skydiving vs lasik vs prk vs (epi-)lasek

[lv2jmp]

I've a question on procedure suitability and recovery times.

I skydive. Alot. To date I have over 3000 jumps in competitive events. I have received one (very nice) black eye, and innumerous knocks upside the head. I wear a full-faced helmet, so you can imagine the black eye was a pretty good knock. My face shield has also come off in freefall due to high speed diving (>200 mph), and I regularly travel to the desert areas in Arizona to skydive. As well, a few times a year I enter a vertical wind tunnel for training, and occasionally my unprotected eyes are exposed to the 120mph winds (not pleasant, not unbearable, not typical).

So I think the flap in Lasik might be an issue for me. PRK has been suggested, but I'm interested in epi-lasek (which degrades to prk if there's an epithelial flap issue, correct?).

My questions are:
1) how long after I have prk or epi-lasek must I wait before I jump again?
1a) do I really need to wait that long?
2) am I overly concerned about the flap in lasik? Is it a non-issue?
3) my current training plan does not yet include swimming, but it soon will; how much time is necessary after surgery before I can swim laps?
4) if thrown into presbyopia by surgery, what is the nominal distance beyond which readers would not be necessary?

If it matters, I need glasses to drive, watch movies, etc, but do not wear them while running, playing soccer or skydiving. I am almost 45 and in good health and fitness. I work on computers 10 hours a day or more; my close up vision is fine, I do find the need to remove my glasses for close up work, and yes, I know readers are in my future if I have refractive correction.

[LasikExpert]

The first thing that comes to mind about high speed skydiving is the finding of the US Navy. Naval fighter pilots are not allowed to have Lasik, but surface ablation like PRK, LASEK, and Epi-Lasik is okay. The concern is the sudden dramatic changes and stresses during a crash or an ejection at altitude. Well, ejection at any altitude I would suppose.

The Lasik flap heals, but not like a cut on your arm. The interface is always there. It is possible to surgically lift the flap as much as 12 years after Lasik. Well, lift is not really accurate. It is more like separating the cornea at the location of the original incision. To learn more on Lasik flap healing, visit Lasik Flap Healing

Tests with rabbits in extreme sudden changes similar to sub-Mach ejection indicated that the Lasik flap can survive, but not always. Simply put, Lasik for someone who intends to skydive 200+ mph and is already getting knocked around even with all the safety gear just is not worth the risk, in my opinion and in the opinion of the US Navy.

It would be great if you had your prescription numbers handy. If you can, please post them. From your description that you can see fine for middle and near vision but not distance vision I will assume that you are about 2.00 diopters myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted).

At age 45, being a little myopic can be a very good thing.

There are two ways to describe myopia. One is that you can’t see things distant too well. The other is that you can see things near quite well. At age 45, presbyopia is undoubtedly starting to take effect. This is when the natural lens of the eye is no longer able to change focus and you need to move things farther away to see them, or wear reading glasses. Reading glasses effectively make you more myopic. Those numbers on the reading glasses (+0.75, +1.00, +1.25, +2.00) mean that with those glasses on, you are that much more myopic. So, if you are naturally 2.00 diopters myopic, you don’t need reading glasses until presbyopia is beyond the 2.00 correctible scale. Some people never need that much.

Your natural myopia is a set of built-in reading glasses. If you remove that myopia with surgery, you will immediately lose all the advantages of being slightly myopic. That means the loss of near and mid vision unless you start wearing reading glasses.

If you work on computes 10 hours a day, you probably do not want to give up your myopia. If you do, you will immediately be wearing reading glasses at your computer 10 hours a day. This is a lifestyle choice that only you can make, but don’t kid yourself...you will need those readers. You should probably read about Sudden Presbyopia After Laser Eye Surgery.

There is an alternative that you may want to explore. That is monovision. Monovision is the process of correcting one eye for distance vision and one eye for near vision. In your case, you would probably only need surgery on one eye, the one for distance vision.

