This is topic Laser surgery; effects on moviegoing in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 07-22-2007, 08:37 PM:
 
Hi Folks:

Has anyone here on the forum has laser surgery on your eyes? If so, how has it effected your viewing of movies. Are there any truths to the rumors that people who have the surgey sometimes have glare problems from the illumination of the screen?

Thanks,

Mike
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-22-2007, 09:11 PM:
 
..people that had cataract surgery will definitely notice the difference in light ouput...might have to wear shades.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 07-22-2007, 09:16 PM:
 
Sometimes, not always, there are flare problems caused by scar tissue forming on the corneas. There's almost always some flare immediately after the procedure, but these go away as the corneas heal. But sometimes the flares persist, or return, sometimes years later. I suppose it depends on how clean the cuts are. With laser cutting, as opposed to cuts made with a blade, the cuts should be pretty clean. As always YMMV.
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-22-2007, 10:22 PM:
 
I have moderate myopia (nearsighted) and presbyopia. I'm an ideal candidate for some kind of laser procedure but it will leave me needing corrective lenses for reading, computer work, etc. which is unacceptable. So I'm seriously considering having intraocular multifocal lens implants. Man it's expensive though. One side benefit of the implants is you won't ever get cataracts.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-22-2007, 10:26 PM:
 
How old are you? I ask this because when I checked it out the odds were not very good that I would suffer from various night vision issues, issues being halos around bright lights surrounded by dark, lack of contrast and so forth.

After I hammered the doctor pretty good about it I also got him to admit that people who have lasik surgery will still need reading glasses and such by the time they hit 40, that this is a temporary solution.

Investigate it carefully!
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-22-2007, 11:47 PM:
 
I had this chat with my optodoc just a couple of weeks ago. For people like us, Brad's concern is an obvious one. I also fly at night, which the same issues would effect.

Lasic will treat your near/farsighted conditions. As Paul indicates, laser cutting makes it less likely you'll have problems, but that's not guaranteed.

Lasik won't do anything at all about presbyopia, the "post-40" tendency to have near-focusing problems. You'll have great far-vision, but you'll need simple magnifying 'readers' as you grow older.

My wife and oldest daughter had terrible vision. They both had lasic & have been generally satisfied. Cindy (my wife) never had great depth perception, and avoided night driving. She still does. The procedure seems to have worked better for Cheryl. Some 5 or 6 years later, both are considering "touch-up" procedures.

Based on that, I've stayed with contacts and progressive specs. Even though my case is a relatively mild one, I'm still dealing with paranoias about a hack doctor screwing up my eyesight permanently, and that means bye-bye to being able to focus a screen from 250 feet away, not to mention putting a serious dent in flying.

In any case, I'd still need readers, having crossed over to "that" age group!
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 07-23-2007, 01:20 AM:
 
As an alternative to surgery, I suggest looking into vision therapy. It has worked great for me.

I've always had pretty good vision - 20/20 near and 20/15 distant accuity when I was younger. In my mid-twenties I noticed a difference developing between my eyes - the left one beginning to go soft at distance compared to the right one. Enough so that when flying and looking down at a runway, the right eye could see the centerline paint stripe, the left one could not. Turned out the left one had slowly slipped to about 20/25 distant while the right one was hanging in there at 20/15.

Surgery was out of the question at the time (early 1980's) since neither the FAA nor the airlines were down with that, and I was an active professional pilot at the time. An article in ALPA Pilot magazine put me on to vision therapy. In 1985 I began doing the therapy regimin after my FAA medical examiner told me he wouldn't be able to sign off on my vision to first- or second-class standards anymore unless I started wearing glasses. Pilot hiring has always been extremely competitive - wearing glasses would not have been disqualifying, but it would be a mark against me compared with other younger candidates.

By then I was living in SoCal and was able to find a local behavioral vision therapist to work with. The therapy consists of office visits for evaluation and the beginning of eye exercises and feedback - at first these visits were weekly, then dropped off to once every six months. In addition to the office visits there's lots of different home exercises, plus wearing training lenses when doing these exercices or when doing extended periods of close work like studying.

