lasik (cut the flap of your eyeball open) laser the eye, close it back up....
pros: cheap.
cons: the flap can tear back open and you can tear your retina or do permanent damage to your eye.
wavefront prk (no cutting open of your eyeball) they laser the surface of your eye...
pros: no dangerous flap, if you are an active person, prk is probably a better choice.
cons: more expensive.... I think for me it would be 3x more.
Consider this...
it's your EYES. do you really want to take the cheapest procedure? Look up the 2 procedures and do your own conclusions. I know for a fact that if you regress, you can go back for touchups with prk, I'm not sure if that can be done with lasik.
My dad got lasik done. At first he was really happy, he could see great now. He still sees great and he's very happy with that fact.
However... he regrets having the procedure done. (this was about 6 years ago?)
This is because for the past few years, he wakes up in the middle of the night, about 3 times a night to put eyedrops in his eyes because they are so dry it hurts.
Apaprently this is common.
Apparently there was also an article on cnn or some other news site that said 1/5 of people who get lasik regret having got it done a year later.
Anyyyyways, those are my reasons for not doing lasik yet, or else I would. Cause my glasses look goofy..
(recently my dad apparently has found some sort of prescription expensive super eye drops that are helping a lot)
Yes. Definitely do your research before you do it. My mom had glasses from the time she was 6, she did not have the surgery until 36. My mom choose to do the cheaper one. For several weeks after the procedure she would see gnarly halos around every light. Driving at night was not an option for several weeks so that may play a role in your decisions. After a few weeks she could see just about perfect again and could not love it more. So best of luck and hopefully everything goes well for you.
I've heard that so many of the "successes" that get recorded include all sorts of visual artifacting like those halos, or double vision (but it's perfect 20/20 doublevision ) that I'm scared of getting it. I don't mind my glasses and honestly I can see well enough without them that I don't feel crippled without my glasses, so the drawback of wearing glasses to see faraway stuff isn't worth the risk of permanently fucking up my eyesight.
You wouldn't want to get it done unless you know a good doctor, one with a reputation for handling such procedures very well.
The "dry-eyes" syndrome does happen. But it is usually more common in older patients. It is also more common in patients who might have other health complications. Both my parents got Lasik. My mother suffers from the dry eyes thing, but my father doesn't. My mother has many more other health complications, and it is likely that her condition is aggrevated by some of those complications. If you take regualar medication for some form of condition, Lasik might not be for you.
The issue with the flap on your eye healing is only significant if you lead a very active lifestyle, and you have no patience. If you give your eyes about a month to a month-and-a-half of not rubbing them or doing anything too active, the flap will heal completely and you will never have to worry about it again. It is also recommended to wear plastic goggles at night. (the doctor usually gives you a pair of disposable ones) This is just to insure that you don't rub them while you are asleep.
I have actually had Lasik performed myself. I have never had any reason to regret it. My eyesight has been 20/15 since the procedure. I was careful about my eyes afterward and never suffered any complications. I have noticed that my eyes are slightly drier since I had them lasered, but it has never been bad enough to be irritating. It is worth noting that my procedure was a near-ideal case. I had it done when I was 23 years old, which is the perfect time. And my doctor was a specialist with a great reputation and years of experience doing numerous Lasik procedures.
My eye doctor always tries to convince me Im perfect for lasic every time I go get my eyes checked, I keep telling him, I LOVE MY GLASSES!
I would be sure that you aren't being sold to, these days they sell you eye surgery like they sell you a car. Make sure you do alllllllll the research you possibly can on doctors in your area and find something that's best for you. Don't just decide on the first person that offers to do it to you. There's also tons of like medical credentials that you can find online when it comes to doctors, you can see their history and how many procedures they have done and what their experience is.