The brain takes the two images and literally switches back and forth between the two eyes, depending upon the distance of the object you are viewing.

Monovision is not for everyone and has some distinct disadvantages. Some people just can’t stand monovision. It caused vertigo, nausea, or just plain inferior vision all the time. Most people will experience some degradation in depth perception. I doubt you only rely on your vision when skydiving, but with Earth coming at you at 200mph I don’t think you want poor depth perception.

Monovision can be achieved with contact lenses or surgery. I highly recommend, insist really, that you try monovision in contacts for at least 2-3 weeks. Some people will say shorter is okay, but somewhat I don’t agree. You will know if you love monovision in less time, but you really won’t know that you hate it until 2-3 weeks. For more read Monovision Details.

Speaking of contact lens trials, you need to do this for regular surgery too. Wear contacts that provide full correction to both eyes for 2-3 weeks. You may find that the hassle of reading glasses is not worth the reducing the hassle of distance glasses.

I will leave you to review the articles on Epi-Lasik and issues with laser eye surgery and swimming at Lasik and Swimming for those details.

[lv2jmp]

Wow, that is an information packed response! Thank you!

It sounds like PRK or Epi-Lasek is the more appropriate technique if I go this route. But that does leave the question about the transition distance from near to far:

At a distance equal to my fingertips to my elbow, the screen is clear (enough) to read without my glasses, albeit a bit sharper with them. At a distance of the length of my arm from fingertips to shoulder, the screen is distinctly blurry without, and sharp with glasses. So if I were corrected to 20/20, would I find the transition distance from near to far about the same, but reversed? That is, if glasses are needed at a distance of one arm length today, would they not be needed after correction?

I have never worn contacts, and do not currently have my MSRE numbers (the eval I had done at a local lasik office did not include refraction tests, only established candidacy).

Monovision is almost certainly not for me. Depth perception is fantastically important in my life: the last few feet of descent under canopy, judging the flight of a soccer ball coming towards me, avoiding collisions on the highway and in parking lots, etc. BTW, the 200mph figure is attained only a few times a year, most is spent at 125mph, and the canopy descent rarely exceeds 50mph in a steep dive. [edited to add:] And all are done with a full-face helmet/appropriate eye protection. Only that it has happened more than once that my face-shield has been torn off, so I have to account for the fact this will happen again, perhaps not often, but once could be once too many (given the Navy tests).

I was hoping to avoid trials with contact lens if they would mimic my current glasses. Perhaps there is a qualitative difference here I am unaware of?

Thank you again for your advice, and for the website.

[LasikExpert]

Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you found the information helpful.

Full correction of any kind, whether it be with Lasik, PRK, Epi-Lasik, single vision contact lenses, or single vision glasses, will have a direct and negative affect on the near and mid-distance vision of a person who is presbyopic. This is why I recommend that if you are considering permanent laser eye surgery, you try full correction in contacts for all waking hours so you get a better idea of what you can reasonably expect.

If surgery provided full correction, then vision from your fingertips to shoulder would probably be blurred due to presbyopia. At your age you are probably not fully presbyopic and still have some ability to change focus (accommodation) that is helping your mid-distance vision. As presbyopia progresses, you would lose this ability to accommodate. That would mean that in years to come your fingertips will be fuzzy too, as would items a bit farther away.

I didn't think monovision would work for you, however you could try it. About 2/3rds of people who try monovision find it satisfactory. In instances when you require excellent distance vision, you could have glasses that fully correct the undercorrected eye. This is as much a lifestyle issue as it is a refractive error issue.

There is an optical difference between correction with contact lenses and correction with glasses. As an example, glasses will miniaturize images to fit the full visual field within the width of the lenses. Contacts more closely mimic correction after refractive surgery.

