Laser Surgery
 

I was wondering if anyone here has had the PRK style laser surgery (as opposed to the Lasik).... If you have could you tell me what your perscription was, and what results you had? I am going to be getting it soon, but are on the boundary for PRK (I am not a candidate for lasik). My perscription is about -8.25 with a slight astigmatism. Thanks!!

laser.......
 

Hi Spikehs, Just for your information,have you considered alternatives?
My son in Ontario researched all forms of eye surgery and became convinced that laser surgery was just too risky and with long term affects and questions over night vision also still being asked . I have had friends who have been quite dissapointed after their laser treatments.
My son opted for radial cariotomy( surgery) His vision is perfect and his wife ,sister -in -law and neighbour have all since had the same treatment with eqal success !
Only a thought.............
Dave.

hmmm, how does radial cariotomy work? I have never heard of it before... thanks.

My prescription was -9.25 in one eye and -8.5 in the other. I got prk with good success. I had astigmatism as well. I have no night vision problems and it's been 2 years already. Very happy with the results.

des

my self and a few friends all had our eyes done our first friend had the no touch done where they laser of the top part instead of cuting a flap and he went though hell he said it was like having welders flash for 2 weeks . so i went with the flap way and i love it . to have it done and knowing what fredom it has given back i would have done it way sooner .

Hi Spikehs,Sorry I had the wrong spelling,its keratomy.You can look it up on the net. He had a surgeon in Toronto who had performed hundreds of procedures over thirty years .Will get more details and let you know................
Dave

My vision is -7.5 and although I would love surgery, a family friend had his vision messed up bad now he is legally blind by the laser surgery. This was early on in the laser surgery days, and all surgery carries risks but knowing someone who has had trouble has scared me away from considering surgery.

If I needed surgery for work I would consider it, but not because glasses are inconvenient.

Keep us updated with what you decide!

I believe that Keratomy (or however you spell it) is when they cut it up into pie slices and reshape it. I think this is an older method before PRK and Lasik.

I was also considering IOL's (Inter Ocualar Lenses) where they place a lense under your cornea i believe. But that is very $$$, to get toric lenses (for astigmatism) it would have cost nearly $8000! PRK is actually the cheapest which is nice... should be around $3500 at gimbel. I think lasik would have cost me around $4500

If you have an usually warped cornea, then PRK will probably be suggested by your doctor. It's more expensive, but it's also more accurate. Lasik is also not advised if you're somewhat of an athlete. Trauma in the eye may tear the flap open. eek! Of course that could happen anywhere, but playing sports just raises the probability of getting an elbow or basket ball in the face.

well got my appointment booked. March 31st it is. It was actually cheaper than I had thought. Came to $2750 at Gimbel. Now its time to play the waiting game.. Supposed to be a pretty painful recovery from what I hear.....

PRK is a little more painful than Lasik because the 'wound' is exposed on the outside, rather than healing quietly under a flap of tissue. All people have different reactions. Some feel almost nothing and some feel quite a bit of irritation. You'll get protective contact lenses right after surgery, but these have to come out fairly soon. ouch! You'll also get a huge assortment of eye drops that have to be dripped every few hours. Some are antibiotics and some are pain killers. They really do a good job of numbing your eye. Your eyes will be dialated and light sensitive for a few days so you'll get these not-so-cool looking shades. Your vision will be quite blurry too. It's annoying because your first instinct will be to hold items close to get focus , but it won't help one bit. :) You'll be quite bored at home doing nothing too. Oh, you can listen to the TV. Good luck!

Thats correct MR ALBERTA. The procedure has been used for years before laser surgery became the fashion.There seems to be a high success rate ,with a skillful surgeon without some of the complications suffered by the laser patients and the ability to correct without loss of tissue.
For me ,I will stick with glasses .
All the best stikehs.................
Dave

4 Eyes 4 Life :lol:

All jokes.. I just got myself some new frames. I have been considering laser surgery as well, but after reading this thread.... ehhhhh :confused: I'm still young anyhow.. I can wait on it.

Anyways, good luck with the procedure, let us know how things go.

I am pretty young myself, 23.... although my eyes have been stable for a while now 3+ years... so I should be good to go.

Well, good luck to you! Please do let us know how the procedure goes.

good lord, I don't feel so bad with these -6.25 slightly astigmatistic eyes of my own! I personally have never considered laser eye surgery, glasses and contacts suit me fine..heck I only wear my contacts once or twice a month. talk about laaaaaaazy!

Contacts suck! They suck big time for me anyways... I've tried over 6 pairs and all of them sucked haha. They were all so uncomforatable and irritating. It's too bad, as I don't mind putting them in.... and they're a nice break from glasses. I guess my eyes just don't like contacts.

I just cant handle not being able to see ANYTHING when i wake up!

well, its now been about 4.5 days since the surgery and I can say that it definaltey was a success. the first 3 days were not much fun, vision wasn't great (foggy and blurry) not to mention very painful, kinda felt like someone had poured sand in my eyes, but on the fourth day everything seemed to get much better. The discomfort is about 90% gone, and I'd say my vision is at about 80% of where it should be... all in all so far i am definaltey happy and would recommend Gimbel to anyone who is thinking of doing it. I would definatley not going with one of the "bargain brand" places, but rather gimbel or demong. Ended up paying $2300 after i had a $400 corporate discount.