Custom Lasik

[1stTimeCaller]

I was talking to my new eyecare provider yesterday and I axed him about lasik. He said Custom Lasik was $1950.00 per eye and regular Lasik was I think $1400/per.

That seemed high to me. My brother just had PRK done to his eyes and he thought those numbers were high too.

Anyone on here have any thoughts on the subject?

[Mjcpr]

Don't you have 3 eyes?

[Osce0la]

I thought it was $1400 total ($700 per eye)

[Mongo]

they wont do the brown eye if that is what you are asking

[Mjcpr]

Have you already asked?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

i ve heard in the 700 to 800 per eye range and at the same time I ve heard the prices you were given..kind of a wide range

[Hamhock]

i started a thread on the subject, but am too lazy to look it up.

p.s. Dean called me a dumbass for paying as much as I did and I'm still waiting on him to be banned for the obvious personal attack.

[Mongo]

Have you already asked?

I am stuck wearing a monocle for the rest of my life

[BigRedJed]

I had it done two years ago, and paid about $1400 per eye. But I had an astigmatism that made every optometrist I've ever been to gasp in astonishment. For reference, a -3.0 cylinder is considered a really bad astigmatism, and I had a -6.0 in one eye, and a -5.75 in the other.

Due to the amount of corneal tissue that needed to be removed to correct that, combined with my pupil size that is larger than average, I would have almost assuredly gotten a bad "halo" problem with conventional lasik. The halo is caused by the correction area ending and transitioning back to uncorrected area INSIDE the area to which your pupil dialates. That's why it generally happens at night, when your pupils are at their maximum dialation.

Quite a few standard lasik docs/machines now have more sophisticated software, which creates a smoother "blend zone," so the problem happens less often these days. But I think "custom lasik" also adresses this to some point.

The procedure I had done is actually the next generation of laser correction, using Bausch & Lomb's Zyoptix (http://www.bausch.com/en_US/consumer/surgical/zyoptix_system.aspx) system. At the time (2005), only two places in the state had the system. One of them was the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute at OU Medical Center, and the other was my doc, Dr. Weir (http://weirlaserassociates.com/).

The difference between standard lasik (what 99% of people get) and Zyoptix is that regular lasik works with, typically, a 6mm lazer that zaps a circle, then stops, then moves immediately next to that circle and zaps an adjacent circle, and so on. It basically creates a grid of zapped, flat, 6mm circles. Of course that is done EXTREMELY rapidly, with many zaps per second. That's fine for most people who don't require a huge amount of correction, but for me it would have caused a "shoulder," or ridge where my corrected area transitioned to uncorrected. The Zyoptix laser uses instead a 2mm lazer which doesn't stay in the same place ever, but instead dances all over the subject area and creates a much, much smoother blend area.

The FDA approves the Zyoptix (and other lasers) to make claims of correction of up to -3.0 cylinder for astigmatism, but Dr. Weir plugged my numbers into the machine after mapping my eyes, and felt confident enough in doing the procedure after the machine didn't reject them. I believe that I had the worst astigmatism of anyone he had ever worked on, including thousands from when he practiced with TLC.

To put it all into perspective, the typical procedure (the zapping part) lasts 10-15 seconds per eye for most people. I was zapped for 90 seconds EACH EYE.

I was extremely happy with Dr. Weir and with the Zyoptix procedure. I understand trying to save money, but the one place where I felt price shouldn't be an object is with my vision. That said, if you need minimal correction, you could probably much more safely shop for price.

[HskrGrl]

Are you done having kids? Cause my eye doctor told me to hold off on lasik until I was sure I was never going to be pregnant again. Just something to think about. :D

[OU Adonis]

Can you get lasik done if you are a type 2 diabetic?

[BigRedJed]

Are you done having kids? Cause my eye doctor told me to hold off on lasik until I was sure I was never going to be pregnant again. Just something to think about. :D
Good point. 1TC, are you planning on getting pregnant any time soon?

[frankensooner]

YOu never know, it could be one of those peanut butter puppies.

[Sooner Born Sooner Bred]

Dr. Belardo at Advanced Laser did mine. He charged around $800 but I only needed it in my right eye. I used to be like Quasimodo. My vision was almost perfect in my left eye (+40) but in this right eye my prescription was +550.

