4 ms·

I have a lot of sympathy for the author. I've been thinking about getting LASIK (or SMILE as it seems to be gaining popularity in France) since friend got it an

by draven 5y ago

I have a lot of sympathy for the author. I've been thinking about getting LASIK (or SMILE as it seems to be gaining popularity in France) since friend got it and says it's life-changing, and since I've started considering it I sometimes have nightmares about the procedure. I already had some minor surgery with local anesthesic and I didn't have any anxiety, but there's something about having something done to the eyes while fully awake that I find frightening.

wccrawford 5y ago
I had ICL and then Lasik as part of the same planned procedure, and I had the same thoughts beforehand. The doctors actually made it sound worse than it is. For ICL, they'd say things like, "You'll feel a little pinch" before they did something, and I barely noticed that anything was happening. For Lasik, it was nothing. The most uncomfortable part of the procedure was while they were prepping me, and even that wasn't anything worth talking about unless you have some phobia. It's been a few years now and I barely remember anything about the procedure beyond the room layouts and remembering thinking it went much easier than I expected.
- buu700 5y ago
  I had an ICL procedure as well, about seven years ago. I can't say I had anywhere near OP's level of anxiety about it beforehand, but I was concerned about potential pain/discomfort and my ability to keep my eyes still enough to not ruin the procedure and blind myself. Unfortunately I have no memory of the procedure itself, so I can't comment on any discomfort or lack thereof. I don't think I was ever told I'd be put under general anesthesia, so it seemed a bit odd at the time to walk in and out with no memory of in-between. Does anyone know if this is a common side effect (or intentional effect) of drugs commonly used during ICL implantation surgery?
param 5y ago
I was always iffy about LASIK and got it done to appease my wife & I can tell you it was way simpler than I was imagining. I can't even put contact lenses in my eye myself, but getting operated was a breeze. I have been glasses free for 8 yrs now - its great!
- Buttons840 5y ago
  How old are you, if I may ask? I'm very nearsighted (I can't see distant objects clearly without glasses), and I know people's ability to see close objects or read diminishes with age. My plan has been to remain nearsighted in hopes I can always read without glasses. Many people have their far sight improve as they approach 40 or 50.
foobarian 5y ago
My problem with LASIK is the rare issues. It looks like it works fantastically when it works, but it seems to also cause fantastic problems when something goes wrong. Given my high negative prescription I just can't bring myself to do it.
- DantesKite 5y ago
  Excellent thinking. I've read enough horror stories to know it's not worth the risk, especially when my optometrist told me my vision would worsen anyways in 10 years.
  - deepspace 5y ago
    Yes, even if I could overcome my phobia of things touching my eye and bring myself to have LASIK done, I would never do it, for the simple reason that my prescription keeps changing year by year. The glasses I was prescribed a few years ago are almost useless today, so I cannot help thinking that LASIK would just correct my vision at a point in time, and then a couple of years later it would be back to glasses. Not worth the risks in the slightest.
    - glxxyz 5y ago
      Yes a stable prescription is one of the recommendations, mine had been unchanged for about 10 years before LASIK, and hasn't changed in the 18 or so years since then. I'm not big on the idea of touching my eye but the numbing drops are amazing- after I'd had a couple of eyeball pressure tests I got used to the odd sensation of things touching my eyes without me flinching.
  - glxxyz 5y ago
    I had LASIK almost 20 years ago and for me it's been wonderful. My vision settled down to a small (about -0.5) prescription which hasn't changed since then. Legally I can drive without glasses but I basically only wear them for driving and the cinema. Multiple optometrists in the years since have told me that I have no corneal flattening, no scarring, and I've had no dryness. Relevant to the OP it was quite a procedure to experience. I was a little concerned before but it was quite interesting to watch the corneal flat be cut open (with no feeling at all) and peeled back, then see the little laser flashes accompanied by (weirdly) a smell of burned hair. When they dropped the flap back down my vision was instantly corrected, although initially a bit cloudy.
DoingIsLearning 5y ago
Make sure you understand the clinical outcomes and potential side-effects. When a cornea flap is cut, you are cutting a lot of innervation to the cornea surface, this for many people means fairly persistent dry-eyes. In addition the scaring of the cornea in the incision flap rim, can also create visual artefacts like Halos, more visible during nightime as your pupil expands and may catch some of the visual distortion of the scar tissue. I am describing from experience so your mileage may vary. At the end of the day I would probably still go ahead with the surgery but I genuinely feel that it was not thoroughly explained to me, ahead of the surgery, what all the potential side-effects could be.
- draven 5y ago
  As I understand it SMILE implies a smaller cut (3mm) with less nerve damage. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll make sure I'm OK with the potential side effects if I go forward with it.
  - loceng 5y ago
    Look up central sensitization and hyperalgesia, a side effect LASIK only recently admitted to, and to which LASIK caused me and has made my life hell - and why I know about Jessica Starr, the Facebook support group, and the stromal stem cell research - all things I had to find on my own as the industry is protecting itself, indoctrinated and with no real interest in helping those they harm except for billing you to treat the purposefully mislabeled "dry eye syndrome" - where research not done by LASIK shows up to 40% of people have permanent problems after.
- Traubenfuchs 5y ago
  I am suffering from moderate dry eye now and was suffering from severe dry eye in the past. I once had a day at work where the pain was so bad I thought: This is it. I can‘t keep on working, I will lose my job and live on disability from now on. After some conversations with healthy people, I learned that many can not even imagine dry eye pain. One sentence stuck out: „I didn‘t know eyes could hurt.“ What I wanna say is: Don‘t risk it. Lasik can ruin your life.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
loceng 5y ago
Listen to the nightmares - it's your subconscious trying to get a message/warning through to you. There's a Facebook group called LASIK Complications Support Group that has 3-4 people joining it daily desperate for help from the pain they're left with. LASIK as an industrial complex has done well to suppress the problems. In 2011 one of the FDA expert advisors who voted to approve LASIK wrote a public letter to FDA asking them to immediately recall LASIK, as he said there was data they were ignoring that they shouldn't have been ignoring, and that it should never have been approved. A story of suicide post LASIK (actually specifically she did "SMILE") of a news reporter Jessica Starr - many articles on her, but here's two: https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/families-deal-with-repercussions-after-rare-but-severe-complications-from-laser-eye-surgery-1.4363940 https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/families-deal-with-repercussions-a... + https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/in-her-own-words-jessica-starr-detailed-struggles-after-eye-surgery-in-video-journals https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/in-her-own-words-jessica-st...: ""She looked at me and she said, 'Dan [her husband], it's like my eyes and my brain aren't communicating like they used to. I can't process like I used to. I'm not visualizing things like I used to,'" Dan said.' My hypothesis is that the more creative and sensitive a person is (therefore less redundancy in neural networks) the more fragile and detrimental damage/injury caused by LASIK. The cornea is the most sensitive tissue in the body with 300-600 times the density of pain receptors than your skin, and LASIK lies - your cornea doesn't/can't heal on its own. At least wait until the stromal stem cell treatment available clinically. Human clinical trials in India were fast tracked under compassionate grounds, the original research on animal models from University of Pittsburgh, that were highly successful healing/regenerating deep/severe scarring and chemical burns. It'll likely take anywhere from 2-5 years, with the pandemic delaying things, for it to be available in India/US with FDA approval.
hrydgard 5y ago
Consider ICL instead of LASIK if it's an alternative for the level of vision you have. Super happy, and the procedure was really no big deal.
ghostly_s 5y ago
I am curious what is "life-changing" in anything but the most quotidian sense about no longer having to wear contacts or glasses?