An even more important consideration is that you are not going to be popping contacts in and out. You will experience fully corrected vision all the time, which also more accurately mimics the reality of life after refractive surgery. The purpose of a contact lens trial is only partially to give you a sense of vision after surgery. It is also to give you a real world experience of the lifestyle changes that you would likely experience after PRK or Epi-Lasik.

It would appear that you would be trading the need for glasses for distance, for the need of glasses for near. If this is consistent with your lifestyle needs, then surgery may be appropriate. While in theory this may seem fine to you, I have found that nothing screws up a perfectly good theory faster than reality. Wear contact lenses for a couple of weeks and get a better idea of the probable reality.

[sdfson]

I guess I should have read this before my surgery! I just had Custom Wavefront IntraLASIK. I've skydived about 10-12 times, but I planned to buy my own shute in a few years, and make it my hobby.

Is this something I shouldn't do anymore?

[LasikExpert]

If you wear appropriate protective eyewear and do not do extreme skydiving, then it would appear that your risk of a catastrophic problem is not greatly increased. Even with Lasik, most activities are fine. It is when you run into a problem (crash, high speed) that Lasik may exacerbate the situation.

[fast586]

To All Those Who Are Considering Lasik; Don't Do It. Lasik, Lasek or any other form of refractive surgery is extremely damaging to the human cornea.

Here's a few facts for you that I bet you don't know:

The first thing the Lasik surgeon does is prep you; he numbs your corneas with eye drops so your don't feel it when he cuts them. Either him or an associate, places a metal object in your eyes that stretches the daylights out of the eyelids and has the potential for causing nerve and goblet cell damage. Your goblet cells make proteins that keep your eyes lubricated.

Then the Lasik surgeon applies a huge amount of suction to your eyes to pull up floaters and potentially damage your retinas and optic nerves.

In addition to that, the surgeon severs your corneal nerves with a knife that often leaves metal debris behind in your eyes for the rest of your life. You'll have permenant nerve loss as a result.

Did you know that the human cornea has more nerve endings than any other part of your body? Do you know what happens when you have Lasik? The Lasik surgeon cuts about 80 percent of those nerve endings and you'll never have the same concentration of nerve endings you once did before surgery.

Guess what else this means? If you don't have dry eye immediately after surgery, you will undoubtedly have it at some point down the road, guaranteed. This happens because the nerve endings his severs provide communication and sensitivity so the eye knows when and how to lubricate itself. Once that communication channel is cut, it never returns. Then dry eye sets in.

You'll loose about 1/3 of your corneal strength too. What does this mean? It means that your corneal strength is greatly reduced and you could end up down the road with a condition known as ecstasia or the forward bulging of your cornea. If this happens to you, be prepared for a corneal transplant.

Lasik surgeons don't tell their patients these things because they know that if they told the truth about Lasik, that anyone in his or her right mind would run screaming from the Lasik surgeon.

I know these things to be true because I had Lasik on one of my eyes a number of years ago and I now have nothing but trouble with the eye; it never stops. The eye that had Lasik is now more sensitive to light, wind, heat, cold and barometric pressure changes than it ever was. The eye doesn't look the same and I have trouble with the pupil of the treated eye varying in size from that of the untreated eye.

I never knew any of these things until I did research on my own because of the trouble I've been having. I naively believed what the Lasik surgeon told me because I trusted him. My life is now forever changed, but not for the better. I have pain in my eye right now as I'm typing this. The other eye is fine because it didn't have Lasik.

My best advice to ANYONE considering Lasik; "DON'T DO IT!" It's not worth it. Wear your glasses. When you need a correction to your glasses, you can take them off. You can't do that with Lasik however and each time you need another correction, your corneas become more damaged and weaker. At any time (post Lasik), even years after the surgery, you run the risk of a detached corneal flap if you're heavy into sports or any activity that places undue stress to the surface of the corneas.

