I am getting LASIK vision correction in 2 weeks. My pamphlet says it is “the No-Touch Method that improves safety because no surgical flap is necessary - nothing touches your eye during the whole procedure.”
Is anyone familiar with this and has anyone had it done? What happened to your vision? How do you hold your eyeball still?
When I had my eyes done about five years ago (using the older-style “flap and zap” process that did involve making a surgical flap), the eye doctor told me about the next-generation process (not available at the time) that wouldn’t involve the flap. He told me that 90% of the surgical time and 90% of the subsequent problems were because of the need to make that surgical flap - so, assuming that things proceeded as predicted, the process should be both a lot faster and a lot safer nowadays.
You hold your eyeball still yourself. If your eyeball moves (the eye surgeon told me), the laser system detects that movement and stops the procedure automatically far faster than the surgeon could have done manually.
I work in an ophthalmology department, and had brought home some LASIK pamphlets for my husband to look at. According to the description, the system (at least the one we have) scans the eye 4000 times/second, and makes minute adjustments up to 100 times/second to keep the laser on target.
I don’t know about the new method, but I had this done about a year and a half ago. Best money I ever spent. Only down side is some annoying haloing around lights at night (I have to squint a little to read the end-credits of movies because the white on black text produces a bit of a halo).
Go to surgicaleyes.com and read the comments of people who have had this done. It is a very dangerous procedure. Some people have went blind, some have lost night vision, some have dry eyes, some have halos, some have spots, floaters, etc. Even if only 1 or 2 percent of people have these complications, you are playing russian roulette. Unless you are legally blind, 20-400, it is not worth it.
http://www.surgicaleyes.org/Complications.htm
"Complications:
Aniseikonia (difference in image size between the two eyes)
Anisometropia
Aquarium Vision
Arcing
BCVA (loss of)
Blindness
Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion
Cataract Formation
Central Islands
Central Toxic Keratopathy
Contrast Sensitivity Loss
Corneal Abrasions
Corneal Necrosis
Corneal Perforation
Corneal Scars
Corneal Thinning
Corneal Ulcers
Decompensated Strabismus
Depth Perception (loss of)
Diffuse Lamellar Keratitis (DLK, Sands of Sahara)
Dry Eyes
Ectasia
Edema
Endothelial Cell Loss
Epithelial Ingrowth
Epithelial Sloughing
Flap Buttonhole
Flap Decentered
Flap Unfolding
Flap Melt
Flap Striae and Wrinkles
Flap Subluxation
Fluctuating Vision
GASH
Ghosting
Glare
Haloes
Haze
Headache
Hyperopic Shift
Induced Aberrations
Induced Astigmatism
Infectious Keratitis
Interface Debris
Interface Keratitis (infectious and non-infectious, early and late onset)
Irregular Astigmatism
Irregular Wound Healing
Microperforations
Monocular Diplopia
Muscle Spasms
Nerve Fiber Damage and/or Thinning
Night Vision Loss
Nocturnal glare
Optic Nerve Infarction
Optic Nerve Neuropathy
Overcorrection
Pain (persistent)
Palebral fissures (expanding induced),
Photophobia (undesirable visual sensations produced by bright lights)
Progressive Hyperopia
Psychological Problems (induced or exacerbated)
Ptsopis (droopy eyelid)
Quality of Life (loss of)
Reading Problems
Recurrent Erosion
Regression (both naturally occuring and induced via hypoxia)
Retinal breaks/tears/macular holes
Retinal Detachment
Scarring
Starbursts
Steroid Induced Glaucoma
Trigeminal Neuralgia
Undercorrection
Uneven Pupils Sizes
Visual Field Defects
Vitreous Detachment (Floaters)
Future Induced Difficulties:
IOL Calculation Difficulties
Difficulty detecting Glaucoma Onset
Induced Contact Lens Intolerance
Increased susceptability to ocular trauma (i.e., late flap, dislocation)
"
Also see…
http://www.lasikdisaster.com/
Susanann, only about 1% of patients (stats quoted to me by our physicians - I do not work in the LASIK area but in an unrelated research division, and am not paid by their money but by research grant funds) experience any side effects at all, and most of those are treatable infections, night-time haloes, that sort of minor thing. Yes, any procedure may have side effects on occasion, but I wouldn’t call this “very dangerous”. Educating yourself is wise, though.
It doesn’t appear that either of the anti-lasik sites linked to above are addessing the procedure mentioned in the OP.
