Laser Eye Surgery and Jumping

[popsjumper 2]

Question:
Is there a chart or spreadsheet somewhere that does a side-by-side comparison of all the options?

I'm reading all sorts of stuff, maybe too much, and it's become quite confusing as to which procedure does what and what short- and long-term effects are common, etc.

Geez...

I want to have something done but I have problems with flaps, needing reading glasses, short- vs long-term healing, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum.

Just FYI...I'm over 50, very nearsighted, reading quite well without glasses and actively skydiving.

I don't want to spend a lot of time in the healing process and I do NOT want to have to read with glasses of any type and the short-term pain factor is not an issue whereas a long-term pain would be.

I do NOT want contacts...just gives me the heebie-jeebies putting something in my eye and then there's the "losing them" issue...such a pain-in-the ass.

(geez, I use a lot of hyphens/dashes don't I?)

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[phoenixlpr 0]

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Just FYI...I'm over 50, very nearsighted, reading quite well without glasses and actively skydiving.

I'm not a doctor. I don't think that eye surgery is for you.

[peregrinerose 0]

LOL!!! Damn, you want it all It sounds like just wearing glasses for distance (or bifocals) is probably the only option that is even remotely palatable for you.

You could do monovision refractive surgery, one eye distance and one near. I don't recommend that though since it screws with your depth perception.

If you were willing to deal with the contact phobia, there are bifocal contacts that can be worn up to 30 days non stop (though I recommend leaving them out at least 2 x a week).

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[Yossarian 0]

i saw loads of people getting it done who were in their 40's. just go for consultations with them, (some do that for free) and they'll say if your suitable. it was definately more painful than they said it would be, and just freakishly weird (suction cup on my eyeball etc), but id reccomend the end result to anyone whos thinking about it. i still cant believe its real

[phoenixlpr 0]

I had a PRK 2 years ago.......

[DougH 270]

I just lost my goggles and eyeglasses yesterday. They stayed on for the whole jump, changed head position to track, and poof gone.

If I keep doing that this is going to seem like a cheap alternative.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[inextremis 0]

I had Lasik at 47 yrs. old. A month later I was in Iraq (April 2003, remember those dust storms?) God bless Oakleys. Within a year I was back in the air and had my goggles blow off twice--just squinted, no big deal. Had chosen the flap business over PRK at the recommendation of a skydiving physician. Went thru Military Freefall School(HALO) in late 2004--no problems--left the tailgate of a CASA with goggles on helmet--oops--but no big deal. It's great not to have to screw with glasses. Great surgical technology. Follow your Dr.s recommendations.

[popsjumper 2]

Yes! I want it ALL!!!!

Bifocals are out...totally out. It's an admission that you are getting old and I'm just not there yet.


What I'd settle for is:
-No flap to deal with. (if you knew my luck, you would understand why
-No requirement for reading glasses
-Short-term pain
-Short- to medium-term recovery

Simple enough, eh? Is that really too much to ask for?

Should I just stick with the glasses which are simply a royal pain? Hell, I see well enough to land without the suckers but I feel much more comfortable being able to see well. Running around without the glasses makes it seem like my world shrinks waaaaay down. But then on the other hand, there's something to be said for oblivion in some cases, eh?

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[kelpdiver 2]

laser eye surgery fixes near sightedness. Reading glasses fix a different problem - your inability to focus in near vision as the cornea gets thicker with time. If anything, LASIK will make it worse. For me, it's worth not wearing glasses outdoors for the day when I'll need them indoors anyway. (My mom has been dealing with progressives since her mid 40s)

At 28 I found Lasik pretty low on the pain levels, and most of the discomfort was gone after the first day. And I had it worse than 'normal' - my eyes teared shut about 2 hours after, leaving me nearly blind on a subway in a foreign city (wee!). Eating dinner (hot soup) without looking was interesting as well. But by the next day, it was just dry eyes that I wanted to rub.

[Yossarian 0]

my eyes teared completely shut for around 5 hrs, but they hadnt told me to expect that so it was a bit worrying, and for my right eye they didny put enough anasthaetic in so i could feel a very sharp burning, and coupled with the smell that made it very hard to keep still, now i just find myself wanting to rub them all the time but thats decreasing almost by the hour. they didnt tell me to expect bleeding from the eye either so that was sort of worrying the next day as well, but apparently its perfectly normal

[LukeOliver 0]

I had LASIK about 8 years ago, after 24 years of spectacles.

Reduced to a choice between skydiving and LASIK, I'd take the eye surgery.

Also the weirdest experience of my life.

[peregrinerose 0]

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your inability to focus in near vision as the cornea gets thicker with time.

Presbyopia isn't related to corneal thickness

Assuming your eyes are in perfect focus at distance with the glasses/contacts/lucky bastards who see clearly uncorrected, the lens system of the eye must change shape to change to a near focus point. Just like changing the focus point of a camera by changing lens placement. The cornea is not a dynamic part of the eye. It's actually the lens inside the eye that changes shape due to the movement of the ciliary muscle.

Unfortunately, with the accumulation of birthdays, the lens of the eye becomes less pliable, so no matter how much that muscle contracts, the lens will not change shape, and thus focus point will not change from distance to near.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[peregrinerose 0]

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What I'd settle for is:
-No flap to deal with. (if you knew my luck, you would understand why
-No requirement for reading glasses
-Short-term pain
-Short- to medium-term recovery

Do you happen to know what your distance prescription is? Just curious on that one.

If you want to see well at distance post-op, it will eliminate your reading vision.... just like putting glasses on eliminates your reading vision through the glasses. That's where the readers come in.

You could have one eye surgically set for distance and one for near. Eliminates glasses in most situations, but screws up depth perception. I don't let anyone even consider this surgically until they have tried it in real life with contact lenses first to ensure that they can adapt to the disparity in vision.

Honestly, I'd seriously think about contact lenses... you would get everything you want from bifocal contact lenses. Now don't get all spastic about the 'B' word there It doesn't work like bifocal glasses. With bifocal contacts, the center part of the lens is where the reading script is. Since your pupils constrict when you look up close, your eye is automatically in the reading part of the lens. When you look far away, your pupil is bigger, so that puts you in the distance part of the lens. There is no adaptation time to this.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[kelpdiver 2]

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Presbyopia isn't related to corneal thickness

Unfortunately, with the accumulation of birthdays, the lens of the eye becomes less pliable, .

sorry, lens thickness then.

Same result applies.