Anyone Have LASIK Surgery?

[LegacyDriver]

>>Also, anyone who goes flying the day after having LASIK surgery is...lacking judgment. The flap is attached but not totally healed and if you get bonked in the eye you're going to wish you had stayed at home with your protective shields on.<<


The protective shields are only for blocking bright lights, as in 'sunglass' purposes, not for "bonking" protection. The doctor said if they are not bothering you, then no worries. You can get "bonked" just as easy anywhere. The flap actually takes @ 6 weeks to heal, which is why you cannot get your eyes wet for 6 weeks.

I don't know who your doctor was but I had protective shields over my face and could only remove them to put drops in for the first 24 hours. In fact, I was told not to even open my eyes for 24 hours except to medicate them. I wonder if your doctor was stoned...

 

[USMCAirWinger]

It took like a week before I was to 20/20 or better and I think like 2 weeks of the "stars". This is part of the healing process just like in Lasik, just longer. In case you didn't know it, PRK and Lasik are the same exept the cut that you get along with Lasik...they use the same laser.
I guess it depends on how long your family members had the procedure. With the wavefront tech, It fixes some of the "imperfections" that normal people have in their eyes. Like I said, I ended up with 20/10 and see everything super clear, better than with glasses. It's what the docs call "super-vision" .

Like any procedure there are risks and the greater the amount of cornea that they have to blast the greater the chances of getting less than great vision. I was 20/100 before I got it.

Good luck.

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

did you have any astigmatism?

 

[DorkProp]

Four and a half years and still 20/15. Was a -2.0 with astigmatism before. Dry eyes still, though I had them before the surgery. Would do it again in a heartbeat. As with anything, there is risk. There's risk in my 401(k) too, but I still invest.

 

[LegacyDriver]

-5.75 Astigmatic. 20/15 now.

Some distortion at night and in very low light situations. When I consider all the reflection from the inside of my glasses I would say the night glares I have now are actually nowhere near as bad as the former.

Did the WaveFront Custom Lasik. Have been flying with it for a long time. Would do it again any day.

 

[hawkerpilot]

Intra-Lasik

Had the new Intra Lasik done with excellent results. Intra-Lasik uses a laser to cut the flap and a different laser to do the correction....no blades at all. Was 20/300 with astigmatism and now have 20/15 and 20/20 with no astigmatism. Eyes were a little sensitive at night for a month or so but now completely normal.

 

[DenverDude2002]

Im sticking with contacts until my eyes stop shifting every friggen 6 months. Anyone know at what age eyes stop changing? Its wierd because my left eye actually improved over the last year and is now equal with my right one, left one was 20/150 a year ago, now its 20/70. Eye doctor said its the wierdest thing shes ever seen

 

[Looking4Traffic]

Shifty Eyes

Denver Dude:

How old are you? When I was about 22, my vision was 20/15. Then I went to graduate school and was reading about 6-8 hours per day. Less than 18 months later, I was 20/300. $#%^@

The Doc told me that some people have a "genetic propensity" for farsightedness or nearsightedness which manifests itself when you put your eyes through rigorous circumstances over time (i.e. by reading a ton and requiring my eyes to focus up close all the time, my genetic propensity for nearsightedness was accelerated.) I still read a lot but haven't had any significant prescription changes since I was about 26 (which was longer ago than I'll admit here.)

Regarding your switch-back to better vision -- I'm just speculating -- but I wonder if you put your eyes through a similar kind of rigor over a shorter period (perhaps temporarily changing the shape of your cornea) then let up and the eye relaxed when you stopped. I knew a guy who had the same problem when he was reading porn about 20 hours a day but then successfully completed a 12-step program and is a lot better. Really. I am . . .

 

[VFR on Top]

That $4M jury award to the UA pilot was later reversed when an expert witness surgeon changed his story.

Wavefront-guided LASIK is now the gold standard, I wouldn't consider anything else.

 

[vmc-hound]

I had the LASIK and overall am happy with it. but my night vision has not recovered since the surgury a year ago. I am just starting to fly and might have to look (ha ha) into doing something else for a living...think about it hard