I was not eligible for lasik because my eyes, at 34, hadn’t stabilized.
I found just saying, “I’m not a candidate for lasik” shut them up.
Now my eyes have stabilized. I still say, “I’m not a candidate for lasik.” I figure it’s like politics. You aren’t a candidate if you don’t run, right? 
Not after 42 years of my glasses being first thing on last thing off. MYOB.
That’s odd; all this time I thought it was because you said so.
Long time lurker, first time poster, here. Why I chose the pit for my first post, I don’t know. As someone who’s had LASIK surgery, I would never suggest that someone else should have it. But, if I’m asked I do say that it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I didn’t do it for purely cosmetic reasons, I did it because I play a lot of sports and live in Canada, where the weather can have an effect on your glasses. I love being able to read the alarm clock. I love being able to come inside on a cold day and not have my glasses fog up, and I love being able to play sports without having to remember to put in contacts.
I understand the hate for a nosy person who implies you should get LASIK, but I don’t understand the hate for the procedure itself. It took less than 30 minutes for both eyes and I felt no pain or discomfort at all. The day I woke up and was able to see without glasses was the best day of my life (granted, I haven’t had that great a life)
Chester
Says who?
Personally, I find my glasses to be liberating - without them I am legally and functionally blind. I could listen to TV or movies, but not see what’s happening. I would be barely able to read large-print books for perhaps, 10 minutes before the eyestrain became overwhelming. I’d probably have to rely on either books on tape or braille. I would have trouble crossing a street, being unable to to see traffic lights/signals well enough to use them as a crossing aide, unable to see on-coming traffic, unable to see across even a two-lane road. Needless to say, I wouldn’t be able to drive a car or pilot an airplane.
Yes, there is some hassle invovled with wearing glasses. On the other hand, because I have worn them, including sunglasses, almost all my life my eyes have sustained almost no sun damage, unlike most people my age. I distinctly recall one occassion when my glasses prevented gasoline from splashing into my eyes (the uncovered part of my face, however, had this interesting splash-shaped “sunburn” for a week or so). They do keep some dust and wind out of my eyes. So it’s not all bad.
Not everyone regards wearing glasses as a traumatic thing.
I don’t hate LASIK - but I am a terrible candidate for it.
I’m glad you are happy with your results. I, however, am at extremely high risk for serveral complications. I don’t view being able to see the alarm clock upon awakening to be enough of a benefit to justify the probable destruction of my ability to see well enough at night to drive safely. Also, the amount of correction I need to achieve 20/20 exceeds the amount of correction it is safe to do with LASIK, so either I venture into experimental and high-risk territory, or, if I deal with a scrupulous surgeon, I still wind up wearing glasses/contacts after its over. So what’s the point?
The “helpful” suggestions rest on several assumptions, which may or may not be true:
First, hi Chester! Welcome to the Pit. You seem to be a hardy sort.
Second, most adults can tell the difference between advice and recommendations coming up in general conversation and someone pushing their opinions down an unwilling listener’s throat. This thread is not about people swapping opinions like we do all the time at the office or at social gatherings (“Have you tried those new granola bars yet? They’re really good!”), rkts. It’s about people getting in your face and telling you how you should be living your life, with no regard for whether you want or are interested in their opinions.
I don’t have stock in LASIK, but it seems every time I mention I had it done, I am bombarded with questions by people who want to know if I’m happy with it, how much it cost, whether it hurt, etc. I think a lot of people are on the fence about it and honestly want to gather information, not propaganda.
I know that I was on the fence for several years before I decided to do it. Even then I didn’t appreciate the two or three friends of mine who constantly pushed it. I certainly didn’t want to be pushed into elective surgery, esp on my EYES, and I can definitely understand the reticence.
I find glasses much much less of a hassle than contacts, and in fact, they aren’t really a hassle at all for me. At least with glasses I’m not having to constantly buy more and get exams when I know not a damn thing has changed and the only reason is that there are rules about prescribing contacts.
And I haven’t been wearing glasses forever, but I wore contacts for years, and switched to glasses a couple of years ago because my eyes were getting dry.
I see fine with my glasses. I don’t want surgery. If you got it and am happy, excellent. But some of us, for whatever reason, simply won’t do it.
chester68
Charter Member
Now this is a lurker. Paid to be a Charter Member for 2 years before making his first post. :eek: Glad you decided to join us.
As for the Lasik, a woman at work did it. She had problems in one eye and was off work for three weeks before it got well enough to come back. Now she is happy.