If your worried about the thought of having stuff in your eyes it all comes down to how bad you want it, if you want it bad enough you will do it and you will be fine. If you have done enough research most likely that will let you go into surgery feeling confident, and it will help you to not be nervous or freak out.
ever try contact lenses? I just made the switch a few months ago and love it. You can actually see out of your peripheral vision and everything, very sweet.
contact lenses suck for working on the computer though. Not to mention when something gets in your eye, it can be hell; forcing you to remove the contact and finding some way to wash it, or just throwing it away.
I want to do corrective surgery myself, I hate my glasses, and contacts as said are a pain for the comp. But I have a hard time committing myself to something that could destroy my sight.
I'd be fucked until stem cells can repair eye sight or something.
I guess you have to weigh if you really need your eye sight, or if you don't want to take any chances with your eyes.
contact lenses suck for working on the computer though. Not to mention when something gets in your eye, it can be hell; forcing you to remove the contact and finding some way to wash it, or just throwing it away.
I want to do corrective surgery myself, I hate my glasses, and contacts as said are a pain for the comp. But I have a hard time committing myself to something that could destroy my sight.
I'd be fucked until stem cells can repair eye sight or something.
I guess you have to weigh if you really need your eye sight, or if you don't want to take any chances with your eyes.
But you can't have any fun without some danger.
I don't have problems with my contacts working on a computer. It only becomes an issue late at night when they start drying up.
Personally I wouldn't want to do lasik. My eye's are just to damn important to risk anything. I would need a 100% guarantee nothing would go wrong. But we all know that's not going to happen...
You know lasers have warnings NOT to shine them in your EYES!?
It's your eyes... your frickin eye balls, the second most important set of balls you have!
If there's anything you ever want to save money on, this is NOT it. It would really suck if you get it done at a "Half off the other eye" place and end up having to wear lenses again...
Knowing that, price isn't a good indicator of which is best for you.
Find the best guy in town, ask him who he would have do his eyes, go to that guy and ask the same question and keep doing that until you get to someone who can't come up with a name.
I've thought about it, talked to some people and probably never going to do it because I would probably still need some kind of prescription afterward just not as powerful. If it doesn't get rid of the lenses you can save it for people who like the smell of burning eye...
The part that really freaked me out was that was that I had to remain starring at something for 30sec. That was a requirement! I don't want to be a active participant in any surgery I'm involved in... There would have to be some really amazing drugs involved.
I was snorkling in the bahamas and I thought "gee all those yellow and blue blurs swarming around me must look pretty nice" and then I came out of the water and had to figure out which of the thousands of blurs walking around on the big sand colored blurry thing had the keys to the locker so I could get my glasses.
I might look into contacts again - I need to see if I could get reading glasses for the contacts because the last time I had them it didn't correct my vision enough to be able to read or work on a computer
My Father had Lasik done on both eyes twice. After the last time, his retina detached, and tore....twice. This after he went to the doctor shortly after the surgery to say
"Gee Doc, Im seeing these flashes of light in my periphery, and I've done some research...sounds like possible retinal detachment, would you take a look?"
"Bah, dont be ridiculous. Its not retinal detachment, Im the doctor, I'll handle the diagnosis..."
And then he perminantly lost around 80% of his vision in that eye. Which was his "good eye". The other eye, even with 2 laser surgeries is still "legally blind".
Ah yeah well contacts are different for everyone I guess.
I'm near sighted with -2.50 for left and -2.75 for my right eye.
I also know a guy who had super thick ones that had to be custom made, probably like -6.00 or something. I'd imagine the thicker ones would be more of a pain in the ass.
I'm not sure but I'd imagine trying different brands would make a difference too.
As far as it being a bother its really not that bad. Takes me literally 40 seconds to put them in and I leave em in the whole day. Rarely you might get the feeling that something drifted into your eye but its usually the feeling of it slipping off for a sec or folding over at the edge.
Never really have to take em out and rewash if something gets in my eye, at worst just get some eye drops.
Haven't had much problems with dryness or being on the computer for extended periods of time (I'm on it most of the day, sunllight BAD *HISSSSS*).
