Anyone know the specifics of the cases involved? - were the candidates less than ‘ideal’ or not?
One can assume that the tech has not changed sufficiently for the cases to be considered the result of outdated equipment, or the surgeon would have been able to bare, even expect these results. OTH, tech has come on some, has it not? Is it then some other aspect of the surgery which is problematic? - i.e. the cutting of the lens (which causes most of the side effects)?
Interesting article.
I look for ramifications on this to show-up in other parts of the world.
In particular Southern California. It is HUGE business there.
Hence, one of the reasons I never went for laser surgery was a “what-if” scenario just like the article mentions. When the surgery became popular in Taiwan about 10 years ago, there was absolutely no way of 100% or even 75% knowing what would happen to your eyes 10 years or 20 years down the road. Why dance with the devil over one of THE major organs of your body. I’ve done fine with contacts and glasses all these years.
A friend of mine had laser surgery about 10 years ago and just lately had to go back to wearing glasses, admitting that vision had gotten bad and is now a bit worrisome (think has to now wear bifocals). My friend’s in that age group mentioned in the article.
yeah they told me (i had it done 6 months ago) that it might not last forever (or only about 10 years). I was happy with that. I just hope it’s nothing more serious than having to wear glasses again. That I could deal with. WORSE vision would be… terrible.
I have been a little pissed with my post-op experience, I must say. The dry eye thing is a pain in d’arse.
I’ve been extremely happy with my Lasik. I had it done exactly 10 years ago, and my eyes are still going strong. I certainly expect that as I get older my vision might get worse, but doesn’t that often happen regardless? And even if my vision does regress a bit, the past ten years of glasses and contact free living has been well worth it. But I used to have really terrible vision (couldn’t see the top line on the eye chart), so the change is enormous, and I have very active tear ducts, so I’ve never had the dry eye problem.
Anyway, before I’d start worrying, I’d like to see a proper study rather than some anecdotes related by a single doctor. How many people have vision changes around that age range who haven’t had lasik? How many people have had lasik have these sorts of problems? How do they even know that it is lasik causing these problems 10 years on? Some statistics are in order.
There are also risks that come with wearing contacts (I once ended up with a scratched cornea after napping with my contacts in), as well as relatively frequent discomfort. Glasses may be safer, but if you truly can’t see without them, then things like playing sports becomes a problem.
Nearly everyone I know who has had LASIK is happy with it. Nearly isn’t good enough for me. I do a lot of trail running at night, and there is no way I would run the risk of not being able to do that in the future. My specs actually keep the wind out of my eyes on ridges and peaks, anyway.
Well, I for one have considered it one of the best things I’ve ever done. Living contacts/glasses free for the last seven years has been truly amazing. The dry eye thing was annoying for the first year, but it went away. And it was nothing compared to the frustration of contacts.
If it begins to wear off, I will be grateful for the time I enjoyed perfect vision. If it gets worse… back to glasses I’ll go.
But this guy was a pioneer doing it in the early days. When I was going through consultation in the states, they gave me a detailed explanation of the advances made in the equipment and technique. I was comforted by it, however, thinking of what the early days must have been like, was indeed frightening.