LASIK

“I had LASIK surgery on both of my eyes just over 2 weeks ago and so far the results have been really good. I used to have to wear glasses due to astigmatism. Just wondering how many of you have done this and how your vision is doing.”

“my wife is think about doing this.....but i told her i think her boobs look just fine the way they are.....”

“Ya...I think so too...”

“LMAO!”

“I'm worried that if my vision gets really good I might not be able to deal with the new perception of reality I'll experience!”

“Depends on what ya look at TD...”

“good point dawg...”

“My friend Andy got a coupon inthe mail one day to one of those places and had it done. He had problems and went back only to find that they had went outta biz. That is the only one that I personally have heard that has had problems. My wife is thining about it. I hope you'll enjoy the world!”

“The guy that did mine has done over 30,000 eyes in his career and was very professional.”

“That's good to hear and a real god thing to point out to everyone: get the guy checked out and make sure it's not a fly by night operation!”

“Hi Packrat! How are you?

I would love to do it. But, I'm skeered of what might go wrong. My vision is something I'm not sure I want to phuck w/.

Glad you hear you had a good experience. The more I hear about good experiences, the more likely I might be to try it out someday.”

“Hi Tara, I'm doin good. My Dad drove me to and from the surgery Oct 16. I had the surgery that afternoon and the next morning I drove myself back to the place for my next day checkup and went to work after the checkup. For about a day it felt like I had sand in my eyes and my vision was sort of like looking thru smoke but felt fine a couple of days later.”

“I'm 3 and a half years out and doing fine. One eye 20/20, nondominant eye 20/40 on purpose to save me from reading glasses.”

“so it's like a submissive eye , then?”

“Your brain retrains to use one eye as dominant for close and the other for dominant for far vision.”

“A guy at work had it done and he's thrilled with it. He used to be nearly legally blind, now he doesn't have to wear glasses at all. His job is to verify and send out our data so he spends all day staring at a computer screen or reading printouts (very small font). Like I said, he's extremely happy with his.

There was a woman in Lexington Kentucky who had to have the surgery 3 or 4 times (trying to correct a botched first time I guess). She was left blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other.

I think I'd really, really check out the quality and reputation of the clinic/surgeon first.”

“Had both my eyes done about 8 years ago. One eye first, and then the other eye one week later. Felt strange because one eye would be perfect (after 2 days) and the other eye is blurry. So I would be wearing my glasses with only one lens on, for driving. After both eyes have been done....it was great. 20/20 vision in both eyes now. Like Packrat said...it felt like a piece of sand was in the eye...for a couple of days (have to wear a contact lens).

I hear now with the technological advances....they can do both eyes at the same time.”

“Thats cool Pak.I have thought about getting it too.


8)”

“I've been tempted... it would be really nice for backpacking... to be able to see well and not mess around with glasses or contacts.”

“i do know one person whose vision is permanently screwed up from it. i don't know the details, but they're understandably bitter about it.

my husband had it done and is very happy to no longer need glasses. his vision was 20/20 at first, but it's now slipped back to 20/25 or 20/30, but i guess that's normal. my mother had one eye done - one of her eyes just refused to focus and made the other do all the work, and somehow they were able to fix that with LASIK. not perfect, but much better than before.”

“I know about 8 peeps who had it done and they are happy they did.
Their eyes shine for a couple of
weeks. It reminds me of a sci fi
movie where these people crash land on a planet that turns eternally dark and the only one who can see is some one who had a
"shine" job in prison.”

“My sister went from 20/400 to 20/20. Naturally, she loves it.

I'm skeert to do it.”

“I am thinking seriously of having this done. Our insurance will pay some towards it and we may get a bonus that would pay for it. I have had to wear glasses/contacts since I was 12-13. My eyes are so bad I can't even see my outstretched hand! I have to be careful getting into/out of the shower or bath. When I hike, exercise my glasses always fog up and I can't see at all. My wife doesn't want me to have the surgery, she is afraid I'll go blind, but I am almost blind now. I know of 2 outstanding lasik surgeons in the Nashville area and they are the only ones I would trust. (Arrowsmith and Dr. Ming Wang) They both use the 3-D process to fine tune the laser to your individual treatment. I will keep you posted if I have the process.”

