Considering LASIK

Wow.  Well I'm glad I read all this.  Will definitely bring it up.  I definitely see blood vessels in the whites of my eyes but never thought anything of it.  I have supposedly the very thin disposable lenses but I don't think they're silicone.

Sounds like my sister.  My eyes are bad enough (around -4 diopter), but my sister's are -11!   

My one eye is -9 in glasses and the other is -11.  In contacts they're less than that naturally.

I was placed in the the new Acuvue Advance... after years of wearing Acuvue2.

They are silicone based and supposed to help with the oxygen thing.. however I was still advised to take them out at night and even one weekend..like a Sunday due to oxygen deprivation.

I am still out as to what I think about them and wonder if I might have a sensitivity to the silicone component as I don't find them as comfortable and I am not able to wear them as long over all.  Meaning I have not gotten the full two weeks out of a pair yet.  I have a years supply (pretty much) and it might just be the pregancy impacting it.

I did have my script sent to my parents and the contacts purchased at WalMart back home as too many places in the UK were only doing the contacts by post and why on earth would I pay double and triple the price here?

Insane... plus if you purchase a over 4 boxes they give you money back rebates..

My DH does find the Advance Toric line more comfortable than the Acuvue 2 Torics.

And yes we both have really bad vision but at -6.50 for me and -6.00 for DH I don't feel so badly now!

Wow...

I've got Acuvue Advance, I think.  I also used to have the Acuvue 2.  Never had problems with either really.  VNP, pregnancy does definitely impact it (as I'm sure you know) so hopefully that's part of the issue.

I never wear mine at night (only if I'm stuck someplace without any solution) but basically any other time I'm not asleep, I do.

I also purchase mine in the US and have them brought over.  DH just brought some for me the last time he was there.

Whatever lenses I have do not come in any sort of longer wear. They are put in in the morning and taken out at night. Though I recall vaguely that there was some sort of option but was actually more expensive than normal ones. They simply didn't make them like that in my prescrip. That said, it's probably been almost 2 years now so I should look into them again. Any idea how long after being pregnant you can get fitted for new lenses/glasses?

I take mine out at night too...

On the occasion I have "cat napped" in them I hated the way they adhere to your eye almost... gives me the hebbie jeebies!

Yeah I think with me it's likely just an increase in my sensitivity to everything or a mucus thing...  I have been having really bad sinuses which impact my whole system.  I don't know how Pg would impact the actual vision itself though.

That said and back to the topic... I think one day I will get Lasik, but only if they determine I am a very good candidate. 

My friend said he wished he had waited at our eyes tend not to regulate until we are closer to 40.  Mine have gotten worse every year.  I'd consider Lasik after a few years of a fairly stable scipt.

Balmerhon you should definitely look into it again because they go up to pretty high prescriptions now in the disposables.  I asked my optician about the regular wear ones and he recommended disposables over those. 

VNP I know what you mean about that feeling after you leave the lenses in after sleeping - it's horrible!  When I saw an opthalmologist once and was having a hard time with taking out my lens, she told me that every time you take it out and it's sticking to your eye, you're like pulling away some layer and it's really bad...oh it's gross just thinking about it!  She was telling me that I needed to make sure my eyes were lubricated enough basically and that I should use rewetting solution.

I will consider lasik again probably every year but until I get a doctor who tells me to go for it, I won't do it.  I ask every one I see and none have yet given me a totally green light.

For the record, my eyes were -4.5 and -4.75.  From what I understand > -7 is risky with LASIK and > -9 is not correctable.  Sorry to hear of people with much worse vision then what I had, because I know no matter what, both glasses and contacts can be a pain!

As far as the vision getting worse, it is true that if whatever makes your vision is bad is progressive, then LASIK isn't for you.  Again, I was lucky that my perscription has been stable for the previous 10 years.  Also, it won't stop the farsightedness that comes with age.  This is due to the hardening of your lens and can't be avoided.  There is a trick they can perform though where they can undercorrect one of the nearsighted eyes in order to have a far vision and a near vision eye.  I will just opt for the old man reading glasses as I get older.

