Refractive Lens Exchange or LASIK vision correction?

[lindenbruce]

Thanks for the input folks if anyone else has anything to offer please do. A friend of mine had the PRK done many years ago and now he need glasses for distance I think it is. I know surgery is a one way deal so it is a little scary. Right now I have good close up vision without my contacts, but have a little difficulty reading with them in. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust close up with the contacts. And since I can't wear my contacts while diving seeing my gauges is not an issue. I may just go to soft contacts and glasses since surgery is a big step. That's why I was intrigued when the one doctor offered refractive lens exchange. I can solve two issues at once.

One of the two doctors did offer mono-vision. I thought about it briefly and decided that's not the way I want to go. And yes, chilly in canada, the chance however small of there being an issue during surgery is in my mind. And when the assistant at the second doctor was pressing a tool against my cornea to take a pressure reading I was like, "HOLY CRAP!!!" Even thought she had already numbed my eyes it was weird. Thanks again, B

 

[JohnN]

Yeah, that is in the back of my mind as well. You are able to wear your contacts when diving? Are they soft lens? because my current lens' are rigid gas permeables and diving in them is out of the question. I tried it once, and one of my eyes clouded over after returning to the surface and it took hours for it to clear up. B

I dive with rigid, gas perm lenses without any problems. Mask removal drills need to be done with my eyes closed, lest my contacts decide that is the time to float away, but that is a minor inconvenience.

I've never had problem with my vision before/after a dive.

 

[lindenbruce]

Really? It might have been a fluke for me then. But concerned me enough I never tried it again. B

 

[Tool Belt]

Nobody has any input on the Clear Lens Exchange procedure?

 

[flots am]

Nobody has any input on the Clear Lens Exchange procedure?

As long as glasses or contacts can correct my vision with essentially zero risk, I'll be staying away from any type of eye surgery.

In fact, glasses have protected my eyes from flying debris more than once. Also, I'd need to wear them for computer work anyway, which means that the only time I wouldn't need glasses would be outdoors, when I would need sunglasses anyway. It seems like a lot of risk for not a lot of benefit.

flots.

 

[lindenbruce]

Actually Tool Belt, the RLE is the same as a clear lens procedure. Except the RLE's lens is designed for the individual with vision correction in mind. Like you said though, it doesn't seem like divers are using this procedure and choosing LASIK or PRK instead. And I'm sure the amount of divers in their 70's or 80's, that age when the vast majority of individuals have cataract surgery, is prolly very small when compared to other age groups.

I hear where you are coming from Flots Am. What you are saying is being weighed in my ultimate decision. I'm going to make an appointment with my current contact lens
eye doc and get some input from them as well. B

 

[PeterNBiddle]

It seems like a lot of risk for not a lot of benefit.

flots.

I can say, having done it, that it had irrefutably life-changing & positive benefits with, in my case, no ill side effects. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

What data are you basing your risk assessment on?

 

[flots am]

What data are you basing your risk assessment on?

If someone slices open my eye they may damage it.

If I don't have surgery, I can't have a bad surgical outcome.

flots.

 

[j2s]

I have glasses for reading [+ 1.50 both eyes] and very mild distance correction...... I have reading [gauge] Rx prescriptions in all my masks which cover the whole lens and oddly it does not effect my distance....I see clearly both close and distance.........I tried all the combo's of contacts, mono, progressive, distance in 1 eye, close up in the other etc. as well as permanent 1/2 readers and bi-focals in my masks........By far the best has been readers over the whole lens........Synthetic corneas have been around for awhile and give permanent close/distance vision as well as eliminating future cataracts.....But it's an extensive procedure.........Every one's eye's are different and each diver has to find what works best for them.........I've been wearing glasses for awhile and still find them annoying.....I had to go thru several masks before getting two that were just right, so when synthetic cornea transplant technology becomes as routine as LASIK, I'll probably go that route..........

 

[thirdcoastdiver]

I had really bad eyesight. My contacts were very thick and my eyes got tired after eight or so hours of wearing time. My glasses looked like bottoms from coke bottles. Even in plastic the glasses were very heavy. I did my research, choose a very talented well respected surgeon, and underwent lasik. Due to my age, we chose to go with mono-vision so I don't need reading glasses. That was six years ago. I am sorry that I waited so long. It has definitely improved my life and allowed me to dive. Without the surgery and without corrective lenses I could focus on objects up to 12 to 24 inches away. Anything beyond that distance was totally out of focus.