Lasik of my bad eye only?

[atotic]

Both of my eyes need glasses, -2 on the left good eye, +2 on the bad eye. I can only see clearly through the good one. The other one's brain cells have athrophied when I was a kid due to astigmatism, and I can't see details with it, glasses or not.

I've been thinking of getting Lasik only on my bad eye. I will never take a risk on my good one. Why fix the bad eye? To have one less contact to deal with, and simpler glasses checkup. And as an experiment. My theory is that if I could see perfectly out of my bad eye all the time, some of those dead cells might wake up. No chance, I know.

I can't think of any drawbacks. Has anyone heard of anyone else doing this, and what their experiences were? I am sure I am not the first patient with this crazy idea.

Aleks

[LasikExpert]

Both of my eyes need glasses, -2 on the left good eye, +2 on the bad eye. I can only see clearly through the good one. The other one's brain cells have athrophied when I was a kid due to astigmatism, and I can't see details with it, glasses or not.

Your situation is known as amblyopia and is a permanent condition. It is not at all likely that the brain will begin to use the information it has learned to reject, however you have little to lose by trying. The most you should reasonably expect is vision after surgery that is equal to your vision with glasses. If you get better vision then great, but don't expect it.

In addition to having one less contact to deal with, your myopia (nearsighted, shortsighted) vision in your left eye and severe hyperopia (farsighted, longsighted) vision in your right eye creates a significant imbalance in image size between the two. This is called anisometropia. If you are over about age 40, the combination of presbyopia and hyperopia will present as poor vision quality at all distances even without your history of amblyopia. You may have more to gain than a reduced reliance on contact lens for your right eye.

[atotic]

Thank you!

Aleks

[LasikExpert]

Glad to be of service. Please be sure to keep us updated.

[atotic]

I've decided to Lasik my lazy eye. What result do you think I should strive for? Match the vision in my good eye (-1.75), or perfect vision?

Aleks

[LasikExpert]

If you are at or over age 40, discuss with your eye doctor if monovision makes any sense in your case and try it with contact lenses first. If not, then I recommend you follow your eye doctor's advice on what should be the target as an imbalance in refractive error in someone who is amblyopic is problematic and I can find no data that supports a decision to either target plano (full correction) or balance of about 1.75 diopters myopic. I guess one consideration would be if you would ever consider having vision correction surgery on your good - and myopic - eye.

Be sure to let us know how things go. Yours is a unique case and others with lazy may find guidance in your experience.

[atotic]

It has been a week since I had my lasik. I had my bad, amblyopic, astigmatism eye corrected for distance vision.

I tried on the contacts for monovision before surgery. I could not stand it so I went with standard distance vision.

I am very happy with the outcome. I no longer need a lens for this eye. I'd rate my vision as slightly better than before, a bit more 3D, the images just match up better. As a consequence, my eye does not get lazy as often as it used to. We'll see if I can get any better than 20/40 with exercises.

The only drawback has been starburst during night driving.

Aleks

[LasikExpert]

A bit of starbursting so soon after Lasik is reasonably expected. Otherwise, congratulations on your excellent result so far!