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Comment by pensatoio | Hacker News Reader

Well then. LASIK it is.

The other commenters pointed out that glasses are an option, but I feel like the real thing that is missed in lasik discussions is risk -- there is no risk of ruining your eyes by wearing glasses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LASIK#Risks

There's also a risk every time you go outside. Without actual odds of the risk occurring to you, it's a meaningless point.

I looked into this 12 years ago when I was debating whether I should get LASIK, and the risk seemed minuscule. I'm sure odds of a bad outcome have gone down even more in that time.

If you already waited 12 years, might as well wait more. What they don’t tell you is your eyes will continue to deteriorate after lasik. You might as well wait for the contact lens with stem cells sewn into it

There might have been a misunderstanding. I meant I got mine done 12 years ago and that's when I was researching the risks. I'm fine with getting them done again after another 15-20 years from now - well worth the money.

The best vision you can get is your real eyes plus contact lenses.

Vision surgery will correct the central portion of your eyes, and it won't last your lifetime.

After vision surgery, your prescription can continue to change, however it is difficult to correct the vision with contact lenses at that point because your eye has a "plateau" shape, which contacts aren't really designed for.

Also, if there is astigmatism, it's hard to correct it at low diopters of correction.

I had low diopter astigmatism and got lazik 6 years ago at 39. I consider it the best decision I've ever made that was just for me. I still have perfect vision, and if it degrades again I will happily get it done again. Just my experience, but I have yet to meet anyone who has regretted it.

Can you really have the procedure done a second time?

There is no limit for LASIK procedures.

It just re-shapes your lens via subtraction. you can have it done as many times as your lens has enough material to be molded into the required geometry via removing material.

So how many times is that on average?

Naively searching seems to mostly get well SEO'd results from LASIK related companies making claims like "In general, there is no limit on how many LASIK procedures you can get in your lifetime"[0]. Though that is followed by "The thickness of the cornea is one of the main determinations regarding the safety of multiple LASIK surgeries" in the same article which seems to contradict the previous statement as there is clearly a limit before it becomes unsafe to perform another procedure.

Meanwhile on a very short search, I cannot seem to find any study or report about literally anyone having more than two laser eye surgeries.

I did find an FDA guideline from 2022 that lists a surprising number of risks for laser eye surgeries[1].

[0] https://vson.com.au/how-many-times-can-you-have-lasik-eye-su...

[1] Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) Lasers - Patient Labeling Recommendations (https://www.fda.gov/media/160239/download)

> So how many times is that on average?

Certainly it is a number 0-many

I know an uncle who has had it twice

I am ineligible for the procedure as my farsightedness is too severe when coupled with a thin portion of my cornea

I would guess the first surgery is generally the most severe and the followups require less material removal, but I think your research is probably more detailed than mine at this point.

risk of infection and poor results with each attempt. a friend had his "fixed" and ended up worse off.

You know glasses exist, right?

Not the OP, but I can't wear glasses. Contacts are a lifesaver.

I was just cleaning my shop and was constantly between fogged glasses behind eye protection and tons of dust accumulating on the lenses. I’ve worn glasses for 30 years and that aspect of wearing them is vastly inferior to corrective procedures or contacts.

I would stick with contacts but, like this topic suggests, there are legitimate health concerns, and I can’t justify how disposable they are with no consideration of environmental impacts. I wish that wasn’t the case.

The level of waste from monthly contact lenses is surely less than a grocery trip where you forget your reusable bags. I wouldn't even consider that aspect personally, they're tiny.

I suppose the way I look at it is that any practical option I have to reduce waste is likely worthwhile, and contacts falls square in that category.

I find that a ridiculous viewpoint.

Contacts are, as addressed, tiny. The amount of waste you generate from these things is almost nothing. I compared to a plastic bag earlier, but just imagine how much shit is wasted on a single private jet flight. Don't torture yourself when the people in position to enact change don't.

Contacts also have an insane value prop. Vision assistance is more of a need than a want in a modern society where one has to work for money.

I'm pretty sure that I could package up all of my used contact lenses over the past decade into a single jam jar.

If we consider the cases as well, I might need to go up to say, a gallon bottle of milk.

I'm deliberately overestimating here by the way.

What is the waste problem here?

They might be referring to single-use lenses.

Contacts changed my life. I wear glasses still, but contacts let me comfortably participate in activities that bring me a lot of joy.

Depends. My nearsightness is so bad that even the insanely expensive ultra thin lenses are too heavy to wear for more than a few hours at a time and give me a raging headache from the weight. It's no exaggeration to say that contact lenses have had the single greatest positive effect on my life out of anything.

I hate wearing glasses.

Having something constantly on my face, on my nose, behind my ears, in front of my eyes, so my peripheral vision is constantly a blur, chromatic aberration around the edges, you’ve got to be careful not to smudge or scratch or bump or bend them… plus that heart-stopping moment when something hits you in the face, knocks them off, and suddenly you are BLIND and there’s nothing you can do about it…

I hate wearing glasses.

what happened to glasses?

They fog up and fall off. Sometimes very far off. Farther than I'm willing to climb.

Get a nerd strap for them?

If your glasses fall off then it sounds like a fit or material issue. Rimless titanium wire (hingeless) with polycarb lenses and they'll stay put in the most extreme of conditions with a sensible arm design.

Or you just aren't doing sports / physical activities.

"the most extreme of conditions", so I'm not sure why you wouldn't think this includes sports or physical activities.

Can you link to some examples of such frames?

Google "rimless titanium wire hingeless frame polycarb". You'll find plenty. As they're hingeless, you get far superior fit. They weigh much less than standard glasses, as such, they don't slip.

I google those and the ones I see do not look like they would stay on your face if you were upside down, for example (and less extreme positions, of course, but that's easiest to describe).

I wear glasses and contacts, and do sports, and contacts just work a lot better for sports. Glasses are totally fine for sitting at a computer or walking around or driving.

Some of us have high prescriptions which make glasses expensive and horribly unpleasant to wear regardless of frame size or lens choice. I am at -11.5 and with enough astigmatism that modern LASIK isn't an option, id have to get the old "slice a flap off" style. Hard pass.

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