Getting My Eyeballs "Bombed"

[KMeek]

Paccool--



I am an attorney and just last week sat on a panel reviewing a claim of medical malpractice against an eye Dr. There were 3 eye Drs. on the panel--they were all 3 wearing glasses and all 3 said they would not do the surgery. The biggest problem with the surgery is that it severely limits the kind of eye surgery you can later. For instance, if you later need cataract surgery you are at a much higher risk for complications. Thus, the surgery probably makes more sense for an older person than on a young person who cannot reasonably expect not to have cataracts sometime during their life. The cornea does not respond well to being cut more than once and unlike our skin is never as good as new after it has been cut. I would ask any eye Dr. about these issues before undergoing the surgery.

 

[Fireman Dave]

Hey Paul,



Glad to hear it worked out well for you.



Dave

 

[WOWZY]

I don't understand why the Docs would be worried about having sugery for cataracts later on. My Grandmother just had cataract surgery last summer and they removed the cataract by going in the side of the eye. I've seen them doing it from the side on TLC's "Operation" a few years ago.



Both of the Opthalmologists that I see for glasses have had it done. So if its good enough for them, it's good enough for me. They gave me a referrel to the place that did theirs.

 

[WOWZY]

I went yesterday for my exam. My astigmatism is so bad that assistant was kinda pessimistic about me being a candidate. I saw the doc and he said the same thing until he measured the thickness of my cornia. He said that it was much thicker than he had thought and that I qualified since there was plenty of cornia to work with, but he did find a potential serious problem.



In my left eye, he found a tear in my Retina and had me come in this morning for the Retinal Specialist to look at it. It's a good thing I had my exam when I did because he was able to weld the tear with a Green Light Laser which wasn't much fun and my eye hurts a little right now, but is worth it to have caught it early. Funny thing is that I wasn't having any problems with that eye and he said that usually people don't know they have a detatching Retina till it completely detatches then it's to late to get 100% sight back when they fix it.



He said that I'm approved now for the Lasik, but will have to wait a month to let my Retina heal.



I encourage anyone of you guys to get this exam even if you don't want the Lasik surgery. At most places the exam is free and they check your eyes much closer for the Lasik than if you were just getting glasses.



P. S. I did find out about the Pupil diameter limitations. The Doc said that the maximum that they can do is a 7. 5 Mine was a 4 in the right and a 5 in the left. I don't know if that is in millimeters or not.

 

[Andy Perreault]

Originally posted by WOWZY

... he said that usually people don't know they have a detatching Retina till it completely detatches then it's to late to get 100% sight back when they fix it.

A few big-name veteran drag racers had to retire because of this, from the sudden deceleration when putting out the parachutes causing retinal detachment. Don Garlits and Joe Amato are two that I know of.

BTW, my niece had her follow-up exam the day after she had her eyes done. The results? 20/15 in both eyes! That's better than my results, I have 20/20 in my right and 20/15 in my left. Anyway, she's extremely happy! It's been raining a lot this week here in Seattle, windy too. I work outdoors, and boy, let me tell you, I am SO THANKFUL that I don't have to wear glasses anymore out there in the wind and rain!!

Andy

 

[WOWZY]

I just found out that my insurance will pay $200 towards the Lasik. Which means it'll only cost $689 per eye.



My uncle had it done 4 years ago and his bill was $3900.

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Interesting info on here

I've been contemplating Lasik for years. Mainly

the cost but I'm worried about not getting 20/20

vision in the end and still having to wear glasses

regardless.



Other really big concern is my job. I cannot take

off the required time to get a "clean bill of

health" signoff from an Aviation Examiner. I need

to check the facts but I think it is 30 to 60 days

before I can get my FAA Medical back and fly

again. I am a pilot for Continental and fly the

Boeing 757s and 767's. I love it!



There was an article in an aviation magazine a

year or so ago that detailed a procedure that

does not use lasers. Instead a slit is made in

the eye and a tiny corrective lens is inserted.

Good things about this procedure are no need to

wait for the FAA examiner to sign you off, and

if your vision changes as you age they can change

the lens easily.



I need to do some more research on all this!





-Chris

 

[joel]

Not sure about a Class 1 physical, but...

After I had my PRK done a year ago, I was down for 30 days per the Navy flight surgeon. 20/200-400 to 20/12 and 20/16 and holding.



When I looked into private flying, I called the FAA and they said as long as I was cleared by my follow up care eye doc (an Optometrist, even, not an Opthamologist. though he had been through special follow up care training) , with no set time limit, I was good to go. There's a form you need to get a hold of and have your follow up provider complete when he's ready to sign you off. You can get it at the FAA website, though it takes a little searching. About 6 months after my surgery, I was up for my Class 2 renewal and got it no problems. Even had the Statement of Demonstrated Ability for the visual acuity waiver removed and now have no restrictions on my license.



As for the Navy, it's the opposite. I have a permanent waiver to fly despite having eye surgery and had the wear a pair and carry an extra pair (reserved for those with the worst vision) restriction removed.



And if I get cataracts or something, I should be able to have surgery since I STILL don't have any cuts in my eyeballs!



Chris, the other procedure you're thinking of is where they put a clear donught thing around your eye to reshape it. It's called Intacs. If your eye changes, you go get another one. Problem is they're limited in how much correction you can get. My perscription was a -4. 0 in both eyes and that was too much. Just found a site (http://www.ascrs.org/eye/refract.html#intacs) that says a -3. 0 is the max for that. I would suspect you have to meet the same requirements for your medical in either option, since you are having surgery done to your eyes.

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Thanks for the info Joel!