I also have an astigmatism but it wasnt as bad as Jed's evidently.

[1stTimeCaller]

I had it done two years ago, and paid about $1400 per eye. But I had an astigmatism that made every optometrist I've ever been to gasp in astonishment. For reference, a -3.0 cylinder is considered a really bad astigmatism, and I had a -6.0 in one eye, and a -5.75 in the other.

Due to the amount of corneal tissue that needed to be removed to correct that, combined with my pupil size that is larger than average, I would have almost assuredly gotten a bad "halo" problem with conventional lasik. The halo is caused by the correction area ending and transitioning back to uncorrected area INSIDE the area to which your pupil dialates. That's why it generally happens at night, when your pupils are at their maximum dialation.

Quite a few standard lasik docs/machines now have more sophisticated software, which creates a smoother "blend zone," so the problem happens less often these days. But I think "custom lasik" also adresses this to some point.

The procedure I had done is actually the next generation of laser correction, using Bausch & Lomb's Zyoptix (http://www.bausch.com/en_US/consumer/surgical/zyoptix_system.aspx) system. At the time (2005), only two places in the state had the system. One of them was the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute at OU Medical Center, and the other was my doc, Dr. Weir (http://weirlaserassociates.com/).

The difference between standard lasik (what 99% of people get) and Zyoptix is that regular lasik works with, typically, a 6mm lazer that zaps a circle, then stops, then moves immediately next to that circle and zaps an adjacent circle, and so on. It basically creates a grid of zapped, flat, 6mm circles. Of course that is done EXTREMELY rapidly, with many zaps per second. That's fine for most people who don't require a huge amount of correction, but for me it would have caused a "shoulder," or ridge where my corrected area transitioned to uncorrected. The Zyoptix laser uses instead a 2mm lazer which doesn't stay in the same place ever, but instead dances all over the subject area and creates a much, much smoother blend area.

The FDA approves the Zyoptix (and other lasers) to make claims of correction of up to -3.0 cylinder for astigmatism, but Dr. Weir plugged my numbers into the machine after mapping my eyes, and felt confident enough in doing the procedure after the machine didn't reject them. I believe that I had the worst astigmatism of anyone he had ever worked on, including thousands from when he practiced with TLC.

To put it all into perspective, the typical procedure (the zapping part) lasts 10-15 seconds per eye for most people. I was zapped for 90 seconds EACH EYE.

I was extremely happy with Dr. Weir and with the Zyoptix procedure. I understand trying to save money, but the one place where I felt price shouldn't be an object is with my vision. That said, if you need minimal correction, you could probably much more safely shop for price.

so, you're saying that $1950 is high?

[BigRedJed]

Uh, yeah. I missed the $1950 part. I only saw $1400. I'd look a little further. Call Weir. I can't recommend him enough.

[BigRedJed]

He actually performed the procedure on my optometrist, who is prolly the best optometrist I've ever been to, and I've been wearing glasses since second grade. The fact that my own eye doc trusted his sight to Weir was a pretty good recommendation in my book.

[1stTimeCaller]

cool thanks.

When are we going to have another date at MM's?

[JohnnyMack]

I am stuck wearing a monocle for the rest of my life

Be careful when you sit down.

[JohnnyMack]

Why don't you let me do it. I have an exacto and some Ezra Brooks.

[1stTimeCaller]

how much do you charge?

[JohnnyMack]

Lemme do the first eye, if it goes well we'll get down to brass tacks.

[Frozen Sooner]

So I was thinking about Lasik and I was talking to my doctor about it. He advised not to do it.

Apparently, what's happening with a lot of Lasik patients is that #1 they're having problems focusing at night and #2 their vision starts to deteriorate again over time. The big problem with #2 is that once they've done the surgery, you can no longer wear contacts. So you're worse off than you were before the surgery.

He claims that they've got something in the works now which will work better-they're going to start implanting corrective lenses directly into the cornea. They're just working on a way to attach the lenses without scarring and it's good to go.

[BigRedJed]

cool thanks.

When are we going to have another date at MM's?
Hit me up whenever you're planning on going there. I'm a hop, skip and jump away.

[BigRedJed]

...the big problem with #2 is that once they've done the surgery, you can no longer wear contacts. So you're worse off than you were before the surgery...
That's dead wrong. I wear contacts today. I was never able to wear them BEFORE my surgery, because my astigmatism was so bad that it would have required me to wear hard contacts.