by draven 5y ago

wccrawford 5y ago

I had ICL and then Lasik as part of the same planned procedure, and I had the same thoughts beforehand. The doctors actually made it sound worse than it is. For ICL, they'd say things like, "You'll feel a little pinch" before they did something, and I barely noticed that anything was happening. For Lasik, it was nothing. The most uncomfortable part of the procedure was while they were prepping me, and even that wasn't anything worth talking about unless you have some phobia. It's been a few years now and I barely remember anything about the procedure beyond the room layouts and remembering thinking it went much easier than I expected.

buu700 5y ago
I had an ICL procedure as well, about seven years ago. I can't say I had anywhere near OP's level of anxiety about it beforehand, but I was concerned about potential pain/discomfort and my ability to keep my eyes still enough to not ruin the procedure and blind myself. Unfortunately I have no memory of the procedure itself, so I can't comment on any discomfort or lack thereof. I don't think I was ever told I'd be put under general anesthesia, so it seemed a bit odd at the time to walk in and out with no memory of in-between. Does anyone know if this is a common side effect (or intentional effect) of drugs commonly used during ICL implantation surgery?

param 5y ago

I was always iffy about LASIK and got it done to appease my wife & I can tell you it was way simpler than I was imagining. I can't even put contact lenses in my eye myself, but getting operated was a breeze. I have been glasses free for 8 yrs now - its great!

Buttons840 5y ago
How old are you, if I may ask? I'm very nearsighted (I can't see distant objects clearly without glasses), and I know people's ability to see close objects or read diminishes with age. My plan has been to remain nearsighted in hopes I can always read without glasses. Many people have their far sight improve as they approach 40 or 50.

foobarian 5y ago

My problem with LASIK is the rare issues. It looks like it works fantastically when it works, but it seems to also cause fantastic problems when something goes wrong. Given my high negative prescription I just can't bring myself to do it.