“Don't know much about the actual Lasik surgery, but my ex-boss had the old RK in the early 1990's. He still gets 'starbursts' and 'halos' under certain light conditions.

Anyway, with glasses I can change my appearance to match the occasion (kind of like changing jewelry, watches, earrings, even your clothing).

I wear glasses full time, and could benefit from Lasik, but I get queasy about things being stuck in my eye (even contact lens). I'll stay with glasses.”

“Skullcap:

There was a woman in Lexington Kentucky who had to have the surgery 3 or 4 times (trying to correct a botched first time I guess). She was left blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other.

Can you verify this some how?

Tarbubble:

"i do know one person whose vision is permanently screwed up from it. i don't know the details, but they're understandably bitter about it.

Can you verify this?

Tarbubble and Skullcap, I don't ask this to challenge your integrity. It's just that there are often urban legends involved. "I heard about a friend who knows someone who has a second cousin that remembers a story..." Also, folks who have a "botched operation" claim it so out of the need to blame some one or anger over the situation or whatever. What I am saying is that it ain't always the doctor or the procedure. I also recognize that it also happens that it is the doctor and it is covered up by the medical institutions. Which can make determing a judgement fairly difficult.

My wife, Skeetah Bait, may be a canidate for Lasik. There are several questions unanswered here. In each of these two "known" instances, do you truly know the person and have heard the account of the individual? How long ago did these events take place? (There have been many great advances in this procedure). Were these folks truly good canidates for the surgery at the time, or were they not and still hoping against hope, then blaming what may one of the greatest things going. If the operation was muffed, with toda's litigious minded population, was there a lawsuit, and if so, how much did the "victums" get for "being blinded" by a negligent doctor. I read all I can about this procedure, and obviously can not get all the info. But what has been glaringly absent from all these "blinded by Lasik" stories is the lack of lawsuits and corraboration of the "botched operations". I gotta tell you that if I had a doctor blind me, I'd sue his a$$ in a skinny minute, and I think that all of America would feel just the same way I do. Think about it, if you were blinded for life, what would you do? I doubt that you would sit in a chair your whole life and say "Lasik did this to me, oh well".

Um... I'm starting to feel I'm attacking you, and I apologize for that. Please don't take it personally. But you have as have many others spoken out against a procedure, and we are hopeful for my wife to have her vision corrected, but these stories scare us, as they should. We would really appreciate corraboration.

I am sincerely asking you for more information in each of these cases. Please try to delete the emotions in these. As Joe Friday would say: "just the facts please".

Also, if anyone else has verifiable info, good or bad, please provide, preferably with a link to the story.

Thanx”

“I had lasik done about 2 years ago. Best thing I could've ever done. I do have problems at night though. The car lights seam to be brighter then usual. That's about it though.

A old neigbor of mine got to done first, she had all kinds of problems like infections etc... Didn't hear from her for a while so I don't know how she is doing now.”

“monkeyboy - try doing a google search for "lasik lawsuit" or "lasik complication".”

“monkeyboy - i know the LASIK complainant from another message board. they have posted, in the first person, that laser eye surgery left their vision damaged. i don't know anything more about it - what their eyes were like before, when the surgery was done, nothing of the sort. i'll go run a search and see if i can come up with their details, but they don't post much and so i'm not sure i can get an answer out of them anytime soon.

i don't doubt that the surgery improves every month, and that the risks are low. but i also don't doubt that it occasionally goes wrong. doctors screw up sometimes. any surgery carries a risk.”

“OK, i ran a search and the only detail i could find was the year, 1999. he says "a lasik doc permanently screwed my vision."”

“I had it in the summer of 1999 and they corrected me to 20/15. I got the "monovision" correction so both eyes were corrected the same for long distances. It worked great and I haven't had any probelms; no more screwing around with contacts or glasses.”

“my boss had it done 2 years ago, and she loves it. no probs or anything. i have terrible vision, but i'm a-skeert, too.

what i should really do is just concentrate really hard on seeing better, and then it'll just happen. one of my friends did that, no lie. LOL! she just decided she was going to have 20/20 vision after wearing glasses for years, and now she does. cool, huh?”

“I want to have it done too but coming up with the money is my biggest hurdle.

