What is Best: Contact Lenses or LASIK Eye Surgery?
Being a contact lens wearer can be quite a hassle. You have to buy, maintain and replace your contacts plus have annual eye tests. If you’re looking for an alternative you may find that either a 30-day contact lens is the solution or you may find that corrective eye surgery is the only way forward. Although both methods are great, they also have some disadvantages. So make sure you understand the pros and cons of each before you make a decision.
Advantages of 30-day Continuous Wear Contact Lenses
Quick – You will notice an improvement in your vision the moment you place the contacts in. If you find them at all uncomfortable it’s probably because you’ve been given the wrong prescription. All you have to do to rectify the problem is to go back to your optician.
Low Cost – These lenses do not cost a fortune and there’s no need to take out a loan to finance them. When you have worn them for 30 days all you have to do is dispose of them and buy new ones. This means you won’t have to have so much in the way of cleaning products. However it’s still recommended that you keep a bottle of cleaner to hand.
New Technology – The silicone hydrogel which is used to make these lenses are much more efficient at allowing oxygen into the eye. Your eyes will stay much healthier and irritation-free.
If a recent eye examination shows you need to change your prescription this is a very easy process.
Disadvantages of 30-day Continuous Wear Contact Lenses
Even though technology has come a long way, you may find that sleeping with your contact lenses in is a bit uncomfortable. If this is the case they may not be the best choice. You also have an increased chance of getting an infection if lenses are worn while you sleep.
Because your eyes can change over the years it’s strongly advisable to keep going for annual eye examinations to make sure your prescription is still valid.
Advantages of LASIK Eye Surgery
Success rates are now very high for LASIK operations. Technology, training and experience have improved a great deal over the years. In most cases people completely restore their vision to 20/20 or even better. The results are also long-lasting.
The results you get from LASIK are pretty much immediate and a lot of patients can drive home after the operation.
Disadvantages of LASIK eye surgery
Costs are significant with surgery. It costs generally around $2,000 an eye so you may have to take out a loan. Talk to your surgeon to see if there are any financing options available.
Like any other surgery, LASIK is not guaranteed and mistakes can, and sometimes do, happen. Some patients don’t see improvements or suffer side effects such as the appearance of spots, glare and dry eyes.
Also some people aren’t eligible for surgery because the health of their eyes aren’t up to scratch or they are generally not in good health.
Although surgery is long lasting, you may still need to wear prescription glasses in years to come as presbyopia becomes an issue.
Also make sure you attend regular eye examinations.
Help answer the question about lasik eye surgery cost
how much does lasik eye surgery cost in MI?
My eyes are pretty bad and I want to get lasik. I was wondering about how much I can look on spending for this procedure.
About Author
April has written a number of articles relating to eye surgery and eye health on website www.dneyes.com, such as: Epi-LASIK eye surgery and LASEK eye surgery.
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9 Responses to “What is Best: Contact Lenses or LASIK Eye Surgery?”
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Go for the alternative and choose the lasik because it is a cheaper way of getting more and 20/12 visions isn't uncommon in and after such procecure has occured. Here, we use new ways of medicine, deserting the old ones as they have expired unto inferiority. Lasik is obvious the choice until then.
I don't think that the gas permable are going to solve the problem any better than the soft. As the soft will cover the whole eye and give you better perifial vision. Personally i like the gas permable better as they were the first I had used and were easy to get in and out. I have had the surgery for the astigmatism. if fixed it some, but my eye sight seems to be worse. To be honest with you I would wear glasses for a little bit until you feel more sure of your answer. So you answered my question I am still not sure lasik is a good surgery right now.
Your regular O.D. is correct. Follow his advice
It is true, one patient of ours had been using hard contact lenses for 10 years and when she went for Lasik, she was determined as a possible risk of failure.
The reason for any risk in Lasik is the reduced thickness of the cornea. With the new lenses you are wearing there is minimal erosion.
A year or two from you you will still be a successful candidate.
I doubt if the Lasik surgeon was trying to drum up business. Rather he was repeating what his journals say about patients who had extended contact wear.
i wouldn't pull the flap off and it shouldn't take one year to heal !!
if you did pull it off, it would take one week for the surface of the cornea to fully grow back and your chance of an infection is huge
ring your eye surgeon, that's what he is there for. he knows your situation.
Lasik eye surgery is very safe nowadays. There is one company that is very famous in India that arranges Laser surgery for foreigners in India. They are called the Fly2india4health Consultants. I read a lot about them in the Newspapers and about their patient stories. I have also read that they arrange financing for international patients, as all surgery is not covered by insurance or by the stinking NHS.
They also have photos pasted of their International patients. You can checkout their website. The cost savings are incredible. As a doctor I personally believe that your Dental surgery can be easily handled in India, as the quality of Healthcare available here is simply best in the world. The surgeons are USA/UK trained and facilities are 5 star.
My cousin got her Dental surgery done there and she is more than very happy with the results. She is all praise for Fly2india4health Consultants. She paid just 20% of the cost what she was quoted in USA and it was like a wonderful vacation for her. Hope this helps
Source(s):
http://www.fly2india4health.com...
You may be a candidate for LASIK. There are other things to consider other than your prescription such as corneal thickness, shape of your cornea.
Go to a LASIK center and have an exam to see if you are a candidate and what you are a candidate for (which procedures, options you have for your measurements). A thorough exam should take about 1 1/2 – 2 hours long and you should be able to meet with your surgeon to discuss any questions/concerns you may have. Your contacts may need to be out at least 1 week (for soft contact lenses) or 3 weeks (for hard or gas permeable lenses) to get accurate measurements. Most exams are free of charge with no obligation for the surgery.
Make sure that the surgeon you choose has experience (ask how many surgeries he/she has performed and their success rate, which lasers he/she uses at the center etc). Do some research on them as well. And definitely don't go for the bargain..the $499/eye usually those are for people with a low correction and a surgeon with little to no experience.
Good luck!
No. Wearing contact lenses as you describe will not prevent you from having Lasik later on.
Just make sure you see a couple of doctors to make sure you are a good candidate.. not just from the office doing the surgery.
I had Lasik done over 5 years ago. My astigmatism came back so they did a "touch-up" only to have the eye get bad again. I declined further work done on my eye wanting to preserve what tissue I had left in them.
I have been diagnosed with kertaconus and must wear hard contacts to see 20/20. Not very fun considering how steep my cornea's are (painful).
My sister had it done the same time as me and her eyes are perfect.
More than likely you should be fine, with the new tools out there they can actually detect foreseeable problems, but it couldn't hurt to get an unbiased opinion.
First of all you will have to go for an eye examination anyway.
If there is a problem with your cornea that would stop you from wearing contacts, the Dr. will be the one to know.