Just an update.

Decided to have consultations both here and in the US. My first was yesterday and I was told I am a good candidate. They recommended the Wavefront procedure to the tune of £3600 (payable in interest free, monthly installments of £100/month for 36 months). Whilst cost is not the only factor in this, I will be curious to see what the price in the US will be. <sigh>

Oh and if anyone is going to have a consultation for this and you are sensitive at all to light, I'd recommend bringing sunglasses and taking tylenol or something beforehand. They put drops in that dilate your pupils for several hours and the headache I had yesterday from that was atrocious! Otherwise it was straightforward.

I'm late on this thread, but I just wanted to say I had laser correction two years ago and love it! My corneas were too thin for LASIK but I had a procedure done called PRK, same thing except they scrape off a layer of the cornea instead of peel it back. It takes longer to heal, but I felt it was definitely worth it. Like Kitsonk, my eyes are a bit more dry than they used to be, easily taken care of with over the counter eye drops though and usually just in the winter. I am a little more sensitive to light, so I have to be careful about wearing good sunglasses, but my eyes have always been sensitive too. My eyes were in -4.50 and -4.75 and I now have 20/15 vision in both eyes!  I definitely recommend it, it ends up paying for itself in the long run if it goes correctly.

I'm glad to see this thread, as I've looked into such surgery for my daughter.  She's not old enough yet, so we've got plenty of time to gather information.  It's my understanding that one has to be at least 18 and have stable vision for a year prior to the surgery.  My daughter isn't quite 17 and had to have 2 exams last year due to changes in her vision.

She's got a -7 eye and I think the other is a -5.75.  Our optometrist did say that her options for a surgical correction are limited.  For now, she wears contacts most of the time.  At night, and sometimes on weekends, she wears glasses.  Until we got her new glasses, her doctor said her eyes were showing signs of overwearing the contacts.  She wears the Acuvue Advance contacts and loves them.  I didn't know they are silicon based.  Thank you all for your information on these procedures.

Just thought I'd update this thread a bit as I have finally got off my butt and been to the eye doc. I got a really good recommendation to an independent optician here in Exeter and this man is wonderful.

However, he is NOT happy with me. I've worn my exisiting lenses way too long (in my defense, it's been a question of cost, not laziness in getting them replaced). However, I do have problems with the capilaries forming in my eyes and the solution I've been using has been drying things out too much. He has made me a temporary pair of lenses (he has his own lab) which I am to wear for a week to 10 days. He will monitor my eyes to see if there is any improvement and then he'll decide what kind to get for the next 6 months. I now know that one eye is -10 and the other -13!!! 

They do not make silicone or dailies in my prescription. And I have been told in no uncertain terms to not consider LASIK until possibly the next round of laser advancements because it would be too much shaving of the cornea.

Bah.

That said, my vision improved slightly which is apparently normal at my age!

Wow, Balmerhon. You make me feel guilty for whinging about my eyes. 

Due to the timing of my last US trip, I was not able to have it done but am starting to think about this next trip. It feels inevitable to me as I am just sick of dealing with my glasses. Maybe you will be a candidate sooner than not? Here's hoping!

Yes balmerhon your eyes I think win the prize.    

I think I better get mine tested just to be safe, as mine are also quite poor and I haven't had it done in a while (I'm thinking 2004).  Thanks for the reminder.

Ya know, it's funny. I always dreaded going to the eye doc because I've actually been terrified that they might not be able to correct my vision one day. So this time I asked: what's the worst it could get? And he told me the worst he'd seen locally was -35, the worst on record that he is aware of -50!!!!!!!!!!

So I actually feel a tad better. Though I'm not really sure that they can correct -50, let alone -35. But I have a ways to go!!