This is for monkyboy: an eye surgeon here in Las Vegas just pleaded no contest to possesion of cocaine. He was pulled over for speeding and they found 2 viles in his car. So everyone please do your research before you go under the laser.”

“I was just thinking, if there are a whole bundle of sugery settlements, probably there are clauses in the settlement of silence after payment.....”

“Monkeyboy, I don't know how I would verify it. It was all over the news in that area in 2001 and the beginning of 2002 (I used to live near there). She sued the surgeon and the clinic, that's why it was in the news. It's probably in the Lexington Herald Leader archives somewhere.”

“Skullcap, can you give more info? Anyone can sue anybody for anything at any time. Doesn't mean they will win in court, or that their case even has merit.

Just the facts please....”

“You've got internet access. Look it up.”

“Wow thanks for all the replies everybody. Dr. Robert Selkin in Nashville did mine at the Tennessee Eye Center. It's been only 2 1/2 weeks since my surgery and my vision is getting clearer everyday. Prior to the surgery I could only read the top couple of lines on the eye chart and now I can make out the bottom line with ease with my right and with both eyes and next to the bottom line with my left. I do see the starburst or halo effect a little bit at night but it's improving. It's not so bad that I can't drive safely. I can read fine print text now that was a strain to see a few weeks ago even with my glasses. This is great.”

“BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH"
2scoops
08:26:01 PM
11/02/03”

“Skullcap, I gotta tell you that my opinion of you has gone down a bit, while my opinion of Tarbubble has gone up quite a bit. While both of you have spoken badly about something, Tarbubble has taken the time to review what she has said and ... has clarified things by saying that "he says "a lasik doc permanently screwed my vision." The emphasis being on "he says". Beyond that there is little more that Tarbubble can say, other than this guy "says".

What you have done is to say "There was a woman in Lexington Kentucky who had to have the surgery 3 or 4 times (trying to correct a botched first time I guess). She was left blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other." And yet offer no verification, not really check your facts, come up with a lame "Monkeyboy, I don't know how I would verify it. It was all over the news in that area in 2001 and the beginning of 2002 (I used to live near there). She sued the surgeon and the clinic, that's why it was in the news. It's probably in the Lexington Herald Leader archives somewhere." and another lame "You've got internet access. Look it up."

Basically, what you are doing is tantamount to slander. You speak badly of a surgery that is helping thousands, dare I say millions, and offer no back up information to what you say. Can you at least stand up for what you say? Or are you going to just throw it out there and back off?

I don't wish to appear blind, excuse the pun, to the fact that there are risks in all surgeries and that things get botched and you could go blind and all that. But I am asking for... well, a reality check here. I can not tell if your "story" is reality or not. You won't even back up what you are saying. How real is your story. Yes I am challenging you, to put up or shut up. Stories like yours cause quite a bit of fear in those that can truly benefit from such a procedure. And your story at this point appears baseless. I am currently doing a google search, and I ain't getting nowhere.... The archives are only back 180 days, and there is a charge to view any article. I could look at a ton of articles before getting to the one you seem to quote.

What happens when baseless accounts are perpetrated is that the true accounts of botched operations often get mixed in with them and it gets hard to tell what the actual events are.

Basically, the google searches I have done show some unscrupulous doctors hacking at people's eyes, yet they don't really show the treatment as bad in itself. Basically, when performed by a competent, practiced medical technician, the surgery works nearly all the time, to some dgree or another, generally to a very good degree. I guess that at this point, you need to find a qualified doctor, same as you need a qualified carpenter, maechanic, painter etc....”

“December 14, 2001

A Kentucky jury awarded a woman $1.7 million after determining that a botched laser eye surgical procedure led to blindness in one of her eyes. Tonya Oliver, 38, became legally blind in her left eye after undergoing four laser procedures over a ten-month period. The Fayette County jury ruled that Oliver's eye surgeon, Dr. Thomas Abell, was responsible because he committed an error during a second surgery on Oliver's left eye and then tried to conceal his mistake by performing two subsequent operations.
Oliver's case may be the first of many that will emerge in future months. More than 1.5 million people will undergo laser surgery this year, and analysts report that there will "continue to be problems because of the massive number of such surgeries."

This truly seems to me an indictment of the doctor in this case, not the procedure. "he committed an error during a second surgery ".

