How expensive is it for the surgery these days?

Custom Wavefront PRK is what I got done and is recommended. Without having to regurgitate google, google it and research it.

I got mine done in DFW area, which at the time (approx 2 years ago) was I want to say $3000 per eye.

LIFE CHANGING EVENT, well worth it.

I had PRK back in Dec 2005. Tripler AMC in Hawaii. Well worth it. Within a few or so I remember driving under the H1 bridge and being able to see damn near all the way to the end. My vision was 20/15 in one eye, 20/12 in the other. I was 20 years old at the time...now I'm 28 and my vision is back to where it used to be. Around 20/70 - 20/100. As eyes age, vision will get worse. The doc did a great job. Unless I tell an optometrist I had PRK,they would never know, no scars or any evidence that it was done (so they tell me).

Near and distance errors affect many peopel over 40. I read of a new procedure called multi focal lasik which corrects near and distant errors in both eyes. Each eye is in effect treated for near and distant correction which is different in the less modern method of treating one eye for distant and the other eye for near.
This is new and I am unable to find a single person to tell me how it went for them. There are Doctors around the US that are performing this treatment, but I would really want to hear from people who actually went through the procedure.

I had LASIK in 2002. Still 20/15. 49 years old now. Can't say which is best. I'd go for the doc with the most experience on a given machine over newer technology. I did. Was half as much $ too.

Had both mine done for $998 total in Beverly Hills, but that was a long time ago.

PRK is recommended for police, athletes, or military or anyone who may be exposed to possible eye impacts or physical blows to face. This is because the PRK "sands" the eye, which re-heals (like a knee with a scab wound) to the new 20/20 version. Re-healed, it is as strong as the original eye. Because of the "rehealed is as strong as the original version" status, it is very rare for a "touch up" to be required of PRK patients, which is common in LASIK patients, typically 10-15 years after the original surgery.

PRK healing, while nothing unbearable, is clearly more inconvenient than the healing/recovery of LASIK.

LASIK, my understanding (from my doctor), can leave the eye in a state, even 10 years later, that any impacts to the eye can be a medical emergency. I don't mean a mosquito flew into your eye, I am talking about fist fight, walk into a tree branch, etc stuff.

Just what I was told...

** I have a few posts from a few years ago regarding my own PRK experience, if anyone wants to search them

I just had Custom WaveFront LASIK done several days back; my vision hasn't quite stabilized yet at night (that'll take some time due to the corneal swelling), but I drove myself to the post-op check the day after surgery, and tested at 20/15 in my right eye, 20/20 in my left. Amazing result coming from a -5.00 prescription (worse than 20/400 in each eye).

I considered PRK, but decided to go with the IntraLase LASIK (flap is cut with a femtosecond laser). Here in Socal, it was $4300 total at a well-established and highly reviewed practice.

As I sit on the LASIK fence with -6.00 and -6.25 :o , your post is very encouraging. Best wishes for you as you heal.

I had PRK in Atlanta back in 06 best money I ever spent. I think I spent about 5500 for it.

That's the attractive part about LASIK - being able to see the next day. I would have been SOL if I had to drive the next day. I literally couldn't keep my eyes open because they were so light sensative the next morning. Even wearing sunglasses with my eyes closed was too bright (low morning sun on a bright day). I ended up wearing a sleep mask for part of the trip back to the clinic. But . . . 20/10 with zero night vision issues 2.5 months later. Well worth it.

I have a consultation for this Wednesday. I'm nervous even for a consultation lol. Anyone know any good questions to ask? And also did anyone have any eye floaters prior to surgery and if so did the become worse/better? Thanks.

Ask Dr. how many lawsuits/claims against him and what is Plan-B when the power goes out on the city block and he is in the middle of lasering your eyeball.

Yes, ask him. I did for mine.

Great advice, thank you very much. I really like my docs resume. He went to Duke for his bachelors and then Southern California for his med. He is a cornea specialist and is a lasik instructor. Even if he went to Harvard is still be nervous though since my career in on the line. I do appreciate your advice.

Resumes are great but you need to talk to him one on one. If it is a reputable clinic, you will meet him. Oh, and ask him how many surgeries he has done. Good luck

I will for sure. Im also looking at Dr. Filitowski in Orlando. He went to Columbia for his bachelors and Cornell for medical school. He also has performed 47,000 surgeries.

Here's a link if you don't mind taking a look. Konrad Filutowski, M.D. - Daytona Beach, FL 32119 | LocateADoc.com

That's not who I'm having my consultation with, but if I get a bad feeling at my consultation I'll be heading to him for a consultation.
I really appreciate the information. Thank you.

