Greentext

Had all-laser LASIK done in 2007.

Was scary, and the excimer laser sounded like a giant electrical wasp, but overall, I’ve had zero problems. Best procedure I’ve ever had done.

My older sibling had it done back then, too. No issues. 2 other close friends did the same. Not a single issue.

Give it a rest people.

Go get checked to see if you’re a valid candidate, and have the procedure done by a professional ophthalmologist with an “all-laser” setup who has more than a decade or so of experience and also has the $200,000 equipment to do it right and a lifetime contract-backed guarantee, and you will be happy with the choice you made.

Risk management isn't solely based on how bad the outcome is but also on how likely that outcome is.

Honestly that meteorologist that sadly took her own life several years back after having really bad complications from laser eye surgery was more than enough to convince me to not get it done.

What's the success rate? Oh yeah, over 95%. Get outta here

There's a lot of folks in the comments who are pretty cavalier about the safety, yet the CEO who produces Lasik machines refuses to get the procedure and just wears glasses.

Obviously there's a lot of folks happy with it.

However, many people end up needing glasses within ten years. "Relating to the legal requirements in Germany, sufficient visual acuity was found in 76.7 % of the LASIK group, in 73.9 % of the Ortho-K users and in 85.7 % of the reference group (72.7 % in the adult group, 100 % in the juvenile group)." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23508754/

"Nearly 5% of subjects were dissatisfied with their vision after Lasik... eyes feeling irritated (50%), glare (43%), halos (41%), and [trouble] seeing in dim light (35.2%)." Source: Mamalis N. Laser vision correction among physicians: "the proof of the pudding is in the eating". J Cataract Refract Surg. 2014 Mar;40(3):343-4.

"Lasik Suicide" is a real thing, most of the folks who have been affected don't take the time to say much about the excruciating pain, they just commit suicide.

https://www.lasikcomplications.com/suicide.htm

Definitely think very carefully, your eyes are something you can't fix if you get this surgery. For some people enough nerves are damaged to cause persistent pain that doesn't go away.

I almost got the surgery a few years ago, if it worked 100% of the time I would have taken the risk. But vision is so important that I didn't want to take the risk. Several of my family members did get it and still have dry eyes and halos ten years later, and two now need glasses again anyway.

I just don't mind my glasses that much that I want to put myself through this/take the risk/pay the cost. I've had them since I was a child, I'm used to them and as far as I know, that's still what has the least side/adverse effects.

You missed the part where not all LASIK procedures are "bladeless". As in: there is an eye knife and guess which way you gotta look for that to work.

Bonus:

Bob's Discount LASIK Barn or whatever it is called down by the Confederate flag monument on the 5 had a big sign for the Nazi "America first" congressman and I feel like I wasn't about to trust my eyes to them anyway but I especially want to avoid them now, Jesus fuck

I did it because I was blind. Hella blind. -6 and -9. When covid hit I suddenly realized that if supply shortages ever hit hard and I lost my glasses, I was absolutely fucked.

I could not drive, I could not use two monitors, I would be functionally blind... I always joked I would be dead weight in the apocalypse but in the midst of a hurricane, a wildfire, I could be absolutely fucked. With months before a replacement pair could be acquired. And with all the shit that went wrong with covid... I just wanted to hedge my bets.

I was a very early adopter, as soon as lasik came out I got it, the radial-k that preceded it couldn't handle my prescription. It's regressed over the intervening 30 years, but even now I wear thin light glasses and can at least sort of see without them.

You know what sold me on this, even though the vision isn't as good as I could get with hard contacts? My mom had to go back to glasses after wearing contacts for years because the contacts wore away her corneas! At least the glasses I have to wear at this age are only like a -2 prescription, that's much more comfortable than what they would have been.

There definitely are risks and i feel doctors can be too cavalier about those risks

Having said that, i got the procedure done 5 years ago, and install have better than 20/20 vision. The only issue inhad afterwards was that i could see things up to 1cm away from my eye ball, now that is 30cm at the least and since the last year or so i cannot read the 2 pixel size texts on medicine bottles anymore

Beyond that, I'm super happy with the result

One of the best decisions I every made, going from essentially blond without glasses to not needing them. Especially as someone who enjoys a lot of outdoor activities, not being made helpless by a lost or broken pair of glasses is a huge weight off my mind

I don't plan to do LASIK, unless:

• I am not able to put my glasses on;

• When my glasses break, I am not able to go outside and drive by bus to the nearest glasses repair shop.

also people with damage to thier cornea, like from shingles even if it made a small scar on the sclera, makes in ineligble for lasik.

tbf every medical intervention has its risks but it doesn't often go wrong (assuming the surgeon knows what they're doing)

It is nasty if it goes wrong. I know someone where it did and he was knocked out in a pretty bad way for a while until it could be fixed (though it was fixed).

night lenses,

game changer

no idea why they are so obscure (besides conspiracy theories)

wear them while sleeping. perfect eyesight.

used to wear them for a few years, stopped, because one possible side effect is that it will improve your eye sight.

I no longer need glasses.

Wife got lasik over ten years ago. Vision is great. We live in one of the moist parts of Texas, so dry eyes have never really been an issue. Absolutely none of that other stuff is relevant.

That said, she's no longer perpetually wearing a semi-efficient pair of goggles, so when our son tries to grab for her face his fingers go directly into her eyeball rather than being deflected harmlessly away by super-hard transparent glass. Also, completely fucked when it comes to cutting onions.

I'll keep my glasses, thank you.