Thank you. I am learning. Could others who have had this surgery, the one that is the No Touch Method, please tell me their experiences. I also value the opinions of medical personnel.
My daughter recently had the flap and zap procedure done, although I was against it, seeing as how her eyes were correctible by glasses. I had the misfortune of talking to her two hours after the procedure and she was near hysterical with pain. This is a girl who dislocated her shoulder while warming up for a 500 yard freestyle swim and jumped in and swam it anyway, so her threshold of pain is high. Interestingly, when she returned to the ophthamalogist for a check up she asked how he controlled the “moderate” pain after he had it done and he answered “Dilaudid.”
I’m also interested in hear about you pep’s experiences. I got LASIK eye surgery as a 21st present from by parents (yeah, I know, cosmetic surgery from parents is neat eh 
) and that offer still stands. The problem is my myopia is about -7.5 to -8; anybody had good results with prescriptions in that region?
I hate to talk to the eye doctor, they keep on harping about the gazillion to one risks to cover their legal obligations.
Just to make it crystal, my parents gave me the offer for the surgery - I just haven’t collected yet.
Had the regular LASIK procedure done about 5 years ago. No complications, no side effects. I now have 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other (can’t remember my original numbers).
As someone who wore glasses all my life, getting the laser surgery and seeing perfectly was the best experience of my life.
It was explained to me that the cutless procedure involved moving tissue from the surface of the cornea, rather than the middle. My Doctor claimed it was actually more painful and recovery time was longer than the cut method.
I had the cut method. Was 20/600 before and am now 20/15 & 20/20.
In my world, moving = removing.
I was wondering if anyone can offer some suggestions. I’ve been evaluated for laser eye surgery and have passed all hurdles except one–dry eyes. My condition is such that everything is fine for about a month, but all of a sudden, my eyes dry up and and get irritated. On a few occasions, it’s been so bad, I’ve rubbed my eyes till they were really sore ( I know, dumb thing to do). As a result, my surgeon refused to do the procedure. Since I also have -7.5 myopia, you can imagine how much I want this procedure. Are there any new procedures or products I can use so I can get the surgery?
Couple things to remember, folks:
First of all, not everyone is a good candidate for LASIK. For instance, I did inquire about it and, after an exam, it was explained to me that my risk of complications is greater than normal. So I’ve pretty much decided that, barring a significant breakthrough in technology, I’m sticking with glasses. If, like medstar, you been told you have a “hurdle” you would be wise to consider not having this done.
Yes, I’ve known many people who have had LASIK and are extremely happy with the results. I also know two whose vision is now worse than before the surgery.
If you are interested in this procedure research it carefully and get a thorough pre-op exam by someone who won’t give you a high-pressure sales talk. Do visit the “surgical eyes” and “LASIK disaster” websites to balance out the rosy picture the sales brochures give you. This is real surgery folks, and like all surgery it has real risks. Be a very very choosy consumer.
I have 2 pre-ops coming. Perhaps I won’t be a candidate.
xizor is correct. You would also have to wear a “band aid” soft contact lens for at least 24 hours and you can not remove it to clean it. It ended up getting very dirty and cloudy. They also can only do one eye at a time, with a three week interval between each surgery.
My story: my eyes were about -5.75 each and I have just enough corneal tissue to do one procedure in each eye with no chance of enhancements later on. The first time I went in, a “button-hole” flap was created in my right eye (the first eye worked on) and the surgery was halted due to the irregular flap. I was sent home with this band aid contact lens and had it replaced the next day. I went in for post-op follow-ups three days straight, then every week and then every month, because of the complication.
I had to wait 1 year to redo it. During this year, I talked to my ophthamologist about the flapless method. He did not recommend it on normal people, but weighed it as an option for me because of the slight scarring that occurred in the middle of my eye, where the button-hole was created. In the end, we opted to recut, because the scar diminished. He also told me that, by cutting a flap, this lessened healing time.
In the flapless method, having the laser remove the outside layers required much, much, much more healing time and you will not be able to see clearly right away. You’d have to wait a until it mostly healed over to see out of that eye, and that is why you wait a few weeks to do the other eye. Plus, fluctuations in eye sight was more likely during the next year, while your eye healed.
I see 20/20 in my left eye, and 20/40 in my right. Together, I see 20/20. My sister got hers done by the same surgeon and she sees 20/15 (lucky dawg). Good luck with your eyes.
I was told both eyes would be done at the same time. I have many questions for the doctor.