Lasik surgury - Standard vs. Wavefront

[Hemi-Cuda]

so i just had my evaluation at Lasik MD downtown, and i'm good to go for surgery on Aug. 3. the only question i have now is whether to stick with the regular procedure ($2000 for both eyes) or do the new wavefront technology procedure ($3400 for both eyes). does anyone here have experience with the new procedure and can offer some advice? i can afford either procedure, but obviously saving $1400 would be a huge benefit if wavefront doesn't make that big of a difference (my prescription is quite weak, eyes are healthy with plenty of corneal tissue, standard size pupils). the main advantage that the consultant told me would be better night vision and less risk of halos, which is what's making me consider it since my sister-in-law got the standard procedure and does have slightly worse night vision

anyone here have a little more insight? i've read the pamphlets and have seen the selling points, but i'd like to hear from someone with firsthand experience

[Orange]

I felt Lasik while having extraordinary customer service (the people were all so nice) were a bit pushy, used car salesman style, in doing things (did they ever ask if you wanted the procedure at all? Or was it more "what type of procedure will you get?") so I'm thinking you would be fine doing the $2000 procedure but of course they want to sell you the more expensive one.

However, I did the $3400 procedure - maybe I fell for their tactics. My thinking was the $1400 and additional yearly check up was worth the life time guarantee and less chance of having night time driving problems compared to the other one.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Orange

I felt Lasik while having extraordinary customer service (the people were all so nice) were a bit pushy, used car salesman style, in doing things (did they ever ask if you wanted the procedure at all? Or was it more "what type of procedure will you get?") so I'm thinking you would be fine doing the $2000 procedure but of course they want to sell you the more expensive one.

However, I did the $3400 procedure - maybe I fell for their tactics. My thinking was the $1400 and additional yearly check up was worth the life time guarantee and less chance of having night time driving problems compared to the other one.

actually they didn't try to sell me on the wavefront procedure at all. they said i was low risk for nightvision/halo problems and mentioned that any corrective work happens in the first 2 years of receiving the surgery for 95% of patients (the standard procedure has a 5 year follow-up coverage). they said the procedure would be completely up to me and i could wait to choose right up until the day of surgery. i was going to check out Gimbel as well, but i left Lasik feeling very confident. my doctor has done over 6,000 procedures, and all the staff i encountered were very friendly and helpful

so basically it's coming down to i know i'm low risk for issues, but i'm torn debating the peace of mind with the more expensive procedure to wondering if it's mostly just a sales gimmick. what are your eyes now Orange, out of curiosity? did you have any side effects after the surgery?

[Orange]

Okay, I was probably a bit more pressured into the Wavefront, and that could just be because the risk for me was higher with the other one.

My eyes are good now, 20/20 but lights appear brighter, not sure if that's necessarily a bad or good thing. I didn't have that bad of vision going into the procedure. Bad enough that I couldn't see the board from the back of the class but not bad enough to put up with the hassel of putting in my contacts daily (pretty much wore them if I was going to a movie or watching a game at the Dome) so I wasn't that impressed with my vision after. Also, I think what they refer to as halos are something I experienced before the procedure and they have probably got better, at least not any worse.

However, the people who I did the procedure with and came in with for the check ups after had poorer vision going in, some of them pretty much blind, and they were all ecstatic with their operation. They would be looking out the window with smiles on their faces saying they can read things from there or see house numbers which they couldn't before. They no doubt would recommend the procedure to everyone.

My surgeron, his name escapes me, also had lots of experience and did the surgery on his own wife, which gave me some confidence after signing the "Lasik is not responsible for loss of vision or eyes" thing

As for what I read was one of the most common side effect, dry eyes, I've had no problem with that after the first week or so.

EDIT: As for my thoughts, at the end of the day it's just $1400 dollars. When I'm dealing with my health and a procedure with effects that could last the rest of my life I think the $1400 is probably worth the peace of mind even. By the way, the lifetime guarantee only came with the Wavefront or am I misremembering? If I'm not, that's worth the cost I think.

[3 Justin 3]

Personally I'd spend the extra money. I'll cheap out on some things on my body, like what I eat, but when it comes to my eyes, no amount of money would deter me from not getting the best possible.

[Chingas]

I can't comment from personal experience but I agree with 3J3.

In reality I think that there is likely no reason for them to be charging that much extra for the new procedure, and they may be taking some privileges. However when it comes to eye sight I would pay what ever it costs to get the best. Especially since you have stated that you are in a position to go with the more expensive option.

What ever you choose, good luck with the operation.

