This was originally posted by Fedup77. I found its content to be very informative as I am currently researching the procedure. From the resulting thread, I made these two new forums so we can share our experiences about medical conditions and treatments in a designated forum. All contributions are welcome and appreciated.

Originally posted by Fedup77:

"THANKS MUCH TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR GOOD WORDS AND WISHES. In answer to solid's question: Yes I did have laser surgery to my eyes BUT that story,so far, is NOT a very happy one. About 2 years ago my 24 year old son had Lasik surgery on his eyes at a "discount" laser surgery center in Chicago ( $799 for BOTH eyes) and the results turned out good. His surgery had been postponed twice because of a leaky roof that leaked water on the laser equipment which then required repair and re-calibration. but, eventually, his surgery was done and his results were good. A year later, by 21 year old son went to the same discount laser center and HIS surgery was postponed due to-----A LEAKY ROOF!!!! I told him that if the company was too cheap to fix the roof, they are probably too cheap to keep their laser equipment in good repair also. Against my advise, he went back and had the surgery done anyway ( KIDS---they just don't wanna listen to anybody !!!!). Anyway, luckily his surgery was successful also.
Now, recently, I decided to have laser surgery on MY eyes ( after my great experience with a HT with Dr. Epstein in Fla. I wanted to finish my "makeover" by getting rid of my big, thick glasses). I was going to go to a local clinic that uses a "rolling unit" that is brought in when they have a laser patient. However, thanks to Arfy ( thanks MUCH Arfy !!!!!) putting me on to a web site called "Surgical eyes" I realized that laser surgery is NOT as safe as the ads and TV programs lead people to believe. THANK GOD my kids both had good experiences!! After reading about the many botched lasik jobs being done I decided that I didn't want a "rolling laser lab" with a local part time laser surgeon messing with my eyesight-----I instead searched out and found a "state of the art" laser sugery lab in Detroit. The equipment was the latest and was owned by the surgeon who is the ONLY person to operate the equipment. The equipment is not rented out to other doctors and is not "moved from site to site". The surgeon has done over 28,000 lasik surgeries and I couldn't find any "bad" comments about him on any searches I did. Since I'm 57 years old and don't heal as quickly as my young sons, I decided to go with the best " custom vue intralasik " surgery ( $4500 for both eyes). Intralasik uses a laser to cut the flap instead of a blade like normal lasik surgery does--thereby eliminating a frequent problem with laser eye surgery. I took every precaution I possibly could. The lasik surgery was done and SHIT!!!---I got a POOR RESULT!!!! My eyesight was 20/300 before surgery with slight astigmatism in my left eye but my eyesight was correctable to 20/20 with glasses. AFTER surgery, my eyesight was 20/60 in one eye and 20/70 in the other with astigmatism now in BOTH eyes. The worst part is that my vision now can only be corrected ( with glasses) to 20/25 in one eye and 20/70 in the other ( in other words, my 20/70 eye CAN'T be corrected any further with glasses) due to the "irregular" astigmatism induced by the laser. My only hope is another laser session to "enhance" my vision----the laser is the ONLY thing that can correct the irregular astigmatism that the first laser surgery caused. The lasik clinic made special glasses for me to use temporarily until my eyes heal enough to have another laser session and by using them I can see good with one eye ( 20/25) but that's not what I paid for.
If my laser surgery turned out poor with the best equipment available and at the hands of a very experienced surgeon, I hate to think of what might have happened at a discount "fly by night" outfit or the local "rolling lab". I guess that, just as with anything else, there have to be cases such as mine that make up the "statistics" The web site that Arfy put me on to ( surgical eyes) raised my awareness of the problems of lasik surgery but, in the end I think I had the feeling that "it won't happen to me". My story isn't done yet tho---I'm going in for another lasik session in October to correct the results of the first session-----I'm hoping for the best."

The original full thread can be found here.

-Robert

Dadgum, I'm so sorry you had a bad experience! I'm 49 going on 50 with some nearsightedness, and now it's also getting harder to read up close as well. I use glasses to clearly see the tv, which is a little distance, or any writing at a distance. I've thought of getting lasic done on my eyes, now I'm not so sure about it. Thanks for the info, and I hope you're next surgery corrects your situation.

Good Lord! I am so sorry to hear that your LASIK surgery didn't turn out well!!!!

That is terrible news!

I hope your second surgery will work out! Use the forums at Surgical Eyes! Get some advice from experienced patients.

Like hair transplants, find a doc who is world class, and don't settle for somebody who's just "okay". Like HT, it can be hard to tell which are the docs who are truly the best. Find the best!!!

Boy, I hate hearing about this kind of thing!!!!!!!

Dear HRRF

I am planning on coming across from the UK to USA for H/T in mid July. My partner would like to have corrective surgery to her eyes while I am 'under the knife'. Any ideas which clinic or Group in the USA might provide a good laser procedure (preferrably in the Minnesota region - but not essential?)

Regards, Sorleyboy

No idea kid, but gan see the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome in Minneapolis if you can (should be thieir off-season programme ). Go up and ask Randy Moss if he's had similar surgery & can recommend a surgeon; he's a hot-shot at catching balls thrown a good 50 yards from him, and must have damn good eyes....

Robert, I am 57 and not long a go I use to be able to shoot a knat at 500 yards, now it is where it seems like I can't see far distances and need glasses to read books now. Does this surgery cover long distance as well as hort distances such as reading? If this will work, I was thinking aboiut going to the VA to see if Ican get them to do it since I get disability from them for my eyes. My son had that surgery and it worked well. His friend had it down and it was a disaster.

Is there any study that shows the long term effects of a Lasik surgery? From what I know, there is not much study that shows the long term effects of the surgery and most people can only have the surgery performed once.

LASIK was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I am a mother of a 3 year old and a 1 year old and that means a lot of waking up in the middle of the night. This translated to sleeping in my contacts so that I could see what I was doing when I had to check on my kids; after 20 years, it was starting to take a toll on the health of my eyes. Dr. Wiles well his a surgeon at (promotional link removed), is so informative and has such a calm demeanor; he put me at ease even though I was nervous about the procedure. He went through all of the steps involved in the treatment so that I knew exactly what to expect. I appreciate everything he has done to make my vision what it is today. I can now see 20/20 with no help.

11:55eyecatcher,

I am pleased to hear you have had a positive experience with lasik eye surgery. However, promotional content and links are not allowed here as noted in our terms of service.

Falc

I had LASIK surgery a few years ago in San Jose, CA. My only regret is that I wish I had it done earlier. I have friends who had horrible outcomes (one needs corneal transplant because he cannot see at night). I got referrals from three friends and then I researched all three MDs. I went with the one that answered my questions multiple times, and rescheduled my surgery twice because I had not left my contacts out for the entire 14 days as he had instructed. (One doctor, who has performed surgery on many pro athletes, seemed insulted when I asked him about his rate of complications. The other surgeon ... I never met. An associate of his performed my tests.) My friend who needs the corneal transplant had corneas that were too thin and should have never had the operation to begin with. Whomever you decide to go with, check them out completely. I do not care who they have already operated on, your eyes are precious and the only two that you have, don't trust your eye sight to just anyone and money should not be an object ... within reason of course.

I quickly searched on PubMed for LASIK Eye Surgery and there are 151 articles. I didn't look through many, but the longest study that I could find so far was 7 years post-op. "Confocal microscopy changes in epithelial and stromal thickness up to 7 years after LASIK and photorefractive keratectomy for myopia."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17455834?ordinalpos=...anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
You might be able to find the answers that you seek if you search here long enough.