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You are handicapped when you have to wear glasses (at least above a certain threshold - I cannot comment for people with only slight sight impairment). Last yea

by sgift 12y ago

You are handicapped when you have to wear glasses (at least above a certain threshold - I cannot comment for people with only slight sight impairment). Last year I've decided to finally end this misery and got my eyesight fixed. I've gone from -12/-9 (extreme shortsightedness) to normal eyesight and don't have to wear glasses anymore .. the change is profound but hard to describe. Sometimes, I just stand there and look at things in a distance I couldn't see before, even with glasses. Sometimes, I just look into one direction and try to notice what I can see from the corner of the eyes. An area which was completely non-existent to me before. I've also noticed that my eyes lack certain reflexes which you would normally expect: When I take a handkerchief and one corner goes near my eyes, you would normally expect that they close (corneal reflex) .. but mine often don't and I've hit my cornea at various times, probably because my brain somehow expects that the handkerchief cannot hit the eye "there will be a barrier" .. well, there's no barrier anymore. Then I sometimes stare at objects in half-dark conditions and wonder if my eyesight is still not perfect or if this is the way "normal" eyes see such things (according to all tests my eyes are perfect, so what I see is normal .. just unexpected maybe?). In the end, the most profound change is that I don't have to take care of my glasses anymore and they cannot fault in the worst situations. When I was the best man at a wedding and the nose pads of my glasses broke off .. I'm not angry if I won't have this experience ever again.

aerique 12y ago
May I ask your age? I'm 40 years old now and have been thinking of getting my eyes fixed as well.
- sgift 12y ago
  29. My doctors warned me that I have to expect presbyopia from the age of 45-50 (like everyone else), so no idea if you think 5-10 years without glasses are worth the cost.
  - ekianjo 12y ago
    I assume you went for LASIK ? Well the problem is that not everyone can do it, there are a number of contraindications for LASIK usage (medical conditions). And long term efficacy of LASIK is still a question mark, as far as I know.
    - woliveirajr 12y ago
      I've done lasik when I was 20. Just 4 years later my myopia returned (in a smaller degree) and my astigmatism return exactly to the same level. Yes, I had halo effects for the first 6 months. Yes, I somehow do regret have done that. Perhaps if I had waited until today (15 years later), technology could be better and I could have left enought cornea material to do another surgery.
      - mattlutze 12y ago
        Unfortunately, this is probably why they recommend that an optometrist confirms your eyes haven't changed over two yearly visits, before doing the surgery.
    - sgift 12y ago
      I went for ICL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implantable_collamer_lens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implantable_collamer_lens) - the correction needed was outside the safe range for LASIK (-8 at max according to my doctors and then the results can be .. questionable)
    - the_af 12y ago
      I had LASIK for minor myopia a few years ago (minor but enough to require glasses, otherwise I wasn't able to read a sign across the street), and it's been a mixed bag. I'm glad that I don't have to wear glasses anymore, and that I can read the sign across the street, but my vision was never back to perfect. It's ok, but not perfect. I experienced some of the annoying halo effect at night that seems to affect some people, my eyes get tired faster, and also the myopia wasn't completely removed, just enough that I don't need glasses. It was a bit disappointing, but mostly I'm disappointed at my surgeon, who didn't tell me this. He felt more like a salesperson than a doctor, never telling me about potential complications, side-effects or limitations. When I went back for my first checkup, I told him my right eye was a bit blurry (it still is; coincidentally, it was the eye with more myopia before the surgery), and he told me "nah, what matters is your binocular vision, which is fine. Don't worry about your right eye."... which may be fine, but he never told me this before! He never told me "what matters is your binocular vision"; I might have decided not to have LASIK if he had told me that :(
- jleyank 12y ago
  Careful at this age, as middle-age/"can't see up close" might hit you in a few years forcing reading glasses. While one person is an anecdote, I sent from 0 to 2.5 diopter correction in the 42-44 range, with 0.25/0.5 changes occurring every 6-month checkup. I'm currently watching a whole lot of coworkers making their offices brighter (greater depth of field) and wishing for larger arms, monitors and fonts. Get some good advice here to avoid disappointment.
eps 12y ago
Excellent, excellent ... but do you get halo effect at night when looking at lights? :)
- sgift 12y ago
  Sometimes and only on one eye (left). At the start the effect was very obvious, but now (1.5 month later) I've noticed that they've almost disappeared. Sometimes, I can still see them, then I blink and no more halos. My doctors said that this is to be expected: The brain learns to filter out such effects over time. Seems to work for me. :)
- zo1 12y ago
  Do you perhaps have a good link about the halo effect? I've been trying to find a "Reliable" link about it, but all I'm getting are medical Q&A answer sites with peoples' experiences, etc.
Swizec 12y ago
> probably because my brain somehow expects that the handkerchief cannot hit the eye "there will be a barrier" .. well, there's no barrier anymore Why didn't I ever think of this? This perfectly explains why I poke myself in the eye so often when washing my face or something ... it makes so much sense! That said, I've been wearing glasses since I was 9. By now they're a part of my face and I literally look weird without them. But I also don't have super terribly poor eyesight. If the glasses fail, I can still lead a somewhat normal existence. It's just a strain and tires my eyes quickly. For instance, I always do sport without glasses. Which makes me terrible at ball sports, but I'm fine at everything else. I have even driven without glasses when they broke. That was a terrible idea. Do not recommend ... What was the surgery like? The idea of something going in my eyes always terrified me.
- huhtenberg 12y ago
  > I've been wearing glasses since I was 9. By now they're a part of my face and I literally look weird without them. Try rimless glasses ;)
  - Swizec 12y ago
    I have, it looked terrible. My eyes are small and beady, glasses make them look bigger and more welcoming.
    - swift 12y ago
      I'm not saying this isn't true, as I have no idea what you look like, but food for thought: when I switched to contacts, I had a similar feeling, that I looked strange without glasses and that I was better off wearing them. However, I stuck with it, and within a few weeks my perception of myself had shifted. Now I actually prefer how I look without glasses. I experience the same phenomenon periodically since every couple of years I change my mind about whether I want to have a bigger beard or a closely-cropped beard. It always takes me a few weeks before my new look really feels natural, and I've come to expect that I have to wait that period out before I can evaluate myself honestly. All of this is to say: sometimes you might feel differently about a change like rimless glasses if you stick with it for a while. Which maybe you did, I don't know, but if not I encourage you to try it. =)
enobrev 12y ago
About 7 or so years ago, after wearing glasses for somewhere around 20 years, I also had my eyesight fixed. What surprised me the most was how completely natural it was. For the first 2 weeks, I habitually tried to push my non-existent glasses up the bridge of my nose. Maybe 2 or 3 months after the procedure, I'd basically forgotten that I'd ever had glasses, except when someone reminded me. When friends asked the difference, whether it was worth it, etc, I had a hard time relating to what it was like to have glasses / contacts. I remember the details. Doctor visits, bent rims, ordering contacts, the inability to drive, etc. But I'd completely forgotten the experience, as though I've always had perfect vision.
- visakanv 12y ago
  That's really interesting! I think this is the case whenever something gets simpler + more gratifying. We can remember the inconvenience of the old way of doing things, but we don't quite remember the experience- because the new experience becomes our default reality. I remember reading Francis Bacon's A New Atlantic, and thinking "This isn't really that revolutionary... it's just people doing things in a rigorous, scientific sort of manner." (A product corollary– Consider how Google and Facebook often seem like they've always been around!)
- hultner 12y ago
  As a person with -0.5/-0.75 I frequently switch between wearing and not wearing glasses. I usually wear glasses at work, when watching movies, at lectures while if I'm out at night, hanging out with friends, going out or doing anything like that I usually leave the glasses of. I often forget my glasses at home in the morning because I don't really notice that I'm not wearing them and when I'm not wearing them I sometimes think that I'm actually wearing them (this is especially common when I'm accidentally using the computer or watching a movie without glasses). However if I've been wearing my glasses for an extended period of time (say a couple of hours) I do notice a quite marginal difference when comparing having them on to not. I don't know if it's imaginary but it's almost like my vision without glasses gets worse if I've recently been wearing glasses extensively.

