Board 8 > I got LASIK...and if you wear glasses or contacts, go get it now

(+) Yeah! (+)

Nanis23 posted...

Yeah considering the time it takes and the technology - to them it probably cost next to nothing
But vision has no price tag - I am willing to pay a lot of money to have a perfect vision

I'm not willing to shell out $2000 for something that will only marginally improve my life. If my vision was bad enough to require glasses for activities beyond driving, different story, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But since my glasses actually impair my ability to read books and look at screens, I think I'm good.
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Leonhart4 posted...

There's zero chance you won't like perfect, unimpaired vision. Like, I get the cost is a factor for a lot of people, but I wouldn't worry about regretting you did it if you do go through with it!

If you want to advocate people do their research and know what they're getting into then great, do that. But don't sit there and tell me or anyone else you were advocating for anything less than "just do it" before. You and several others weren't talking about risks and totally down played the costs, and that shit's not okay.

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Yes, hence why I made a follow up post saying that I wasn't intending to come across as "don't think about it, just do it" because I realized it could be read that way.

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I got it 12 years ago. Endured a day of hellish pain for but after that smooth sailing. They must have made some strides since then in the technology. Ill still vouch for it though, I could never deal with contacts, too much work and I just look better without glasses.

Oh yeah had my parents drive me to the operation and back because I was in no condition to afterwards- TC were you able to drive just 10 minutes after?

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Jesus thats an insane amount of money.

PerfectChaosZ posted...

Jesus thats an insane amount of money.

It's $4000 for something you use 2/3 of your day, every day of your life.

Seems cheaper in the USA than in the UK.

Always liked the idea, but don't appear to qualify.

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I dunno about yall but I live paycheck-to-paycheck and have never been in possession of an amount near $4000 despite how much I use my eyes.

I get contacts for almost free due to vision plan. If I ever lost vision coverage i might look into it but contacts are super easy to deal with for me and the only cost is paying like $80/year for solution.
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Not sure why I never really thought of it, possibly because I'm one of those 'likes wearing glasses' people. But it would be nice to be able to buy super cheap frames without prescriptions lenses...

Also being able to see peoples faces while wearing sunglasses sounds cool.

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BatmanBegins05 posted...

Oh yeah had my parents drive me to the operation and back because I was in no condition to afterwards- TC were you able to drive just 10 minutes after?

No I couldnt drive, not just from blurry vision but also that Valium was hitting lol.

PerfectChaosZ posted...

I dunno about yall but I live paycheck-to-paycheck and have never been in possession of an amount near $4000 despite how much I use my eyes.

Im sorry to hear that, but also even though I could afford to save up 4 grand in cash in a few paychecks I used my credit card.

The way I see it, every moment youre not asleep youre using your eyes, so having better vision than Ive ever had my entire life is worth it.

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I know if I got it, it would probably be fine, and I'd be better off for it, but I cant forget reading testimonials (which who knows if they are true or not, but I'd assume they are) of people or family members of people who have had bad experiences from it. In some of the more severe complicated cases, it drove some people to suicide. They couldn't live with knowing they voluntarily caused this damage to themselves. I understand that percentage is miniscule compared to all the successful or even minor side-effected cases, but it would be just my luck to be the one in a million to get complications.

My one question though is do any of you Lasik people deal with dry eyes at all? That seemed to be the one side effect that was most prevalent out of them all. Other less common ones were night vision problems, overall blurriness, etc.

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I had dry eyes.

I might still have it actually, but I also spend like every waking hour staring at a screen so I'm not sure if it's from that or from the surgery. I just use eye drops twice a day and it's fine.

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Dry eyes are super common for the first couple months, but it usually goes back to normal after that.

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pezzicle posted...

like, even drops, which i know i have to do for awhile afterwards. i legit hate it and recoil and hardly ever get them in my eyes properly

oh. yeah, even if i could manage the actual procedure, i really doubt i'd be able to do eye drops myself afterwards.

Ive always hated eye drops too tbh, its one of the reasons I struggled with contacts off and on for so long.

But having perfect vision now, its likeIve overcome that?

Like I cannot express how incredible it is to just be able to see, that a couple eye drops to me is like whatever man, I wanna keep this awesome vision.

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Im considering it in my future. Im not sure if Ill be a good candidate, but the price seems worth it to me.

I thought about saving up for it

but my luck, every bad thing will happen and I will go blind

so what are some things you can't do now or have to take caution for post surgery?


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There's really nothing you "can't do" beforehand, but there are some factors that make you ineligible, like if you have astigmatism (unless that's changed since I had mine done).

