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Yeah, when I read something like "but the surgery has a 99% success rate" (I don't remember if that was the actual figure, I think it was lower actually), my mi

Yeah, when I read something like "but the surgery has a 99% success rate" (I don't remember if that was the actual figure, I think it was lower actually), my mind instantly goes to the other 1%. Glasses are a very mild annoyance, so mild that I'm used to them and don't think about them as an annoyance at all (in fact, sometimes I'm even grateful to have them when I'm cooking and a stray drop of oil flies to the glass). To each their own, but for me personally getting rid of glasses isn't worth the risk of being in that 1%.

the_af 12y ago
Even without looking at the 1% catastrophic failures (forget your fears about losing an eye or going blind, I think you can safely rule them out. And in the case of LASIK, it's truly painless and quick, I can attest to that), the 99% success rate is suspect. Here "success" probably means "defect corrected". But many less than honest eye doctors don't take into consideration subjective matters (is the patient satisfied with the result? is he reporting any discomfort not directly related to the original condition?). So these doctors will report the surgery was a success if it corrected the defect, even when the patient reports other annoyances. This happened to me and to other people I spoke with who had LASIK surgery. Nothing terrible; in my case it was a success. It's just that it's not perfect, I have minor annoyances, but for the statistics it probably counts as a success case.
- hultner 12y ago
  What annoyances? I've been considering LASIK myself but don't know if it's worth it with -0.5/-0.75 vision impairment. I mean after all, ignoring my impairment and simply not wearing glasses is only a minor annoyance for me. I've sometimes gone years almost never wearing glasses but right now I wear glasses almost every weekday.
epsylon 12y ago
It is significantly less than 1%, and most of the complications can be fixed with additional surgery or simple drug prescriptions. Most of the complications tend to happen with patients for whom pre-op examinations showed that everything wasn't perfect. All in all, catastrophic failures (worst eyesight than before the operation) are very, very rare. IIRC it is something like 0.0005%. Honestly, I think you should at least have a serious talk with your eye doctor about the possibility of having surgery. This doesn't commit you to anything, but at least you'll have given it a serious thought. I did have laser surgery about a year ago, and it definitely changed my life for the better. I was only mildly short sighted, but it proved to be a huge inconvenience to practice sports, but also when breaking glasses, forgetting them, etc... Not to mention the huge boost to my self-esteem: I much prefer my face without glasses. The surgery technique that was used in my case is femtosecond laser, and it is as close as a miracle as modern medicine can get: the surgery lasts basically 15 minutes during which you are put into 2 machines successively. You start seeing again after the effect of the anesthetic dulls off. You get back to your home, have a good night of sleep. The morning after, you have a perfect eyesights. 15 years ago, with less advanced techniques, you had to wait for about a week for the scars to heal. Compare that to the fact that I was back to work only 24h after the surgery.

the_af 12y ago

Even without looking at the 1% catastrophic failures (forget your fears about losing an eye or going blind, I think you can safely rule them out. And in the case of LASIK, it's truly painless and quick, I can attest to that), the 99% success rate is suspect. Here "success" probably means "defect corrected". But many less than honest eye doctors don't take into consideration subjective matters (is the patient satisfied with the result? is he reporting any discomfort not directly related to the original condition?). So these doctors will report the surgery was a success if it corrected the defect, even when the patient reports other annoyances. This happened to me and to other people I spoke with who had LASIK surgery. Nothing terrible; in my case it was a success. It's just that it's not perfect, I have minor annoyances, but for the statistics it probably counts as a success case.

hultner 12y ago
What annoyances? I've been considering LASIK myself but don't know if it's worth it with -0.5/-0.75 vision impairment. I mean after all, ignoring my impairment and simply not wearing glasses is only a minor annoyance for me. I've sometimes gone years almost never wearing glasses but right now I wear glasses almost every weekday.

epsylon 12y ago

It is significantly less than 1%, and most of the complications can be fixed with additional surgery or simple drug prescriptions. Most of the complications tend to happen with patients for whom pre-op examinations showed that everything wasn't perfect. All in all, catastrophic failures (worst eyesight than before the operation) are very, very rare. IIRC it is something like 0.0005%. Honestly, I think you should at least have a serious talk with your eye doctor about the possibility of having surgery. This doesn't commit you to anything, but at least you'll have given it a serious thought. I did have laser surgery about a year ago, and it definitely changed my life for the better. I was only mildly short sighted, but it proved to be a huge inconvenience to practice sports, but also when breaking glasses, forgetting them, etc... Not to mention the huge boost to my self-esteem: I much prefer my face without glasses. The surgery technique that was used in my case is femtosecond laser, and it is as close as a miracle as modern medicine can get: the surgery lasts basically 15 minutes during which you are put into 2 machines successively. You start seeing again after the effect of the anesthetic dulls off. You get back to your home, have a good night of sleep. The morning after, you have a perfect eyesights. 15 years ago, with less advanced techniques, you had to wait for about a week for the scars to heal. Compare that to the fact that I was back to work only 24h after the surgery.