Did LASIK surgery work for you and your optic?

[jknopp44]

The all laser LASIK procedure is top notch and now allowed by various branches of the military. I had it done about two years ago and was easily the best money I have ever spent. I am a physician as well so I was already aware of the different risks and benefits. I would not hesitate to have it done again.

[86 slo-vo]

Looks like you guys have convinced me to see a doctor soon.

I have been having trouble with my eye's since getting a chunk of metal stuck in my right (dominate) eye about 2 years ago. I went to the doctor where they drilled it out and I thought all was good...but a year later I started noticing the dot on my aimpoint turning into a squiggly line. It wasnt too bad so I just chocked it up to getting a little older and let it be.

Now another year later and it seems to be getting worse and I'm noticing I'm having trouble focusing and reading things at distance.

I had 20/20 before this happened.

[Waylander]

I had very bad nearsightedness and had LASIK in 2002 and have had 20/10-20/15 vision in both eyes since about a year ago. I've had no problems with my scopes or red dots. I paid between around $1,500 for lifetime corrections and don't regret it for a decade of nearly perfect vision. I had the usual temporary halos and light sensitivity at first. The key is to follow the doctors after-care directions exactly. Also go by recommendations from others that have used a specific doctor with good results and who's performed thousands of surgeries. Don't use a new guy. There are risks to any surgery but they can be mitigated with a good doctor.

Detachment of the cornea flap is a slight risk with LASIK. Something to think about if maybe you do a lot of contact sports. There's always the risk of over-correction with either procedure. The statement about it all being done by computer wasn't true back when I had my surgery done. My doctor personally did my cornea flap cuts and the laser pops to the exposed areas. I don't know about recent advancements but I would feel more comfortable with a doctor that would handle more of the procedure than a computer.

PRK is the OLD technique. Do NOT get PRK.

Pay once, cry once.

Do not go CHEAP when it comes to your eyes.

If you do you are a blithering idiot who deserves every bit of suffering and misery your stupidity earns you.

You get what you pay for when it comes to quality LASIK care and procedures.

Trust me. I know this for a fact.

With all due respect I disagree with PRK being inferior and it's still quite common. I do agree about not trying to get out cheap.
The debate of PRK versus LASIK is only something you and your doctor should decide, not an internet forum. There are still merits to both and PRK shouldn't be considered inferior. If your corneas are too thin already a doctor should only perform PRK. My doctor said a few months ago that if my vision ever gets worse enough to have correction again that my only option is PRK. It will reshape my cornea(s) to get rid of astigmatism and not thin my corneas as much as LASIK would again. He advised me to wear glasses shooting until my vision in my dominant is bad enough that I would need glasses or contacts full time. He said with my minor vision deterioration the risk of over-correction with PRK is too great at this point.

[LarryR]

I'm just crossing the 6 decade mark and will be having LASIK done this month. I've worn glasses, then contacts, then contacts/readers from adolescence to present day and am finally taking the plunge. Been doing my homework for the past few years and am looking forward to the procedure. Will report back with results once the deed is done 3 weeks from now.

[Hmac]

In many ways, PRK is superior to LASIK. For one thing, the flap created in LASIK doesn't heal. You'd have a lifelong risk (relatively low risk) of some form of minor trauma lifting that flap. The most common cause of that type of trauma appears to be an enthusiastic dog. Another one we see might be tree branches as in walking through the woods (this is Minnesota).The military does allow vision correction in its pilots and other MOS now (as of about 2008), but only wave-front-guided LASIK or PRK. From a vision correction standpoint, they're about the same. Whether or not it fiixes your vision and creates night blooming is more dependent on your eye and its anatomy rather than the way the procedure is done. Someone above mentioned that a doctor doesn't do the procedure, a computer does. Technically true, but the way the computer does it and the results are entirely dependent on the data entered into the computer by the doctor. Pick a good one.

[BuzzinSATX]

I had PRK surgery done back in 2009 while still on active duty in the Air Force. I was 45 years old. I was very nearsighted and had 20-350 vision corrected to 20-15 with glasses. My surgery was done at the Wilford Hall military medical center in San Antonio. At the time, PRK was all they offered me. I asked about LASIK and they told me that the issue was the eye flap and the fact that it could easily open from trauma, water pressure, or a number of other ways. My PRK corrected me to 20-22.

If you have PRK, expect a lot of pain and bad vision for 3 days. I spent three days in a dark room with cold compresses. I took Motrin for the pain, but did not use the numbing drops as I was told they slow healing, so I suffered more than others. Also, I hate taking narcotics, so that increased my suffering. By the fourth, the pain starts to subside, but vision to drive took about 9 days as you are regrowing the skin layer on your eye that was removed for the surgery. This is ultimately why PRK is more durable. Rather than cutting a flap to do the surgery, they shave off the entire layer of you eye, and it simply grows back new.

The good: I lost my need for corrective lenses, and I can wear any sunglasses I want. I can see when I wake up at night, and don't need to fumble around for glasses.

The bad: I reduced my vision based on my glasses I wore prior to surgery....things are not as sharp. My eyes were always sensitive to light, but are now much more so. They are also very sensitive to touch, and I really have to be careful when waking up and rubbing my eyes. I have the "starburst" thing at night, and while driving, it sucks. I can do it, but I also have corrective lenses for night driving, which help a lot. Before my surgery, I could read and do small, intricate work by simply taking off my glasses...now I carry reading glasses everywhere.