[3 Justin 3]

Also, if it the "halo effect" is diminished only by a couple percents compared to the $2000 procedure, I'd definitely be all over it.

That is the only thing right now that I am "frightened" about, I don't want my eyes to suffer at night, especially since I am more of a nocturnal person.

[Hemi-Cuda]

so i ended up getting the standard procedure, final cost $1880 for both eyes. i asked the optometrist who did my pre-surgery checkup straight up what he would recommend for me, and he said the standard procedure would be fine. the wavefront procedure is best for those with thin corneal tissue, larger than average pupils, or heavy prescriptions, none of which i had. it also felt good that he recommended the best procedure for my needs, instead of what would make them the most money.

the surgery was a snap, Dr. Dorey explained everything perfectly and the whole thing took 6 minutes. i went under the laser at 5:30pm Thursday and by 9am Friday when i went in for the checkup my vision was 20/20, and it's been steadily improving since then. nothing negative at all to say about the whole process, and i walked away very impressed by all of the staff i encountered at LASIK MD. seeing the world even more clearly than through glasses is awesome. i highly recommend anyone even thinking about it to go in for the consultation, especially since it's free

[Nehkara]

I have no experience with LASIK MD but I would also recommend Gimbel, they were awesome when I had mine done!

[GoFlamesGo]

Can you share what exactly happens in the 6 minutes procedure?

I've been thinking about getting it done, but the procedure scares me to death. Is it true you can smell smoke coming from your eyes during the procedude?

I'm a big baby when it comes to my eyes. My eyes aren't that bad, but I wear glasses on a regular basis. Whenever I need to wear contacts (Ie. play sports, wear sunglasses or 3D glasses), I need to get my wife to help put them in for me. I can't for the life of me put my own contacts in. I can take them out to problem though.

[Orange]

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo

Can you share what exactly happens in the 6 minutes procedure?

I've been thinking about getting it done, but the procedure scares me to death. Is it true you can smell smoke coming from your eyes during the procedude?

I'm a big baby when it comes to my eyes. My eyes aren't that bad, but I wear glasses on a regular basis. Whenever I need to wear contacts (Ie. play sports, wear sunglasses or 3D glasses), I need to get my wife to help put them in for me. I can't for the life of me put my own contacts in. I can take them out to problem though.

The beauty of eye surgery is that even if you're awake you can't see what's happening. From our point of view, you get into the surgery room after awhile of being in the office doing other stuff, they ask you to lay down on a reclined chair (close to a dentist one) with a head rest that prevents some head movement. They do one eye at a time and the other one is covered. The worst part, at least for me and from the sounds of it you as well, will be having the instrument that is put in to prevent blinking and moving as it has to go under the eyelids. They'll tell you to not blink and stare at a red light/dot or something, during that time they're putting other things around your eye but I'm not entirely sure what was going on (I'm assuming it was for the corneal flap) and then they warn you your vision will get blurry and for a bit you will lose vision. During that very short time it was a weird feeling, they ask you to keep looking at the dot but it's hard to tell at this point if you're eye is open (obviously is, but with no vision it's just a weird feeling and you really want to blink). There is a smell but they reassure us that it's from the laser, not the burning flesh...I guess take their word for it? Then they remove everything and go to the next eye.

It has been awhile now for me, but if I recall correctly, that's the gist of it. They can give you medication to help relieve the stress prior to the surgery and you will have anesthetic eyedrops, as well as a whole host of them afterwords. The actual Lasik surgery was painless, at least as I remember, other than some "discomfort" with things being under the eyelids which is probably more psychological than painful. Afterwords there is some discomfort, putting in all the eyedrops at first was a nuisance and one of them has a bad after taste (yep, you read that correctly) and a bit of a sting putting it in. I'm guessing if you're not good with contacts, eyedrops might be a bit of a problem as well like it was for me, they also don't want you keeping your eye open the normal way when putting in the drops but the good news is by the end of it you're a pro at taking eyedrops. So you'll have some dry eye and gunk (like super eye boogers) but can't rub them or wipe it off right away, you can't watch TV/use computer etc. for the first 24 hours and have to wear sunglasses provided. You're given a calender of what you can or can't do but I think in a month or so you're in the clear and can do everything normal, they do got follow up procedures (I think the next day, a week later, and then a month after that before going into an annual check up). I was warned, and it seems like it's the most common problem with Lasik (along with Halos), is that the dry eyes can become a more than temporary thing, I didn't notice it after maybe 2 weeks but for some (not sure the percent, something like 1%) it seems to be a lasting condition.

