Here's a response from my fiancée about the laser surgery documentary (she's an Optometrist who recently been certified for post surgery care). I include the original posts in case someone missed a part - sorry to those who are annoyed by my non-clipping. -----Original Message----- From: Michelle Cote [mailto:mlcote_at_hotmail.com] Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2000 9:38 PM To: Joe Brzoza Subject: Re: FW: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses As with most documentaries, they are done to inform people about things they may not know much about, in the hopes that people are not duped. In order for laser eye surgery to be sucessful, you need to have realistic expectations of what the outcome may be. Yes, there are people who are too myopic or have too much astigmatism to have a "perfect" result (20/20). But remember the bell curve from biology class, 90% in the mid ranges and 5% on each side? That's the demographic in refractive errors as well. The majority of people have very good outcomes, of course there are those that don't, but they are rare with a skilled surgeon. I would not consider seeing 20/40 a failure of the procedure, it just needs to be understood that 10% "failure rate" that you are quoting in actually seeing 20/40 or better. Please don't base your entire opinion on one documentary. If you would like to have more information, talk to an eye doctor or check out a laser centers' web site. >From: Joe Brzoza <joebr_at_burton.com> >To: "'mlcote_at_hotmail.com'" <mlcote_at_hotmail.com> >Subject: FW: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses >Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 14:07:18 -0500 > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Robert C. Cline [mailto:rccline_at_swbell.net] >Sent: Friday, January 14, 2000 1:51 PM >To: Peter Treby; PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net >Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses > > >Peter. There was a documentary on TV recently about laser eye surgery. If >the operation fails, you are screwed. The documentary cited at leaset 10% >failure rate. Eyes too myopic or too much astigmatism have halo effects at >night and in indoor lighting. The eyes "clock in" at 20/20 on the charts, >and are deemed successful by the surgeon. Thus the statistics don't really >purvey the true failure rate of the operation. > > > >Peter Treby <ptreby_at_ozemail.com.au> wrote: > Fri, 14 Jan 2000 09:53:33 +1100 > > To: paddlewise <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net> > > Subject: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses > > > > > > Has anyonel come up with a good arrangement for glasses? Is laser eye >surgery > > the real solution? > > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
It wasn't the visual acuity that was the issue by those who were not pleased with the surgery, it was the halo effect around lights at night. It was reported as extremely disturbing. The documentary reported that the surgeons measured the success by the degree of acuity obtained. The people who experienced the "failure" were not complaining about their 20/20, or not achieving it, but by the halo's and blurred night vision. Some folks were reported not to be able to drive, and to need extremely bright indoor lighting at night.... and to have trouble viewing television. Robert > From: Joe Brzoza <joebr_at_burton.com> > Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 11:15:27 -0500 > To: "'PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net'" <PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net> > Subject: [Paddlewise] FW: FW: Prescription glasses > > As with most documentaries, they are done to inform people about things they > > may not know much about, in the hopes that people are not duped. In order > for laser eye surgery to be sucessful, you need to have realistic > expectations of what the outcome may be. Yes, there are people who are too > myopic or have too much astigmatism to have a "perfect" result (20/20). *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On the subject of Laser surgery for vision, I had LASIK last March and part of my motivation was paddle sports. I also like other outdoor sports and glasses were just a pain. I was *extremely* nearsighted - does the name Mr. MaGoo ring a bell and had tried contacts and hated wearing them. The bottom line is I got very luck in the surgery. My vision ended up being corrected to 20/12 in both eyes. Plus they were able to correct my astigmatism and now my night vision has become much better. All that said, Michelle's post below is correct. It is definitely a your mileage may vary situation. The doctors emphasized that results varied from person to person and a follow up operation might be necessary. One of the factors in my favor was I had the surgery done at Emory Vision Center in Atlanta which is one of the best places in the country to get LASIK surgery (according to them anyway). Luke At 11:15 AM 1/17/00 -0500, Joe Brzoza wrote: >Here's a response from my fiancée about the laser surgery documentary (she's >an Optometrist who recently been certified for post surgery care). I >include the original posts in case someone missed a part - sorry to those >who are annoyed by my non-clipping. > >-----Original Message----- >From: Michelle Cote [mailto:mlcote_at_hotmail.com] >Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2000 9:38 PM >To: Joe Brzoza >Subject: Re: FW: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses > > >As with most documentaries, they are done to inform people about things they > >may not know much about, in the hopes that people are not duped. In order >for laser eye surgery to be sucessful, you need to have realistic >expectations of what the outcome may be. Yes, there are people who are too >myopic or have too much astigmatism to have a "perfect" result (20/20). But > >remember the bell curve from biology class, 90% in the mid ranges and 5% on >each side? That's the demographic in refractive errors as well. The >majority of people have very good outcomes, of course there are those that >don't, but they are rare with a skilled surgeon. I would not consider >seeing 20/40 a failure of the procedure, it just needs to be understood that > >10% "failure rate" that you are quoting in actually seeing 20/40 or better. > >Please don't base your entire opinion on one documentary. If you would like > >to have more information, talk to an eye doctor or check out a laser >centers' web site. > > > >From: Joe Brzoza <joebr_at_burton.com> > >To: "'mlcote_at_hotmail.com'" <mlcote_at_hotmail.com> > >Subject: FW: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses > >Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 14:07:18 -0500 > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Robert C. Cline [mailto:rccline_at_swbell.net] > >Sent: Friday, January 14, 2000 1:51 PM > >To: Peter Treby; PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net > >Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses > > > > > >Peter. There was a documentary on TV recently about laser eye surgery. If > >the operation fails, you are screwed. The documentary cited at leaset 10% > >failure rate. Eyes too myopic or too much astigmatism have halo effects at > >night and in indoor lighting. The eyes "clock in" at 20/20 on the charts, > >and are deemed successful by the surgeon. Thus the statistics don't really > >purvey the true failure rate of the operation. > > > > > > > >Peter Treby <ptreby_at_ozemail.com.au> wrote: > > Fri, 14 Jan 2000 09:53:33 +1100 > > > To: paddlewise <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net> > > > Subject: [Paddlewise] Prescription glasses > > > > > > > > > Has anyonel come up with a good arrangement for glasses? Is laser eye > >surgery > > > the real solution? > > > >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not >to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission >Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net >Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net >Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ >*************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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