Eyedrops help a lot, so plan on keeping a bottle everywhere you spend much time. I keep eye drops (tears) and reading glasses on my nightstand, at my computer desk, in every vehicle, etc.

Overall, I'm glad I did it and would do it again the same way. My brother had LASIK and has had issues.

Hope this helps...

Added: sorry...from a shooters perspective, I'm glad I did it. Simply not wearing glasses is awesome, and far outweighs the small loss of clarity. I have both an AR with an Aimpoint PRO and another with a Vortex illuminated 1-4 and out to 100 yards, I'm fine with the RDS, but I find myself really preferring the 1-4 scoped or targets beyond that. But my eyes are now 52 years young, so that's probably to be expected anyway...

[weggy]

I'm planning on getting laser eye surgery next month, just wondering if you see your optic's reticle clearer or not. I've been reading up on the procedure from non shooter perspectives, many will complain that streetlights bloom at night, but overall that it's not bad. After reading the night driving complaints I'm a little worried that it may make my RDS worse. Although if they are fixng my astigmatism, shouldn't the RDS starburst be corrected?
How about other rets? I'm planning on a 1-4x for Xmas.

Looking for perspectives from shooters who've had this procedure done.

I live with a small amount of starburst now. No big deal for cqb defense. Just annoying when punching paper.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My brother had Lasik done and he swears by it, and yes,, he did say that it did help to improve the sight picture on all his firearms. By the way he has astigmatism also.
Good Luck
Jim

[Ready.Fire.Aim]

I had LASIK in the mid 1990s at Mann- Berkley eye center in Houston.
It was well worth the money. I went from coke bottle lenses to 20-15 and removed a lot of astigmatism.
My shooting ability excelled with the new clarity and focus.

I do have some starburst. It was annoying for the first month, small very bright lights like Christmas tree lights and traffic lights had bad starburst. Also I sold my big telescope, that was a bummer, no longer able to view the cosmos.
I have no issues with red dot sights, I have quite a few aimpoints H-1 sights.

Both my daughters had LASIK in their 20s and had great results.

I have been back in glasses for about 8 years ( in mid 50s). I am researching lens implants. My vision has degraded so that I have to wear glasses to function.

[nova3930]

I had PRK surgery done back in 2009 while still on active duty in the Air Force. I was 45 years old. I was very nearsighted and had 20-350 vision corrected to 20-15 with glasses. My surgery was done at the Wilford Hall military medical center in San Antonio. At the time, PRK was all they offered me. I asked about LASIK and they told me that the issue was the eye flap and the fact that it could easily open from trauma, water pressure, or a number of other ways. My PRK corrected me to 20-22.

If you have PRK, expect a lot of pain and bad vision for 3 days. I spent three days in a dark room with cold compresses. I took Motrin for the pain, but did not use the numbing drops as I was told they slow healing, so I suffered more than others. Also, I hate taking narcotics, so that increased my suffering. By the fourth, the pain starts to subside, but vision to drive took about 9 days as you are regrowing the skin layer on your eye that was removed for the surgery. This is ultimately why PRK is more durable. Rather than cutting a flap to do the surgery, they shave off the entire layer of you eye, and it simply grows back new.

The good: I lost my need for corrective lenses, and I can wear any sunglasses I want. I can see when I wake up at night, and don't need to fumble around for glasses.

The bad: I reduced my vision based on my glasses I wore prior to surgery....things are not as sharp. My eyes were always sensitive to light, but are now much more so. They are also very sensitive to touch, and I really have to be careful when waking up and rubbing my eyes. I have the "starburst" thing at night, and while driving, it sucks. I can do it, but I also have corrective lenses for night driving, which help a lot. Before my surgery, I could read and do small, intricate work by simply taking off my glasses...now I carry reading glasses everywhere.

Eyedrops help a lot, so plan on keeping a bottle everywhere you spend much time. I keep eye drops (tears) and reading glasses on my nightstand, at my computer desk, in every vehicle, etc.

Overall, I'm glad I did it and would do it again the same way. My brother had LASIK and has had issues.

Hope this helps...

Added: sorry...from a shooters perspective, I'm glad I did it. Simply not wearing glasses is awesome, and far outweighs the small loss of clarity. I have both an AR with an Aimpoint PRO and another with a Vortex illuminated 1-4 and out to 100 yards, I'm fine with the RDS, but I find myself really preferring the 1-4 scoped or targets beyond that. But my eyes are now 52 years young, so that's probably to be expected anyway...

I had PRK in May of 14 and had a somewhat better experience although my vision was not nearly as bad as yours. I started at 20/40/R and 20/80/L. Very little pain and the bad vision was mostly gone by day 2 although my vision was variable up until I finished the steroid drops. My last post surgery optometrist follow up was a couple weeks ago and my final overall vision is somewhere between 20/10 and 20/15. Only downside is if something relatively close to me is glowing at night (like the car radio) I have slight double vision of it. Fair trade I'd say.

As a shooter it makes everything better. Scope, RDS, irons. It's all clearer and wearing shooting glasses is much more comfortable without contacts to irritate my eyes.

[rero360]

I had wavefront PRK in the spring of 2008, I went from 20/400 to 20/15. Fast forward to today, I'm about 20/25 in my dominate eye and 20/30 or 20/35 in my other eye. Once my fiancee and I get married in May and I go on her insurance I will get an eye exam and probably go back to glasses and or contacts, been putting it off as I don't have insurance and I don't trust the VA with my eyes. I may look into getting the surgery again later down the road but we shall see.