Ok guys,
I’m detail nearsighted, IE I can see my cat across the room but I can’t read normal type more tha 10" from my face. I use a fairly strong prescription. Waht I’m wondering is…I have standard Blue Cross PPO with vision & dental. Should I:
Get new glasses-not the best attractively:wally
Get contacts-I have dry eyes with crud when I wake up, is this bad? How much will Cts cost in the long run?
Get LASIK, I understand they have good stuff, especially across from Detroit in Windsor. Is it safe, Long term? Does it last? What are the chances of being 20/20 again? Being blind?
I’ve had soft contacts for about 6 years now, and absolutely will not go back to wearing glasses full time.
The ones I use(2 week disposable) cost me about $120 per year, not including the checkup/fitting, which is just the same as getting checked out for glasses, so that’s a wash.
I’d guess that unless you have serious dry eye problems, having dry ones in the morning wouldn’t be a big deal as long as you get the crud out.
LASIK usually isn’t covered by insurance, because it’s considered cosmetic surgery. My mother had it done awhile ago, and has close to 20/20 vision (she has a problem with halos around objects at night, which is common). My sister also had it done, and I’m pretty sure restored to near 20/20. After getting the procedure done, she worked basically as a Lasik consultant for the doctor which did it to her. To my knowledge, in the 3 or so years she worked there, nobody went blind because of it. I’ve stuck with glasses simply because I don’t have the money to afford the surgery, otherwise I’d be doing the surgery thing. To me, contacts are just one big hassle.
I’ve worn my current set of contacts for a year now. Last time I had contacts, I had the same pair from 1983 until 1991. (Ewww.)
I had multiple surgeries on my eyes as an infant (I was born cross-eyed) and have always had problems with excessive ocular mucous (mucus?).
I would NEVER have Lasik surgery on my eyes, but that’s really just a personal choice. I mean, think about it, one false move during the surgery, one little ‘oops,’ and you’re blind. Forever. No, thanks.
Dry eyes can be a contraindication for LASIK. At a minimum, the LASIK folks need to know about it when you go for a consultation and exam to see if LASIK is a good option for you. Most LASIK facilities offer free evaluations. Be wary if they cheerfully say “We can make LASIK work for anybody!” as it won’t work for anybody. Most facilities that offer guarantees will check you out pretty darn carefully before offering services.
Likewise, dry eyes can give you grief with wearing contacts, especially extended-wear lenses. Having a lens stick to your cornea is highly unpleasant! (Risky too - there’s a fairly high chance of pulling off some cornea if you try peeling off a stuck contact.)
“Old-style” daily wear, don’t sleep with them in type contacts may wind up being your choice. Actually, they may wind up being “wear daily only for a week then toss” disposables.
LASIK will cost around $1000-1400 per eye, and as discussed above, won’t be covered by typical insurance. Over the years, they’ve pretty much perfected the process to the point that guarantees of coming out of it with 20/40 or better are common. Don’t shop just for price - some of the cheaper shops don’t include the aftercare in the price, making you pay for the follow-up visits. With no complications in your surgery, expect three or four follow-ups.
I was a licensed optician until 5 years ago. LAsik was just starting to be used then. It is definately an improvement over the old RK operation, but as xgxix said, it’s usually not covered by insurance. A doctor could best tell if you would be a good candidate. It works better with near-sighted than with far-sighted IIRC. They may have made a number of improvements in the last 5 years. For cost, figure $1,000/per eye, but that also may have come down in the last five years. It is relatively safe, but check with a doctor regarding your particular case. Better yet, check with 2-3 doctors, to get more than one opinion.
Regarding contacts or glasses: I’m a little confused by your description of your vision problem. You say you are detail near-sighted w/heavy RX. If you can see a cat across the room clearly you would be far-sighted(able to see far distances). Near-sighted people have trouble seeing distance but can read OK. It would help a lot if I knew your RX. Also important is if your astigmatic and if so how much. Your age would also be important, because at about 40 years most people’s reading-distance vision starts to be a problem.
If you are a good candidate for contacts, not too astigmatic, daily wear only contacts might help with the dry eyes on awakening problem. A doctor could check your tear-flow and see if it is abnormally low. Wetting drops will also help with this. If you are around 40 or over you may need reading glasses on top of contacts, bi-focal contacts(a new product I don’t know much about), or bi-focal glasses.
Again, knowing what your prescription is and what your age is would be very important to any recommendation.
