Thinking About Laser Surgery!

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Stu W

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I've been near sighted since I was about 15 years old. Anyway, I only need glasses for driving and far away stuff. That includes photography. Very hard when you wear glasses. On my Leica's I can't get close enough to the viewfinder to compose with my glasses on. Also my glasses get destroyed from the eyepiece. At about 300 a pair I think it's time to think about laser surgery as an alternative. I think it'll make life a lot easier. Stu
 
I'm seriously considering Laser Surgery, for the same reason. The £300 oakley glasses don't look sexy with scratches
 
Stu, Ash,

I'm an Optometrist, so I know just a bit about what I'm talking about here. LASIK is a great procedure with a number of caveats. I can recommend it highly for patients who: (1) have a moderate and stable prescription and healthy eyes, (2) aren't expecting that they'll be able to see better than their best correction in spectacle lenses (in other words, you won't be able to see through walls), and (3) are willing to accept that someday, they'll need vision correction for anything inside 1 meter at some point in their lives (A.K.A. presbyopia). In the hands of a good surgeon (not some cut rate dude who's practice is based soley on volume), LASIK and Intra LASIK, even PRK are all good procedures with a proven track record. Find a good doc and go for it.

Ron
 
I have had glasses since age 9, for distance. The thought of laser eye surgery is quite tempting. But I have heard that it can make your near vision worse, even though it corrects distance vision. So while you can focus looking though the viewfinder, can you read the settings on the camera?? I'd love to hear others' views on this.

I do know this -- an friend of ours who's an ophthalmic surgeon remarked that you don't find ophthamologists getting this work done. That gave me pause!
 
Ron, my script is -2.25 20 years ago it was -1.75 Not much of a change. I really think I'm going to at least get a consult. Stu
 
I've worn glasses ever since my early teens, for distance, my close-up vision is perfect (so far). I've tried contacts, but they are a pain in the @$$ (actually, they are a pain in the eye). :)

An acquaintence of mine, an Ophth. resident, was telling me that I would be an excellent candidate for the surgery, since my prescription has been stable for years, and I have a spherical-only correction.

I've considered it, but the risk of messing up my vision, which is perfect -- I correct to better than 20/20 with a simple prescription -- is just not worth the risk to me.

Plus, now that I grudgingly admit to passing the big five-oh :( I realize that eventually my near vision will start to go. :( I now wear glasses for distance and for driving. If I had the surgery, I would (probably) have good distance vision, but I would (eventually) need glasses for close work, reading, computer, etc.

Kind of a no-brainer, I think, anyway.

Now, as far as photography, I've never had any difficulty composing with or without glasses on the Mamiya, the Pentax, the GIII, or the Olympus P&S. I don't even think of it, and my everyday glasses and prescription sunglasses both have plastic lenses (I think) that tend to scratch easily, but I have yet to scratch them.

That's my take on it. If you think it would work for you, I say go4it, as long as you accept the risks as well as the rewards.
 
Does that mean that at -5.75 and -5.5 I'd better not get surgery ? I was thinking about doing it a few years when my eyes had been stable for a bit.
 
I had LASIK in early 2002 and haven't looked back (pardon the pun.) Like yourself I had been mildly nearsighted since my mid-teens. Prior to the surgery my prescription hadn't changed in about 8 years. My primary reason was bicycle racing, my secondary reason was photography - it has paid off in both regards. My vision has been perfect ever since. I understood that I may need reading glasses at some point, but not yet...
 
Ok, let's clear this misconception up once and for all. Presbyopia happens whether or not one wears glasses, contact lenses or has LASIK or has never had vision correction of any kind. Physiologically, the crystalline lens of the eye becomes sclerotic (it becomes less flexible) and thus, focusing at near becomes difficult and eventually impossible. Now, there are some people who are nearsighted and, by virtue of the "built in" nearpoint advantage, can see up close without glasses regardless of their presbyopia. Those people are most affected by any procedure to permanently elmininate their ametropia (distance correction other than neutral) and that includes LASIK. Because they are no longer nearsighted after LASER vision correction, they now join the rest of us emmetropes (those with no distance vision corrction) and will require nearpoint vision correction.

Ron
 
Make sure you go to a good doctor. Don't cheap out on specials and what not, I've heard horror stories about these from my father (an ophthalmologist).
 
I had Lasik on june, and now I have nearly perfect vision (+0.25) , before it was -7 on both eyes (essentially I could not see anything clearly past 1/2 yard from my nose)
 
Stu W said:
I've been near sighted since I was about 15 years old. Anyway, I only need glasses for driving and far away stuff. That includes photography. Very hard when you wear glasses. On my Leica's I can't get close enough to the viewfinder to compose with my glasses on. Also my glasses get destroyed from the eyepiece. At about 300 a pair I think it's time to think about laser surgery as an alternative. I think it'll make life a lot easier. Stu
Click to expand...

Same reason my M6 is now for sale on fleaBay. I can kiss it goodbye in about 18 hours and 12 minutes from now. :(
 
I'd like to get lasik surgery sometime, but I definitely can't afford it now, and I have other priorities. It won't improve the images I make with photography, and it won't make my bike ride better, so I can live with glasses for a while.
 
My understanding is that if it works, it's amazing, but that there is also the risk of deleterious effects that are basically impossible to correct, with glasses, contacts, or otherwise. Therefore, I will remain nearsighted. My vision is worse than -4 in both eyes and without contacts I'm helpless, but I don't mind the contacts and they correct my vision to near perfect.
 
Stu:
Are you over 40? Do you take off glasses to read the LCD screen of a digital camera? Do you take off your glasses to see computer screen ? Do you read without glasses? If your answers are yes to all the questions, you will have to wear reading glasses for the aobove tasks after Lasik. If you are over 40 and your Rx is -1.75, I would not recommend Lasik. -1.75 is an ideal prescription for close-up. By have Lasik done, you gain distance vison but you have to wear glasses for near.
 
I can highly recommend well-fitted RGP (rigid gas permeable) multi-focal contact lenses. Mine are spot-on because I have a great optometrist. They do not correct for all of my presbyopia, but they come very close and I don't need reading glasses for anything but very small type and seeing camera control markings in very low (1-2EV) situations.

I know some people can't tolerate RGPs, but if you can, it's a good solution. I also have good specs (>$500) that I sometimes wear, but I don't like shooting with them for fear of scratching the lenses, etc. So when I know I am going to be shooting more than the one-off exposure, I make sure I'm wearing my lenses.
 
Are there any procedures for those of us who just need reading glasses? It's such a pain...especially working with cameras.
Glasses on...glasses off...glasses on...
 
I am a chicken, don't think I can do it.

Ron, thanks for sharing some facts in an understandable way.
 
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