LASEK eye surgery

**johnny_on_the_spot** · April 11th, 2007, 02:19 PM

so i went to the eye doc the other day to get some new frames and he started talking about lasek. i knew a little about it, but not too much. what i didnt know what that the doc who did tiger woods' surgery is out of rockville, md, which is right near me, and he does surgery for the doc i went to.

first off, i know its stupid to judge that an athlete going to a dr as a reason for using this guy, but if the top golfer in the world got this guy to do it, he must be good...

and that brings me to my question... does anyone know anything about this, like anyone have it done? ive done some research and i know i can go talk to the eye doc, but i want some people who arent trying to sell a $4,600 procedure input on the matter...

ive been thinking about doing it for years, really just waiting so save up the cash so i dont have to put too much on the credit card.

any input or experiences would be greatly appreciated

**patman5150** · April 11th, 2007, 02:48 PM

I too have sat through the dog & pony show at my local eye doctor's office and wanted to get an outsiders perspective. I asked a lot of people whom I have met that have had the procedure and they all have been thrilled with the results. One woman stated that after the procedure she saw her mother crying from outside the room and she asked why her mother was crying. She was told that her mother was crying because she could see her mother crying. Prior to the surgery she had very poor vision.

My other feeling is that the procedure itself has now been around for sometime and I haven't heard of people having to go back or any other problems which leads me to believe that it really does work.

Like you my real concern now is the money. I truly wish that medical insurance would pick up at least a portion of the cost. When you think that most insurance companies cover a few hundred dollars a year in eye exams and frames that by having this procedure they could be saving that money each year.

I have been putting it off for a few months but as I see the nice weather coming - through my smudged glasses I am getting more inclined to have the procedure done.

**johnny_on_the_spot** · April 11th, 2007, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patman5150

Like you my real concern now is the money. I truly wish that medical insurance would pick up at least a portion of the cost. When you think that most insurance companies cover a few hundred dollars a year in eye exams and frames that by having this procedure they could be saving that money each year.

I have been putting it off for a few months but as I see the nice weather coming - through my smudged glasses I am getting more inclined to have the procedure done.

my insurance covers $1,000 (it is originally $5,600 for this particular doctor)

i have heard places do it for a lot cheaper on the radio, but i only get one set of eyes and I'm not too sure i want to cheap out on something like this. I'de prefer get the guy who is nationally known for it...

**johnny_on_the_spot** · April 11th, 2007, 03:07 PM

Dr. Mark Whitten did Tiger's eyes...

here is an article from Golf Digest I found about Dr. Whitten and the surgery:
http://www.golfdigest.com/health/ind...0206lasik.html

**pliny_2001** · April 11th, 2007, 03:38 PM

1. LASIK

2. The industry says that it's almost brainless, anyone can perform it, very high success rates, everyone should do it.

3. I know several people that've done it, and all loved the procedure, though a few still wear glasses (with a weaker prescription, and not all the time).

4. Last I heard (about two years ago), no eye doctor at the Mayo Clinic had had the procedure done to themselves, so take fact that under advisement.

**mooshue** · April 12th, 2007, 01:08 PM

My girlfriend ran a lasik practice here for about 2 years. She isnt a surgeon but knew everything about the practice, lasers, surgury's etc.. that there was to know and assisted the doc's in both surgury's and patient workups. She talked me into gettin the surgury. I was scared as hell too but she assured me no one has ever gone blind from lasik, the people who get fucked up afterwards are the people who cant follow instructions, and lastly if you do get an infection, it does happen to some people they cant control it, its a freak thing, and it doenst happen often if at all. They give you a steroid drop and antibiotic to take care of stuff like that.
My surgury should have cost about $6000 - $7000. The cheap crap you hear on the radio for $299 an eye or close to that price is because you are getting cheap crap. They treat only like 3 basic points on the eye. It does make your vision better but not 20/20. You will need another surgury to correct it again later. You will need glasses when you get older or maybe sooner. The more points they treat, the more money it will cost you. Those surgury's are called custom treatment. Its not the typically 3 points or whatever they try to sell you in the office. The counselor typically doesnt know jack shit about the surgury, they are car salesmen. The dr typically doesnt give a shit so long as you buy what they are selling. The dr's tend to prefer one type of surgury so they push that type to sell. When you look at costs, it really does cost the surgury center a lot of money to do your eyes. The lasers take pre programmed cards, think of it as a license. The laser cant work without the license. My license card because of the custum cost the company like $700 each eye. Now calculate the cost of all the equipment they have to have to do your surgury, all the staffing they need to pay, the cost of business, the cost of all your drops and meds you have to take that they provide for you, your follow up visits which typically are included, if something goes wrong and they need to continue to see you over and over to correct it also covered.
In short, from seeing the area of practice as closely as i did, knowing the employees, dr, basic procedures, costs, hows and why's, and judging from my experience, DONT GO CHEAP ON YOUR LASIK. These are your freakin eyes for christ sake. The point is to NOT wear glasses/contacts. Have them treat as many points as you can within your price range. Ask ask ask, if you have questions, ask them, IF they cant answer tell them you want to ask the dr or the optomotrist they should have on staff. If none of them are available, try the practice administrator.