by sgift 12y ago

aerique 12y ago

May I ask your age? I'm 40 years old now and have been thinking of getting my eyes fixed as well.

sgift 12y ago
29. My doctors warned me that I have to expect presbyopia from the age of 45-50 (like everyone else), so no idea if you think 5-10 years without glasses are worth the cost.
- ekianjo 12y ago
  I assume you went for LASIK ? Well the problem is that not everyone can do it, there are a number of contraindications for LASIK usage (medical conditions). And long term efficacy of LASIK is still a question mark, as far as I know.
  - woliveirajr 12y ago
    I've done lasik when I was 20. Just 4 years later my myopia returned (in a smaller degree) and my astigmatism return exactly to the same level. Yes, I had halo effects for the first 6 months. Yes, I somehow do regret have done that. Perhaps if I had waited until today (15 years later), technology could be better and I could have left enought cornea material to do another surgery.
    - mattlutze 12y ago
      Unfortunately, this is probably why they recommend that an optometrist confirms your eyes haven't changed over two yearly visits, before doing the surgery.
  - sgift 12y ago
    I went for ICL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implantable_collamer_lens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implantable_collamer_lens) - the correction needed was outside the safe range for LASIK (-8 at max according to my doctors and then the results can be .. questionable)
  - the_af 12y ago
    I had LASIK for minor myopia a few years ago (minor but enough to require glasses, otherwise I wasn't able to read a sign across the street), and it's been a mixed bag. I'm glad that I don't have to wear glasses anymore, and that I can read the sign across the street, but my vision was never back to perfect. It's ok, but not perfect. I experienced some of the annoying halo effect at night that seems to affect some people, my eyes get tired faster, and also the myopia wasn't completely removed, just enough that I don't need glasses. It was a bit disappointing, but mostly I'm disappointed at my surgeon, who didn't tell me this. He felt more like a salesperson than a doctor, never telling me about potential complications, side-effects or limitations. When I went back for my first checkup, I told him my right eye was a bit blurry (it still is; coincidentally, it was the eye with more myopia before the surgery), and he told me "nah, what matters is your binocular vision, which is fine. Don't worry about your right eye."... which may be fine, but he never told me this before! He never told me "what matters is your binocular vision"; I might have decided not to have LASIK if he had told me that :(
jleyank 12y ago
Careful at this age, as middle-age/"can't see up close" might hit you in a few years forcing reading glasses. While one person is an anecdote, I sent from 0 to 2.5 diopter correction in the 42-44 range, with 0.25/0.5 changes occurring every 6-month checkup. I'm currently watching a whole lot of coworkers making their offices brighter (greater depth of field) and wishing for larger arms, monitors and fonts. Get some good advice here to avoid disappointment.

