Sad story of a low myope who traded up for reading glasses.

Having worn glasses for 30 years, I was eager to shed the glasses and having spoken with many people who have had Lasik, I finally made the decision myself. I would now pay considerable sums of money to reverse what I have done.

I walked into the Lasik OR with very good corrected vision. While I needed glasses for distance and had made the permanent move to bifocals, I was able to do everything I wanted to do. I walked out of the Lasik OR with overall worse vision and will, I fear, be making adjustments for the rest of my life to accommodate the surgery. My uncorrected distance vision is good right now. I can see things afar and drive without need for any glasses. There are times when I will appreciate being able to do things without glasses. However, my near vision has been virtually destroyed. I need reading glasses to eat my meals, unless I want to look at an unrecognizable plate of fuzzy food. Working in front of a computer and at my desk, I must appear like I am a bird constantly bobbing my head to be able to read things somewhat in focus. I have pairs of reading glasses all over the place. I had to change from a combination lock at the gym because I couldn’t read the numbers. I had to give up a digital watch because I couldn’t get my arm far enough away to read the time. My fears going into the procedure were the possiblity of dry eyes, halos and star bursts – problems I was assured were remote and likely to lessen with time. While my Dr. noted that at my age I would need reading glasses, I was never advised that the procedure would actually destroy my near vision.

Lasik is essentially a cosmetic procedure that helps people avoid the inconvenience and challenges in having to use glasses or contacts. Having Lasik doesn’t necessarily eliminate those challenges and, in my case, made them much more severe. The procedure is not cheap and having to deal with the potential complications makes the cost prohibitive. Anyone considering Lasik is well advised to ask how their vision could possibly be compromised. No matter what the risk factor is, you do not want to be the one dealing with complications. Search for “Lasik regrets” on the Internet and you will get past many of the websites from Lasik facilities touting their expensive procedures and actually get to read the rather depressing stories of people who paid to harm themselves.