cassidy · April 12th, 2007, 01:14 PM

My wife runs the laser for lasik surgery. I think it is $2000 a eye were she works. I know there is alot involved with the whole deal as in alot of measurements of the eyes and stuff also with this all the follow up visits are in on the deal. All I am saying is BEWARE of the cheap ad for cheap lasik beacause you only have 2 eyes and they will not grow back. Pay the money to get the proper treatment. Oh 4 or 5 in my family has had it done and it is a pc of cake it only takes 5-10 min a eye.

Richard · April 13th, 2007, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnny_on_the_spot

so i went to the eye doc the other day to get some new frames and he started talking about lasek. i knew a little about it, but not too much. what i didnt know what that the doc who did tiger woods' surgery is out of rockville, md, which is right near me, and he does surgery for the doc i went to.

first off, i know its stupid to judge that an athlete going to a dr as a reason for using this guy, but if the top golfer in the world got this guy to do it, he must be good...

and that brings me to my question... does anyone know anything about this, like anyone have it done? ive done some research and i know i can go talk to the eye doc, but i want some people who arent trying to sell a $4,600 procedure input on the matter...

ive been thinking about doing it for years, really just waiting so save up the cash so i dont have to put too much on the credit card.

any input or experiences would be greatly appreciated

I only know one thing, and that is if you're planning to join the USAF,USN or Army aviation, Get PRK!!!

other than that, i guess LASIK is good enough!

**johnny_on_the_spot** · April 13th, 2007, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard

I only know one thing, and that is if you're planning to join the USAF,USN or Army aviation, Get PRK!!!

other than that, i guess LASIK is good enough!

what is prk?

**mooshue** · April 13th, 2007, 12:46 PM

PRK is for people that have stigmatism's and cant have lasik. They reshape the cornea to try and correct the vision instead of correcting inside with a laser.

vik · April 13th, 2007, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mooshue

PRK is for people that have stigmatism's and cant have lasik. They reshape the cornea to try and correct the vision instead of correcting inside with a laser.

Isn't PRK a type of Lasik? Found this online:
allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery <- (not enough posts to post the url so add the http and www parts in)

Anyways, I have a bunch of co-workers that have gone through lasik over the years. The most recent one at an astigmatism as well, but I think it was of the lens instead of cornea. Interestingly, they shove a needle in there and from what he said, it shatters the lens, and then they replace it with a new lens. After that, they performed some type of lasik and now he's all good. He has to go in this weekend for his other eye which they will be doing the same thing on.

On the controverse, my cousin had Lasik done when it was fairly newer back in 2000, and back then they could only do the procedure once and if it failed, tough luck. Plus, you sign a waver so there isn't anything you can do. What ended up happening was, he got one eye 'fixed' and the other still remained blurry. So it was basically a wasted 7k since he still has to wear glasses.

Things have definitely gotten much better since then though and I have yet to see another person complain about their Lasik. I guess just check out which surgery you can have and make sure that it's not some one time thing that IF it were to mess up, you aren't messed up for good

**biscuitman357** · April 13th, 2007, 06:29 PM

Most people are nearsighted, over time if you get the procedure, you will become farsighted. Most people I know who have had the procedure and have had it a few years are now farsighted. I don't know if thats just coincidence to the people I know or a real trend.

