Side effects of lasik/prk and the outdoor experience

[HNTR918]

Getting Lasik was honestly the BEST money I ever spent!!!

No more glasses or contacts in the back country. They were a little dry for a week, by the end of the second week the dryness was gone but kept using the drops until they were gone.

I've always been sensitive to bright sun so I wear a good pair of glass Costa's.

 

[BurbsEscape]

As a teenager I got glasses when I realized I was missing the deer creeping through the woods. Much better.

In college I got contacts because I didn't like how glasses interfered with my activities... Fogging up, no sunglasses, jostling around playing sports, etc. Good solution but not great.

Finally fed up with both, especially for times away from home (like camping), and that contacts and dust really don't mix... said screw it to any possible risks and picked the most experienced and reputable place for lasik.

Like others have said, absolute game changer! Woke up the next morning able to actually read my alarm clock across the room. After recovery, no more itchy eye issues from crap getting in contacts.

100% agree... The BEST money I've EVER spent. Over 10 years later and I'm still amazed how great it is.

Yes, a bit more sensitive to bright light, but it's an easy habit to have good sunglasses along. No dry eye issues for me.

Very few things I'd call "life changers"... And this was one for me.

 

[Logan80]

I have what may be a silly question….

I went and had a lasik consultation and talked about PRK as well. The part that weirded me out was when they started telling me I’d likely need reading glasses real soon if I got the surgery.

I’m 41 years old and can see pretty well with glasses. I can read my phone or books without glasses just fine. My fear is that if I get surgery I won’t be able to shoot my bow without reading glasses, which would suck.

how have lasik or PRK affected your ability to shoot a bow, handgun, rifle, etc.?

 

[Texasbuckeye]

Logan80, it sounds like you are near sighted, and this isnt a big deal but many people who are near soghted see fine up close but cant see at distance without glasses or contacts. When we do laser vision correction we change the prescription in your eyes from near sighted to emmetropia (no prescription needed for distance) and that will take away your natural ability to see up close like you do now. However, most people have accommodation which allows them to focus their lens in their eye and shift the focus from distance to near (unfortunately we cant go the opposite way, its just the way God made us) but this ability diminishes over time and by mid to late 40’s most people need reading glasses or bifocals. That diminishing ability is called presbyopia and is very natural and everyone experiences it to some degree if they live long enough.
The reason this is important for you is your age. It is unlikely you will immediately need readers if you had lasik or prk, but within a decade for sure and possibly much sooner than that you would. The good news for you is near tasks you would need readers for are things like reading a book, seeing small print on your phone, and things within a bent elbow distance, NOT things at the extended elbow/arm and beyond such as your bow sight. So even if you lost the ability to see up close right away, again very unlikely, you would still be able to shoot bow/handgun just fine and that area of your vision would be dang good due to the laser vision correction. A rifle sight is focused for distance so that would not be affecred at all by losing near vision either.

i do laser vision correction for a living, so you are getting this from the horses mouth not someone who stayed the night at a HIe

 

[Logan80]

Thank you for the detailed response.
When they did my lasik consultation they said that my cornea may not be thick enough for lasik (492 left and 495 right). They said PRK would be fine though, but the recovery is much longer.

Admittedly the gentleman that discussed my tests with me isn’t the doctor that would be performing the surgery. He told me there is a good chance that the doctor would still be willing to do it even though my corneas may not be of optimal thickness.

What do you think about this?

 

[wyodan]

Thank you for the detailed response.
When they did my lasik consultation they said that my cornea may not be thick enough for lasik (492 left and 495 right). They said PRK would be fine though, but the recovery is much longer.

Admittedly the gentleman that discussed my tests with me isn’t the doctor that would be performing the surgery. He told me there is a good chance that the doctor would still be willing to do it even though my corneas may not be of optimal thickness.

What do you think about this?

I had PRK, and would do it again in a heartbeat. The recovery isn't all that bad, and I really like not dealing with contacts in the woods.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

Totally depends on your needed treatment and how other tests looked, but those tests might not have been done yet (corneal curvature testing).

do you happen to know your glasses or contacts prescription?

 

[Logan80]

I tried to ask for the prescription for my last pair of glasses and they assistant at the optometrist seemed unhelpful.

What she said was “Right -2 -1 at 10 left -2 -1.75 at 175” verbatim. Not sure if that means much of anything to you.

 

[TheGDog]

I can no longer see ANYTHING in focus without a corrective lense. Both near and far. In general would they still be able to help my situation with one of those two methods? Lasik / PRK.