I'm also going to stress the importance of post surgery night vision, halos, starbursts etc. I'm going to ask about the percentages of night vision side effects for custom wavefront/intralace lasik as supposedly the night vision side effects are much rarer in those lasik procedures from what I've read.

I just realized I probably broke a rule on the forum and posted a link to a doctors site I apologize administrators. I'm not very forum savvy.

Well my consultation was interesting. I'm a candidate and the ophthalmologist was pretty sure I'd have no issues with night vision. He did say I need to come into the darkroom for a wavefront to fully know. He seemed a bit cocky and I'm not sure if that's good or bad. After I met with him I requested to speak to the surgeon and I really liked him. We shot the bull for a good 20 minutes he was asking me all kinds of questions about flying and more. I didn't like that I had to request to see him, but once I met him I liked him a lot. Anyway I have another consultation on Wednesday at a different place to compare. The other place the doctor requires an updated dilation and talks to you during your free consultation and will even give you his cell number which I liked, but that was just through what the receptionist said.

I'll report back Wednesday or Thursday.

Mooney....
I was just looking at medical issues before leaving your forum... I worked in eye surgery, (RN) and also had Lasik myself.(wave).
1. Do you have any discomfort with your contacts-even when they are new?
2. Do you live or are in a dry climate for any length of time?
3. Do you see halos at night now? (Car headlights?)
4. How bad is your vision now-must remember to ask good friend who sent me here to post originally, but if I remember correctly, no worse than 20/40
uncorrected?
5. How often do you use moisture drops?
6. Do you have allergies-do you use eye drops for allergies? Do you take medication for allergies? Most of them dry out your eyes already.
Dry eye is evident in more than 50% of people who have had surgery.
The more the cornea has to be reshaped the greater the chance.
Dry eye starts because when the layer of cornea is cut, the nerves become less sensitive-so when your eye normally says 'make tears, I am dry', the eye now does not feel the dryness yet cuz the nerve endings are no longer sensitive.
There are eye drops and meds, but if you have either sensitive eyes already, or live in a dry climate, (you already work in a dry cockpit...), the problem can be very painful continuously.
Restasis is not a cure-all!
Be very, very certain before you do Lasik. If the doc poo-hoo's your questions, RUN!! The other way....
Good luck.

Yes starting about a month ago my contacts, even new ones started bothering me. The doctor said it was because my white blood cells were building up and that was causing the irritation. He said I'd have to try a different contact most likely with a different curvature. He stressed that lasik would fix this,but it seemed like a sell. It was weird. Also the first girl that saw me was new and didn't know too much which rubbed me the wrong way. But here's the deal Dr. den besta won ophthalmologist of the year in Florida a while back and was also nominated for ophthalmologist of the decade in Florida. Plus he's assisted over 40,000 lasik operations. I mean based on that he's the guy, along with his surgeon who I liked and also has a pretty good resume. So I don't know if this guy is that good that he is cocky or what.

Two questions I forgot to ask were... Are multiple eye floaters in each eye an issue(I assume not)? And do you use a check list pre,during and post surgery?

I do not have halos now or very minimal that I barely notice.
I have 20/400 in each eye.
I don't have allergies
I don't live in a dry climate (fla)

He seemed pretty damn sure of himself that I would not have any dry eye issues or night vision issues( although he said he doesn't know for sure until we do the wavefront and measure the pupils in the darkroom. He also said he's worked with pilots before. Ahhhh I don't know what to do!!!!!

Second consultation was great, love the place. Going for dry eye treatment tomorrow and then he does the dilation a week later and we select a surgery date. His name is Dr. Herschil at Herschil Lasik at Mcrgruder Eye Institute in Orlando. I'll keep this thread updated and let people know how my experience goes. So far it's been GREAT!

So what is the time from from surgery PRK to back flying the line? I am a commercial pilot and just planning on how much time I need to take off?

two weeks from day of surgery until "pretty much can do most things"

single pilot ops, give it 30 days. Wear darkest sunglasses you can find during daytime.

vision stablized and completely 110% percent healed ? 1 year

What about all laser lasik? I'm hearing 1 week post op exam he will be able to sign my faa eye evaluation form, but I'm skeptical because apparently night vision side effects can last 1 month. Also scheduled surgery for February 28th, so freaking nervous!

