RE: The state of my vision

I have, in fact, had LASIK (hence my vote for X-Ray Vision). Before surgery, I was somewhere in the -5 diopter range. In the 20/whatever scale, that's roughly 20/4,000,000. Ok, not really, but suffice to say I couldn't see much of anything without my glasses.

After the initial screenings, consent video, etc., I went in for the surgery on June 30, 2000. I was rather nervous (I mean, really, despite the very high success ratio, they're cutting on your eyes and it's just hard to get past that), but once the procedure started it wasn't bad at all. I won't go into detail for the sake of those monks who are squeamish (if you're curious, drop me a /msg and I'll be happy to discuss it), but suffice to say there was only a slight amount of discomfort, and I was seeing one hell of a lot better immediately and even better by the next day.

This past Friday I had my 3 month checkup and I was able to easily read the 20/15 line with either eye. Am I pleased? You bet.

Comment on RE: The state of my vision

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RE: RE: The state of my vision by Petruchio (Vicar) on Oct 17, 2000 at 02:23 UTC
I was all keen to have this done... then I caught a /. reference to this article on the use of adaptive optics to improve vision. They're correcting not only for the curvature of the lens, but for irregularities in the retina, improving vision to about 20/10, with big gains under low-light conditions. They've got a device which does this now... and though they don't mention it, I'm thinking that the same principles could be applied towards laser surgery (though the reshaping would be static, not dynamic with a deformable mirror). Anyway... I'm holding out for super-vision! 8-)	[reply]
RE: RE: RE: The state of my vision by myocom (Deacon) on Oct 17, 2000 at 06:21 UTC
I waited for quite a while, since I was originally interested in RK (or even PRK). When LASIK came along (and after I'd waited a while to make sure they weren't burning holes in people's heads) I decided to take the plunge, figuring that even if something better came along a few years later, that'd be a few more years I would have to wear glasses. Basically, it came down to the typical risk/reward ratio. The risks had come down enough, and the reward was reached often enough that for me, it was the time to do it. Oh, and the fact that I could use pre-tax dollars to pay for it also helped...	[reply]
RE: RE: RE: RE: The state of my vision by Petruchio (Vicar) on Oct 17, 2000 at 15:22 UTC
I know, I know. I never said it was a practical idea. :-) The practical benefits to my life would probably be greatest if I were to get LASIK now. On the other hand, I'm one of those people who, in junior high, would sit around rolling dice for several days to "honestly" get the perfect D&D character. I'm a sucker for quixotic undertakings. Anyway, I've been wearing glasses for 20 years or so, and they don't actually bother me, so it's not hard to hold out. I save money, and get the pleasure of thinking I may be able to amaze people with my wonder-vision one day. I'd love to have a few of Chuck Yeager's eyesight genes spliced into my children too, but that I'm not waiting for. They'll just have to be responsible for having my grandkids properly engineered. :-)	[reply]


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