Background info. Software Engineer so have like 30 years extensively in front of screens. From horrible Monochrome displays on up to todays beautiful gorgeous LED monitors. So I know that greatly contributes to it.

 

[22lr]

Had PRK 2 months ago, recovery sucked for the first day, day 2 was sorta better but still was very painful, day 3 was much better, by day 4 no pain but still light sensitive. By week 1 I had no light sensitive what so ever, but I've been gradually recovering from pretty bad double vision. I'ts getting better but still not 100%. My first few trips have been good but not as nice since I have to wear sunglasses for 90 days, but once I am free from those ill be game on.

I still fight the phantom glasses after wearing them every day for 20 years, I get phantom itches and try to adjust my glasses still. So I look like a goober, but o well, haha.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

I tried to ask for the prescription for my last pair of glasses and they assistant at the optometrist seemed unhelpful.

What she said was “Right -2 -1 at 10 left -2 -1.75 at 175” verbatim. Not sure if that means much of anything to you.

it means you have plenty of corneal thickness for lasik if you have normal corneal curvatures. Thats a small treatment in the grand scheme of things so you shouldnt have any problems either way you go.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

I can no longer see ANYTHING in focus without a corrective lense. Both near and far. In general would they still be able to help my situation with one of those two methods? Lasik / PRK.

Background info. Software Engineer so have like 30 years extensively in front of screens. From horrible Monochrome displays on up to todays beautiful gorgeous LED monitors. So I know that greatly contributes to it.

How old are you? Sounds like you are approaching or past 50, and once you get into that range lasik/prk becomes more of a challenge because the natural lens inside your eye will start to change into a cataract slowly, but what that does is create shifts in your prescription. This is inportant hecause with lasik we treat a prescription at a snap shot in time. If that snap shot is stable then the effect will last a while, but if there is constant changes then the snap shot will only last a year or two before you are back in glasses full time.
if you have any other questions dont hesitate to ask.

 

[HNTR918]

BEST MONEY I EVER SPRENT.

I had Lasik done.
Needed a lot of drops the first 2 weeks after the procedure.
30 days after the procedure I had drops all over the place but didn't need em anymore.
Now I enjoy 20/10 and 20/15 vision and boy is it nice.
No more frozen contacts, having to leave them in, or always getting dirty on them, or eye irritation.
The Lasik definitely improved my ability to spot game.

Once again, best money ever spent!!!

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

BEST MONEY I EVER SPRENT.

I had Lasik done.
Needed a lot of drops the first 2 weeks after the procedure.
30 days after the procedure I had drops all over the place but didn't need em anymore.
Now I enjoy 20/10 and 20/15 vision and boy is it nice.
No more frozen contacts, having to leave them in, or always getting dirty on them, or eye irritation.
The Lasik definitely improved my ability to spot game.

Once again, best money ever spent!!!

Exactly my experience as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wyosteve]

I had PRK done in 1997. Ive only recently (the past 3 or 4 years) started needing to use readers. My distance vision is still 20/20 and 20/15! Greatest thing I ever spent money on!!!

 

[Marmots]

Hello fellas, it's the the guy who started this thread. You all convinced me to get Lasik. I got it done in January. I'm surprised to see this thread is still going so I thought I'd give you an update.

I had a long recovery time. After the procedure I spent a week in the dark grumbling, then about two months with very dry and light sensitive eyes. It was very annoying at times, but never painful or incapacitating. One day, about three months in, I realized that I hadn't thought about or tended to my eyes for a few weeks.

I currently have no side effects. In March I started a Master's degree program chasing birds around Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada. I've been spending 14 hours a day glassing up at sunny skies across moondust ATV tracks and don't ever feel any particular dryness or light sensitivity. I have a little bit of streaking from lights at night but it's actually less than what I used to see from my astigmatism.

My vision corrected to 20/10. It's incredible. Previously, my vision only corrected to about 20/20 with glasses. Lasik isn't supposed to correct your vision beyond what glasses can do. I think I saw such a huge difference because my glasses were always $90 bargain bin specials that I immediately scratched to hell.

I had a longer recovery than most but I am still very happy I got the procedure. Six months on, I'm willing to join the chorus saying it was the best money I've ever spent.

 

[Bigfish9202]

Just had Lasik in June. Still a bit light sensitive but not too bad. I'm 53 and used bifocals on my glasses but could still read up close without them. Now I NEED readers for up close work or I cannot see. Still an awesome trade off for getting up in the morning and not having to worry about glasses to see!