Ortho-K / Overnight Vision Correction

[Gardening Grandma]

IOW, just because you are nearsighted, it does not mean that you are a optimal candidate

Agree. Hence my advice to get the opinion of one's own opthamologist. While I am thrilled with the result, DH had it done. It improved his vision, but not to the same degree as mine. Everyone is different (he was nearsighted on one eye and far sighted in the other).

The success rate is dependent upon the patient selection. If you choose your patient population carefully, you get optimal results and high success rates.

So you want a providor who is choosy about who they will do the procedure on.

BTW, it did not hurt, but it sounded wierd. I'd also had a couple of valium.

[Angel!]

Jul 11, 2012 11:11:25 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

BTW, it did not hurt, but it sounded wierd. I'd also had a couple of valium.

I don't remember any sound. I do remember I was freaked out until they gave me valium too. Then I just remember staring at the light they tell you to look at & thinking "don't move, don't move, don't move".

[Gardening Grandma]

Jul 11, 2012 11:18:33 GMT -5 Angel! said:

Jul 11, 2012 11:11:25 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

BTW, it did not hurt, but it sounded wierd. I'd also had a couple of valium.

I don't remember any sound. I do remember I was freaked out until they gave me valium too. Then I just remember staring at the light they tell you to look at & thinking "don't move, don't move, don't move".

They gave me a teddy bear to hold.... It was oddly comforting.

[Angel!]

Jul 11, 2012 14:33:05 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Jul 11, 2012 11:18:33 GMT -5 Angel! said:

I don't remember any sound. I do remember I was freaked out until they gave me valium too. Then I just remember staring at the light they tell you to look at & thinking "don't move, don't move, don't move".

They gave me a teddy bear to hold.... It was oddly comforting.

That is really cute. I didn't get a bear

[Deleted]

Thanks anyway everybody.

The fact that nobody even knows anybody who has done this is interesting.

ETA:
Sorry, debthaven, I know nothing about the process you're describing and don't want to hijack the thread; just wanted to encourage Mid.

Absolutely no problem GG!

[wvugurl26]

Could be something FDA hasn't approved here yet? Thats not uncommon.

[Deleted]

No, WVU, it exists there, I checked. I guess it's not very widespread though.

[wvugurl26]

I guess Lasik is the more popular thing? We want everything and we want it now, we don't do delayed gratification.

[Deleted]

Lasik is far more popular here too WVU!

I wish I had done it when I was just near-sighted, but now that I'm near-sighted and far-sighted and astigmatic, I'm no longer a good fit for it.

Apparently this is used for people like me (middle aged, both near- and far-sighted), and for teens / young adults who are considered too young for Lasik. Here they discourage young people from doing Lasik before they turn 25.

[Deleted]

And in any case, thanks for all the Lasik talk. It reminded me that DS1 was desperate to do it before he started working abroad, but he was too young. Now that he's 25, he could do it. So I emailed him to suggest thinking about it for the next time he's home.

[wvugurl26]

My college boyfriend wanted Lasik after we graduated. His mom and stepdad wanted him to wait. They were both physicians who had it done. 25 might have been the age they wanted, I know they thought 22 was too young. I understand the logic behind it as my prescription has changed a little since then and is mostly leveled out now.

[Deleted]

Yes that's exactly it. They say that even though your eyes might get only slightly worse till 24-25, it pretty much stops changing at that age.

Until you hit middle age, of course!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

WVU.....I was doing some reading up on why LASIK is not a great idea or those of us with strong prescriptions and the reasoning was that thy would have to shave off too much of the cornea in order to get corrected. By shaving off that much cornea, it leaves very little for adjustment.

The other procedure that is available is called phakic intraocular lens mplants. It has been available in Europe for about the last 10 years. The FDA just approved it a couple of years ago in the US. Sounds like it runs from $1500-2500/eye.

[wvugurl26]

That makes sense mich. I had always wondered if people with prescriptions as bad as mine were candidates. The up in the morning and middle of the night thing is sort of annoying but since I switched to daily disposables I'm pretty happy for now with my contacts.

I called my brother, I'm going to have to do some checking. He couldn't remember the exact name. Of course I woke him up and tonight will be his fourth 16 hour shift in as many days. Might have something to do with his memory!

[lurkyloo]

This is a fascinating thread

I was going to brag about my -8.5/-9.5 contacts prescription, but I see I'm not even close! I'm too chicken myself to go for lasik (you want to do what to my who now?) but the hard lens reshaping thing actually sounds pretty interesting.

[wvugurl26]

Ok found the name, The TLC Laser Eye Centers.

They offer conventional, custom and bladeless lasik. Apparently bladeless is an option if you have high prescription/thin corneas.

Boo I just found something else that makes me likely ineligible even for bladeless. It says if you have severe allergies and take medicines for them, lasik is more risky. Going to have to investigate that further.

