Getting my eyes cut

Para...you'd love my eyes...been told it looks like Britain after the blitzreig.

From personal experience...if you get the little handbook that has the smiling image of the elderly woman and the smiling doc...don't fall for it.

They stick some goo in your eye and then what is like a jewelers monocle...then you get to stare into a spotlight..then the damn thing flashes about 10,000 times brighter than the Sun. Now-if you did it like me and didn't let them stick the needle thru your eyelid between the skull and eye to numb it-feel like you are getting poked in the eye with a hot needle.

You lose night driving and some day driving. Extreme sensitivity to lights. coronas around lights. So on and so forth. [[I think it was Radial KT I went thru, but I had the choice of blindness or limited vision]]

Afterwards you have some burning and pain in the back of your eyes...you just been used as target practice for 'Phasers' or Klingon disruptors.

If it's the only choice-take it. Otherwise...



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Satanta, the Whitebear
Sat's Realm: http://SatantasRealm.tripod.com/Entrypage/entrypage.html

My Disability petition: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/DisbHelp/petition.html
 
Ah, the old needle-in-the-eye routine. I can't imagine whay you wouldn't want to have that done...
It's called a Retrobulbar Injection. You fill a syringe with 4ccs of Xylocaine 2%, attach a two inch long, 21 gauge needle to the syringe, and you stick the needle( almost to the hilt!) in the void between the globe("eyeball") and the orbit.(the bony socket in which your eye sits. You inject all 4ccs of Xylo adjacent to the optic nerve. 15 minutes later, I'd could scoop out your eye with a grapefruit spoon and you wouldn't know it, 'til later, that is. Now, careful not to move when the doc does this, 'cause if he penetrates the sheath of the optic nerve, you are royally screwed.
And this is just to numb the eye. It's not even the actual procedure! On healthy eyes? I'll pass, thanks.
 
George,
My dad has been trying to talk me and BlackKnight(my brother) into doing this surgery since it came out. I have worn glasses since kindergarten ... I tend to bump into walls without them. I can't wear contacts, the shape of my pupil prevents even the thinnest of them from laying on the eye correctly. Still I just can't imagine allowing someone to cut my eye when I can still see... even if I can't see perfectly. Let us know what you decide!
 
George, I had lasic done four months ago to correct 20/500 vision. This was performed by the areas most experienced and expensive surgeon (5,000 procedures) I had 20/20 for two weeks and then digressed over the next two months to about 20/60. I also experienced the halos, starbursts and reduced low light vision. All this for only $5K..boy was I depressed. My vision stabilized after 4 months and I had the "enhancement". My chart reading vision is now 20/20 or maybe 20/15. The halos, glare etc, that was beginning to improve from the first surgery are now a little worse, but should improve. I live with dry, tired, bleary eyes much of the day. I know a lot of people that have had the procedure and they all tell me that these things will go away. The doctor tells me that the halo and glare should go away within nine months. If that happens then I'll be happy. On a positive note, I can see great on bright sunny days and looking through scopes is a pleasure. My vision with amber shooting glasses is fantastic. I will get to wear headgear and masks' hunting this year with no fogged up glasses. And hopefully, I will be able to find my way to the stand in the dark. Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
George:

Give it some serious thought. Some people swear by it, but others have had terrible experiences and end up in worse shape than before they started (halos, dry eyes, etc.).

Check out http://surgicaleyes.com/ for more.


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NRA Life Member
Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners(MCRGO)
 
Para...only a 21g. needle? I figured it was at least a 6G. After I decided to let them use the needle it took 4 nurses to hold me still. Not that I was fighting them-I actually held pretty still but they could tell I was ready to come out of the chair and bite the throat out of the doc. ;)

Atticus...sounds lie it worked good for you. I imagine your laser was a bit different from mine. They had to use the laser to kill the blood vessels in the retina [Dibetic Retinopathy] The vessels were growing towards the center of the eye...like corals instead of fanning out below the retina...the retina moves and it rips the vessels and tears the retina. They basically burned off the vessels and soldered the retina back down. I'll never have decent vision again. I've gotten to where, with a docs release I can drive-my left eye is one diopter above legal blindness and the peripheral is close to legal as well. Right eye-it's shot.

Driving during day well after the sun has risen and with sunglasses. Be home well before sunset and no night driving. One of the reasons I want a pai of NV goggles is so I can just go out at night and walk around without falling or walking into things. :)

It's good your site has a chance to clear up...now if they'd just develop bionic eyes or ones like Giordi from Star Trek. :)
 
I have a question for those who had lasik and are happy, as I have considered having this done. Can you focus better on the sights and target at the same time? I am getting older, and it is impossible to get a good sight picture with iron handgun sights. Does the procedure help in regards to this, or is it an unrelated, flexibility of the cornea or something? I have "no-line" bifocals, and they help a little if I can hold my head at the right angle, but that's awkward. Thanks!
 
