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Comment by Gordonjcp | Hacker News Reader

Would you actually risk having elective surgery on your eyes - which are irreplaceable - when it's easy and simple to just change your glasses if your prescription changes?

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I would absolutely get LASIK if my eyes had stopped degrading.

If you haven't seen a doctor do it now. There are progressive conditions which can rob you of your remaining sight if you don't intervene.

I see an optometrist every year. But my eye sight is degrading over time (which is normal). As I understand, there’s no point getting LASIK until your eyes have stopped degrading, since if you got them fixed, they would just degrade anyway.

Implantable contact lenses (ICL) are low risk and can be changed if needed. I'm still happy I got the surgery 10 years ago, is a good alternative to LASIK

Make your decisions for your own body, but LASIK is popular for a reason.

I don't really see how LASIK can work.

that seems like a personal problem.

there's a body of proof that it does, both theoretically and practically, and it's been around long enough now that we know about the long term effects.

Laser eye surgery is a well practiced surgery what are you talking about..?

I just for PRK and while the recovery is way worse than LASIK, the results are already great 2 months in.

Okay, but how do you change what prescription you need?

I don't need a prescription. In 15+ years once I'm in my 40s and my eye sight starts naturally deteriorating maybe I'll need reading glasses, but that's unpreventable.

I saw in another comment you were asking about side effects. There definitely are, and tbh if you're happy w/ glasses and they work for your lifestyle then more power to you. LASIK side effects from what I've read are most commonly really dry eyes and star burst effects from light sources at night. Seems a lot of people after going through PRK have bad night vision (which I'm experiencing), and moderate to severe light sensitivity, which I personally have none of. So yea, there are side effects that can be really bad, but for the most part people seem very happy with both LASIK and PRK.

I can certainly say PRK was one of my best life decisions, it's definitely been worth it to me because I hated wearing glasses and I do a lot of outdoor activities as well as Jiu jitsu, so I was basically the ideal candidate

The star burst thing sounds like a total pain in the tits if you want to drive at night, which even down south here at 56°N is about 16 hours of the day at this time of year.

I find I need different glasses for different things but I'm very very long-sighted - I can see more than well enough to drive, and indeed can see the guy wires on radio towers a few miles either side of the road I drive on most days to get to work, and can see what the dude in front is watching on his phone instead of the road, but can't really see the instrument panel except as a big green blob with a vague suggestion of pointers in it. No matter, as long as nothing is lit up red.

I wear different glasses for reading to using the computer or watching TV, basically to pull the range of focus I have in to about half a metre to a metre, or a metre to a couple of metres, and I have a couple of pairs of prescription safety glasses which fit under the visor of my climbing helmet, which is handy for work.

For welding and such, I just keep some cheap shitty "pound shop" reading glasses that are "close enough" and that I don't care if they get wrecked in the workshop, which again fit under my welding mask or grinder shield.

I do kind of wonder how well people who have had LASIK can deal with a very very wide range of focal lengths.

already got the surgery 12 years ago

Does it actually work? With no side-effects?

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