EDIT: Oh yeah, another thing is since they are reshaping your cornea I believe you will lose some of your near vision. For me, prior to the surgery I could put a book right up to my eye and still read, now I need to be a couple centimeters away before it's not blury (not that you should be reading a book or whatever only a couple centimeters anyways) but for older people getting the surgery, I believe, they can experience a big enough change that they will recquire reading glasses. The doctors pre-op or during the free consultation will let you know everything like that though. So I'm going to guess, maybe completely wrong and misinformed here but I'll probably need reading glasses a couple years earlier compared to if I didn't have this surgery, but reading glasses are inevitable really with old age while having good far vision for hopefully the rest of my life it was an easy trade off there.

EDIT2: And yeah there's tons of stuff on the internet if you don't have time for the free consultation, but try searching CP. Fortunately we do have some optometrist who are users and threads like this pop up periodically so might want to go and try and find/read those.

[cral12]

Personally, I would stay away from LASIK due to potential long term complications from the flap.

I went with epiLASEK (an advanced PRK [surface treatment]).

Dr. Anderson Penno at Western Laser Eye is fantastic.
http://www.westernlasereye.com/index.html

It's a longer recovery in the beginning, but well worth it in the end. I am 5 mths out and couldn't be happier.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by cral12

Personally, I would stay away from LASIK due to potential long term complications from the flap.

I went with epiLASEK (an advanced PRK [surface treatment]).

Dr. Anderson Penno at Western Laser Eye is fantastic.
http://www.westernlasereye.com/index.html

It's a longer recovery in the beginning, but well worth it in the end. I am 5 mths out and couldn't be happier.

Is there any evidence/research to back this up?

I have heard that to dislodge the flap after the first few days after treatment requires significant trauma to the eye.

Are you speaking of other complications?

[cral12]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

Is there any evidence/research to back this up?

I have heard that to dislodge the flap after the first few days after treatment requires significant trauma to the eye.

Are you speaking of other complications?

http://westernlasereye.blogspot.com/...-lasik-in.html

Highlight:
"Many surgeons and patients feel that the longer recovery is a worthwhile investment of time in return for added safety and excellent visual results."

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by cral12

http://westernlasereye.blogspot.com/...-lasik-in.html

Highlight:
"Many surgeons and patients feel that the longer recovery is a worthwhile investment of time in return for added safety and excellent visual results."

I am not trying to be overly critical but I view that as a vague statement and that statement is also describing the use of a microkeratome (blade) to create the flap whereas a lot of LASIK procedures are now being done with Intralase LASIK where the flap is created with a laser and involves much less trauma to the eye.

[cral12]

Choose as you wish, but have at least 2 consults - one by a surgeon who specializes in LASIK (Intralase especially) and another in EPI-LASIK (advanced PRK).

At LasikMD, from what I know you do not meet the surgeon until the day of procedure!

With eyes, my feeling is you don't go for the deal and you look for the best outcomes with the less risk longterm.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Is the only advantage of getting laser eye surgery the convenience of not having to buy/wear glasses/contact lenses? Does it lower the risk of age-related eye problems for those who get up there in age? Or is the risk factor the same regardless?

[Knut]

Originally Posted by HelloHockeyFans

Is the only advantage of getting laser eye surgery the convenience of not having to buy/wear glasses/contact lenses? Does it lower the risk of age-related eye problems for those who get up there in age? Or is the risk factor the same regardless?

I will address this one...

It actually increases the risk as people are less likely to come in for their annual eye examinations after they get the procedure. It also increases your risk getting a condition known as Keratoconus.

It is very important that you continue with eye examinations every 1 to 2 years after the surgery even if your vision is 20/20.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Originally Posted by Hesla

I will address this one...

It actually increases the risk as people are less likely to come in for their annual eye examinations after they get the procedure. It also increases your risk getting a condition known as Keratoconus.

It is very important that you continue with eye examinations every 1 to 2 years after the surgery even if your vision is 20/20.

Thanks. So, if one is happy wearing contact lenses/glasses for the rest of his/her life, would it be less risk to just continue on that way and not get laser eye surgery?

Keratoconus - so you're saying that the risk of this increases for those who get laser eye surgery, even if they go in for annual eye examinations?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Hesla

I will address this one...

It actually increases the risk as people are less likely to come in for their annual eye examinations after they get the procedure. It also increases your risk getting a condition known as Keratoconus.

It is very important that you continue with eye examinations every 1 to 2 years after the surgery even if your vision is 20/20.

does it actually increase the risk of Keratoconus if you've never had symptoms? the only stuff i can find about it is the risk of laser eye surgery increasing the rate of progression

http://www.helpkeratoconus.com/lasik-keratoconus.htm