I'd estimate that about 99 percent of Lasik surgeons won't tell you the truth about Lasik because if everyone knew the truth, nobody would do it. Everything I've said here is quite true, so don't waste your time asking a Lasik surgeon about what I've said here; he or she won't tell you the truth anyway; it's not conducive to making money you know. They'll even try to paint you as irrational. So don't waste your time. Just take my advice and forget about ANY type of refractive surgery; they're all damaging to the cornea and not worth it.

Lied-To Lasik Patient - NJ

[LasikExpert]

To All Those Who Are Considering Lasik; Don't Do It. Lasik, Lasek or any other form of refractive surgery is extremely damaging to the human cornea.

It may be helpful for readers to learn of the specific difficulties fast586 has had after Lasik for hyperopia (farsighted, longsighted) vision in 2003. Visit fast586 Thread

I will attempt to respond to some of the concerns fast586 has raised. Throughout this discussion it is important for the reader to keep in mind that the possibility of a problem is not the same as the probability of a problem. There are a gazillion things that can harm you every day, but we reasonably expect to get through the day without mishap.

Another important issue to consider is that a defect in the eye does not always equate to diminished vision quality. Some problems are sub-clinical – that is they do not actually affect vision.

I will reference the USAEyes Competence Opinion Relative to Expectation (CORE) patient survey. This is a comprehensive survey of patients who have had various types of vision correction surgery. A summary of the USAEyes CORE survey or a PowerPoint presentation made to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Here's a few facts for you that I bet you don't know:

It is extremely important that each patient do his or her own due diligence to learn as much as necessary about the unique issues that relate to his or her own vision correction surgery proposed treatment. We provided information here, but there are many other resources available including other medical websites; patient websites; and, of course, a competent physician who has performed a comprehensive examination.

The first thing the Lasik surgeon does is prep you; he numbs your corneas with eye drops so your don't feel it when he cuts them. Either him or an associate, places a metal object in your eyes that stretches the daylights out of the eyelids and has the potential for causing nerve and goblet cell damage. Your goblet cells make proteins that keep your eyes lubricated.

Epithelial goblet cells are scattered throughout the epithelium, which is the soft pliable outermost layer of cells of the cornea (clear front of the eye) that are the fastest reproducing cells in the human body. Goblet cells secret mucus.

The eye lid speculum is used to keep the eyes open during surgery. This is an absolute necessity. You don’t want to laser your closed eye lids. The probability of the speculum causing problematic or long-term damage to the epithelium and its goblet cells is virtually nil, but not impossible.

The eye lid speculum can bruise the orbit (area around the eye), but this is rare. Bruising may cause inflammation that could reduce the flow of the liquids that comprise tears. Inflammation commonly resolves with treatment and healing.

There is one case report of two patients who experienced cheek numbness, tingling, or pain and at the time the eye lid speculum was positioned. This was attributed to infraorbital nerve dysfunction caused by the speculum One patient’s symptoms persisted for eight months, the other for one year. Speculum induced infraorbital nerve dysfunction is not quantified as a common or even uncommon Lasik related complication, however the case reports affirms it is possible.

Then the Lasik surgeon applies a huge amount of suction to your eyes to pull up floaters and potentially damage your retinas and optic nerves.

The first step of Lasik is to create a thin flap of corneal tissue. This is accomplished with a laser or conventional microkeratome. The microkeratome is affixed to the eye with suction.

The suction of the microkeratome raises the pressure inside the eye (intraocular pressure or IOP) for the short time it is affixed. This will cause vision to go dark or black out. Although increased IOP for an extended period of time can cause optic nerve damage, the amount of increased IOP and the duration of this IOP increase does not cause long-term damage to a healthy eye.

Floaters are small bits of the inner tissue of the eye that float in the clear jelly-like vitreous that fills the large chamber of the eye behind the natural lens. Floaters occur naturally, but can also be disrupted, repositioned, or even dislodged during the application of the microkeratome.

Problematic floaters after Lasik are relatively rare, but can be a nuisance. Whether formed naturally or exacerbated by Lasik, the brain commonly learns to ignore floaters along with the many and varied irregularities within human optics. As an example of the brain’s ability to ignore imperfections, all humans have a blind spot. It is actually rather large, but we don’t “see” it because the brain has learned to ignore it.