I recommend PRK. But I am not a doctor nor you. I recommend you take the doctor's offered valium or sedation medication and during the surgery, put your hands in your pockets. they will ask you to fold them and place them near your belt buckle, but I would put them in to your pockets, to help prevent the urge to move them. Help the doctor out, no sugar or caffeine a few days before the exam.

Did your doc do any pre-op dry eye treatment? Mine wants me in restasis for two weeks before surgery and 2 months after. Just wondering what your experience was with restasis? We both decided on lasik as I'm a great candidate at 20/400 and have good cornea thickness.

I was better than 20/20 at one month, but many folks take 1-3 months to get to 20/20 after PRK. LASIK is much quicker. I'm sure the FAA rules are much more lax, but USAF is minimum two months to submit a waiver, due to the steriod drops. The length of the drops can vary if your healing is non-standard. Even when I was 20/20, things were still a bit fuzzy and I wouldn't have wanted to fly, but I also don't fly place to place for a living (and my pay doesn't change when I can't fly for a few months). My two cents for pre/post care - take the 1000mg vitamin C/day for a few weeks prior to two months after the procedure (fairly common practice now) and look into Omega-3's for the same time period. There is a study you can google that explains it. My optometrist explained that it helps maintain the oily tear layer, which keeps the eye more moist, which helps it heal faster. The study claimed 9/9 who took it were 20/20 in a month and only 4/9 of the contol group were 20/20 in the same time period. It worked for me, but I also was only 20/35 with a decent astigmatism. Less correction means faster healing (or so my surgeon told me). If healing time and getting back to work faster is an issue, I would weigh LASIK over PRK.

I took 2 weeks off. I would say at least 10 days, but that's about it. You will have to get checked by an optometrist to make sure that you're good to go visually wise. I was 20/20 by the time I went back to work.

FF - you were ready to fly after 10 days? Was that PRK or LASIK?

I had PRK. I didn't have any issues besides tearing up for about 4 days. I did take 2 weeks off just to be on the safe side. One year later I was holding strong at 20/15.

Any special forms or letters from doctors needed before returning to flying or do you just report it on the next medical?

All I had to do was have my optometrist fill that form out after the surgery. And then about 10 days later I got rechecked and was signed off for uncorrected 20/20 by my optometrist. Then I saved that form and turned it into my FAA medical doctor to file it with my next FAA Class 1 flight exam, which by the way was 8 months later.

The FAA doesn't really care as long as you're uncorrected 20/20. Make sure that you keep a copy of this with you while operating aircraft in case you get ramp checked by the FAA.

After your next medical is cleared and doesn't hold the restriction of "must wear corrective lenses" all is well.

T-Minus 18 hours for my custom wavefront lasik.... So freaking nervous. I'll let you know how it goes anyone who's interested or happens to check out this thread.

Good luck! Just take the valium and it'll be over in 5 mins. Worth any stress or discomfort it might cause you in the short term.

Well I'm four days out and I have 20/15 in right eye, but left is at 20/25. The doctor said it's inflammation and should settle down. I'll know at my 1 week post op checkup. Anyone else have slightly less than 20/20 after and had to wait a week or so for their vision to improve? It seems to be slightly improving gradually and it also gets clearer when I put the preservative free drops in, so it could easily be dry eye as well.

You will not know your true vision for 6 months to a year after having surgery.

For me, I was 20/20 after Lasik Surgery. I had a problem with dry eyes after the surgery that took a few years to resolve beleive it or not (they put these plugs in the lower tear ducts).

After that, my vision has been at least 20/15 or better...and that's 5 years post surgery.

I did 6 months of research before doing the surgery. I actually chose the doctor and laser. I found that best results were with the Wavelight Allegretto laser ... the interesting thing was it was not the type that does "custom lasik", but still yielded better results.

Also, I went to TLC laser center and they did about 3-4x more testing than the other 2 doctors I went to.

Go to a surgeon who either uses the Visx or the Wavelight Allegretto ... Make sure they've done tens of thousands of eyes and make sure they are reputable.

You may also want to consider PRK which is where they put the laser on the top of the eye as opposed to cutting a flap ... IT's safer for the integrity of the eye but a longer healing period.

Ya that's what my doc said as well. Sometimes it can take weeks or months. Same for the night vision problems.

One week post op evaluation I still missed 2 letters on 20/20 starting to get a little nervous. Doctor said it's dry eyes and it'll stabilize, but I'm starting to freak out.

one week is nothing. Give it 6 months brother, to be darn near fully stabilized

report back in 30 days post-op

- Happy PRK patient

Who had the femtolaser flap vs. the knife?