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Bad eyesight
ERMason
Posts: 9
in General Chat
Has anyone had corrective laser surgery and if so what do you think? Am thinking of having it cos my sight is pretty appalling and I can't believe i am doing myself much good swimming in contact lenses but a) am dead scared and b) did I read that it's not recommended for triathletes?!
Cheers.
Cheers.
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Having said all that, my lenses are daily disposables - I can imagine that if you wear the type that you leave in for up to 30 days it might shorten the life of them.
She was in and out in 20mins. Went home, slept for one hour and she could see perfectly.
They give you varios drops to help keep your eyes from drying and to prevent infection.
I know 4 people now who've had it done and no major probs.
The surgery isn't suitable for everyone tho.
PM and I'll give you as much info as I can.
I'm nit suitable as I have a stigmatisim and you can only have it if you have 2 or 3 no changes in prescription.
Can't tell you much more than that sorry .
Hope this helps.
Faster and safer sounds expecially good!
I would say its perfect for triathletes. Imagine getting goggles knocked off and loseing a lense then trying to cycle 40km with one good eye!
I am blind as a bat and have used contacts with no probs at all; if needs be you can get goggles with prescription lenses but I have done open water swims lensless with no probs. Most of the time you are head down in murky brown water and you just follow everyone else basically unless you are a super fast swimmer and in front. Just as an aside, I went diving many moons back on the barrier reef and rather than sheel out for prescription goggle hire just popped the lenses from a spare set and stuck them on with blutack - it worked a treat!
You only really need good vision for the bike: I have plucked this out at random;
http://www.spex4less.com/acatalog/Power ... asses.html
so for about £100 or so you can get a decent set of looking shades with prescription inserts which is near enough what a lot of people pay anyway.
As for the run, again I have had no problems running even where the route is part xcountry without glasses/lenses.
However, during the bike leg of my first HIM race, on the long fast descents my eyes watered excessively and washed the lens out of my left eye three times. Luckily, I was wearing glasses and this prevented it being lost completely, so I had to stop and put it back in. Not the most hygienic thing, and cost me a fair amount of time and places (as if that really mattered). It has never happened since.
Anyway, back on topic, my optician advised that for the OW swim tri's, I use the daily disposable lenses for the event, and then throw them away once I've finished, and then put my usual lenses back in. This prevents any nasties in the water being in my eyes for any great length of time. He was decent and ordered me a trial pack of 20 pairs of daily disposables to use during racing, and felt that they should be sufficient to last me a whole season without having to buy any.
The missus had it done back in the early days - probably about 1993/4. We went to a top notch fellow - didn't want anyone who didn't know what they were doing to get involved. She went from -2/-2 to 0.0/+0.5 or something like that (she was short sighted). The only downside was a bit of astigmatism in one eye.
This has kept her going for the last fifteen years.. but as the ageing process kicks in, she now has some glasses/lenses for reading etc.
There was a bit of pain - but the pain killers were worse.
But that is a long time ago now, and techniques have improved considerably.
It made a really dramatic change to her life though - going out to a smoky pub (remember them!) was impossible for more then 10 mins with the contact lenses.
I can't think why anyone would say it's not suitable for tri.. If you were a marksman and worried about astigmatism then it might be an issue - but the advantage of not having a load of glass/plastic in intimate parts of your face while swimming/cycling etc. cannot be understated.
I've not heard any horror stories about laser surgery - but I have heard lots of cycle racing/contact lense related issues and things like that.
Don't go for the cheapest - shop around, and check the company out.
My brother in law had it down in the late 90s, and, again, all was well (he was really blind before that though).
Never had a moments regret, and would recommend it to anyone, when I think what I used to pay for glasses and contact lens the surgery paid for itself within 4 years.
I had surgery for a detached retina 2 years ago, the surgeon assured me that this was not related to the laser surgery and was a problem due to the shape of the eyeball, very short-sighted people are prone to this in later life (irrespective of laser correction).
My son is in the army and I've finally got him to agree to have it done (16 Dec).
For myself I only wish it had been available earlier.