A key issue regarding elevated IOP and floaters is starting with a healthy eye. People who are extremely myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted) have a higher risk of floaters, retina, and vitreous issues. People with a history of retina problems are at an elevated risk for problems after Lasik. A competent doctor will examine the inner portions of the eye for signs of trouble and will send a high risk patient to a retina vitreous specialist for evaluation before Lasik.

If elevated IOP is a concern, a patient may elect to have a surface ablation technique such as PRK or LASEK. These do not use a microkeratome.

In addition to that, the surgeon severs your corneal nerves with a knife that often leaves metal debris behind in your eyes for the rest of your life. You'll have permenant nerve loss as a result.

This is one of those sub-clinical issues. Debris, including microscopic metal molecules, may remain at the interface of the Lasik flap, but if it does not affect vision quality it is likely not an issue for concern.

A personal example of sub-clinical metal issues is my late father. He worked around metals most of his life. At one point he needed an MRI, but upon prior examination it was determined that there were so many metal fragments in his corneas that the high magnetism of a MRI may cause serious damage. Despite all this debris, his vision was a clear 20/20 (corrected for myopia).

If debris is under the Lasik flap, the flap can be lifted, flushed, and the flap repositioned.

Did you know that the human cornea has more nerve endings than any other part of your body? Do you know what happens when you have Lasik? The Lasik surgeon cuts about 80 percent of those nerve endings and you'll never have the same concentration of nerve endings you once did before surgery.

Creation of the Lasik flap; and the laser reshaping of the eye, for that matter; are going to disrupt tissue including corneal nerve cells. A metal surgical blade would be used with a mechanical microkeratome, but a laser may also create the Lasik flap.

Although the corneal nerves are severed, corneal nerve density returns to preoperative levels after about three years for surface ablation techniques like PRK, LASEK, and Epi-Lasik, and after about five years for Lasik.

Of course what really matters is the return of corneal sensitivity. Regardless of the nerve cell density, it is the sensitivity that provides appropriate function. Although corneal nerve sensitivity may be slightly diminished after vision correction surgery, functional sensitivity commonly returns within weeks to a few months.

Guess what else this means? If you don't have dry eye immediately after surgery, you will undoubtedly have it at some point down the road, guaranteed. This happens because the nerve endings his severs provide communication and sensitivity so the eye knows when and how to lubricate itself. Once that communication channel is cut, it never returns. Then dry eye sets in.

As explained above, the communication relative to eye lubrication does return.

Dry eye after Lasik is not guaranteed. It is the most commonly mentioned complication after six months according to the USAEyes CORE survey, but of all patients surveyed, 7% said they had a complication that was seldom problematic, and of that 7%, 91% said they would have the surgery again. Of the same patients surveyed, 2% said they had a complication that was frequently or always problematic, and of that 2%, 22% said they would have the surgery again. This includes all complications, not just dry eye.

You'll loose about 1/3 of your corneal strength too. What does this mean? It means that your corneal strength is greatly reduced and you could end up down the road with a condition known as ecstasia or the forward bulging of your cornea. If this happens to you, be prepared for a corneal transplant.

The statement that one loses 1/3rd of your corneal strength after Lasik is inaccurate or, at the very least, incomplete. About six decades of studies and practical application has determined that if at least 250 microns of corneal tissue remains untouched on a health cornea, the cornea will remain stable. More untouched tissue is always better, but 250 is the generally agreed minimum. Even if 1/3 of the cornea is disrupted by the Lasik flap and the removal of tissue to reshape the cornea, so long as enough tissue remains untouched, the cornea will remain stable.

Of course there are always outliers. There are people with more than 250 microns of untouched cornea that have had problems, and there are people with less than 250 microns of untouched cornea who have not had problems...but you don’t want to expect stability below 250 microns even if it has occurred.

