Well... yeah you just dont listen do you

[EricKei]

I thought about Lasik in the past (Legally blind/beyond 20/200 without specs and not quite 20/20 with), but (a) it's well out of my price range, and (b) I suspect that I'd still need glasses anyway x.x Not really sure how far it can reliably go.

That, and I was always hearing stories of people who got on that bandwagon early (20+ years ago) eventually having their sight deteriorate to the point where it was *worse* than pre-Lasik a few years later, tho I cannot really confirm this.

[Bardmaiden]

My partner has really bad eyesight. So long sighted he is practically blind, Optician described it as a one in a million prescription. He was told that Lasik isn't an option and he can't have it with his job anyway, the railway doesn't like it as it hasn't been proven in the long term.

[munchkinmama]

I can confirm that LASIK deteriorates. I had it done approximately 15 years ago and I now am needing glasses again.

[Shalom]

With cataracts, the lens of the eye becomes milky and opaque. The surgery removes the lens, but you MUST have one in order to see.

Not really; that's a recent development. When I was a kid (70s), cataract surgery like my great-grandmother or my great-aunt (her daughter) had meant simply removing the lens and leaving it out completely. You then needed glasses with a massive positive correction (convex) lens to be able to see anything. I mean half an inch thick in the center, that kind of thickness. (Like my glasses but inside-out.)

By the time my grandfather had it, circa 1990 or so, they'd come up with the implantable plastic lens, so he didn't need that sort of glasses.

That lens is fixed focus, though. I'm hoping that by the time I need such things (heaven forfend) they'll come up with the autofocus version. They can do it for cameras, why not for eyes?

[judecat]

My doctor explained that they could do lasik surgery so that one eye is corrected for distance and the other for close up, but since I spend at least a quarter of my spare time and 90 percent of my work time looking at a computer, I think I need to stick with my progressive lenses. Top for distance (looking at the customer, the gas pump they are pointing at, or watching to make sure the hoodlums aren't stealing cheetos, the bottom is for actually seeing the money in my hand, or reading my kidnle to keep from falling asleep on night shift, or signing the delivery orders and writing checks, the middle is so I can actaully see the cash register and it's screen.

[April]

I don't know off the top of my head what my prescription is, but every time I get new glasses they don't even offer me the choice of regular lenses or polycarbonates anymore. I asked once about it because they cost extra and I was broke at the time and they said, "oh you don't want regular lenses with your prescription, they'll be too heavy and thick."

They told me this too, but I told them that I can't afford their fancy lenses and just go regular. They are thick, but with my frames, you can't tell, and honestly I didn't notice any extra "weight".

[AccountingDrone]

Yes, this IS possible. With cataracts, the lens of the eye becomes milky and opaque. The surgery removes the lens, but you MUST have one in order to see. The new lens is plastic, so it's premade to specifications. however, it's not a natural lens so it's doesn't recreate vision the same as a natural lens.

It would not make sense to do this surgery on someone for myopia or astigmatism. You may still need glasses afterwards, and all surgeries have risks (although the risks are minimal these days). It is also expensive.

You can get Lasik or similar surgery for those issues (which I've avoided because I've known too many people who had complications, and it's insanely expensive).

Well, I am pretty anal about sunglasses and cataracts don't run in my family so I hope I won't have them, but I think it is *fascinating* that they were operating on cataracts 2000 years ago!

Having astigmatism fairly badly I seriously doubt that I would be a good candidate for lasik in the first place. I already see rays around lights at night [corneal scarring from a machine accident when I was 17] and I don't need more artifacts! I am one of the real oddballs who *like* hard contact lenses, I found the damned toric soft lenses spun around the front of my damned eyeballs and my focus would keep changing so I really couldn't see jack shit. Back in the late 70s I had the old school glass lenses or whatever B&L made their hard lenses out of and they worked amazingly well, and it took 4 days to get accustomed to them to the 10-12 hour limit.

