Bad practice to speak ill of the dead, I know, but up top, about halfway down, is my former employer.
To be fair, written evaluation at seminars was given especially to those whose age at the time of surgery meant they’d most likely need reading glasses soon, & one in particular was upset when she needed them.
No suicides, but included in the article are possibly poor candidates having surgery & discomforts like halos & starburst.
Halos and starbursts at night are a common side effect of LASIK. They were really bad for me at first but got better as time went on. Still have them a a little. I can say that my night time vision post LASIK is not as good as my corrected vision was before LASIK. But my post night vision is far better than it was before while uncorrected. But being able to see 20 / 20 in the daylight was more than worth the trade off.
I had very dry eyes for a while after surgery and was constantly using lubricating drops. Can’t recall how long I had to do that but it was probably only a few months.
As I keep saying, I have zero regrets though. I went from being near helpless until I found my glasses in the morning to 20/20 vision. As I said, now 16 years later I’ve regressed to about 20 / 25 but thats still sooooo much better than I saw before. I still spend 90% of my day without wearing any correction.
Instead of focusing on the few exceptions people should focus on the vast majority of us who had the surgery and had it be life changing and one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
I know a few who have been perfectly content with their results, and, as I’ve said, if that’s what someone wants
Ask what it is expected. What minimum standards do I want & won’t settle for anything less?
Be diligent looking for a surgeon, focusing on corneal specialists who don’t advertise & treat other problems, so they’re not in a mill type environment. Ask how many patients he or she rejects & would it be possible to talk with both satisfied & dissatisfied patients.
Perhaps, since the O P brought up LAKIK related suicides, at least a few of these men & women were poor candidates. Or didn’t do full research before undergoing it. Even opthalmologists who acknowledge the majority of their patients are content with their results are concerned about the roughly 1/5 who are not.
I’m glad you’re not regretting yours, and really do understand at least wanting to find out more when I’ve got both eyes just about on a table where the frames have blended in.
In one sense it has. Isn’t coverage for refractive surgery rare on health insurance policies?
I remember in the early ‘90’s when Radial Keratotomy (RK) was for nearsightedness & astigmatism.
It was either one or two insurers who covered it. Employees if a school board in one county only in that part of Florida were covered, which leaves financing through the practice & saving in an a Health Savings Account (HSA).
And compare that to the reward. Some medicine commercials are just comical. There’s one for an allergy medicine that sounds great. Your liver failed, your heart stopped, your rectum is bleeding, your vision is blurry and your speech is slurred but hey, at least your nose isn’t running.
Would you ever take this drug if just heard the horror stories from a very small sample of people with side effects like: loss of vision, shortness of breath, rapid weight gain, skin rashes, stomach bleeding, liver damage, kidney damage, anemia, naseua, vomiting, bloating, constipation, ringing in ears, and headaches.
Those are the listed possible side effects of Ibuprofen, something everyone here probably takes fairly regularly.