But yea man lasers scare the hell out of me haha especially that flap slicing stuff.
Contacts seem to work just fine for me.
Ah yeah well contacts are different for everyone I guess.
I'm near sighted with -2.50 for left and -2.75 for my right eye.
I also know a guy who had super thick ones that had to be custom made, probably like -6.00 or something. I'd imagine the thicker ones would be more of a pain in the ass.
I'm not sure but I'd imagine trying different brands would make a difference too.
As far as it being a bother its really not that bad. Takes me literally 40 seconds to put them in and I leave em in the whole day. Rarely you might get the feeling that something drifted into your eye but its usually the feeling of it slipping off for a sec or folding over at the edge.
Never really have to take em out and rewash if something gets in my eye, at worst just get some eye drops.
Haven't had much problems with dryness or being on the computer for extended periods of time (I'm on it most of the day, sunllight BAD *HISSSSS*).
But yea man lasers scare the hell out of me haha especially that flap slicing stuff.
Contacts seem to work just fine for me.
Wouldn't hurt to try them again at least.
Yep this used to be me as well. -6.25 in one eye and -6.75 in the other eye. Thick lenses as well.
Getting lasik was the best thing I could've had done. I have better than 20/20 vision in one of my eyes now. Had the procedure done almost 10 years ago and I can still see great.
Be warned, even with all the numbing it did hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. 80% of your healing is done the first day though so just go home and sleep it off.
I had lasik done about 15 months ago. To my understanding prk is only really necessary if you don't have a thick corneal wall that is ideal for lasik. With prk they basically scrub the outer layer of the eye off and it has to regrow, which can take some time. With lasik, the flap is replaced and you just need to incision to heal.
Obviously there was some concern going into the surgery because ultimately, we're talking about eyes. You only get 2 and the second one isn't a spare. I think the risk hit me a little more when I had to sign papers the day of the surgery stating there was a chance (however miniscule) I could go blind and I couldn't hold their office liable in that event. Eek.
I decided to go through with it anyway. The procedure itself is very fast, maybe 5-10 minutes. Hearing the sizzling and smelling the burning of your eyes getting lasered is a little off-putting. They also used some sort of device that felt like a thumb pressing on my eyeball and squishing it down a little bit which is kind of uncomfortable.
Immediately after the surgery my eyes were very itchy and scratchy but for the first few weeks you can't rub them - there is a risk of the flap getting displaced. My eyes were pretty sensitive to the drops for those first few weeks but it improved over time. I was told to refrain from contact sports for a year and I think I avoided them for about 9 months.
The results were almost immediate. Within 12 hours my vision had improved tremendously, and by my 24 hour check up I was seeing 20/15. My sight has regressed slightly since then, at my 6 month checkup it was 20/20. I had starbursting and halos in my nightvision after the surgery, and while they are still there they've toned down a lot. It's not that bad, really. My vision gets a little blurrier late in the day when I'm tired (kind of like right now)
Another thing is that I have lifetime free 'enhancement' surgeries if I want to get my vision back to 20/15. They were mentioning it to me again at my checkup. But to be honest, as long as I don't need glasses I have no real desire to go back through the experience again. I'm really glad I got it done, but it wouldn't be worth it to me to do it again for a small improvement like going from 20/20 to 20/15. 20/20 seems plenty good enough to me.
Hope the info helps, and if you do it - definitely go somewhere reputable. Don't go cheap when it comes to your vision! I went to the best lasik surgeon in Florida and I'm glad I did
I had it done about 2 years ago. Better than 20/20. I used to be 4.5 I think. I went to a doctor that boasted 60,000 operations. So I knew they knew what they were doing.
The whole thing took about 5 minutes in and out. Spent the next few days putting a lot of eye drops in.
Personally, I would never ever ever ever choose to do something that involves SLICING OPEN MY EYE. But I'm also incredibly squeemish when it comes to any involvement with the eye. I could never bring myself to have things squishing and slicing at my eye.