CalifHunter, I haven't been to the range since my surgery but I have fooled around at home with scopes and open sights. I would say that it is improved somewhat. My right eye used to be heavily dominant and that seems to have changed a little. Now both eyes seems to focus quicker and the sight picture is sharper. Since I shoot long guns lefthanded and handguns right handed that is a blessing. I'm waiting till my eyes stabilize before heading to the range so I don't get prematurely disappointed. Things are improving though. I have a Colt Scout, red dot scope that was one big red star after the first surgery, but is now only slightly fragmented. Take care.
 
George, I had Lasik procedure three weeks ago; went from 20/400 to 20/15 the next afternoon. Painless and 4.5 hours after surgery drove to local store to pickup martini fixings. With Lasik I got back my peripheral vision, too. It's nothing short of miraculous. I still need reading glasses but needed bifocals anyway. If you go for it, there's a procedure that undercorrects the weak eye, thus letting you read the large print on a computer screen or a menu. The compromise is losing absolute best distance vision. The trade-off is not worth it. Btw, corneal rings are designed to correct presbyopia or, as my wife says, a fear of Presbyterians.
 
2shots, if you were 20/400, you are one of the people who actually need this procedure. 20/400 is the big "E" on the eyechart, and I'm assuming you mean that it was your uncorrected vision, 'cause if you were 20/400 corrected bilaterally, you would be legally blind.
 
I have read half of the posts so far, and might come back and read the rest. I had PRK done to both my eyes and also had the vision correction at the same time. I had a major problem with the surface layers of my eyes seperating. I lost a job over it, and tried everything. Laser surgery did fix it. While they were playing with the laser it was only a grand more for the vision correction. I went ahead and had them do that. I have 20/40 or so uncorrected vision. Of course glasses or more laser surgery can probably fix that. If all I needed was the vision corection, I think I would wait or go to canada or europe. Do several searches using different search engines and really read up on this. There are a lot of people who are happy with the results. There are also a lot of people who have problems with night vision and quick focusing. If I really concentrate I can and do normally get 20/20 uncorrected vision. But for a quick glance like I think it should be, it is just a little off. The research I did showed that europe and canada normally got different machines and techniques due to government testing standards. I figure if the potential for harm is not something like 1 out of 1000, I would avoid it. As already stated there are different techniques and I am not fully up to speed on them all as I had to have prk to fix my problems. But doing research showed everything seemed to have about the same potential for problems. My recomendation is if the odds are not super favorable put it off for a few years until they get more favorable. You have two eyes. And some things are repairable, but I am borderline on being happy with my vision. It cost me another 1000 bucks for the correction, and I do not need glasses for driving, but I might get them because I miss having 20-15 vision. So while your vision may improve it may not be good enough for what you want. And there are no refunds.
 
I am 20/800. Yes, that's right. I intend to have this surgery within the next year. You would too, if you were me.

When the doc asks me to read the chart, I ask "What chart?" And that's no bull.
 
I have done pre- and post op care for
lasik patients and I can tell you that the majority of people are happy with the results. I can tell you it is stunning to see the difference. Some people on this string have had laser work but not lasik.
From what Mr. Satanta has described it sounds like he had a different type of eye surgery for a retinal detachment.
I don't think a retrobulbar injection is performed for lasik. So don't panic from what you have heard.
 
Yes, what he was describing was retinal laser photocoagulation with an Argon laser. The "gunk" was methylcellulose, and the contact lens is known as a Gonioscopy lens. Retrobulbar would not be done with Lasik unless the patient was the nervous type and might possibly move during the procedure.
My intent is not frighten anyone, but rather to stress the importance of making an informed decision when choosing to have an otherwise healthy eye messed with in any way. For those here who are posting visions of 20/400 or /800, this procedure is most certainly warranted, because without vision correction, you are visually impaired. For those who say( and I've heard it a thousand times ) "I don't want to wear glasses anymore", for goodness sake, please stop and think twice.
Speaking to individuals, you will hear only of their experience, and what tony has said is true. Most folks do just fine. But I have seen many who haven't, and once the procedure is performed, there is no going back.
Medicine is, and has been for a long, long time, a business. In order for a patient's insurance to pay for a procedure, certain criteria must be met. I can say without reservation that those criteria can be met by a certain, shall we say, "interpretation" on the MD's part. There are many excellent physician's with their heart in the right place, but there are also MDs who are unfeeling slugs. Caloused and cynical, with little feeling for their patients except for the consequences of possible medical malpractrice litigation. Can you tell one group from the other at a glance? I can't, and I know more doctors than you can shake a stick at. Money, money, money. Dr. Kildaire may not be dead, but these days, he's kinda hard to find.
 