Sure you will be able to drive without glasses, but soon you'll need glasses to just read a book. For people who work with computers all day intensively ( programmers, maybe people in the publishing business, etc) , I have my doubts if this is a good move.

I thought about doing it. I'll wait until I'm older and there are more long term studies done on the procedure before I take the plunge. (Remember, right after WW2, doctors would often recommend that people smoke to help lose weight. Information about red meat, saturated fats, etc were not the same back then. No one is sure what will happen with LASEK down the road. )

**mooshue** · April 13th, 2007, 06:43 PM

where is everyone getting their info from? these all sound like my moms dads sisters friends dogs ex owner told me about this lasik one time at band camp blah blah.
If you get old, your eyes will go to shit, end of story. You will not see 20/20 forever with or without lasik. If you are a -1 in each eye, dont get lasik, you wont see great results like someone like me who was a -8.5 each eye did. I could barely see my own hand in front of me, i am now and have been since i got off the table 20/20. I even tested 20/15 on one of my follow ups.
Every human heals differently. They will undercorrect you because john doe may have healed differently than i did and his healing caused the overcorrection to a +1. Again, he can still have an enhancement surgury to correct this now that they know how he heals. I healed perfectly and was undercorrected. I did not need the enhancement, which even my girlfriend and doctor were impressed.

karenbenn · April 19th, 2007, 08:21 AM

I had a LASIK surgery 4.5 years ago. Before the surgery I had myopia and astigmatism on both eyes for more than 10 years. I was wearing glasses but my eyesight was deteriorating gradually. So I decided to undergo a LASIK surgery.

A year after the surgery my ophthalmologist checked my eyes and said that there were almost no signs of surgery left. But she had concerns about long term effects of LASIK, she said there were not enough studies at that time.

Currently, my vision is 20/20 and I don't feel anything bad about my eyes.

**joker13** · April 19th, 2007, 11:02 AM

I had lasik done about 3 years ago and loved it. I would do it again even if it cost me 5k. I paid 3300 for both eyes but i would do it again in a heart beat. It took about 1 min per eye and i was fully recovered in a week or so. I went back to work the day after the surgery but you have to be really careful of light exposure.

bigworm · April 26th, 2007, 06:00 PM

Just wanted to give my 2 cents on this topic. I had my eyes fixed via Lasek surgery 2 weeks ago. It cost just under 2 grand per eye for the "top of the line" procedure that they offered at this particular location. I was on the table for 2 minutes and 6 seconds and it is absolutely worth doing. I've worn glasses or contacts for 25 years and this is the best thing ever. For the first time in my life, when I wake up at night I can read the clock. I went in at 20/400 and came off of the table seeing 20/15 and it is supposed to get better throughout the healing process. I was mildly anxious about it but it was smooth. Certainly no pain. The most discomfort was about comparable to falling asleep in contacts. I hope it helps, but this is my feedback...

manbiggo · April 27th, 2007, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigworm

Just wanted to give my 2 cents on this topic. I had my eyes fixed via Lasek surgery 2 weeks ago. It cost just under 2 grand per eye for the "top of the line" procedure that they offered at this particular location. I was on the table for 2 minutes and 6 seconds and it is absolutely worth doing. I've worn glasses or contacts for 25 years and this is the best thing ever. For the first time in my life, when I wake up at night I can read the clock. I went in at 20/400 and came off of the table seeing 20/15 and it is supposed to get better throughout the healing process. I was mildly anxious about it but it was smooth. Certainly no pain. The most discomfort was about comparable to falling asleep in contacts. I hope it helps, but this is my feedback...

Very similiar experience for me over a year ago. I still have some dryness but not having to wear contacts...

BISHOP · May 4th, 2007, 11:13 PM

I wore glasses since 2nd grade and I decided to get prk which means they laser the surface of your eye. lasik is where they cut a flap in your eye and laser under the flap and then flip it back over. its more invasive then prk but still very safe. they numb your eye with drops so you feel a little pressure but no pain at all. I had to wear a contact as a bandage for about a week. I was 20/600 and woke up the next morning with 20/10. during healing it stabilized to 20/20. i paid 3500 total for both eyes and that was 10 years ago through brenart eye clinic in yorkville illinois. I still have no problems with my eyes and its definately the best money I ever spent.