I wonder if it has to do with allergies being an immune system function. I have seen on multiple sites that you can't have it if you have certain diseases that weaken the immune system.

Obviously I wouldn't do it with a 40% failure rate, just researching options.

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2012 10:48:07 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

MJ I know you don't like hassling with contacts but my decline in vision has pretty much stopped since I went to contacts. I can also see much better with contacts than glasses with the same prescription.

with this new house nickeling and diming us to death, I can't justify spending $350+ for new glasses and an additional $400+/year on contacts. I would much rather get a dishwasher installed with that money.


I think I will get contacts in another year or so, but they need to be the monthly kind you can sleep in. The optometrist said she recommends that you sleep without them at least once a week to give your eyes a break and to prevent a ton of build up. That sounds reasonable to me. The main reason I went back to glasses is that I was too lazy to put them in each day.

[zibazinski]

DD was maybe 20 when we had PRK for her. The key is finding a very good and reputable doctor. I wanted mine redone because they weren't PERFECT anymore. Doctor said NO. I could have doctor shopped but trusted his opinion.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Obviously I wouldn't do it with a 40% failure rate, just researching options.

When this mess is over about my hip, I think I am going to look at the lens implant. The technology has been around far longer than that for LASIK, as it is the same procedure that they use for cataract removal. The cost isn't much more either.

My only concern is tht right now, I'm using monocular vision....that's where one of my eyes is prescribed for distance and the other eye for close up work since I am now getting age related farsightedness. But there are limitations to this. I wonder if I just get both eyes corrected for my severe nearsightedness, I'd just use readers to deal with the rest.

[Deleted]

Rukh, I never scheduled and cancelled Lasik, but I never did it because I was terrified at the idea of not being able to drive at night. In retrospect I wish I had done it while I was still firmly in the "nearsighted" stage.

I went to the mall today to order new glasses. I asked them about this procedure, and they said, "oh, that's that new thing everybody's getting!" I didn't press them on it (I was in a rush).

So for now I've ordered new glasses, and new contacts. (I only wear contacts in the summer so I can count the children in the water LOL.) We're going to the US this summer so hopefully I'll hear more about this.

The other issue is that it initially requires a time commitment to go back and forth from the ophthalmologist's office to get tested, first FOR the lenses, and then (repeatedly) WITH the lenses.

So although I'm still definitely interested in doing it, I just got my schedule for two of my "extra" jobs, and I will probably have to put it off to December rather than September or Oct as I had hoped. Plus DH is having another operation on his hand in Sept, so this is definitely secondary to that.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jul 13, 2012 17:43:12 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

Rukh, I never scheduled and cancelled Lasik, but I never did it because I was terrified at the idea of not being able to drive at night. In retrospect I wish I had done it while I was still firmly in the "nearsighted" stage.

I went to the mall today to order new glasses. I asked them about this procedure, and they said, "oh, that's that new thing everybody's getting!" I didn't press them on it (I was in a rush).

So for now I've ordered new glasses, and new contacts. (I only wear contacts in the summer so I can count the children in the water LOL.) We're going to the US this summer so hopefully I'll hear more about this.

The other issue is that it initially requires a time commitment to go back and forth from the ophthalmologist's office to get tested, first FOR the lenses, and then (repeatedly) WITH the lenses.

So although I'm still definitely interested in doing it, I just got my schedule for two of my "extra" jobs, and I will probably have to put it off to December rather than September or Oct as I had hoped. Plus DH is having another operation on his hand in Sept, so this is definitely secondary to that.

What do you do while you are in the process of correction about being able to see? From what I have read, it's not an all or nothing response, so you start wearing the lenses and it takes you from a -7 to a -5. Then your vision adjusts to a -3. Do you have to buy glasses or contacts while you're at all these intermediary steps?

[Deleted]

I asked that question, Mich. The doc said if you don't work weekends, you start on Fri night, and that after 3 nights, although your vision is not yet perfect, it's corrected enough to see "well enough" to read / work / drive by Monday morning. So no extra glasses or contacts, he says.

However, I assume you wouldn't see that well during those first couple of days.

ETA: I'm -5 in one eye and -3.5 in the other, so it would probably be easier for me to "manage" those first couple of days than somebody with a stronger prescription. Of course it also would depend on what your job is ...

[Deleted]

Keep in mind that no matter what you do, your eyes are still changing throughout life. And, most people will need bifocals as they age because the lens of your eye does not accomodate as well with age. So, even if you get Lasix or cataract surgery, you will still need reading glasses down the road. Or, you can opt for Monovision and have one
eye corrected for distance and one for reading.

[Deleted]

I am a -8.25. My sis had an experimental corneal transplant years ago and she was -12.0. They transplanted a donor cornea over her corneas which supposedly helped to reshape the eye and correct her nearsightedness. It did neither and she went through a lot of expense and effort and had an initial minimal improvement but then back to her original state but she could no longer wear contact lenses. That was in the 80"s and refractive surgery has come a long way since then.