Lasik surgeons don't tell their patients these things because they know that if they told the truth about Lasik, that anyone in his or her right mind would run screaming from the Lasik surgeon.

This seems to be an opinion more than a stated fact. Reasonable people can disagree with opinions. Even if a person’s Lasik surgeon does not tell a patient the actual facts above, we just have. The information is available.

I know these things to be true because I had Lasik on one of my eyes a number of years ago and I now have nothing but trouble with the eye; it never stops. The eye that had Lasik is now more sensitive to light, wind, heat, cold and barometric pressure changes than it ever was. The eye doesn't look the same and I have trouble with the pupil of the treated eye varying in size from that of the untreated eye.

I never knew any of these things until I did research on my own because of the trouble I've been having. I naively believed what the Lasik surgeon told me because I trusted him. My life is now forever changed, but not for the better. I have pain in my eye right now as I'm typing this. The other eye is fine because it didn't have Lasik.

Lasik is surgery and every surgery has potential complications. Just because Lasik complications are relatively rare, they are 100% if you have them. Just because Lasik complications are relatively rare, one must accept that they do exist and consider what fast586 has to say about his/her own Lasik outcome. Don’t dismiss real negative results with an “it won’t happen to me” attitude. Even if the probability is low, the possibility exists.

My best advice to ANYONE considering Lasik; "DON'T DO IT!" It's not worth it. Wear your glasses. When you need a correction to your glasses, you can take them off. You can't do that with Lasik however and each time you need another correction, your corneas become more damaged and weaker. At any time (post Lasik), even years after the surgery, you run the risk of a detached cornea if your heavy into sports or any activity that places undue stress to the surface of the corneas.

I believe fast586 is not referring to a detached cornea, but is referring to a dislodged Lasik flap. It is true that enough or the right kind of trauma can dislodge a Lasik flap. The flap may be able to be repositioned, but not in every case. If this is an issue of concern or if a person is involved in contact sports, the alternatives of PRK, LASEK, and Epi-Lasik do not use a Lasik flap. Even if the probability of a Lasik flap complication of any kind and at any time is relatively low, no Lasik flap means no possibility of a Lasik flap complication. No possibility is almost always better than a low probability.

I'd estimate that about 99 percent of Lasik surgeons won't tell you the truth about Lasik because if everyone knew the truth, nobody would do it. Everything I've said here is quite true, so don't waste your time asking a Lasik surgeon about what I've said here; he or she won't tell you the truth anyway; it's not conducive to making money you know. They'll even try to paint you as irrational. So don't waste your time. Just take my advice and forget about ANY type of refractive surgery; they're all damaging to the cornea and not worth it.

I don’t believe it is irrational to think long and hard about any elective surgery and to get multiple opinions from multiple sources before making a decision. In fact, that’s the most rational thing a patient can do.

Lied-To Lasik Patient - NJ

Whether anyone believes fast586 was lied to or not, what is important is to recognize and understand that this is what fast586 believes. This is not only concerning for fast586, but shows a clear breakdown between the patient and his/her healthcare providers. That kind of situation makes any sort of resolution difficult, if not impossible.

I am sorry to read of your long suffered difficulties fast586. I sincerely hope you can find a provider you trust who will properly advise you on what steps may resolve or reduce your difficulties.

[fast586]

I can appreciate what you're saying Mr. Hagele but Your feeback doesn't surprise me, in fact it's quite typical of the same response a Lasik surgeon would give. Remember what I said about Lasik surgeons trying to paint their post Lasik patients as irrationional? Here is your closing response: "Whether anyone believes fast586 was lied to or not, what is important is to recognize and understand that this is what fast586 believes". Geez you know, that sounds an awful lot like you trying to paint me as irrational.

Well, here's some more information that you might not be aware of and that the readers of this forum may find disturbing. My surgery was performed by one of your USA Eyes Certified surgeons. That's right. He's right in your directory. So you'll forgive me if your certification doesn't hold much weight with me at this point.