-Chris

 

[dseabaugh]

reading glasses

My brother in law is an eye Dr. in Fla. Last week I e mailed him about the lassic. Several Drs. in this area are advertising that it corrects your vission forever. (for $1450 per eye). He said that not only does it go for $299 per eye down there ( I checked $399 in St. Louis); but you will still need reading glasses. I am 44.

 

[WOWZY]

Had my Lasik done this morning. Can't believe how good I can see with less than 12hours after having it done!!



My left eye is still a little blurry but my right eye is seeing at least 20/25. I may still have a little fine tuning to get done to the left eye, but only time will tell.



I can't wait till morning to see how much better it is when the dialation wears off. Can't stand these damn protective lenses that I have to wear till my post opperative appointment tomorrow morning.



I did a thorough check on many Lasik doctors and almost everyone one around these parts are going to Southeastern Eye Center in Greensboro. Dr. Stonesipher has done 18,000+ Lasik surgeries alone with only one having an infection and that was the only bad case he's had and that was documented in an article on Lasik surgery in the Greensboro News and Record.



He told me that he does about 35-40 Lasik procedures a day. Now figuring the normal cost of a procedure being $750 an eye, he brings in $60,000+ of revenue a day, $360,000+ in a 6 day week and $18,720,000+ a year. Plus PRK procedure revenue.



I'm in the wrong business!!

 

[MN Cummins Lvr]

Wowzy,



Glad to hear it went well for you! It is by far the best thing I have ever done. I had 20/20 vision a week after I had it done and the doc thinks I should achieve 20/15 by next appt. which is in early April. People at work though said I look pretty scary without my glasses

 

[WOWZY]

Went sat. morning for my follow-up. I went from a 20/120 L eye and 20/80 R eye to a 20/50 L and a 20/30 R. That's pretty good since he said my astigmatism was so bad that only one in 250,000 have it as bad as I do.



He said in my case, he had to go from a severely negative diopter to a slightly positive diopter and the healing would pull them towards a perfect 0.



He said I should be 20/20 in the right eye by Friday but may have to get a little tweaking done on the Left eye in a couple of weeks.



One great thing to add is that I don't see any halos or starbursts at night like some people do. Hopefully it's gonna be sunny today as I've been waiting a longtime to wear these:

#ad


#ad

 

[Whitmore]

Great to hear the news Wowzy, my wife finally made her appointment to get her eyeballs bombed on April 18, she did the prelimanary and they say they have new technology and can successfully bomb her eyes, I have to take her to SLC,Utah to do it but she wants it bad. I will let you all know how she turns out... ... ... cheers... ... ... Kevin

 

[WOWZY]

Good luck to your wife.



If she's a little scared about how they'll feel afterwards. Let her know that mine felt real tired like I hadn't any sleep for 24hours. They felt that way until after I took a 3 hour nap. Then they felt fine.



Tell her to bring some big REAL DARK sunglasses (Or a Welding Helmet j/k ) that fit her for the ride home. The sunglasses that the EyeCenter gave me were too big and even with my eyes closed, the bright light irritated my eyes.

 

[WOWZY]

Found some neat videos on the procedure.



Right click and save as:



http://www.feoyloco.com/texan/texan_lasik_animation.ram



http://www.kellogg.umich.edu/LASIK/kellogglasik.avi



http://www.locateadoc.com/Patient_Resources/Laser_Vision_Correction/video/LASIKPro.ram



site link: http://www.tlcvision.com/correctingvision/typesofprocedures/viewlasik/

 

[Whitmore]

thats a cool video

Oh it looks like it hurts too :{



The boss asked me at work how come I scheduled a vacation that week too (we both work at the same place) and I told him I have to take her down just in case she goes blind that way I can drive home , you know we wouldnt want her on the road if she cant see :{ :{ :{ Just kiddin... ... . dont get your panties in a twist

 

[David Oxland]

I was 53 when I got mine done. Went from 20/200 in both to 20/20 in both. no regrets. For the first while I realized how much I relied on glasses to protect as safety devices. Had to be a bit more careful after the surgery.



Mostly the procedure was a breeze.

 

[Whitmore]

She got it done

My wife went in for her Lasik surgery on the 18th of this month. She was all ready for a couple of days of dry eye but WOW it didn't work out that way. There are some guys at work that had it and it was no problem but that was LASIK.



What she had to have was LASEK. When they wrote her a prescription for Demoral she thought it was little more intense.



They had to do LASEK because her pupils are so large that they need to feather out a long ways and her cornea wasn't thick enough around the edges. Her surgeon said that he wouldn't do Lasik because it was too dangerous.



What they do with LASEK is they put an alcohol solution on your eye and scrape off the epiphillium, the top layer of your eyeball, and then they laser for correction. They put in bandage contact lenses for about 4 days.



It hurt like the dickens. She was out of it all day on Thursday:{ She had to take the pain killers and had a really rough night. On Friday she was only a little bit better. She was feeling better on Saturday and Sunday but she did too much and when she went to the eye doctor on Monday the left one hadn't healed much.



Right now she is doing a lot better and her vision is improving daily but they said it may take up to a month to notice the whole correction of her prescription.



As of right now she doesn't know if she would do it again or go back for any enhancements but that may change with time. She sure wished she would have known about the procedure before she planned on doing this.



MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR EYE DOCTOR TEST FOR EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU MAKE THE BIG PLUNGE:--)

 

[joel]

LASEK? Sounds like PRK to me....

When I had PRK, they lased off the epithelium but now, I understand, they do just what you said.



Yes, it is more uncomfortable but there's no cut in your eye! My vision stabilized a week after the surgery and has stayed the same for a year and a half now. Make sure she takes her drops - ALL of them - religiously!



I would definately do it again, even knowing what the 3-4 days post op was like.