I am considering lasik surgery for my astigmatism. My vision beyond arm's length is 20/15. But up close, blur.
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It sounds weird saying this, but you should listen to daffy duck :)
He's right if you are over the age of 35 and feel like "your arms aren't long enough" and this condition has just started in the past few years (meaning you haven't been wearing glasses since you were a kid or a teen) you most likely have a classic case of Presbyopia, and sorry, but it's Latin for "old eyes" ouch.
The only thing I would like to add, is there is also a procedure called CK (conductive keratoplasty). But that has not been effective as a permanent fix yet.
I would say wait. Just like the other girl who answered and said she had RK...that's VERY outdated and you would be hard-pressed to find any surgeon who would do that treatment... when it comes to refractive eye surgery or any elective procedure for that matter, it's not as cool as it would seem to be the first person to do it. It's like buying a car. Don't get the first person to buy the new car and don't be the first to get eye surgery.
I'd say wait, they will make a good, permanent fix any day now.
I don't know about lasik surgery. I do know "nothing ventured nothing gained." Good luck
Give it a go, a friend of mine had the surgery and he said that he noticed a difference even after 4 days, he is 43 and does not have to wear glasses at all. I have astigmatism as well and am seriously contemplating getting it done, its very affordable now. goodluck. imagine not having to wear glasses anymore.
I had radial keratotomy. That was before lasik. They actually made 8 cuts on my cornea. Anyway, that was for nearsightedness. You are farsighted. They can fix that as well as astigmatism. Find a good opthamologist that's done at least 100 surgeries for farsightedness. Have a consultation, and ask him if you'll be able to see without glasses after the surgery. By the way, I see 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other. No glasses. Good luck!
You know, I've worn glasses now for about 15 years, and I too would LOVE to not have to. And I also investigated the risks of lasik surgery, and decided against it. It seems that the risks are a) too numerous and b) too unpredictable for poor outcomes in what industry experts admit occurs in 1-5% of patients. The killer risk for me was that this procedure could potentially result in permanent blindness (see "sad story" below). Frankly, since the industry admits to a 5% problem factor, I'm putting my money on a much higher figure. And so, I decided that I would prefer to have SOME vision and avoid the risk of having NO vision.
I know this sounds dramatic, but, go ahead and do your own investigation and see if you agree with me.
You, on the other hand, need to evaluate whether you are a good candidate for this elective procedure or not, and decide for yourself if this really is a risk you are willing to assume. Here's a web page I recommend that you start with:
http://www.mamashealth.com/eye/lasik.asp...
If you have clear vision at distance and blurred vision at near, this would point more to PRESBYOPIA than astigmatism. These two conditions however can co-exist in a single person and a single eye, but from your question details, it seems your are actually more concerned about the problems caused by your PRESBYOPIA (which is what your reading glasses correct).
LASIK (Laser in situ Keratomileusis) was first designed for MYOPIA and was FDA approved first for myopia and astigmatism. In recent years it was approved for hyperopia and if memory serves me right LASIK for PRESBYOPIA was FDA approved sometime in late 2005 or early 2006.
Experience with LASIK with myopics, hyperopics and patients with astigmatism is fairly voluminous. LASIK works quite well with these conditions. However, it is my opinion that LASIK doesn't do so well with prebyopia, simply because we don’t have as much experience with it yet. But I have spoken with a few of those who have had it done, and they seem to be satisfied with it.
What you HAVE TO KNOW is that there are several non-spectacle treatments for presbyopia other than LASIK. There are multi-focal intra-ocular lenses (i.e. Alcon Restor, AMO Array, AMO rezoom) and the very new accommodating intra-ocular lenses (the crystalens, the synchrony). Ask your local ophthalmologist regarding the availability of these treatment options for presbyopia in your part of the world. So you can make a better decision for or against LASIK.
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