Laser Eye Surgery - Pros/Cons for hunters

[skypilot]

Will they let you do an eye at a time pricing for 2800 or less or do they tie you into the $2800 both eye package and then do an eye at a time spaced out on their timing?

[Oddmott]

Will they let you do an eye at a time pricing for 2800 or less or do they tie you into the $2800 both eye package and then do an eye at a time spaced out on their timing?

Lasik kinda forces you to do both at the same time. If you pressed to split it up, they'd let you, but you'd get hit with yet another fee to cover separate lab times and eye drops and and and... you get the picture.

[Bluebulldog]

Had my consult with company #1 today. I was given 4 quotes with varying options... ranging from $2800 for both eyes to $4200 for both eyes.

Considering that i'm an ideal candidate - no astigmatisms, middling-poor prescription, perfect cornea thickness, slightly smaller than average pupils - I'm a little ticked by the prices.

This was with Lasik MD who promotes their "as low as $499 per eye!" rate. Apparently, to get anywhere close to that rate, you would actually have to have perfect vision and not even need glasses. Seriously. I laughed when the consultant told me that... then stared at her like she had 2 heads.

I'm still considering it, but on a purely cost based decision... it doesn't make sense. I get $500 (my plan & my wife's) per year to cover my optometrist appointments and new glasses. I'm only out of pocket $50 at most, every other year.

For those who've had it... did you go with lifetime enhancement plans, or just 5 or 10 yr plans?

Lasik MD Mississauga. 1800 both eyes, plus $400 for lifetime vision care.

If I had to do it again I would without hesitation.

[werner.reiche]

Will they let you do an eye at a time pricing for 2800 or less or do they tie you into the $2800 both eye package and then do an eye at a time spaced out on their timing?

The one eye at a time thing is a safety precaution. The worst fear you have with laser surgery is a an eye infection - and if that occurred you could lose your sight. Two things related to this - a) if you have both eyes done at once and one gets infected, they likely both will. b) if you lost sight in both eyes - that's a lot worse than losing sight in one eye.

[Oddmott]

Lasik MD Mississauga. 1800 both eyes, plus $400 for lifetime vision care.

If I had to do it again I would without hesitation.

Yeah, that's closer to the fees i was expecting, and would have jumped on them in a heartbeat. $2800 for basic, $4200 for lifetime... that's high enough to make me nervous.

I'm 35 now... i'd only get another 10-15 yrs out of it before i needed reading glasses at best, bifocals at worst. Arg... i hate grey-area decisions. lol

[Bluebulldog]

Yeah, that's closer to the fees i was expecting, and would have jumped on them in a heartbeat. $2800 for basic, $4200 for lifetime... that's high enough to make me nervous.

I'm 35 now... i'd only get another 10-15 yrs out of it before i needed reading glasses at best, bifocals at worst. Arg... i hate grey-area decisions. lol

I'm 42. No issues thus far...if i need reading glasses, so be it.

[werner.reiche]

I'd be careful with my expectations about lifetime care.

When I had mine done, they overcorrected to about 20/15.
I went back to my guy a couple of years ago 10+ years after and asked for a "touch up" - even offered to pay because I thought it wasn't as good as it used to be. My eyesight was 20/30 20/25. I was told they won't even consider re-correction unless one eye is 20/40 or worse.

[MarkB]

I have lifetime, and the condition for recorrection is if I need to resort to glasses again.
I wouldn't want to do it again to just polish up my vision. Definitely not worth it at 20/25. There is risk
and time to heal, that just isn't worth it if you don't need to wear glasses.

But given before I had my surgery I couldn't see the clock next to my bedside, I definitely would do
it all over again. You can't compare wearing glasses to not having to worry about things at all.
It's not really about it saving money in the long run, it's about quality of life. I don't think paying $3000 for
2 eyes is unrealistic. Above that, maybe it's starting to get expensive for what you get, but still if you can afford
it, I'd do it.

Also, if you get an infection in one eye, it doesn't mean you will get it in both eyes. They will put you on drops right away
to stop the spread of the infection. The majority of people (I'm sure 99%) do both eyes at once. Yes there is greater risk
doing both, but I think if you can follow the physician's advice for recovery, there's not really any issues. The stories they
told me about infections are like, the guy was a fireman, and went back to work the next day and got ashes in his eyes.

They basically gave me contact lenses to put over my eyes and then made me wear special glasses so nothing could get close to my
eyes for like 1 week. Drops in day and night, etc. They also check you regularly while your healing, so the risk is very, very low if you follow their instructions.

[MarkB]

MarkB,

Why did you opt for PRK over Lasik?

Remember fellas, today's technology on these is often referred to as "tissue saving" over the old techniques.

I didn't have a choice. My cornea was a bit too thin for Lasik, where it was safe to do the PRK. So that's what I went for. The only benefit is that although the healing time is longer with PRK, the end result is better quality, as there is no scar on the edge of the cornea where they put the "flap" back over. With PRK, they shave everything off, and it needs to grow back, so there's no joint in the layer over the cornea.

[MarkB]

Well - I'm going on 81 now - been wearing glasses since I was 35 - yes at times they can be a pain but then there were times when I would have gotten things in my eyes if I wasn't wearing them - they are a form of protection - there is always a risk when you have surgery done so I try to avoid it unless absolutely necessary - when I'm fishing I would normally be wearing sunglasses anyway so having glasses doesn't really add anything - when I hunt I have a scope on the rifle so don't really worry about iron sites - I mentioned this once before - a guy that I worked with has a son who is an eye doctor - from the accidents that the doctor has seen in his office he thinks that everyone should wear glasses to protect their eyes -

That doctor has some good advice. I agree, and people should wear protective glasses - sun glasses, etc. But it's nice if it doesn't need to be prescription glasses to do everything in life.