[BeeMused]

They told me this too, but I told them that I can't afford their fancy lenses and just go regular. They are thick, but with my frames, you can't tell, and honestly I didn't notice any extra "weight".

Yeah, finding the right frames does the trick. With wider hinges/temples the bottle bottom becopmes less noticeable. A relative small diameter of the lenses themselves helps too.

Of course they want you to spent more on lenses, when they insist... this is when you take your prescription and start to leave... and watch the cheaper lenses suddenly become available.

[EricKei]

My fave specs of all time were half-frames (the lower halves were really really thin plastic wires set into grooves on the bottoms of the small oval lenses -- Yeah, yeah, hipster as all f***, more than a decade before the term existed 8p) Worked just as well as any other pair I've had, minus the Hubble jokes I need to find more like those, as I'm usually relegated to the "big head" rack. I couldn't care less about "designer frames," tho I wouldn't mind some more like those were.

[raudf]

My current are half frames, with the lenses' edge being mat, instead of polished. And even at mid-range plastic, the lenses are the bottom of a glass coke bottle sized. *sigh* Nearsighted as heck. I tend towards smaller frames, to actually lighten my nose load, but honestly, I've worn glasses for so long, I wouldn't know the difference.

Just got my oldest son a new pair of glasses yesterday and he said, "Okay, Reality takes back the title of "Best Graphics." Puberty and hormone changes are hell on the vision, so his got much, much worse this time around. I went high-index with his, because he's hard on his glasses and I've found over the years that high-index tend to be harder to break. At least he is in a generation where kids wearing glasses isn't such a big deal.

[sms001]

hipster as all f***, more than a decade before the term existed 8p)

You had plastic lenses in the 1930's?

[dalesys]

You had plastic lenses in the 1930's?

Now EricKei will have to beat you with his crank...

from his Model T.

[Luna Baby]

I had been nearsighted as a relatively young child and started wearing glasses at age 8. I don't know what my vision was at the time, but I can remember the doctor telling Mom that I could walk upon/into a tree before I knew it was there. I don't remember it being that bad, but whatever. I tried contacts in high school which only led to eye ulcers so I went back to glasses.....until we got into summer water activities. I opted to finally get some info on Lasik. I had a really awesome surgeon and he corrected my vision to 20/10. That was 9 years ago. I only this year needed to get the progressive lenses with bifocals (top of lens has no script since I'm still at 20/10 after all this time) so that I could transition between my crochet and the tv. One is held low about 12 inches from my eyes while the other is 12-15 feet across the room. I can see the tv perfectly if that's all I'm doing, but my eyes cannot make the switch from close to far quickly. The funny thing about it all, though, is that I lower the specs so that I can still see out of the bifocal part and then when I glance at the tv, I'm looking over the tops of the lenses. Something about refocusing the closeup vision allows my eyes to naturally focus on the far off.

[EricKei]

You had plastic lenses in the 1930's?

I keep telling you people, I'm older than Gandalf

from his Model T.

Of course, we called them Fordbuggies, as that was the style at the time...'Gimme a black Fordbuggy for ten bees,' we would say. Of course, for variety's sake, you could get a Fordbuggy in any color you wanted, as long as that color was black...

[greek_jester]

I need to find more like those, as I'm usually relegated to the "big head" rack. I couldn't care less about "designer frames," tho I wouldn't mind some more like those were.

I recently made the jump to rimless glasses; if you can find an optician who crafts the lenses on site then they may be able to help. With rimless, you just find the arms you like, then they can adjust the width of the lenses so that the gap between the arms is wide enough for your head. They had to do something in reverse for me; the only problem is the nose-pieces have to be a bit longer (to bear the weight of the lenses) so they can sometimes intrude in your field of vision if they're not adjusted correctly.

If the optician is good enough you can even get interesting shapes; my reading glasses have a rounded, squashed pentagonal shape, with the points towards the bottom.