is. As you get older, that range gets narrower and narrower.
Using myself as an example, My LASIK set my focal point at around arm’s length. So I can see my computer monitor no problem. I had my surgery around 25, and for years I didn’t need glasses at all. When I reached my 40s, I realized I was having trouble reading very small print, and things very far away were a bit blurry. So I now keep a pair of distance seeing glasses in the car for when I’m driving, and I also have a couple of pairs of readers lying around the house. I still walk around without glasses, but there are times when I need to pull out a pair.
I am 60. And that is important because it changes what kind of surgery is available to you. I had Lasik surgery at the end of March. For me, because of my age, I had the full refractive lens exchange. That means they inserted a new lens into my eyeball after removing the original one. Prior to the surgery, I wore trifocals. That means I had correction for reading, for mid range and for driving. I now have 2020 vision. And I can read the little itty-bitty print at the bottom of the card. Oh yes, I also have/had an astigmatism.
From my discussions with the doctors, I believe if you are under 40 they recommend a simple Lasik surgery. And if you were over 40, they recommend the type of surgery I had. I believe the caution that the clinics give with regards to possibly needing some sort of glasses afterwards is standard.
For me, the surgery has changed almost every aspect of my life. I can wake up and see without searching for my glasses. I can go swimming without fear of touching someone inappropriately. I can work at a computer easily. I can watch TV and read simultaneously.
My advice is to go to a highly reputable clinic. This should not be a cheap surgery. If you are still on the fence, visit another clinic and get another opinion.
You had Refractive Lens Exchange, where they don’t slice the cornea. It’s very expensive for no good reason.
TL;DR? You don’t need it. Your eyes are already healthy.
My experience.
It was all a sales pitch. Price was per eye, so unexpectedly double the bill. HSA helped, or maybe burned a hole in my pocket, not sure which. The major worry was post surgery, lots of things that could go wrong, but didn’t. The flap never heals, just the edge. Got comfortable using eye drops for 6 (Yes SIX) months. Didn’t go anywhere without an eye drop packet, felt like an addict. Even when I slept.
My vision is corrected. But I still use glasses to drive. I was kinda pissed I didn’t have perfect vision, but 10 years later and I still don’t need reading glasses. I do need to take off my driving glasses to see my phone.
All in all a net positive but I don’t actually recommend it, so much can go wrong.
Man, I am so glad my eye doctor told me it wasn’t worth it rather than just taking the money!
Eye surgeries always come with risk. When they go wrong, you can even end up with worse vision than before.
If life is comfortable for you, I wouldn’t change anything.
I’m not sure why the surgery wouldn’t help with near-sightedness. It modifies the shape of the lens in your eye, essentially applying correction directly to your body.
How much can be done and in which direction, depends on the individual. As you’re essentially working with a subtractive tool (using a laser to remove stuff) to modify the optical material in your eye. You’re limited by the shape and amount of material in each persons eye in the first place, and you can’t make changes that would require adding material. As such, there is a maximum amount of correction that can be applied before you run out of usable material, and it varies from person to person.
If more is neded beyond that limit, you will still need glasses.
I was at a conference last summer in a facility shared by an Opthalmology conference. Most opthalmologists were wearing glasses.
In the 80s-90s radial keratonomy was big, and those people are going blind late in life. The major concern of Lasik is the flap of cornea they cut doesn’t always heal.
I have myopia, but that means I do not need reading glasses until in my late 60s. There are two different technologies that do not require laser ablation: refractive lens exchange and electromechanical lense reshaping. Both can be updated later in life. But we are just now starting to see the long term implications of Lasik surgery.
Lasik corrected my vision enough that I’ve had ~15 years without glasses, and can expect another 5-10 before I need reading glasses like any other aging human. The lens gets stiffer, the muscles that manipulate the lenses to focus weaken, people start to need glasses while reading to make up for it, Lasik will not stop that from happening.
So IMO, Lasik at 35+, not worth it. Lasik at 25 or under, maybe.
I also had astigmatism and went to a doctor who knew enough to use the Lasik process to counter some of it. I still have a little bit but can pass driving tests and go about daily life with no correction. I also play contact sports so not having to wear glasses was a significant mark in the pro column as well.
I also agree with others about not going to a Lasik salesman doctor. I went to a doctor who was affiliated with a hospital and did other sorts of eye surgeries.
Lasik salesman doctor
FYI, these guys are typically med school trainees who did not qualify to get into an Opthalmology specialty. They are businessmen with the inherent con artist skills of business.