But, if you don't have the same issues, then it sounds like something pretty cool to look into. I have contacts, and I LOVE them. I've always hated glasses, but I love my contacts.
They're dailies, which I higly suggest despite being the most expensive type. Opening a fresh package everyday, throwing them out at night, and not having to clean them, nothing beats that. Mind you, my prescription is -2.75 for both eyes, so not the most horrible thing. I can still manage without my glasses... sorta.
Anyway, be SURE you wanna do the surgery before you do it... but maybe give contacts another chance first?
but Tyler, would you have done what you did if you were NOT in Canada. Us, up here can comment a lot because we have protection. That's not the same for the rest of the world.
actually i have been having some problems with my left eye, was wondering whether lasik could solve the problem. it keeps twitching after i stare into the screen for too long, nver happened to me before
if your not ready to drop around 4 grand for both eyes dont even think about it. your eyes are too important to go discount. really there are somethings that you dont skimp on and this is one of them.
just some notes.
with Lasik (the cutting one) your pretty much good to go a few days later but this procedure can only be done so many times in your life since you lose some of your outer cornea (or i think thats what it was called)
with PRK (the one they give to navy pilots) you will be out for a month before you can get back to work full time on the computer. they say 10 days and your good but what they mean is 10 days to heal to bring you to legal driving vision. Which I could not believe how blind you can be and still drive until my doc said "ok your just above the legal vision to drive now" Really explains a lot.
had it done recently and I couldn't be more happy. I couldn't stand wearing glasses since second grade and I can only stand contacts in my eyes for a few hours. Not to mention wearing them on the computer all day sucks!
You have to realize all the risks and except them if your going to do it. I knew that it was a pretty good chance that I would have those dumb halo/starburst whatever so i wasn't put off after surgery when i will get them popping up at night. its no worse then the starbursts I would see wearing my glasses and im so use to it by now it has no effect on my night vision/driving.
One thing you might want to look into is going to a place like TLC (Tiger Woods sponsored!) For a nice 4grand I got both my eyes done PRK style (no cut, huzza!) and a life time guarantee on both eyes. As long as I follow there rules (just go to an optometrist every six months for a check up) any follow up surgery needed all you pay is the difference. So if the first one cost 4grand and the second one costs 2 you pay nothing.
Being out of commission for around a month sucked and the discomfort of PRK for the first 10 days was terrible, wanted to ich my eyes so bad! But its much safer then Lasik and it can be done an unlimited number of times in your lifetime unlike Laski.
wavefront prk (no cutting open of your eyeball) they laser the surface of your eye...
pros: no dangerous flap, if you are an active person, prk is probably a better choice.
ha, well 9-12 months for the flap to heal? No thankyou.
I've had 2 friends have prk performed, one 2 years ago and the other probably almost 4 years ago now. Both have no regrets, no starbursts.
They both said healing time varies, one said a week after, she was almost fine, the other said about 10 days. It depends on the overall health of the patient.
Also, there are some special eyedrops they perscribe for you after the treatment... something with steroids or something in them to speed up the healing process... both friends went back for more after a week, and said the drops help a lot to make the eyes comfortable.
Lasik, instant results, longer healing time for the flap
prk, results in a week or so, fuzzy vision until then, no flap, after the eyes are fine, you are free to resume your lifestyle.
Honestly, torn retina and torn flaps scare the hell out of me. You bet I'm saving for a prk proceedure. Also, most reputable clinics will ONLY perform the surgery if your perscription has stabilized for 3 or more years.
I don't trust much those things too... and well ,the benefits don't really worth the risk. I made the change to contact leses and I wish i made it sooner. Seeing the peripheral world rocks. I use daily focous ones.
It is a little bit expensive (around 1-1,5 euros a day) but a lot more safe and easy. And what coldkodiak said is true, but as their are daily when I get something the eye i just trash the lense and put another one.
