HEALTH AND WELL BEING: What is LASIK? - Miracle Eye Surgery gave me 20/20 Vision!

I got an email from Laser Surgery of Silicon Valley today

I remembered the reason I can see the screen without glasses tonight, is because I got my eyes fixed about 15 years ago with LASIK.

Nearsightedness, or myopia, as it is medically termed, is a vision condition in which people can see close objects clearly, but objects farther away appear blurred. People with myopia can have difficulty clearly seeing a movie or TV screen or the whiteboard in school.

Myopia occurs if the eyeball is too long or the cornea (the clear front cover of the eye) is too curved. As a result, the light entering the eye isn't focused correctly, and distant objects look blurred.

Myopia affects nearly 30 percent of the U.S. population.

While the exact cause of myopia is unknown, there is significant evidence that many people inherit myopia, or at least the tendency to develop myopia. If one or both parents are nearsighted, there is an increased chance their children will be nearsighted.

Even though the tendency to develop myopia may be inherited, its actual development may be affected by how a person uses his or her eyes. Individuals who spend considerable time reading, working at a computer, or doing other intense close visual work may be more likely to develop myopia.

There was a relatively new laser surgeon in town and he performed LASIK with a very expensive and new laser machine available to burn off a small amount of the eye and make it perfectly round as it needs to be for correct focus and vision.

Previous surgery of the eye was prone to side effects and bad night vision and I was very afraid to try them.

Being an active man and liking to swim, surf and scuba dive, I really wanted to "loose the glasses" or contacts I usually wore, even when 80 feet down under water! Losing my mask at that depth and not being able to see, could be fatal if I lost my contacts underwater.

THUS, I was motivated to research this, and the history of eye surgery and I finally decided to try it, after my mother had the procedure performed, and was very happy with the results. I decided, since my mother had proven it to me, I should "man up" and go for it myself!

I was nearly blind without my glasses (thanks mom!) and having inherited that gene, I was ready to correct it, and it was really hard to put a price on it... To see again as I had as a young child without glasses was such a prize!

I usually wore soft contact lenses and they dried out my eyes so badly; I was sick and tired of wearing them. I wrote a fairly hefty check to the Dr. and proceeded to submit to the chair, he leaned me back flat, and used some type of thing to hold my eye open so I could not close it.

I wanted to point out that most people are very happy with the results, with 3% saying they wish they had not had the procedure.

And my results?! ;-)

I was very happy with my right eye, and it was just perfect. 20/20 vision, maybe 20/15, it was very sharp. My Left eye however was only 20/40, so I went back for a second time (it was free as part of the guarentee) and had the left eye sculpted a second time. I was very happy with the results!

It was actually very hard to keep completely still as they point this machine at you, and I did flinch a little, right at the wrong time, the Dr. actually yelled at me not to blink!

But I was still from that moment and it was completely successful.
15 years later, I still drive without glasses but probably need glasses at night. Working on computers and reading my entire life has taken it's toll...

The good NEWS!?

After 15 years, there are many new features of eye surgery available today, and it should come down in price for the equipment as it becomes more mainstream and commonly used.

Finally,
I have much more to say about vision and for those that need glasses, contacts or would like to know more about LASIK, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

In your service,

• Surfyogi