Some of you who read this forum obsessively know that I have complained about near-sightedness. This has meant that I never see the electronic times at the finish of a race. It also means that I can not get people to swim in my lane when I am leading. I can't see the clock and need to ask for starts. This is what happens on short interval swims -- "gasp! gasp! go! Phil! gasp! gasp!"
The obvious solution is to get prescription goggles. Unfortunately, my nose is such that I can not find prescription goggles that don't dig a trench between my eyes.
So my choice was to either get my nose fixed, or my eyes. Tall Paul and Breastroker encouraged me to do the latter. My wife and daughter pushed for the former. I decided to get my eyes fixed -- the recovery time is shorter.
So I am now 12 days after the LASIK operation. It was unpleasant (my requests for valium went unheeded) but not unreasonably so. I was driving (against doctor's advice) 6 hours after the operation. The worst part was that I could not swim for 10 days - I have been to two workouts since. Two days after the operation I went to the teams summer picnic. "Look at my new eyes!" I said to everyone that would listen (or wouldn't listen.)
My correction before the operation was about -6.5 diopters with about 1.0 diopter astygmatism. So yesterday my vision tests to 20-15 in both eyes. I don't think I have ever seen so well in my life, at least in daylight. Night vision is not so good, but it should get better, and I have no problem driving.
Here are some thoughts about being glassless:
- I can see the clock now. I should get better goggles, and I notice when they get fogged.
- shaving is much easier without fog-control of my glasses.
- I have not noticed any increase in flirting from the women. Maybe it has something to do with my nose. . . .
- people do say "I didn't know you had blue eyes!" which is kind of cool.
- It is a lot easier to run or ride my bike without my glasses sliding down my nose.
- I have wrinkles!
- My sight may be better, but not my insight. I still don't know who guppigirl is.
- I wave my hand in the air, confusing everyone, trying to take my glasses off.
So would I recommend it? You bet! Be sure you get a good doctor that will test you thoroughly and let you honestly know if you are a good candidate. I will provide more technical details to anyone who asks it. Just contact me by email.
Phil
P.S. Many thanks to Paul and Breastroker!
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by Matt S
For you post-Lasik people, I have a quick one. How is you close in vision? Did you need reading glasses before or after the surgery? Is it harder now to see very small objects close-up?
Like you describe for yourself, pre-operation I was badly near-sighted but could see fine close-up without my glasses. My up-close vision was about the same with or without my glasses, although if I was reading for an extended period I would often take off my glasses.
Post-operation, during the extended recovery period that I describe above, my up-close vision was definately worse than pre-operation. Once my eyes completely recovered, however, my up-close vision settled in and it's now as good or better than it was pre-operation.
You raise a very real risk, though. My understanding, based on the litany of risks the docs explain, is that I may need to start using reading glasses sooner than I might have had to otherwise (apparently because of the way your eye muscles age reading glasses are almost inevitable for everyone at some point; my nearsighted muscle configuration may have deferred this day of reckoning longer than my now-'perfect' configuration).
But apparently I ended up with the expected outcome for someone my age (34): 20/20 vision both near and far. If I recall correctly, though, the odds of someone needing reading glasses even immediately post-operation are higher for older age groups.
FWIW, given your hobby interest, I think you are right to be factoring the issue into your risk calculation.
--Brad
Originally posted by Matt S
For you post-Lasik people, I have a quick one. How is you close in vision? Did you need reading glasses before or after the surgery? Is it harder now to see very small objects close-up?
Like you describe for yourself, pre-operation I was badly near-sighted but could see fine close-up without my glasses. My up-close vision was about the same with or without my glasses, although if I was reading for an extended period I would often take off my glasses.
Post-operation, during the extended recovery period that I describe above, my up-close vision was definately worse than pre-operation. Once my eyes completely recovered, however, my up-close vision settled in and it's now as good or better than it was pre-operation.
You raise a very real risk, though. My understanding, based on the litany of risks the docs explain, is that I may need to start using reading glasses sooner than I might have had to otherwise (apparently because of the way your eye muscles age reading glasses are almost inevitable for everyone at some point; my nearsighted muscle configuration may have deferred this day of reckoning longer than my now-'perfect' configuration).
But apparently I ended up with the expected outcome for someone my age (34): 20/20 vision both near and far. If I recall correctly, though, the odds of someone needing reading glasses even immediately post-operation are higher for older age groups.
FWIW, given your hobby interest, I think you are right to be factoring the issue into your risk calculation.
--Brad