I had Lasik done two years ago. Prior to the surgery my vision was 20/1400. My vision had gotten so bad that contacts and glasses were not doing the job. When I had Lasik my vision was 20/15 after and now it is about 20/30. I have been happy with it so far except I have halos and my night vision has gotten a little worse. This is bad because I am an LEO that works at night. My concern is the long term effects. I went ahead and did because I was to the point that I almost had nothing to lose.
 
Parabellum,
Good point. My uncorrected vision was 20/400 and I was surpised because at age 48 I had never bothered to ask how bad it was (glasses since 7th grade). Doctor told me and added, ''without glasses, you were legally blind.'' I'm staying away from anything with recoil to prevent cornia separation. Also, went out and bought a nice pair of Polarized sunglasses and could not keep from grinning for the first week.
 
George, pick a good laser surgery center with good references and good recommendations from a trusted optometrist (sp?). Like any surgery, it has significant risks, and some people's bodies react differently to the surgery.

Believe it or not on Christmas Eve, both of my parents had this surgery done as outpatients and I drove them and took care of them. After the surgery, they were useless for the rest of the day, however they were able to get up the next day and prepare Christmas dinner. My mother has 20/20 in both eyes, and thinks this is the best thing she ever did. My dad had complications-- basically an auto-immune reaction in his eyes that casued pain, swelling, redness and blurry sight. This was treated with medication and anti-biotics, and subsided about after a week. His vison was 20/20 in one eye, and poor in the other. So he had monocular vision-- close sight in one eye, far sight in another. (As an aside, I took him pistol shooting for the first time in his life, and he out shot me with my Ruger 9mm using one eye! And enjoyed himself :) )

But the good news is that this particular place guarantees their results as much as possible and re-lasered the both eyes. Second time he has 20/20 in both eyes and not complications. Considering all the difficulty he went through, he said he would definitely do it again!

If you're worried-- then wait. Time is your friend in this case because every year, this technology improves.
 
George:

I'm very tired of my eyeglasses too. I've been wearing mine since the 4th grade. I'm nearsighted with an astigmatism. My vision is 20/200+, correctable to 20/20.

Not too long ago I was also contemplating laser eye surgery. My mind was made up when I began wearing soft contacts. I found that I had glare problems with my contacts that I didn't have with my eyeglasses. I eventually found myself wearing my contacts less and less because the glare strained my eyes. I now wear contacts only when I'm engaged in strenuous physical activities that could cause my eyeglasses to be damaged.

This experience has, in turn, affected my attitude about laser eye surgery. If I encounter complications, expected or unexpected, there's nothing I'd be able to do. I'd be forced to live with any bad consequences arising from the procedure. Whereas with contacts and eyeglasses, if I have a vision problem I can almost always get new prescription lenses. I decided against getting the surgery. I felt the potential costs, in terms of possible complications, were too great.

I really value my eyesight and I'd rather have to contend with the minor inconveniences of eyeglasses and contact lenses as opposed to complications that can affect the quality of my eyesight, and which may never be correctable once these complications manifest.

My advice? Think long and hard about this procedure. Try not to allow your emotions dominate your intellect. If you decide the surgury is right for you, I wish you all the best.

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/s/ Shawn Dodson
Firearms Tactical Institute
http://www.firearmstactical.com
 
I've done pre and post work on about two hundred patients. I also have a great deal of experience with contact lens abuse. I lecture for one of the major contact lens companies and have found that some doctors to be extremely health oriented and some that could care less. The "don't care" were interested in doing whatever made the patient happy and please pass the money. Most were between. Doctors get beat up constantly by patients when they try to change their patients habits, or when better health comes at a price. Frankly, many of us just get tired of being brutally attacked by patients. I think this has muted some doctors and made the rest of us less proactive. OK, the reason that I mention this is as follows: Generally, those with high prescriptions are the most abusive (non-compliant) contact lens patients. Their lenses are thicker and allow less oxygen and they overwear their contact lenses. This causes permanent and temporary damage as well as puts them at risk for other problems. Many of these patients would be surprised to find that should they "cold turkey" their contact lenses, their prescription would change over the next one to three months. Unfortunately, many of these same folks hate to come out of lenses and would rather die than be in their glasses. So, they come out of contacts for a few days, do their pre-op refraction and go in for Lasik. We are already facing a situation where the high prescription results are less predictable. Many doctors will treat in two steps for very high prescriptions. Now, we have our patient undergoing the Lasik healing process and the prescription changes secondary to their contact lens abuse.

Generally, the high prescription patients have less predictable results, but many are happy, even with less than perfect vision. A starving man appreciates McDonalds, whereas the rest of us spoiled folks need five courses :)
 
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