Comment by navs | Hacker News Reader

Comment by navs | Hacker News Reader

YMMV of course.

But I got LASIK done just over a year ago. I'd worn glasses since I was a kid and don't remember a time without them. Things I love after having done LASIK: - Being in the rain - Boxing - Not fumbling for my glasses after a shower, waking up - Being able to just rub my eyes - Wearing 3D glasses

Things I don't like after having done LASIK - night vision is really quite bad. Low lit streets, driveways can be hazardous. - light sensitivity. Not sure if this is a byproduct of LASIK but I feel disoriented in rooms with low fluorescent lighting. - dry eyes aren't as common as in the first 6 months but I do take more screen breaks to moisten my eyes - blurred vision. Doesn't happen often and I can't say this is purely related to LASIK as I often get this after a long day of coding.

I got my LASIK done at the Eye Institute in Auckland and they sat me down for close to an hour to talk through it. Will I need glasses in the future? yep, they mentioned that. Dry eyes and blurred vision? Yep. For the first 6 months after the operation I had regular checkups.

It's been a freeing experience overall.

My night vision is also significantly deteriorated. I can drive fine at night, as I can see lights and reflective surfaces just fine, but walking around at night is definitely more difficult, and sometimes concerning.

I'd had issues with dry eyes for most of my adult life. When I was still wearing contacts, I had a doctor tell me it was likely that I wasn't blinking enough. It seemed silly to me at first, but then I paid more attention (I did tend to stare at screens for 18-20 hours at a time back then), and realized the doctor was spot on.

I learned to blink more while working and it's made an enormous difference. On occasion, I'll still find myself completely submerged into whatever I'm doing, eyes wide open, dry as dust, and I'll sit back, squeeze my eyes shut a few times until they water again, and then take a break.

Did you use any tricks to make yourselfs blink more? I'm going through the same, getting used to contacts, but I can't think of a way to learn myself this without setting a timer every 2 minutes or so - which is obviously not really an option.

Unfortunately, I've no tricks to share. I've just been trying to stay more mindful of my blinking in general, and when I notice my eyes are completely dried out, I take a break.

Of course there's a software solution to this: http://eyedoc2020.blogspot.com/2017/03/best-apps-to-remind-y...

Boxing? As in punches thrown at your head? Can't imagine that's safe for someone who had LASIK since the chance of corneal flap damage would be quite high.

It's not safe, and the FDA actually warns people against participating in combat sports or other activities potentially involving eye trauma after the particular LASIK that opens your flaps because of what you said.

Though PRK, which does not open the flap, is fine, and is the procedure athletes typically go through.

Definitely not sparring. Mostly hitting pads. Something I could do with glasses on but I found it annoying as it got in the way of training.

I also had LASIK surgery and feel that my light sensitivity has increased, especially to sunlight. I used to never wear sunglasses before, and now I feel I need to in some situations.

Someone pointed out an interesting perspective. Perhaps it was that my glasses and contact lenses had a UV filter on them that sunlight did not bother me. Maybe it is not the brightness, but the amount of UV light hitting the eye that is responsible for some of the light sensitivity. It could be UV sensitivity, and not light sensitivity.

I have not taken the time to try to test this hypothesis out in any meaningful way, but it is an interesting thought.

Could it also be the case that the sharper focus due to LASIK itself causes increased sensitivity? Is there a general inverse correlation between bad eyesight and light sensitivity?

Yeah, don't rub your eyes.

Why is that?

Infections and foreign objects, is the usual answer.

Because it might dislocate the flap

Good luck with that. That’s really quite hard to do, ask your surgeon how hard it is to find the original cut when they’re looking for it to do a touch-up.

You don't need to find the flap, finger to the center of the eye sideways will suffice.

This is what worries me the most about taking the plunge, not the videos I've seen of it being done, not the potential side effects, just the fact that I could seriously screw my eyes up by rubbing them after the fact.

My doctor said there was a case of a lady who removed her flap when she woke up at night and tried to remove her contacts out of habit :|

But after months, the flap does settle back. So while it never heals the risk of rubbing your eyes dislocating the flap is rare.

Nevertheless, I do worry about this a lot.

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