This is something I am really interested in as any contact lenses I have tried end up drying my eyes out really badly. Even the ultra expensive super moist, super thing variety - I put it down to the amount of time sitting staring at a monitor each day.
Thecomplaints that people have brought up in threads like these are a little too scary for me to save up and go for it yet though.
Replies
lasik (cut the flap of your eyeball open) laser the eye, close it back up....
pros: cheap.
cons: the flap can tear back open and you can tear your retina or do permanent damage to your eye.
wavefront prk (no cutting open of your eyeball) they laser the surface of your eye...
pros: no dangerous flap, if you are an active person, prk is probably a better choice.
cons: more expensive.... I think for me it would be 3x more.
Consider this...
it's your EYES. do you really want to take the cheapest procedure? Look up the 2 procedures and do your own conclusions. I know for a fact that if you regress, you can go back for touchups with prk, I'm not sure if that can be done with lasik.
However... he regrets having the procedure done. (this was about 6 years ago?)
This is because for the past few years, he wakes up in the middle of the night, about 3 times a night to put eyedrops in his eyes because they are so dry it hurts.
Apaprently this is common.
Apparently there was also an article on cnn or some other news site that said 1/5 of people who get lasik regret having got it done a year later.
Anyyyyways, those are my reasons for not doing lasik yet, or else I would. Cause my glasses look goofy..
(recently my dad apparently has found some sort of prescription expensive super eye drops that are helping a lot)
AK
The "dry-eyes" syndrome does happen. But it is usually more common in older patients. It is also more common in patients who might have other health complications. Both my parents got Lasik. My mother suffers from the dry eyes thing, but my father doesn't. My mother has many more other health complications, and it is likely that her condition is aggrevated by some of those complications. If you take regualar medication for some form of condition, Lasik might not be for you.
The issue with the flap on your eye healing is only significant if you lead a very active lifestyle, and you have no patience. If you give your eyes about a month to a month-and-a-half of not rubbing them or doing anything too active, the flap will heal completely and you will never have to worry about it again. It is also recommended to wear plastic goggles at night. (the doctor usually gives you a pair of disposable ones) This is just to insure that you don't rub them while you are asleep.
I have actually had Lasik performed myself. I have never had any reason to regret it. My eyesight has been 20/15 since the procedure. I was careful about my eyes afterward and never suffered any complications. I have noticed that my eyes are slightly drier since I had them lasered, but it has never been bad enough to be irritating. It is worth noting that my procedure was a near-ideal case. I had it done when I was 23 years old, which is the perfect time. And my doctor was a specialist with a great reputation and years of experience doing numerous Lasik procedures.
I would be sure that you aren't being sold to, these days they sell you eye surgery like they sell you a car. Make sure you do alllllllll the research you possibly can on doctors in your area and find something that's best for you. Don't just decide on the first person that offers to do it to you. There's also tons of like medical credentials that you can find online when it comes to doctors, you can see their history and how many procedures they have done and what their experience is.
If your worried about the thought of having stuff in your eyes it all comes down to how bad you want it, if you want it bad enough you will do it and you will be fine. If you have done enough research most likely that will let you go into surgery feeling confident, and it will help you to not be nervous or freak out.
I want to do corrective surgery myself, I hate my glasses, and contacts as said are a pain for the comp. But I have a hard time committing myself to something that could destroy my sight.
I'd be fucked until stem cells can repair eye sight or something.
I guess you have to weigh if you really need your eye sight, or if you don't want to take any chances with your eyes.
But you can't have any fun without some danger.
I don't have problems with my contacts working on a computer. It only becomes an issue late at night when they start drying up.
Personally I wouldn't want to do lasik. My eye's are just to damn important to risk anything. I would need a 100% guarantee nothing would go wrong. But we all know that's not going to happen...
You know lasers have warnings NOT to shine them in your EYES!?
It's your eyes... your frickin eye balls, the second most important set of balls you have!
If there's anything you ever want to save money on, this is NOT it. It would really suck if you get it done at a "Half off the other eye" place and end up having to wear lenses again...