The results were pretty good. When my next six-month FAA medical exam came up I was able to breeze through the eye exams without any struggling. My doc wanted to know what I had done and I told him about the vision therapy. I continued to do the therapy thing, mostly at home, right up until I stopped flying altogether in 1995. I was 40 at that point and still had 20/20 near and 20/15 distant accuity without glasses.

I'm 52 now and still wear the training lenses for reading and close work. The only difference now is that I sometimes need the lenses for close work, whereas before I could do without. Other than that, I still don't need or use glasses.

The vision therapy approach worked for me. It's a lot cheaper and a lot less risky than any surgical procedure, even the non-invasive ones. Here's a link to read up on vision therapy and finding a local behavioral vision therapist:

The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD)
 

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Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 07-23-2007, 03:05 AM:
 
I have had LASIK, and how has it changed my life!!!!! I wore glasses since the 1'st grade, as I had severe Myopia and Astigmatism. My eyes were to the point where glass lenses were literally Coke bottle bottoms, and I could not keep frames with glass lenses on my face without a Geek Strap!

I currently do not need glasses to function, but do have a very slight Rx that sharpens up my vision.

I was also able to have one of the BEST physicians perform my LASIK, a person whom my family has known for many, many years...Jeffrey Katz, M.D., F.A.C.S. of the Eye Institute of Southern Arizona http://eyeinstituteofaz.com/Meet_Doctors.php

As with any surgery, complications can arise. The WIKIPEDIA article on LASIK is pretty good. Luckily, except for dry eyes, I have had no complications and my "flaps" healed perfectly. Dry eyes are cared for by using over-the-counter eye drops.

As I said, as with any surgery, complications can arise. There have been some well publicized cases where airline pilots careers have been ruined due to complications....such as halos or starbursts around light sources at night.

It has been more than half a decade since my LASIK, and the slight Rx that I require has stayed constant.

Regards

Kutler
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-23-2007, 11:59 AM:
 
I've worn gas-permeable contacts for about 20 years, regular hard contacts before that. When I had a consultation with these doctors about laser and implants, I found out I would have to stop wearing the contacts for a long time in order to permit an accurate refraction prior to surgery. I've been wearing glasses, no contacts, for like 10 months now and I'm really getting tired of them. I need to shit or get off the pot with regard to having the surgery done.

Anyway when I had the consultation they sent me home with a whole bunch of reading material about the benefits and risks. They've got the procedure down pretty well now and risks are minimal, but not zero. They also say flat out that if you expect a perfect outcome, you probably shouldn't have the procedure. By "perfect" they mean you expect 20/20 or better and never need glasses for anything again and don't have halos, etc.

Google it, you'll find a lot of forums etc. with patient experiences. Some are scary, most are favorable.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-23-2007, 03:41 PM:
 
A professional (747) pilot friend of mine had "RK" pre LASIK done over 20 years ago. Best thing he ever did. I think you will find the FAA more accepting now than then. Louis
 

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Posted by Alan Gouger (Member # 543) on 07-23-2007, 04:04 PM:
 
I have a few friends who are eye doctors who spoke of the chance of side effects. They said there are some alternative treatments coming soon with far less risk. Both said they would not take the chance on the surgery in its current offering based on what they know and maybe some things they are not telling us. My friend just underwent the process and he now has two blind spots in each eye ( we all have one )which the Doctor did not tell him about until confronted after the surgery.
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 07-23-2007, 06:45 PM:
 
Consider this. A member of the car club I'm a member of is a surgeon who does these eye jobs. He still wears contacts and spectacles. Reason? If ANYTHING goes less than perfectly he will likely never be able to see well enough to perform these procedures again. He too says there is a lot the public doesn't know. Another friend had RK done when it was the best available, he hasn't been able to drive in traffic at night since due to halos and stars around lights.

[ 07-23-2007, 09:02 PM: Message edited by: Bill Enos ]
 

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Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 07-24-2007, 10:56 PM:
 
Hi Folks:

Thanks for the tips and insight. I had lightly considered the laser surgery but may hold off. My eyes arn't that bad. I was somewhat sold when the doctor said ".....have the surgery and never wear glasses again".

Mike
 

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Posted by Patrick de Groot (Member # 858) on 07-25-2007, 02:23 AM:
 

quote: Alan Gouger

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They said there are some alternative treatments coming soon with far less risk.

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