The main thing after surgery is your eyes will be really dry, so you'll be taking eye drops pretty frequently for a couple of months. Your night vision does get worse, especially if there are any bright lights around (sometimes driving late at night can be a struggle, for instance).

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Immediately after surgery you can't do things like get hit in the face or lift heavy objects. They gave me a one page guide that was like, things you should avoid in the first 24h, first week, first month, etc. After enough time's passed you can pretty much do everything again.

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Leonhart4 posted...

There's really nothing you "can't do" beforehand, but there are some factors that make you ineligible, like if you have astigmatism (unless that's changed since I had mine done).

No its definitely changed, it actually diminishes/fixes astigmatism. Astigmatism is just a result of mishapen corneas, and the current LASIK basically just reshapes it.

As far as I know, its advanced so far that the major disqualifying factors are small corneas and high eye pressure/glaucoma/pre-glaucoma.

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Also the things they told me not to do are rubbing your eyes, and going into potentially unclean water like pools and rivers/lakes/ocean/etc.

I need to wear goggles to bed for a month (theyre light and padded, actually surprisingly comfy lol) to keep from grabbing my eyes in my sleep, and he said assuming no issues all restrictions are lifted after 10 weeks.

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As someone who knew nothing about Lasik coming in, I feel like I've actually learned a lot lol. Is prk the one where you have to wear weird goggles for a few days and your eyes burn for a while or something?

Edit: Oh Tony just mentioned goggles lol

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I assume you wear goggles with PRK too, I know one of the main differences in aftercare between the two is that PRK involves some sort of protective contact lens applied to your eye afterwards, while with LASIK they put the eye flap back on and let it heal itself.

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ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Also the things they told me not to do are rubbing your eyes, and going into potentially unclean water like pools and rivers/lakes/ocean/etc.

I need to wear goggles to bed for a month (theyre light and padded, actually surprisingly comfy lol) to keep from grabbing my eyes in my sleep, and he said assuming no issues all restrictions are lifted after 10 weeks.

yea this is what I meant

I rub my eyes alot

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Cost-wise, my contacts were like $300 every six months because I required very strong toric lenses. So the $4600 I paid will have already paid for itself in a couple more years. So yeah, best decision of my life. Still slightly disappointed in my PRK eye though. If you have to get PRK in both eyes, just know your results likely won't be as good as LASIK.

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I noticed the first real (expected) side-effects the other night: bright lights in the dark have huge starry effects, makes them much more visible and while not painful is kind of annoying when driving.

Its normal and will go away, but yeah, I hadnt driven at night yet.

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Oh also even though it's elective surgery you can pay for it with an HSA. So the $4000 is essentially $2000 due to tax benefits. But you need an HSA and have to build up the account.

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Most of us don't have a 50% marginal tax rate.

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i'm pretty terrified of the side effects, and of the utility not being permanent
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Age is something to consider. Once we get into our 40s, we may need reading glasses. For some that doesnt happen until later. However, if you're in your upper 30s, just know that you may have to start wearing glasses again a few years, even if you had a perfect Lasik surgery.

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Right, but by then theyll be a lower prescription, thinner glasses, compared to how youd be if your eyes just degraded the whole time.


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true, my parents have bifocals and they arent pleasant to get used to. Also limits your frame options. A thinner, single lense glasses that you only have to occassionally wear is an obvious improvement to the former. I just wanted to point that out to dispell the notion that you'll never have to wear glasses again after Lasik.

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Bartzyx posted...

Most of us don't have a 50% marginal tax rate.

HSAs are double tax advantaged and often matched by employer too

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"double tax advantaged" only applies to HSAs in the sense that you don't pay taxes on the money when you put it in or when you take it out. You still only save as much as your marginal tax rate. For most people, that's going to be 30-35%. And as for the employer contribution, you can't count that because you get that money whether you spend it on LASIK or not.
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Update: I got gel eye drops because I ran out of the ones they gave me.

Im not sure if I like them yet?

Pros:

• Way more comfortable
• Have to apply them way less often

Cons:

• Take forever to settle in your eye, which means 5-10 minutes of feeing/looking like youre crying
• Gunk buildup around your upper and lower eyelashes is kinda gross.

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My wife just got her permanent position at work and the benefits offered with her position include covering a portion of LASIK, so I am actually going to look into it now because it is apparently pretty expensive.

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Ill be in glasses for probably the rest of my life. My vision has deteriorated so that I cant see a lot of detail, but my prescription hasnt had to be that strong so far. Couple that with my office job and it doesnt make sense to get LASIK.