Okay Skullcap, I found your article. Thanx for pointing it out to me.

Interesting there are only three articles on Lasik at:
http://www.injuryboard.com/articles.cfm/Topic=449/Type=News

From 2001 and 2002. Perhaps I don't have the latest update here??? If a website such as injuryboard only shows 3 articles, of which only 2 are lawsuits, I gotta wonder about the stories going around....

Still nervous about the whole thing though, only have one pair of eyes....”

“Wow, I guess I was over the top there this morning, my apologies.
I do still feel though that one should back up their stories. Didn't mean to come across so harsh...”

“COMING INTO FOCUS
A look at one failed surgery and how new LASIK technology might fix such mistakes

Carl T. Hall

When Dr. Edward Manche tells the story, he changes the names to protect the privacy of his patient. The only problem is it sometimes starts out sounding as if it might be the setup for a bit of ophthalmological black humor:

Lady goes into a clinic for laser eye surgery. Afterward, the doctor comes over and tells her, "Congratulations, Miss Jones. Everything went fine." She looks at him, puzzled, and not only because she can barely see his face. "That's good," she says, "but I'm Miss Smith."

It's no joke.

"Miss Smith," in this case, turns out to be Gena Steward, a crime lab technician for the Livermore Police Department, who is now being treated by Manche. He hopes he can repair the damage done by another surgeon, who performed someone else's LASIK procedure on Steward's eyes.

She needs her eyes even more than most.

Steward studies fingerprints and analyzes evidence at crime scenes for a living. Although she never wore glasses in high school, by her mid-30s she was finding it difficult to get by without them, unable to make out street signs and license plates unaided. But sometimes the glasses interfered on the job, such as when she had to put on self-contained breathing gear at suspected arson scenes.

On Oct. 17, 2000, Steward went to Horizon Vision Center in San Leandro to have the popular LASIK procedure - "laser-assisted in-situ karatomileusis" - done on both eyes, convinced it would free her of the hassle of glasses or contact lenses. The surgeon was Dr. David B. Davis II. He was a veteran, licensed to practice medicine since 1959, father of someone Steward had known since high school. Some 20 years before, Davis had performed cataract surgery on Steward's grandmother.

Davis was one of a team of surgeons at the San Leandro center, part of a network of seven "state-of-the-art laser vision correction centers" operated by the Horizon chain in the Bay Area and Sacramento. The chain boasts a combined track record of more than 50,000 successful procedures.

Steward's case is not one they boast about.

"Miss Jones" was to have been another patient at the center. She, too, had an appointment with Davis on Oct. 17. Hers was to be his first case of the day. Steward was to be second.

Both women's eyes had already been examined. Early that morning, a technician fed the data for "Miss Jones," who was severely nearsighted, into the computer that guides the laser. Based on these settings, the laser would sculpt her cornea just so, within a few seconds eliminating a lifetime of vision problems.

But "Miss Jones" never showed up that morning.

"Miss Smith" - Gena Steward - wishes she hadn't, either.

read on...”

“I have an appointment tomorrow for a pre surgery evaluation (or whatever they call it). I've been wearing specs since I was 11 and it's exciting to think that I might be getting rid of these things.”

“NICE! So instead of calling you a stupid, moronic, good for nothing, idiotic four eyed sonuvabizitch... I'll have to start calling you a stupid, moronic, good for nothing, idiotic two eyed sonuvabizitch?

Seriously though, good luck with it!”

“Good luck,stupid, moronic, good for nothing, idiotic two eyed sonuvabizitch!”

“whoooohoooo...you're gonna love it! I wish ya luck. Not everyone is able to get the surgery done. I know I was right on the border. My eye sight wasn't bad enough. I guess the risk that they hurt your eye is much higher if your eye sight isn't bad enough... something like this...”

“LMAO!! And another thing, I haven't shaved my head in 2 weeks so you can't call me baldy either.”

“oh, I ment right on the border of getting it done. I did get it done.”

“wooo hooo ..I am considering it!!!...a friend of mine had it done & she says it is the best money she ever spent....I would love to wake in the am & see!!!”

“Your hair will never be as long as mine, Pennsy. Moohahahahah, you stupid, moronic, good for nothing, idiotic two eyed sonuvabizitch!”