LASIK: What Men Should Know

June 18, 2010, By R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen 7 comments

LASIK is a type of surgery performed to help decrease a person's dependence on contact lenses or eyeglasses. Men already have a lot on their plate, and heading to the eye doctor several times a year to get their contacts changed just takes time away from their families, jobs and other responsibilities. LASIK can change all that. LASIK is not for everyone, but it can have a positive impact on many men's lives.

What Does LASIK Do?

In short, a laser tool actually changes the shape of the cornea. (The cornea is the clear covering that covers the front of the eye.) By doing this, it can correct your bad vision and eliminate your need for any type of eyeglasses or contact lenses. LASIK can be used to correct hyperopia (farsightedness), myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism (corneal irregularities that cause image-on-retina distortion).

How is LASIK Performed?

LASIK is actually a pretty complicated procedure. Most people assume they will go into their eye doctor's office, have a laser beam whisked across both eyes, wear some dark glasses for a day and wake up with great vision. Unfortunately it's not that simple.

To begin, a laser device (laser keratome) or blade device (mechanical microkeratome) is used on the cornea to cut a flap. At one end of the flap, a hinge is left. The middle section of the cornea, the stroma, is then revealed when the flap is folded back. A computer-controlled laser sends pulses to the stroma to vaporize a portion of it. Then, the flap is dropped back into place. There is more than one LASIK technique, but this is the gist of what will happen to your eye. It sounds a tad painful, but you will have numbing eyedrops that ensure you won't feel a thing. The procedure is quite quick, too.

Who is LASIK For?

If you are healthy and pass the presurgical evaluation, LASIK is for you. All states require patients to be at least 18, and some require patients be at least 21. Your prescription must be stable. This is one of the reasons for doctors having age requirements -- our eyes tend not to settle down until we are in our 20s.

You will also have to be relatively healthy and not have any medical conditions that prevent your body from healing normally. Also, your prescription must be within a certain range. For example, if you have severe myopia, this procedure cannot be done because too much corneal tissue will have to be removed. If this is the case, talk to your eye doctor because there are other alternatives.

Who Should Not Have LASIK?

First, you need to be willing to take the risk. This is a surgery, and like all surgeries, complications can occur. Also, long-term data for certain LASIK procedures is not available, meaning this can sometimes be a gamble.

If you cannot afford LASIK, most insurance companies will not pay for it. According to AllAboutVision.com, the average cost of all LASIK and other vision correction procedures that are laser based was $2,140 in early 2009.

If you participate in sports in which your eyes occasionally take hits (e.g., boxing), this surgery is not for you. Certain eye conditions may exclude you from being eligible; talk to your doctor before having LASIK if you have blepharitis, thin corneas, dry eyes, large pupils or have had a previous refractive surgery. Other medical conditions may also exclude you from having this surgery: herpes zoster or herpes simplex affecting the eye, any eye disease such as keratoconus, glaucoma, ocular hypertension, previous eye surgeries or eye injuries.

Advantages and Disadvantages of LASIK

The biggest advantage is that your sight will improve very quickly, meaning your glasses or contacts can be tossed to the wayside. LASIK has a very quick recovery time; most patients experience an average of 80 percent better acuity in just 24 hours.

One disadvantage is if your eye problem was misdiagnosed prior to having this surgery, your vision will not improve and you can experience debilitating visual symptoms that are permanent. These include halos, glare and double vision. You can also develop dry eye syndrome after LASIK. Not everyone will be able to go completely without some type of corrective lenses after this procedure; some will need to resort to eyeglasses as they age.

Weigh the risks against the rewards, talk it over with your family, then decide if LASIK is the right move for you.