I'm sorry but I also failed to mention in my previous post, the fact that my information came from an actual ex-Lasik surgeon who decided to stop doing what he was doing because he knew it was wrong; he admitted it. He just couldn't live with what he was doing anymore. His conscience got the best of him and he did the right thing and got out of Lasik surgery all together. Everything I found out from him makes perfect sense because it happened to me just like he said happens to all those who have Lasik performed on their eyes. I don't need any further proof.

Let me give you an example folks. I only had Lasik performed on my right eye; the other eye is untouched so because of this, I have a guage from which to measure my claims. The right eye is now super-sensitive to things like hot and cold air flow, touch and barometric pressure changes. The right eye can no longer adjust to barometric pressure changes like the left eye can. Ever hear someone complain of pain from a previously broken limb during bad or cold weather? That's what my right eye is like now. I can feel when bad weather is approaching; the eye becomes more sensitve and includes the accompanying pain. It all has to do with the outside (barometric) pressure and the weakness my right eye now has as a result of Lasik surgery. Even without the weather changing, I have some level of pain in the right eye every day; it never goes away. I never had ANY of these problems before Lasik.

Don't stop reading yet, there's more. Keep in mind that I have NO trouble with my left (untouched) eye. I can no longer read for hours on end like I could BEFORE Lasik when I simply wore reading glasses. The right eye now becomes fatigued and I have to take frequent rest breaks. In addition, the right eye no longer looks the same either and I was told it would, by the Lasik surgeon. I can see the difference but it's hard to explain. I only know that it no longer matches the left eye. The surface of the cornea no longer looks the same; it's now contantly glassy in appearance, probably because the level of lubrication is not the same anymore. I can see the difference because I know my eyes better than any Lasik surgeon does. I should, they've been in my head for over 51 years now.

Much of the time it feels like I have a foreign body sensation in my right eye. I also have intermittent anasecoria (difference in pupil sizes) between my left and right eye. For whatever reason, the pupil of the right eye will change in size from that of the left eye. I only know that this condition was not present prior to Lasik.

I just thank God that I didn't have my left eye done like the Lasik surgeon wanted to do. It's up to you folks; you can take my word for it, or not but everything I'm telling you is the truth. My problems all started with Lasik. So the Lasik surgeon can't lie about it because I have one untouched eye as proof.

I'm hoping folks who read this now think long and hard before considering Lasik for vision correction. Lasik is extremely dangerous and damaging to human corneas. My voice is an honest voice and only serves to help protect others from facts that would otherwise be hidden.

The possibility of having a flap dislocated or even amputated by a sports injury or any other mishap is enough in itself to scare the dickens out of anyone ever considering Lasik. The same Lasik surgeon who performed my surgery also performed surgery on pro football players and folks who engage in the marshall arts; all very risky if you're considering Lasik but that didn't seem to matter to him. God knows if he made them aware of the risk they were about to undertake. The fact remains however and I know it to be true, that once Lasik is performed on your corneas, they will be permanently weakened for life. This is all common knowledge folks and can be found in many places on the Internet. Let Google be your friend.

Lastly, If Lasik is a totally honest and ethical procedure, then why don't Lasik surgeons tell you these things up-front? Why do they have everyone sign a legal release before the surgery? Does a heart surgeon make you do that-NO. A heart surgeon has you sign papers but they're not for the same purpose a Lasik surgeon has you sign them for. I had rhinoplasty in 1985 to correct a nasal deformity known as a deviated septum. Rhinoplasty is also quite risky because it involves the sinuses and facial nerves. The surgeon never asked me to sign a release for that either. So it's up to you to draw your own conclusions folks.

If you don't believe ME folks, go ahead and do a search on google for "the dangers of lasik" and see what you find. I can guarantee you'll find things you never imagined about the things Lasik does to your eyes.

fast586