Laser eye surgery

[Escott]

A few thoughts...

My problems started about soon after I was 40. I remember telling my wife I needed better than a hundred watt bulb on my nightstand lamp thinking that was my problem. I have had what is called a lazy eye which had terrible sight from birth but the other was a champ and I was able to read in the dark and never have a problem till I got older.

I went to the Eye doctor yesterday. My drivers license is up for renewal and I figured that I wouldnt pass the test at Motor Vehicle so I skipped that and went right to the Eye Doctor instead.

He said that I passed but wouldnt pass the next time when my license expired. First thought was I was pleased because I just got an 8 year license yesterday and in 8 years I would worry about it.

We spoke about the surgery. I am farsighted with a stigmatism. I was thinking about getting the Bad eye done because if there was a problem I wouldnt be bothered by it. Hell I would probably just use the other eye anyway since the brain mostly focuses on that one anyway. He said I should just get them both done but it wouldnt improve my reading and I would still need glasses. I guess they haven't perfected this to the point that you get what you once had yet. I will wait the 8 years to see if they can correct me and let me read without glasses in one operation. You never know with these advancements in eye operations.

On closing my cousin in Atlanta had the coke bottle glasses and went for the Operation. For 2 months he was blurry and couldnt drive at night. This was from one of the better doctors in Atlanta which isn't NYC but isn't a Santo Domingo when it comes to care. Problems can happen anywhere. Listen to Hillbilly and talk to a lot of people, check and double check but there are no promises that YOUR'S will work 100% and you sign off on that for every operation. My cousin now has no problems but they thought his was a failure at the start.

well that was my 2/5ths of a Peso!

 

[sjh]

I had the surgury done one year ago

And I am very pleased with the results.. I now see 20/15 and was completely recovered in a few days.

My father is an optometrist and he insisted I go to the very best in the area (Dr. Fox in the NY-NJ area) even though the price was much more.. While you can get the operation done for a few hundred an eye, do you REALLY want some new guy practicing on you or would you rather someone who does it 30 times a day?

 

[Robert]

After spending 7 years in ophthalmic research, I can tell you all about the learning curve

My background is in lasers, but not refractive, primarily diagnostic.

Halo/glare effect or NVD (night vision disturbance) runs around 20% at varying levels, most being very mild. Most patients NVD regresses to tolerable levels after a few months.

Why does this happen?
When they ablate (flatten by removing tissue) it's basically a set depth and diameter, fixed correction. The eye has varying optical zones which require slightly varying levels of correction, right now this varying level of correction is not possible.

What do they do to get around this?
Usually the larger the optical zone, the less NVD a patient experiences. Most procedures now use a blended technique, basically two goes with varying optical zones. This helps solve the problem of light that enters outside of the ablation zone but doesn't help when light is scattered due to varying correction levels.

Bottom line...

Like any medical procedure, always take into account the screening and follow up regime.

In case you was wondering...
I worked with a team on developing and bringing the Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (SLO) to the market. How times change, now I have to pay my own expenses

From this...

To this...

To this...

To get this... A beautiful young optic nerve.

 

[socuban]

wealth of info

this board is! An enterpreneur would want to bottle it and sell it!

From the vibe I'm getting here, I think it better to keep this "operation" stateside!

Ken, Caracas sounds nice, especially since I've never been there. Other half doesn't want me to stray too far from ewr, mia or sdq thou. :disappoin

SJH - Saw Dr. Fox today, thanks for the tip. Very impressive resume. I watched as he performed a surgery. It's evident that he's done this many times by the way he freehanded the corneal flap with the "greatest of ease". "Flap and zap!" My "patient consultant", Jodi, told me they are using a lasx s4. They'll be poking and probing me on the 28th! And you got 20/15? That's a bonus round I understand!

JG

I see, said the blind man!

errata; visx s4

 

[experienced]

Don't

Don't do it mate.

Elective eye surgery for short sight is bad for you, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[funbiz99]

This is a old one!

 

[duhtree]

FYI. I had laser surgery approx. 4 years ago. FANTASTIC !!. Iwas near sighted most of my life and getting worse. tried contacts, mediation, eating carrots. Nothing helped. I read alot over the years and since I was nearsighted, never a problem. But, for sports, tumbling, fighting, etc. vision depended more on memory recognization than actual sight and reading without glasses meant moving the book etc closer and closer to my eyes.
Enter laser surgery! WOW. what a difference.
My new vision is still 20/15 or better.
Minimum halo effect. Night vision not a problem.
Reading requires glasses when done indoors with dull lighting. I was advised that when correcting for nearsightedness that I would need glasses for close up work (reading detail painting, etc). To some degree it's true.
I didn't go to a clinic or look for special rates
I did investigate and choose Bascom-Palmer in Miami. The head of Opthmology there is Dr culberson.
The laser is planted in concrete and calibrated via computer (once the diameter of the cornea is measured along with the thickness ) making the "cutting" fairly error proof. HAND HELD! Are you crazy.
One set of eyes. Pay good $ for good doctor and good equiptment.
Bascom-Palmer is world reknowned for their Opthmology dept.
Total cost: $4000.00.
Results: Priceless.
I used Dr Jaffe. A father and 2 sons eye doctor team. Jaffe senior was one of the developers of laser surgery.
Any questions just ask. Hope this helps. John