So I have been wearing glasses since I was 10. I got contact lenses at 14. Honestly, I’m pretty freaking blind as a bat. My prescriptions are -4.25 and -4.75. It runs in my family though. On BOTH sides. I’m like doomed.
As it comes time for me to get ANOTHER eye exam just so I can get my contact lenses refilled, I find myself continuing to google Lasik Eye Surgery. I would love to not have to deal with the whole fuss of having to constantly go in to get my eyes checked out and not to mention how much all the contacts and glasses are starting to add up. I pay for it out of pocket.
There’s something though about the whole laser on my eye thing. I know they say they “numb” your eye so all you feel is pressure but anytime I’ve had to hold my eye open and think about it, I blink. I’m sure they have preventatives so a laser doesn’t go into your eyelid. I’m weird. I can accept that.
How many people have had laser eye surgery before? What was your experience? I am really considering it, of course, I need to save up a bit so I can do so.
4 Comments
I myself have worn glasses since age 2. I now wear contacts/glasses. I wanted to get Lasik but my eye doctor actually talked me out of it. He told me he wears contacts and they still don’t really know long term effects from Lasik.
On the other hand I have a few friends and family that have had it done. Some love it.
It depends how your procedure goes, final results, and the long term effects.
.-= Courtney´s last blog ..Oatmeal Raisin Cookies =-.
I have thought about it a long time as well, but I thought I read somewhere that if your eyes are bad enough, they can’t fully fix them.
I have very similar subscriptions as you and have also thought about Lasik Eye Surgery but I don’t know.
I know a few people who have had it done and have loved it. The only problems that they say they have is constantly dry eyes. Other than that, they say life is so much better not having to worry about contacts every day and glasses.
Good luck! I hope that if you do decide to do this that it goes well!
.-= Rachael @ Empowering Mommy´s last blog ..CVS Deals – 2/14 – 2/20, 2009 =-.
I do not subscribe to your blog but I saw your link wanting comments on empowering mommy and thought this was the perfect post for me to respond to. Like you, I wore glasses since about age 11 and staring wearing contacts at age 14. At about age 16 the contacts started hurting my eyes and making them red. After that, contacts were always a huge annoyance and battle. Every trip I had to take glasses, contacts, contacts solution, eye drops and contacts cases. I decided I wanted to have lasik surgery as soon as possible. It was still pretty new back then so I decided to wait a little bit until all of the kinks had been worked out. November 2006, at age 22 I decided it was time. By then, my eyes were both -4. something (I can’t remember exectly but I think it was 4 and 4.5). Because of my young age, the doctor suggested I have epilasik instead of regular lasik. It is basically the same idea except epilasik is more at the surface of your eye and does not thin out your cornea as much as regular lasik. They are doing it more on younger people in case you need to have eye surgery again in the future for a cataract or something else (if your cornea is too thin they can’t do certain surgeries). After surgery with epilasik, they put a contact lense in your eye for about a week so that the eye can heal (for regular lasik, it is not close to the surface of the eye so they do not need the contact lense). I was very nervous because I had never had any kind of surgery before in my life. The entire surgery lasted about 15 minutes between bringing me in the room, doing the lasik and taking me back out to the recovery area. They put a clamp on your eyes which makes you keep them open. They give you anesthesia so you are kind of out of it but they need you awake enough because they tell you to look at a red laser. I remember feeling a lot of pressure on my eyes and I just kept feeling like they were putting drop in my eyes (or wetting them in some way). After surgery, they gave me crackers since I had not been allowed to eat in the morning. I was so excited when they handed me the pack of crackers and I could read the label. With epilasik, recovery takes a little bit longer because it is at the surface so I saw better right away but it took a little bit before I saw perfect. For the next few days I was uncomfortable although I think it was mostly because I had contacts in my eyes and contact discomfort is the reason I got lasik in the first place. As far as recovery what took me the longest (about 3 weeks) is being able to read and use the computer for a while. If you do get lasik, you should let your readers know you will take a short break from blogging. My problem was that I had trouble focusing on the words. My doctor said this is because contacts and glasses do the focusing for you so when you get lasik it takes a little bit for your eyes to adjust and know that they must focus properly all on their own. So this is the whole story. I was a little bit long winded because I want you to know and understand what the entire process is like. All in all, it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I have been contacts and glasses free for about 3 years and it feels so good! I love to be able to wake up and actually see what time the alarm clock says. I love not having to worry about falling asleep with my contacts or worrying about bringing glasses along. I would strongly recommend you do it. I think it is very well worth the about $5,000 it costs. One thing I would caution you about is: this is your vision, do not go cheap. I have heard stories about people going to cheap doctors and having complications (like seeing stars-good news is there is no physical way you could go blind which was one of my worries). I think it is worth going to a really good doctor so that you have a good experience. If you have any more questions, you can feel free to contact me. You are also welcome to post any part of this comment if you wish.