eps 12y ago

Excellent, excellent ... but do you get halo effect at night when looking at lights? :)

sgift 12y ago
Sometimes and only on one eye (left). At the start the effect was very obvious, but now (1.5 month later) I've noticed that they've almost disappeared. Sometimes, I can still see them, then I blink and no more halos. My doctors said that this is to be expected: The brain learns to filter out such effects over time. Seems to work for me. :)
zo1 12y ago
Do you perhaps have a good link about the halo effect? I've been trying to find a "Reliable" link about it, but all I'm getting are medical Q&A answer sites with peoples' experiences, etc.

Swizec 12y ago

> probably because my brain somehow expects that the handkerchief cannot hit the eye "there will be a barrier" .. well, there's no barrier anymore Why didn't I ever think of this? This perfectly explains why I poke myself in the eye so often when washing my face or something ... it makes so much sense! That said, I've been wearing glasses since I was 9. By now they're a part of my face and I literally look weird without them. But I also don't have super terribly poor eyesight. If the glasses fail, I can still lead a somewhat normal existence. It's just a strain and tires my eyes quickly. For instance, I always do sport without glasses. Which makes me terrible at ball sports, but I'm fine at everything else. I have even driven without glasses when they broke. That was a terrible idea. Do not recommend ... What was the surgery like? The idea of something going in my eyes always terrified me.

huhtenberg 12y ago
> I've been wearing glasses since I was 9. By now they're a part of my face and I literally look weird without them. Try rimless glasses ;)
- Swizec 12y ago
  I have, it looked terrible. My eyes are small and beady, glasses make them look bigger and more welcoming.
  - swift 12y ago
    I'm not saying this isn't true, as I have no idea what you look like, but food for thought: when I switched to contacts, I had a similar feeling, that I looked strange without glasses and that I was better off wearing them. However, I stuck with it, and within a few weeks my perception of myself had shifted. Now I actually prefer how I look without glasses. I experience the same phenomenon periodically since every couple of years I change my mind about whether I want to have a bigger beard or a closely-cropped beard. It always takes me a few weeks before my new look really feels natural, and I've come to expect that I have to wait that period out before I can evaluate myself honestly. All of this is to say: sometimes you might feel differently about a change like rimless glasses if you stick with it for a while. Which maybe you did, I don't know, but if not I encourage you to try it. =)

enobrev 12y ago

About 7 or so years ago, after wearing glasses for somewhere around 20 years, I also had my eyesight fixed. What surprised me the most was how completely natural it was. For the first 2 weeks, I habitually tried to push my non-existent glasses up the bridge of my nose. Maybe 2 or 3 months after the procedure, I'd basically forgotten that I'd ever had glasses, except when someone reminded me. When friends asked the difference, whether it was worth it, etc, I had a hard time relating to what it was like to have glasses / contacts. I remember the details. Doctor visits, bent rims, ordering contacts, the inability to drive, etc. But I'd completely forgotten the experience, as though I've always had perfect vision.

visakanv 12y ago
That's really interesting! I think this is the case whenever something gets simpler + more gratifying. We can remember the inconvenience of the old way of doing things, but we don't quite remember the experience- because the new experience becomes our default reality. I remember reading Francis Bacon's A New Atlantic, and thinking "This isn't really that revolutionary... it's just people doing things in a rigorous, scientific sort of manner." (A product corollary– Consider how Google and Facebook often seem like they've always been around!)
hultner 12y ago
As a person with -0.5/-0.75 I frequently switch between wearing and not wearing glasses. I usually wear glasses at work, when watching movies, at lectures while if I'm out at night, hanging out with friends, going out or doing anything like that I usually leave the glasses of. I often forget my glasses at home in the morning because I don't really notice that I'm not wearing them and when I'm not wearing them I sometimes think that I'm actually wearing them (this is especially common when I'm accidentally using the computer or watching a movie without glasses). However if I've been wearing my glasses for an extended period of time (say a couple of hours) I do notice a quite marginal difference when comparing having them on to not. I don't know if it's imaginary but it's almost like my vision without glasses gets worse if I've recently been wearing glasses extensively.