Comments (7):

Susan L. Just as a by the way: I had LASIK. First it was great! I passed the driver's license renewal and for the first time in my life, there was no L on the license. The doctor warned me I wouldn't have 20/20 vision and there would be halos around lights at night,and she was right, but it was still great. Now, five years and four grand later, I need glasses. I need them to drive, I need them to watch TV, I need them to go to the movies or a show. Really, I should wear them all the time, but the whole point of getting the LASIK was not to have to wear glasses. In all honesty, I have to say my eye sight is still much better than before the LASIK, but I'm finding that I am not alone in this--four or five other people I know, after five years or so are having to get glasses again. Just a warning. - 05/23/2011

Shawn D. A lifelong myopic, I had Lasik when I was about 60. It was marvelous. I went for the type where the less dominant eye is undercorredted, so that reading glasses are not necessary. Just to check on the viability of this, I tried out a pair of regular glasses, with one undercorrected lens for a week or so. (Some hassle getting an optometrist to agree to this!). It was tolerable, and got so much better after awhile that I didn't notice it. Major caveat: once having lasik, later cataract surgery was a problem: I assumed what everyone was saying, that my developing haloes, etc. were from incipient cataracts, (which an opthamologist agreed with), but it turned out not to be so. He later told me that the lasik math, etc. had not been perfected yet... Look out! But I still think it was worth it. 90% vision without glasses is better than 100% with them. - 05/12/2011

J J. I had LASIK surgery done in the country where it was invented, in Colombia. It only cost me $750 for both eyes and the staff was very professional. I highly recommend getting it done there. - 04/07/2011

Dax X. It would be worthwhile looking into a nonsurgical alternative to Lasik, namely, Ortho-keratology(OK)). Lasik is irreversible and is seldom efficacious. In Boston, Mass., Dr.Paddy Kalish, an Optometric Physician, specializes in Ortho-keratology. - 12/07/2010

Lasi Ked M. I had LASIK done that has left me with permanent damage. To begin with, my vision had not become stable but the director of the center told me that a 0.25 difference is within the margin of error. Secondly, one of the lens of the LASIK machine had a smear on it and when I told the assistant about it she did not pass on this information to the surgeon. She seemed to bear an anti-Muslim sentiment. Third, the surgeon told me to look "above the red dot" and so I did throughout the procedure, and he told me to do the same for the other eye. Then when he completed one eye, the assistant place a cloth on my eye while I had it open. Even with the anesthesia, I could feel the cloth scrape my eye. Then for the second eye I continued looking above the red dot throughout the procedure. Later I found out that I was supposed to be looking at the red dot, not above it! The next day at the follow up visit I could not read the chart clearly, and there was double vision in the first operated eye that lasts to this day. When I told the surgeon what had happened, he did not deny it and said that he'll make it right, giving me a golf analogy that I found to be rather disturbing. His plan was to knock open a gap in the flap using blunt force, peel open the flap, make me walk to another room with flag dangling, undergo the Lasik again, and then he'll smooth over the flap. In a few weeks the flap will heal itself! I chose not to undergo the corrective surgery and I hope that Allah will compensate me in the hereafter for my loss. My advice is to wait until your vision is completely stable, then choose a surgeon who has experience but is not too old, make sure you know what the surgeon's plan is for setting the lasik machine (they override the machine's recommendation sometimes to guess how the eye will heal), make sure you stop going any further if you notice something wrong with the machine such as a smeared lens! don't look above the red dot, rather look at it, hold very still, make sure no one puts a cloth over your open eye, keep those sunglasses on, and rest well for the next few weeks. - 09/20/2010

Michelle W. My father had LASIK surgery in one eye due to his age (the doctor warned that he'd need reading glasses if they corrected both eyes). The results have been amazing: a man who needed glasses most of his adult life has been able to enjoy so much that was formerly lost to him. Obviously, all patients are different, but for this one and his family, the surgery has been a Godsend. - 09/02/2010

Vicki H. One alternative to LASIK is Intacts -- a similar surgical procedure that places a tiny ring into the cornea that changes its shape. Intacts cost as much as LASIK but if there's a complication, can be removed, whereas with LASIK once you've taken the tissue out, it's out for good. Its disadvantage is it is not for those with severe myopia -- only up to -3 (at -6 I, sadly, cannot be a candidate). - 08/25/2010