I didn’t even get that far. I called one for initial info and found out his “clinic” was a truck and he drove his Lasik machine to different locations thru the week. I asked him how often and how did he check his laser calibration. He said he did it once per month, sending samples in to a calibration lab and then they sent him a report a couple weeks later telling him if the laser was a-okay or if it needed adjustment.
So drive that truck around everyday, bumping that laser around. At least a months worth of patients will have their eyeballs lasered before he knew about an equipment problem. No thanks.
Why don’t you go to a public hospital and get an opinion from a doctor who has no monetary interest in whatever choice you end up making?
This is a huge point. These Lasik clinics are massive money generators from a very sleazy branch of medicine on par with cosmetic surgery. They want to sell you, not give you best advice. Opthalmologists in hospital only care about your eye health.
The answer is that Lasik isn’t a cure-all.
I had the same experience. My vision was getting kinda bad and I wanted Lasik. I went to an eye doctor, and while I am farsighted in the left eye, the right is 20/20.
Lasik would fix the farsightedness, but having that in one eye is an asset for driving. So now I have driving glasses and won’t worry about Lasik.
LASIK is for people like me with pretty bad eyesight (-6.5) but no complexities. I would eventually need glasses anyway for focal help but just readers and not a gnarly prescription.
There are other procedures than LASIK, btw, such as SMILE.
I’ve been interested in it since I was young but never prioritized it. When I called a clinic in my late thirties they recommended me to not get it, as it likely wouldn’t be too long until I got age related presbyopia. They recommended to wait until that happened and then get a lens replacement instead. So only go for LASIK if you’re fairly young is probably a good idea.
Myopia/nearsightedness is one of the most common reasons for needing glasses or contacts. The happy people you’re seeing online are most likely ones who only needed their distance vision corrected anyway (assuming the reviews were written by actual humans). I have farsightedness/hyperopia and astigmatism, and I’ve never really considered Lasik for similar reasons to you.
Lasik can reshape the lense for hyperopia and astigmatism, it’s just a different laser pattern. However, it can’t affect later life presbyopia.
Knew a guy who had laser treatment and he found it hard to drive at night afterwards due to doubled/blurry effects.
I have friend with the same experience. I would call his choice of clinic a discount one though. They seemed as focused on the aspect as the financing medical one.
found it hard to drive at night afterwards
Found it hard to drive while wearing glasses after lasik? Or found it hard to drive without glasses after lasik?
Night vision sensitivity and halos are known issues with Lasik. It’s much worse now with these nuclear headlights the car industry insists on using.
It would be both.
They seem to be describing a potential defect in the correction that can occur, which causes “lens flares”, “blurring” or “smearing” of bright points of light. This is especially bad at night due to the contrast between lights and the darkness of the night.
It’s similar to a the effect you get with a camera when there are scratches or dents in the lens surface, or if it’s greasy. Except it’s in your eye.
I had that after my Lasik for about three months. That said, it was twenty one years ago, and I needed lenses so thick they couldn’t do glass, and I now may need reading glasses because of age and a totally unrelated retina issue. Been 20/20 for twenty years.
This is a good use case for Lasik, rather than addressing vanity or a minor inconvenience.
The people I know who got lasik had to carry around reading glasses. I don’t know the specific details of their treatment beyond that, but the idea of carrying glasses everywhere honestly seems less convenient than just wearing them all day
Also with LASIK you run the risk of chronic dry eye that will have you constantly blinking and using drops. Had one of my engineers go through it after one year working with him. It was hell for him after.
Many have problems with night vision and vision artifacts like halos.
No way would I consent to a vision procedure with 1% severe adverse events.
things go wrong in the medical world far, far more often than doctors let on. I would never get any unnecessary surgery
Especially in Lasik clinics. They have a 1% severe adverse effects rate, and they pay a lot of money for insurance. Money is no good if you can’t see it.
I was very near sighted, had to wear glasses for everything.
Got lasik.
Now my vision is perfect. Procedure was not too unpleasant and was fast and professional. Cost was reasonable for a surgery on my eyeballs. Recovery was fast and not difficult.
Now I can see without needing to put on glasses. No worrying about losing my glasses. No poking myself a dozen times in the eye to get contacts in.
I am extremely happy with my lasik experience.
Honestly, the person you talked to about the procedure was probably not upselling you. They told you up front and in plain english that you would probably still need glasses. There is no reason for them to damage their firm’s reputation by lying to you. lasik centers typically have plenty of business - their job is to inform you as best as they can, and make you feel like you will be taken care of and are in control.