Knowing that, price isn't a good indicator of which is best for you.
Find the best guy in town, ask him who he would have do his eyes, go to that guy and ask the same question and keep doing that until you get to someone who can't come up with a name.
I've thought about it, talked to some people and probably never going to do it because I would probably still need some kind of prescription afterward just not as powerful. If it doesn't get rid of the lenses you can save it for people who like the smell of burning eye...
The part that really freaked me out was that was that I had to remain starring at something for 30sec. That was a requirement! I don't want to be a active participant in any surgery I'm involved in... There would have to be some really amazing drugs involved.
I guess if you want to get philosophical about it, everything has risks...but these are your eyes! Just get wear glasses.
Gah! I feel like I need to go buy some prescription safety goggles now. Fucking eyes creeping me out.
just make sure that you don't sandpaper the flap afterwards:)
I might look into contacts again - I need to see if I could get reading glasses for the contacts because the last time I had them it didn't correct my vision enough to be able to read or work on a computer
"Gee Doc, Im seeing these flashes of light in my periphery, and I've done some research...sounds like possible retinal detachment, would you take a look?"
"Bah, dont be ridiculous. Its not retinal detachment, Im the doctor, I'll handle the diagnosis..."
And then he perminantly lost around 80% of his vision in that eye. Which was his "good eye". The other eye, even with 2 laser surgeries is still "legally blind".
I'm near sighted with -2.50 for left and -2.75 for my right eye.
I also know a guy who had super thick ones that had to be custom made, probably like -6.00 or something. I'd imagine the thicker ones would be more of a pain in the ass.
I'm not sure but I'd imagine trying different brands would make a difference too.
As far as it being a bother its really not that bad. Takes me literally 40 seconds to put them in and I leave em in the whole day. Rarely you might get the feeling that something drifted into your eye but its usually the feeling of it slipping off for a sec or folding over at the edge.
Never really have to take em out and rewash if something gets in my eye, at worst just get some eye drops.
Haven't had much problems with dryness or being on the computer for extended periods of time (I'm on it most of the day, sunllight BAD *HISSSSS*).
But yea man lasers scare the hell out of me haha especially that flap slicing stuff.
Contacts seem to work just fine for me.
Wouldn't hurt to try them again at least.
Yep this used to be me as well. -6.25 in one eye and -6.75 in the other eye. Thick lenses as well.
Getting lasik was the best thing I could've had done. I have better than 20/20 vision in one of my eyes now. Had the procedure done almost 10 years ago and I can still see great.
Be warned, even with all the numbing it did hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. 80% of your healing is done the first day though so just go home and sleep it off.
Obviously there was some concern going into the surgery because ultimately, we're talking about eyes. You only get 2 and the second one isn't a spare. I think the risk hit me a little more when I had to sign papers the day of the surgery stating there was a chance (however miniscule) I could go blind and I couldn't hold their office liable in that event. Eek.
I decided to go through with it anyway. The procedure itself is very fast, maybe 5-10 minutes. Hearing the sizzling and smelling the burning of your eyes getting lasered is a little off-putting. They also used some sort of device that felt like a thumb pressing on my eyeball and squishing it down a little bit which is kind of uncomfortable.
Immediately after the surgery my eyes were very itchy and scratchy but for the first few weeks you can't rub them - there is a risk of the flap getting displaced. My eyes were pretty sensitive to the drops for those first few weeks but it improved over time. I was told to refrain from contact sports for a year and I think I avoided them for about 9 months.
The results were almost immediate. Within 12 hours my vision had improved tremendously, and by my 24 hour check up I was seeing 20/15. My sight has regressed slightly since then, at my 6 month checkup it was 20/20. I had starbursting and halos in my nightvision after the surgery, and while they are still there they've toned down a lot. It's not that bad, really. My vision gets a little blurrier late in the day when I'm tired (kind of like right now)
Another thing is that I have lifetime free 'enhancement' surgeries if I want to get my vision back to 20/15. They were mentioning it to me again at my checkup. But to be honest, as long as I don't need glasses I have no real desire to go back through the experience again. I'm really glad I got it done, but it wouldn't be worth it to me to do it again for a small improvement like going from 20/20 to 20/15. 20/20 seems plenty good enough to me.
