Received: from opus.hpl.hp.com by jr.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA039019424; Mon, 4 Oct 1999 13:37:04 -0700 Return-Path: <pierre@interval.com-DeleteThis> Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA119509423; Mon, 4 Oct 1999 13:37:03 -0700 Received: from fred.interval.com (fred.interval.com [192.203.7.36]) by hplms26.hpl.hp.com (8.9.1a/HPL-PA Relay) with ESMTP id NAA29746 for <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>; Mon, 4 Oct 1999 13:37:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from interval.interval.com (interval.interval.com [199.170.107.10]) by fred.interval.com with ESMTP id NAA21914 for <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>; Mon, 4 Oct 1999 13:32:58 -0700 (PDT) Received: by interval.interval.com id NAA14448; Mon, 4 Oct 1999 13:32:57 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199910042032.NAA14448@interval.interval.com-DeleteThis> X-Sender: pierre@interval.interval.com-DeleteThis X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0.2 Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 13:27:38 -0700 To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis From: "Pierre St. Hilaire" <pierre@interval.com-DeleteThis> Subject: Re: LASIK Surgery? In-Reply-To: <000001bf0de2$45d1a380$a34566d8@northpoint> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Justin
I have had the procedure exactly one year ago (between windsurfing and ski
season) and I have mixed feelings about it. I have now a vision of 20/20
(still a bit of myopia and astigmatism) during the day, but it probably
goes down to 20/40 at night (I could drive without glasses but prefer to
wear them at night). It is great to almost never wear glasses anymore. On
the other hand, my maximum acuity has diminished somewhat - meaning that
even when wearing glasses now I do not get the same acuity I was getting
with my previous prescription before surgery.
The thing you should know about is that LASIK corrects myopia at the
expense of introducing other aberrations in the eye (such as spherical
aberration) which are not correctable by glasses ot contact lenses. Which
means that you will probably not get the visual accuracy after the surgery
(even with glasses) that you had before. This is especially noticeable in
low light conditions when the eye pupil is wide.
The doctors doing the procedure are also rather disinformative when it
comes to the recovery. Even a year after the procedure my eyes feel much
more sensitive to dryness than they were before. The operation performed
on me was done by a very good eye surgeon and did not suffer from
complications. But it felt uncomfortable for a good two months after
surgery (a bit like getting used to contact lenses).
The claims that you can go back to work 48 hours after surgery are
bullshit, at least if you use a computer at work. If you have surgery I
would take at least at least two weeks off to let your eyes heal a bit.
Working on a computer or watching T.V is especially hard.
You should consider getting prescription sunglasses if your main problem is
with sailing, since anyway you should always wear sunglassses for outdoor
activities in the sun (prevents cataracts in the long term). I must say
that for skiing not having to wear glasses under my gogggles is quite
liberating.
I woud either wait until new laser procedures that use more sophisticated
wavefront sensing and correction are available (a few years), or if your
myopia is less than 3 diopters you should consider the reversible procedure
that uses a ring (its trade name is INTACS) that has FDA approval.
Pierre St. Hilaire
Interval Research Corp.
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