Comment by ada1981 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ada1981 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

If you get LASEK vs. LASIK halos aren't a problem. I had LASEK done perhaps 8 years ago, and my eyes went from 20/400 to 20/15 overnight.

The entire procedure was incredible including an HD prescription profile generated by scanning your entire eye.

The process is $4k-$5k but with financing comes down to about the same you spend on glasses or contacts annually.

No risk of halos as there is no "flap" cut like with LASIK, no chance it will come loose, and more accurate vision than you could ever achieve with lenses.

The quality of life upgrade is incredible, no scratchy eyes, no falling asleep and waking up with stinging eyes, and for sports it's incredible.

I can't explain what going from 20/400 to 20/15 is like, but basically I walked around manhattan for 6 months feeling like I was on LSD in awe of being able to see the mortar between bricks on the tops of buildings.

I found the best LASEK surgeon in the country and have brought in friends / CEOs from other states and introduced them with incredible results.

If anyone wants more info, an intro, etc. let me know and I can probably get you $500 or $1k off if you end up doing it.

To add to this, not only does the current technology not have halos, but your peripheral vision will increase as well.

I had mine done a few years ago on a state of the art machine (at the time), called the Allegretto Wave Laser. No blades - just one laser to cut the flap, and another to shape the lens.

Result - in 17 seconds (per eye time of the laser doing it's work), I went from 20/400 with a bad astigmatism to 20/15. A week later it had improved to 20/10 in one eye, and 20/12 in the other. Overall, it took 5 minutes or less of time laying down, including all adjustments.

This year celebrates 10 years without glasses, and I am finally needing to start looking at reading glasses for some situations (small print at a close distance). The great thing is that I have thick corneas, and they can actually shape them again to get rid of that as well - which I'll do in a couple years when I hit 50.

The only greater miracle I have had is the birth of my son. If you can, I highly recommend it.

If you're considering this, you might want to read the comments on [0][1][2], wikipedia[3] maybe also a bit about how this surgery is marketed [4]

Personally, I wouldn't get any surgery with a marketing department on principle.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13024352

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9941566

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5218268

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorefractive_keratectomy#Co...

[4] http://www.healio.com/ophthalmology/news/print/ocular-surger...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12637420

I will say, aside from the quality of the surgery and the awesome outcome -- the "marketing" for this is intense and actually feels crazy to me.

I suppose this is because the machine is expensive and you need to recoop your investment, plus most people are being sold glasses and contacts from their doctor as that is the default.

It does take effort to educate people about new options and it's an elective surgery where if you go with the alternative you don't really know what you are missing...

> The process is $4k-$5k but with financing comes down to about the same you spend on glasses or contacts annually.

My eyes aren't perfect, but I've spent about $500 on glasses in 10 years. How much do others spend? I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around financing $5k for eyes (not saying it bad, just not close to my experience).

I was spending a few hundred a year on exams, contacts and backup glasses.

Outside of that, having the equivalent of HD vision is worth every penny.

interesting. i guess it's certainly possible, thinking about it, to spend that much. I may just be lucky (so far) that I've not needed that much.

So I'm reading that LASEK still cuts a flap, just a thinner one than LASIK. It also appears to have a longer healing time than LASIK[0].

It does appear to have fewer complications with the flap, since it's a thinner one, and less chance of hazing.

[0]http://www.the-lasik-directory.com/lasik_lasek_chart.html

LASEK actually dissolves the epithelium, which is a protective skin layer that regenerates vs. LASIK which cuts and then re-attaches a flap.

I did PRK which is the original procedure before LASIK because the thought of a flap is too scary for me. From what I understand PRK has better long term recovery but short term it takes more time.

People want LASIK for the convenience, almost no recovery time. With PRK I took 1 week off work and the next week was bad too. Then more discomfort for upto 6 months. After that it's great.

I'd be very interested in hearing more as well. Email is username @ gmail. Thank you!

sent.

I am interested in more details above this. My email is nylad a-t nylad dot com.

I'm interested in why you think this person is the best. Email in profile.

I'm interested in learning more. My email is in my profile too.

Couldn't decipher your email ;) mine is anthony at 175g dot com

Please share more info, I'm intrigued. tamcap / gmail

sent.

I'm interested in more info. Email in profile.

I am interested. email in profile.

check email.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com