Hope the info helps, and if you do it - definitely go somewhere reputable. Don't go cheap when it comes to your vision! I went to the best lasik surgeon in Florida and I'm glad I did
The whole thing took about 5 minutes in and out. Spent the next few days putting a lot of eye drops in.
No regrets here.
But, if you don't have the same issues, then it sounds like something pretty cool to look into. I have contacts, and I LOVE them. I've always hated glasses, but I love my contacts.
They're dailies, which I higly suggest despite being the most expensive type. Opening a fresh package everyday, throwing them out at night, and not having to clean them, nothing beats that. Mind you, my prescription is -2.75 for both eyes, so not the most horrible thing. I can still manage without my glasses... sorta.
Anyway, be SURE you wanna do the surgery before you do it... but maybe give contacts another chance first?
just some notes.
with Lasik (the cutting one) your pretty much good to go a few days later but this procedure can only be done so many times in your life since you lose some of your outer cornea (or i think thats what it was called)
with PRK (the one they give to navy pilots) you will be out for a month before you can get back to work full time on the computer. they say 10 days and your good but what they mean is 10 days to heal to bring you to legal driving vision. Which I could not believe how blind you can be and still drive until my doc said "ok your just above the legal vision to drive now" Really explains a lot.
had it done recently and I couldn't be more happy. I couldn't stand wearing glasses since second grade and I can only stand contacts in my eyes for a few hours. Not to mention wearing them on the computer all day sucks!
You have to realize all the risks and except them if your going to do it. I knew that it was a pretty good chance that I would have those dumb halo/starburst whatever so i wasn't put off after surgery when i will get them popping up at night. its no worse then the starbursts I would see wearing my glasses and im so use to it by now it has no effect on my night vision/driving.
One thing you might want to look into is going to a place like TLC (Tiger Woods sponsored!) For a nice 4grand I got both my eyes done PRK style (no cut, huzza!) and a life time guarantee on both eyes. As long as I follow there rules (just go to an optometrist every six months for a check up) any follow up surgery needed all you pay is the difference. So if the first one cost 4grand and the second one costs 2 you pay nothing.
Being out of commission for around a month sucked and the discomfort of PRK for the first 10 days was terrible, wanted to ich my eyes so bad! But its much safer then Lasik and it can be done an unlimited number of times in your lifetime unlike Laski.
What ever you do dont skimp!
HAHAH justin active!!! HAHAHA
I've had 2 friends have prk performed, one 2 years ago and the other probably almost 4 years ago now. Both have no regrets, no starbursts.
They both said healing time varies, one said a week after, she was almost fine, the other said about 10 days. It depends on the overall health of the patient.
Also, there are some special eyedrops they perscribe for you after the treatment... something with steroids or something in them to speed up the healing process... both friends went back for more after a week, and said the drops help a lot to make the eyes comfortable.
Lasik, instant results, longer healing time for the flap
prk, results in a week or so, fuzzy vision until then, no flap, after the eyes are fine, you are free to resume your lifestyle.
Honestly, torn retina and torn flaps scare the hell out of me. You bet I'm saving for a prk proceedure. Also, most reputable clinics will ONLY perform the surgery if your perscription has stabilized for 3 or more years.
It is a little bit expensive (around 1-1,5 euros a day) but a lot more safe and easy. And what coldkodiak said is true, but as their are daily when I get something the eye i just trash the lense and put another one.
Thecomplaints that people have brought up in threads like these are a little too scary for me to save up and go for it yet though.
Does anyone buy lenses online? The prices I'm seeing on webshops are half what i'm paying here....