There is an interesting post in the forum today, from a new student. He signed up, giving this a shot, while also thinking about getting laser surgery for his high myopia.
I always get the trying-to-talk-you-off-the-ledge feeling, when I get this question.
From years and years and many, many first hand accounts from laser surgery patients who later came to me, I have strong opinions about LASIK and related procedures. Yes, in some cases, low myopia in particular, it’s worked out fine. But a whole lot of the stories I hear, over and over, are ones of regret over having gotten surgery.
Laser surgery is irreversible.
Your myopia is caused by the wrong sort of stimulus. Your eyes are fine. I want to shout it from roof tops, and vandalize all the LASIK ads with #endmyopia links. You’re being sold another treatment by the very same guys who got you into this myopia spiral in the first place.
Listening to those guys, again, is going to get you the exact same results as always. Yes, instant improved vision, and you’ll be paying for that, yet again, later.
I wish I had a better way with words, sometimes.
Here’s my forum response to Max, who is fortunate enough to have found this resource, before heading for surgery:
Laser surgery is a lot like getting lipo suction and continuing to eat lots of pizza and sitting on the couch. The cause of the condition remains unaddressed, and the symptom is quite likely to return. In particular with high myopia, since there is possibly a genetic component and/or habits that contributed to all that focal plane change in the first place.
The other problem is that your eyeball is elongated. Your retina is not part of the eyeball, rather attached to it. That attachment tends to become unstable over time, leading to lattice degeneration and possibly retinal detachment. Especially as we get older the risk increases, by several hundred percent over a low myopia equivalent.
And then there’s the surgery itself. the FDA admits that laser has a very high incidence of side effects: https://endmyopia.org/laser-eye-surgery-are-you-putting-your-eyes-at-risk/
All this, to say your instinct to try this first, is a wise choice. Once you get some first hand experience with improvements, you’ll know what’s possible. While the surgery alternative may seem tempting, it’s another quick fix, just like the glasses were – and as you know from that experience already, there is a long term price for every shortcut.
AS for glasses, agreed with James & Steve.
Contact lenses can be a budget friendly alternative, especially with high myopia and in particular in the beginning, when you’re likely to be making more changes and reductions. Downside is the potential for dry eyes when using contact lenses extensively with close-up activities.
Interesting contributions on that thread, in the forum. If you have access, stop over and take a look.
As for LASIK … it’s like being in an abusive relationship, with optometry.
They sold you glasses for years, and your eyes kept getting worse. Now they’re trying to sell you another quick fix. And yes, nothing is going to change, they are going to keep making you worse with their “treatments”. This time will be no different from all those other times you trusted them. It’ll seem all better for a moment after the surgery, and then you’ll spend a long time regretting it, later.
Max is lucky. Two months, he’ll have experienced first hands that his eyes aren’t actually broken, and that he can affect his eyesight with proper stimulus.
And you, reading this. You too, know better. And if I was better at Web stuff and video stuff, spending more money on ads, then more people would come across this resource, and they too would know better.
But I’m just making baby eating carrot videos. And terribly lit, yikes-fully produced ramblings:
Talk somebody out of LASIK. They’ll thank you at some point, sooner or later. ;-)
Cheers,
-Jake
