Best place to get my eyes blasted by lasers

[Danno]

No comment on where to have it done, but I had my LASIK done almost 20 years ago and it is still the best money I've ever spent on myself.

Agree 1000%.

It's scary, but if you're a good candidate and accept the small risks, it's worth it.

They asked me if I'd consider the procedure a success if in the future I might need to wear glasses again because my eyes deteriorated, and I said fuck yeah. I've just now reached the point again where I could wear glasses, but I still don't need them.

[DJSapp]

WTF? Damn......may just keep with the contacts.

I thought they give you Valium (or modern day equivalent) to prevent this?

I was on a relaxant (I forget what it was, valium or equal). It was the delay between the first eye being done, then the smell hit, a slow process started from my nose and said 'hey man, that smell is your eyeball getting melted by lasers', and then my brain processed that and said 'That's really not cool man, that's not ok. Eyeballs shouldn't get melted by lasers.' I knew what was happening, but it was a little detail that threw me off a fun trippy light show and back into the reality of exactly what was happening.

I wasn't thrashing in the chair or screaming or anything, but as they started to setup on my other eye, I was fucking gripped. The nurse wanted me to relax because my face tensed up as I put a death grip into the armrests and it took some talking down. I calmed down enough for them to align and start the second eye. I started to tense up again once the second burn began and she was talking me through it. All in it was like 15 minutes of the procedure, 5 minutes of it I was a bit freaked.

Yes, they did run an exhaust fan of sorts to suck up the vapors, but it doesn't get 100%. If I had to do it again, I would have asked the Dr. EXACTLY what to expect to see, feel and smell for every step of the procedure. Shit gets a bit weird after the cut, vision disappears during the burn, burning eye smell, wavy lights and room goes underwater, etc. I went into it without really understanding what it was going to be like from that patients side of things, just understanding the procedure.

Edit: and don't get me wrong; 10/10 would recommend to a friend. It's a great decision, but make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Glasses were really fucking with my lifestyle and contacts were a non-option for me. If contacts did work for me, I don't know if I would have done it.

[The Reverend Floater]

Got PRK at OHSU many moons ago. Best decision I’ve made.

[cravenmorhead]

I wasn't a candidate for PRK or LASIK; eyes were too bad and corneas too thin. But I ended up getting ICLs (implanted collamer lenses). Basically an artificial lens implanted between my natural lens and iris, inside the eyeball. Best money I've ever spent.