But like others here, the first thing I do is reach for my glasses. After 35 years of it, I don’t have a problem with it. My optometrist says I am a candidate for it, barely, but if it works correctly and my eyesight is corrected to 20/20 (my glasses get me to 20/10) I would then need reading glasses since presbyopia has started setting in. I wouldn’t have to spend $400 every 2 years for new glasses (actually, I could wait for a few more years, but I like keeping the prescription crisp and the glasses in very good shape) but $4000 for Lasik is 20 more years of glasses.
Besides, they are my eyes. My favorite hobbies are reading, photography, and my computer. Add in the TV and movies I enjoy. I don’t want to take any chances with any of that.
I hadn’t noticed that. We broke out the uber lurker! Whee!
That’s pretty much how I feel about it, too (plus the twenty years worth of glasses thing - I hadn’t thought of that before). My grandma and mom both had/have serious issues with their eyes as they got older, and my eyes are very much like theirs; I have no interest in a procedure that has any possibility of making my bad eyes even worse as I age.
And the recipient of a reverse pitting/MPSIMSing. 
Eyesight isn’t just objectively “good or bad”, it is also subjectively “good or bad”.
That is, some people can put up with walking around in a blur and don’t feel the need to wear glasses all the time, even with fairly major visual defects, while others will wear their glasses 24/7 for only minor problems because anything less than perfect vision is unacceptable for them.
Likewise some people feel that wearing glasses isn’t an issue, while others hate their glasses with a passion. Some people have no problem with their contacts, for others the mere thought of touching their eye is enough to make them sick.
For some people risking their vision for the possibility of not having to wear their glasses for a few years is worth the risk of halos, flashes, loss of night vision and possibly serious complication, for others, it isn’t. It’s not black or white, it’s about weighing up risks and benefits and deciding what is in this particular person’s interest. Which means they get to do it, and not some nosy stranger.
It is often the people who need their eyesight the most who are often least willing to have the surgery, because if it goes wrong, they have the most to lose. I’ve seen many surgeons (including an Opthalmologist) wearing thick glasses to operate. If those guys thought LASIK was for them they’d have the knowledge, money and contacts to have it done ASAP.
LASIK- it’s not for everyone, and pushing for more than “I’ve decided it’s not for me” is incredibly rude.
To clarify: I’m not a LASIK advocate; like many in this thread, I have terrible vision, have considered LASIK as a solution, and have decided it isn’t for me. I just think that you all are oversensitive and are getting offended by something perfectly innocuous.
Each person has to decide for themselves where to draw the line at what point questions go from innocuous to deeply personal. Obviously, some of us feel that pushing us to have surgery that we feel has the potential to do us active harm in one of our major senses is far past the point of innocuousness.
Bottom line is: I decide if it’s a snoopy too-personal question, not you, rkts, not the person asking it, ME. For me, it is. Losing even a portion of my vision would cause me great hardship and anguish, and LASIK has that potential. And yes, I did consider it and talked to several doctors about the pros and cons of it – for ME – before making that decision; it’s not one I made lightly.
Do you think that if I could wave a magic wand and, without any possibility of harm, make my eyes terrific without glasses, able to focus at any length without needing artificial lenses of some variety to see up close, middle distance, and far away, I wouldn’t do it? I would, and I think everyone here would! But I’ve already spent five years in chronic pain from a simple bunionectomy gone very, very wrong, so I really have no problem believing that a “simple” surgery can turn out to be anything but simple.
Bottom line: If I say it’s a personal question that I don’t appreciate being asked, it’s MY call to make. My reasons for that decision are not open to discussion, either. And neither is my dislike of that question!
If you don’t get the difference between perfectly innocuous conversations and someone being rudely pushy, I have to wonder how people regard you in real life.
I think people just say things with no regard for how they might be taken, half the time. They see glasses, they think ‘Oh, I know about some new thing that has to do with eyesight’ and they blurt it out.
‘Why eat meat raw, Og? Grog make big hot fast in fire!’
‘Is that a loaf of bread? Hey, you know they have pre-sliced bread now?’
I don’t think most people are thinking of it in cosmetic terms, or major-surgery terms. They’re just talkin’ to talk. Maybe it’s rude of them not to think about it a little harder, but I think it’s just human nature to be forever bumbling around saying all kinds of silly stuff. We get excited about new technology and we have an urge to make sure all the other humans know about it too.
Now, the person who says over and over that you’d look better with X is just a jerk. But that can’t be what’s going on in most cases, can it?