I watched the process. Truly amazing. Simple fast and effective. But don't take my word for it. Go see a Doc and get their sales pitch. Then go to an optometrist and casually mention that you are thinking you might have it done. Be prepared for a lengthy discussion. They will have lots to say.
Bottom line, to me, is that Monica having worn glasses all her life with about 20/400 in both eyes, came out of the laser chair about 5 minutes after going in, and has never mentioned glasses or vision problems again. I suspect her vision will change as time goes on, everybody's vision does, and that will be an issue, but for the present her vision is "normal".
She's 43 and doesn't need bifocals for reading either. That's an issue us older ones think about a lot, in time you will learn.
Here are some things to look for on the web, the process she went through was called LASIK, different from PRK. Look thru SI for VISX thread. There are other systems but VISX was the first FDA certified. You'll find references to other stocks in VISX thread for the other companies. Monica went to Dr. Gary Kawesh in Santa Clara. He's been advertising locally lately as having done 9000 or more eye operations using LASIK. Cost was about $2000 per eye. I'm thinking of doing now too. Cannot wear contacts for 30 days prior to evaluation and operation. I believe I remember reading some documents that Kawesh did corrections on people with vision like 20/1900 to 20/40 or even 20/20. Two minutes, and no pain, just some "scratchiness".
For the operation, they gave Monica some Valium to relax going in, and at home afterwards she took a couple Advil. That was it. No healing as in PRK, only restrictions were wearing eyeprotectors at night while sleeping for a week, and no swimming for a month.
VISX is a public company in a complex off Central Expressway in Santa Clara, which it shares with Affymatrix and Yahoo. |
