Greentext

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

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.

1. I can wake up and glance at the time instead of having to lift something up and put it centimetres from my face to tell the time.
2. I can do sports without the glasses falling off, getting mashed into my face, etc.
3. I look a lot better, with a -13 prescription, my glasses were heavy and thick
4. My nose and ears aren't in pain from carrying the weight of my glasses all the time.
5. I'm not having to constantly adjust my glasses whenever my nose sweats a bit.
6. I'm not completely blind any time I have to take off the glasses, like when I take a shower or go in a pool, or especially swim in the ocean where there are big waves.
7. I'm not utterly helpless because I'm blind if I lose my glasses. If you're blind without your glasses, and your glasses aren't where you expect, you can't really use your eyesight to find them.
8. I don't have to deal with all the problems of using and potentially losing contacts.
9. ...

For me, before I got laser surgery, I was once swimming in the ocean at a very big and popular beach. I was wearing contacts because obviously wearing glasses in the water is next to impossible. I got hit by a big wave, tossed around, and lost my contacts. Now I was almost completely blind, in a foreign country where I knew almost nobody, and trying to find my beach towel and bag among thousands of others. I actually can't remember how I resolved that problem, but I do remember the massive stress and panic being blind like that caused. When I got back from the trip, I got my eyes fixed within a year.

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

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.

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.

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

Glasses are a hotness superpower

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.

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:

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.

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.

To each their own, I guess. For me, it was some of the best money I've ever spent. My research ahead of it suggested that the most likely permanent side effect was halos, and I'm inclined to think that even if that had happened, it still would have been a net positive.

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.

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

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

I'm not sure if I look better without glasses or I just look better in SD

My aunt got corrective eye surgery and was really happy with it, but her description of the experience made me want to never do it. For whatever procedure she had, they had to keep her awake to provide feedback while also scalpelling open the lens of her eye and she said she could smell her eyeball being lasered. She had absolutely no side effects and loves not needing to wear glasses, but her telling me what the procedure was like put it firmly in the hell no category for me.

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.

My cousin had his done for like $3000 several years ago. No issues. He actually has surprisingly good vision.

To each they're own. I got lasik'd because I hate having my very existence almost entirely reliant on this fragile glass and plastic thing on my face that I had to constantly clean. I also want to go hiking for more then a day, so I went ahead with it. I wish I had went for the femtosecond operation in another city though, less chance for dry-eye.