DantesKite 5y ago
Excellent thinking. I've read enough horror stories to know it's not worth the risk, especially when my optometrist told me my vision would worsen anyways in 10 years.
- deepspace 5y ago
  Yes, even if I could overcome my phobia of things touching my eye and bring myself to have LASIK done, I would never do it, for the simple reason that my prescription keeps changing year by year. The glasses I was prescribed a few years ago are almost useless today, so I cannot help thinking that LASIK would just correct my vision at a point in time, and then a couple of years later it would be back to glasses. Not worth the risks in the slightest.
  - glxxyz 5y ago
    Yes a stable prescription is one of the recommendations, mine had been unchanged for about 10 years before LASIK, and hasn't changed in the 18 or so years since then. I'm not big on the idea of touching my eye but the numbing drops are amazing- after I'd had a couple of eyeball pressure tests I got used to the odd sensation of things touching my eyes without me flinching.
- glxxyz 5y ago
  I had LASIK almost 20 years ago and for me it's been wonderful. My vision settled down to a small (about -0.5) prescription which hasn't changed since then. Legally I can drive without glasses but I basically only wear them for driving and the cinema. Multiple optometrists in the years since have told me that I have no corneal flattening, no scarring, and I've had no dryness. Relevant to the OP it was quite a procedure to experience. I was a little concerned before but it was quite interesting to watch the corneal flat be cut open (with no feeling at all) and peeled back, then see the little laser flashes accompanied by (weirdly) a smell of burned hair. When they dropped the flap back down my vision was instantly corrected, although initially a bit cloudy.

DoingIsLearning 5y ago

Make sure you understand the clinical outcomes and potential side-effects. When a cornea flap is cut, you are cutting a lot of innervation to the cornea surface, this for many people means fairly persistent dry-eyes. In addition the scaring of the cornea in the incision flap rim, can also create visual artefacts like Halos, more visible during nightime as your pupil expands and may catch some of the visual distortion of the scar tissue. I am describing from experience so your mileage may vary. At the end of the day I would probably still go ahead with the surgery but I genuinely feel that it was not thoroughly explained to me, ahead of the surgery, what all the potential side-effects could be.

draven 5y ago
As I understand it SMILE implies a smaller cut (3mm) with less nerve damage. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll make sure I'm OK with the potential side effects if I go forward with it.
- loceng 5y ago
  Look up central sensitization and hyperalgesia, a side effect LASIK only recently admitted to, and to which LASIK caused me and has made my life hell - and why I know about Jessica Starr, the Facebook support group, and the stromal stem cell research - all things I had to find on my own as the industry is protecting itself, indoctrinated and with no real interest in helping those they harm except for billing you to treat the purposefully mislabeled "dry eye syndrome" - where research not done by LASIK shows up to 40% of people have permanent problems after.
Traubenfuchs 5y ago
I am suffering from moderate dry eye now and was suffering from severe dry eye in the past. I once had a day at work where the pain was so bad I thought: This is it. I can‘t keep on working, I will lose my job and live on disability from now on. After some conversations with healthy people, I learned that many can not even imagine dry eye pain. One sentence stuck out: „I didn‘t know eyes could hurt.“ What I wanna say is: Don‘t risk it. Lasik can ruin your life.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

loceng 5y ago

Listen to the nightmares - it's your subconscious trying to get a message/warning through to you. There's a Facebook group called LASIK Complications Support Group that has 3-4 people joining it daily desperate for help from the pain they're left with. LASIK as an industrial complex has done well to suppress the problems. In 2011 one of the FDA expert advisors who voted to approve LASIK wrote a public letter to FDA asking them to immediately recall LASIK, as he said there was data they were ignoring that they shouldn't have been ignoring, and that it should never have been approved. A story of suicide post LASIK (actually specifically she did "SMILE") of a news reporter Jessica Starr - many articles on her, but here's two: https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/families-deal-with-repercussions-after-rare-but-severe-complications-from-laser-eye-surgery-1.4363940 https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/families-deal-with-repercussions-a... + https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/in-her-own-words-jessica-starr-detailed-struggles-after-eye-surgery-in-video-journals https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/in-her-own-words-jessica-st...: ""She looked at me and she said, 'Dan [her husband], it's like my eyes and my brain aren't communicating like they used to. I can't process like I used to. I'm not visualizing things like I used to,'" Dan said.' My hypothesis is that the more creative and sensitive a person is (therefore less redundancy in neural networks) the more fragile and detrimental damage/injury caused by LASIK. The cornea is the most sensitive tissue in the body with 300-600 times the density of pain receptors than your skin, and LASIK lies - your cornea doesn't/can't heal on its own. At least wait until the stromal stem cell treatment available clinically. Human clinical trials in India were fast tracked under compassionate grounds, the original research on animal models from University of Pittsburgh, that were highly successful healing/regenerating deep/severe scarring and chemical burns. It'll likely take anywhere from 2-5 years, with the pandemic delaying things, for it to be available in India/US with FDA approval.

hrydgard 5y ago

Consider ICL instead of LASIK if it's an alternative for the level of vision you have. Super happy, and the procedure was really no big deal.

ghostly_s 5y ago

I am curious what is "life-changing" in anything but the most quotidian sense about no longer having to wear contacts or glasses?