Lasik eye surgery

[HeKing]

Guess this follows up on my last post about looking for an eye doc. I went to see Dr. Brown today and got to talkin about Lasik. Kinda kickin the idea around. It would dam sure be nice not to have to deal with contacts/glasses.
Any of you guys had it done? Are you happy with the results?
My biggest concern is the stories of people having night blindness or seeing "halos" around lights. Anybody experienced that?

[chevy01234]

I am blessed with good vision, but I have heard it is a miracle for a lot of people who wear contacts and glasses! Call Dr. Marascalco in Meridian, he is pretty highly regarded in the use of LASIK surgery if I remember correctly. Also pretty big hunter and not too far from Starkville (if you need another doc or second opinion or anything).

Jeff on here is an eye doc I believe, he can probably fill you in on all the pro's and con's involved. I would definitely get it if I was wearing glasses! My little brother wants to get it too and probably will in the near future.

Good luck!

[MudHog]

There is also LaHayeSIK, but don't know if it available outside of LA.

[Don Miller]

I had it done by Dr. Coleman in Greenwood about 12 years ago. Before the surgery I wore glasses and contacts for years and dealt with glasses fogging up and eye infections due to contacts. All I will say about the lasik is that it was worth every penny and then some. Twelve years later I still have better than 20/20 vision and my shooting skills improved a bunch. If you are an outdoors person, I highly recommend it.

[Drakeshead]

All I will say about the lasik is that it was worth every penny and then some.

HERE! HERE!

I too had LASIK performed on me. Mine was done by Dr. Cook here in Vicksburg. He taught a lot of the doctors in the state how to perform the procedure as was fortunate enough that he was right here locally. He has since retired due to back problems. I had mine performed in May of '04.

So, I go in to see if I am a candidate and find out I am good to go. The girl goes to give me the consulatation about the procedure and breaks out the book with pictures. I stop her right then and there as I did NOT want to know what they were about to do; well, what they were going to do in a week or so. I told her that I am going to go through with the procedure, but that I am very nervous and would be the day of the procedure. "No problem" she says, "We will give you some valium moments before we begin so that you are not so tense. Ok, cool! So, here I go to the doctors office and the first person was a lady that looked to be around 50. When she is called, I am called to the back. So, I go to the back and meet one of the other females who gives me my hair thing to wear and to valium. So, I swallow them down and am told to go back and wait. So, I am there waiting and the door opens. The lady in front of me has three folks helping her out of the room as the valium has knocked her some loopy! Ok, cool! So, it is now my turn and I am asked to lay back on the table thing. I am handed one of those smily face foam balls in case I get nervous, but I know that things will be OK as the valium is about to kick in. So, we start the procedure; first the right eye, then the left eye. The entire procedure from start to finish probably took 20 minutes. I sit up and can read the clock up on the wall. Prior to the surgery, I probably would not have been able to tell you that there was a clock on the wall. My vision was TERRIBLE! Ok, so I get up and am still wondering what is up with the valium. The nurse asked if I was OK and needed any help and I told her that I am fine. She was shocked. So, she then asked how far of a drive do we have before we get home. I said it takes about 15 minutes. I said I am good to drive home, but she said no, go ahead and take the sleeping pills now so that by the time I get home I will should start getting sleepy and can sleep the rest of the day so my eyes can recover. I take the sleeping pills and off towards the house we go. I am astonished and am trying to look out ahead to see what street signs I can read before we get close to them. I have worn glasses since the third grade and am amazed at what I can see without them now.

I arrive home and call my mother as she wanted to make sure everything went OK. I am sitting on a stool and talking to her in the kitchen and giving her a detailed description of what took place and then I see the room start to move; I fell straight over in the sitting position down to the floor and was done! My body had finally relaxed enough and both the valium and sleeping pills hit me all at once and I was down for the count. I tried to walk, but the room was turning into a maze. With assistance I made it to the couch and there I stayed for the remainder of the day.

The next day I drove myself to the doctors office and see 20/20.

[dukmisr2005]

i had LASIK done in jaxson about 8 or so years ago... i love it... however i still have to wear contacts now... before surgery i was a -9 in more eye and -9.5 in the other... they got me to a -2 in both... i have not had to change my contact prescription since the surgery... i went to Dr. McCaa.. she has taught many of the ones doing it now... she also does enhancements for no cost except for the surgical suit charge.. she wont do the enhancement on me as my cornea will be too thin and could collapse... i would do it again in a heartbeat...

also have a friend that does in Oxford that is from the delta, Doty Farmer...

[Jeff]

LASIK is by far the most succesful corrective surgery ever performed. I am going to assume you are a student in Starkville. If so that makes you a better canidate as you will have a good 20 years before you need reading glasses. (yes once you get past 40 you will need reading glasses). THe other requirment I make my patients have is to have POOR vision. The patients that are typically happiest with the surgery are those that really need it. If your contact lens prescription is like -1.50, to me not enough hence the reason I have never had it done. -3.00 or above and go for it!

All that being said, nowadays most people that have the procedure are very happy with it. It is estimated that about 10% of people have some sort of complication with the surgery. The most common complications are halos and sensitivity to light. However there are still some that aren't happy with their vision afterwards and will have an enhancment afterwards, if you happen to fall into this category (odds are low) you will have another surgery (you are responsible for the cost, normally a discounted rate) to fix your vision. In 12 years I have seen four people that had major problems where they wished they would have never had the surgery. To me that's pretty good odds on success as I have probably seen 5,000 that have had it over the years.

One last tip, if you prescription is NOT stable, DO NOT have the surgery! If your prescription changes every year, after LASIK it still will change and you are paying over 2,000 dollars to be back in glasses and contact lenses in a few years.

[timberjack]

Jeff, can lasik completely correct a -6.50 and make it 20/20?

[jebster]

Do not wait another day to get the Lasik surgery.....do it!!! I had it done in 1997, the first year it was approved for use in the USA. The process now is much more advanced and easy. You will not regret it. The only regret you will have is having waited so long to do it! I wore glasses/contacts for 42 years.

[Jeff]

Jeff, can lasik completely correct a -6.50 and make it 20/20?

Yes as long as your corneas are normal thickness you should have no problems. Normally corneal thickness doesn't become an issue until about -8

[bhuggins]

By far the best money I have ever spent. If I was told I needed it again tomorrow, I would do it all over again.

[riverat]

the best procedure money can buy and yes itll fix a -6.5. my mom was almost legally blind and she now wears nothing, but occassionally uses reading glasses.


and they dope you up on pain killers and let you snooze the whole day away

[lowbar]

The best thing I have ever done in my life!!!! I wish I had had it done much sooner. Also had it done by Dr. Cook in Vicksburg and referred about 10 people to him after I had it done. I was calling up all of my friends and family who wore glasses and contacts telling them to go get it done. I couldn't even tell there was an eyechart on the wall during the evaluation and was reading 20/20 the next morning I would have paid $10,000 if I knew how good and easy it was going to be. DO IT!!!!

[deltadukman]

I've got -2.25 and -2.75. They've been the same for about 5 years now. Its not alot, but I hate dealing with contacts. Its danged near impossible for me to take them out at night and then wake up and put them in in the mornings without getting a shower(probably a combination of oil on my skin and the moisture). If I try, my eyes burn for a while. I would love to be able to wake up without having to deal with them. I have been tossing the idea of lasiks around for a while. Ballpark speaking, what are the costs and who is a good doctor around here to do it?

[sprigless]

What are the costs these days. I looked into it a couple of years back and I think I was quoted $5200 for both eyes. Has it got any cheaper?