When I went in for the lazer correction, my doc was really up front with me that he was expecting to get me to around 20/40, but hopeful that it would be better. Why was he not expecting to get me to 20/20, most of you are asking yourselves? Because my correction was so unbelievably huge. One or two percent of patients require an "enhancement," or second surgery, to get to 20/20 or better. He was very clear in that I could expect to need an enhancement based on how blind I was.

But since I could see 20/15 with glasses, I was really concerned about not returning to that. Of course, needing glasses after the surgery would have made it virtually pointless. He assured me that I could wear normal-people soft contacts should I need correction after the surgery. The point of the surgery, for me, was to get away from glasses and at the very worst be able to wear soft contacts.

After the surgery, I finally settled in around 20/30. Soft contacts with very little correction get me to better than 20/20. I wear Accuvue Oasys 30 day lenses and barely notice them.

According to the agreement with my doc, any enhancement I might need is free of charge. I plan on going back in soon and trying to get to 20/20 or better, assuming I have enough corneal tissue left for an enhancement (remember the part about burning my cornea for 90 seconds each eye? I don't have as much tissue left as most people).

I'm holding off on the enhancement right now, though, based on advice from both of my docs. The reason is that I'm just now 40, and am right at the point where most people start needing reading glasses. There is an undercorrection technique that they do for your non-dominant eye that intentionally leaves you slightly nearsighted in that eye (your brain compensates for the inequality), and delays your need for reading glasses. I'm waiting a while to see if a need for reading glasses becomes pronounced before having the enhancement.

For now, just the ability to not have to wear glasses and to be able to wear non-prescription sunglasses makes me more than happy.

[Frozen Sooner]

Fair enough, BRJ, I'm willing to posit that I misheard my doc. He did recommend VERY strongly against getting the Lasik surgery, and that was the reasoning he had told me. Perhaps there were a percentage of people who weren't able to wear contacts anymore.

Any errors in my post are attributable to me, not Dr. Dobson. Guy's been my doctor for 20-odd years, so he's got some chops.

[1stTimeCaller]

I'm holding off on the enhancement right now, though, based on advice from both of my docs. The reason is that I'm just now 40, and am right at the point where most people start needing reading glasses. There is an undercorrection technique that they do for your non-dominant eye that intentionally leaves you slightly nearsighted in that eye (your brain compensates for the inequality), and delays your need for reading glasses. I'm waiting a while to see if a need for reading glasses becomes pronounced before having the enhancement.

my mom had only one eye done because she didn't want to have to wear reading glasses when she was older. She was 50ish when she had it done.

[BigRedJed]

Yeah. Kinda like me. Older. :mad:

[1stTimeCaller]

and hotter

[BigRedJed]

I don't doubt it, but I'm disturbed that you noticed the relative hotness of either of us.

:eek:

[1stTimeCaller]

I be watching, I see things...

[BigRedJed]

Eww.

[BigRedJed]

I feel dirty.

[1stTimeCaller]

you should.


Just because you are not as hot as my mom does not mean that I don't wanna get freaky wit cha. [pm me srsly, Mjcpr/]

[BigRedJed]

I NEED AN ADULT!!

[BigRedJed]

I NEED TEN ADULTS!!

[BigRedJed]

I NEED A COP!!

[1stTimeCaller]

:onion of sandess:

[BigRedJed]

:onion of sandess:
There's sand in your onion, all right.

:eddie:

[1stTimeCaller]

sandness > sadness

it's a rule or something

[BigRedJed]

Say your prayers little one
Dont forget, my son
To include everyone

Tuck you in, warm within
Keep you free from sin
Till the sadman he comes

[BigRedJed]

Nope. That pretty much sucks.

[1stTimeCaller]

should we just be PMing each other at this point?

I wanna hump your leg,what?

[BigRedJed]

Let's keep it in the thread. I prefer really, really long foreplay. Like, YEARS long.

[Mjcpr]

Let's keep it in the thread. I prefer really, really long

Man are you barking up the wrong tree.

[BigRedJed]

You would know.

[1stTimeCaller]

I'm done.




whew, I need a smoke

[BigRedJed]

Dangit. I just turned into OU4LIFE.