My prescription is the following am I a candidate for LASIK or any other refractive surgical method available today?

Sphere Cylinder Axis
OD: -7.50 -3.00 005
OS: -7.50 -2.25 163

Milic

My prescription is the following am I a candidate for LASIK or any other refractive surgical method available today?

Sphere Cylinder Axis
OD: -7.50 -3.00 005
OS: -7.50 -2.25 163

Or am I a good candidate for the toric soft lens?

Milic

I have been wearing glasses exclusively since the age of six, and hard contact lenses since 1976-2001 about 25 years; I started with hard contact lenses and ended up with gas permeable, due to a now chronic infection in the left eye lid…[this was due to a new eye doctor approved by my companies insurance, not my regular doctor that has seen me for 15 of the 25 years, changing the size of my contact from a very small to very large contact which covered the entire cornea] I was forced to go back to glasses, which are very unpleasant after years of having great vision. I will try to go to the eye clinic of Milwaukee and see if they can cure the infection, and refit me for contact lenses if other options are not available.

Six years ago I was told that I was a good candidate for LASIK but my doctor at the time told me to wait for a while…even thought his group provides top notch LASIK surgery here in Milwaukee.

Today I was at a LASIK vision center and they told me to go away…never explained if there were other options available to me, just that I was not a candidate, or as I interpreted not an easy profit or a quick buck without complications…It appeared to me that they were looking for candidates that were easy that is who’s prescriptions or astigmatism was minimal and combined with minimal myopia. And I don’t hate them for it; I just can’t believe that they treat people like cattle, the office look like a slaughter house. There were many lines, preferred candidates and those of us difficult cases requiring expertise, or more time, which they are not wiling to spend for a measly $2000 per eye.

According to what I read from some sources there are lasers available and FDA has approved these for certain high prescription like mine or I just do not understand this subject well LASIK, LASEK, RK, PKR, AK, etc.

I need a doctor to explain to me what is going on, what is available or what I should do…I would like to have vision of about 20/40, 20/20 is not an option at $2000 per eye.

Here is one of my sources:
http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/devices.htm

With your prescription, one needs to be primarily concerned with two things: corneal thickness and pupil size. Of the two, a cornea that is too think for your high prescription will get you disqualified the quickest. Large pupils will virtually guarantee that you will lose the ability to drive at night, and probably lose some daytime visual quality as well. Although you were deemed a candidate at one time, it sounds like they were reluctant. I'm not sure that I would shop for a third opinion at this point. Some people just shouldn't have LASIK and that's that. You might think that you could accept the tradeoffs, but then again you might not, in which case it would be too late.

In the meantime, you are a candidate for custom toric soft lenses, or toric RGP lenses.

DrG

Of course, having just hit the "post" button prematurely, there might be other options, including a clear lens replacement...i.e. cataract surgery without the cataract to correct most of the myopia, then a secondary LASIK procedure to correct the astigmatism. This would circumvent the corneal thickness issue, but would not circumvent the the pupil size issue.

DrG

and a third option is to stick with glasses, nothing wrong with that. Ive worn glasses for over a decade and there are times I dont like them but im well used to it by now. Your pescription is a difficult one for lasik and them rejecting you means your risks may have been unacceptable. You might still need a thin pair of glasses after lasik and they knew you wouldnt be happy because of this.

First I would like to thank everyone that has commented, I am in a research mode, and I will try to find a solution that is best for me…I will always have glasses and or contacts as the last resort option in that I feel very secure.

I have contacted the University of Michigan W.K. Kellogg Eye Center to see what are my options, per the institute the test/screening for LASIK candidacy should take about 2 hours, eyes need to be dilated, etc…that send a signal that the perhaps LASIK Vision Center was hasty in their diagnosis. I am not sure that I was examined by an Ophthalmologist; perhaps it was just a practitioner.

I do not think that high prescription is an issue here at all, but rather easy money as I said before…cornea thickness is also not an issue since there are methods of thickening the cornea, pupil size may be an issue but I won’t know until I am examined by a competent Ophthalmologist that will explain all the details about my vision.

http://www.kellogg.umich.edu/

These are the 50 questions I will ask the next Ophthalmologist that I see regarding LASIK or other refractive surgery.

http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/tough_questions.htm

I have never heard of this! Maybe your talking of special drops that strenghten it. How thick is your cornea? If its a problem you could consider prk or even IOLs. I can see you really hate glasses and contacts. What are your expectations reguarding lasik? 20/40 uncorrected? Do you expect to need reading glasses or a thin pair to drive? This is the case for many people

Let me tell you it is not that I really hate glasses and contacts, at least not contacts until the damage was done to my cornea with a GP contacts that covered my whole cornea/pupil, the doctor proscribed them even after I told him that my original doctor told me to never get contacts that cover the whole cornea due to oxygen starvation. Also the large contact created Silesian (sp) on my left eye lid, inside the eye lid, so I was forced to wear glasses for the last 4.5 years. I do not being forced into anything, I like options, and I like to choose my destiny.

Here is the method to thicken the cornea if allegedly the cornea is too thin for LASIK or other refractive surgery.

I do not know how thick my cornea is, they never gave me that information. Now that I have talk to the Kellogg Eye Center I will setup an appointment for an eye reexamination for LASIK and or other refractive surgery. I want to know the truth, I want to know the reason why I am not a good candidate, cornea thickness, cornea flatness, large pupil, etc., I want to know, and I do not just want to be told I can’t have any of the refractive surgery available today. If my old doctor has waveform technology or mapping I will ask for a copy, and send it to Kellogg Eye Center If I receive a negative answer.

If I get LASIK or some other refractive surgery I definitely do not want to wear glasses, except maybe for reading…

BTW my night vision is better them my day vision so I am very confused when these practitioners tell me that I might lose my night driving vision, why? What determines this outcome? During the day I squint a lot and sun bothers my eyes, at night I see perfectly and clearly without squinting.

I would like one of the doctors to address that issue with my prescription.

As for my expectations, I expect to get better then 20/20 so I guess 20/40 is my ultimate goal, and it rightly should be at $2000 to $3000 an eye.

If I were one of those people that went trough LASIK and now has to wear glasses I would get my money back from the surgeon that performed the surgery because he must have botched it. Some people should never have become surgeons or doctors, at least not for the money, they would have been better off becoming lawyers if greed was part of their goal.

I respect doctors that truly and genuinely became doctors to help people, rather then make money, primary concern for doctors should be to help, secondary to get compensated for their effort. Sorry for the rant but that is the way I feel about this subject.

http://www.usaeyes.org/glossary/bc.htm#C3-R

Corneal Collagen Crosslinking with Riboflavin
Used as a therapeutic treatment for keratoconus and corneas that have become unstable or weak due to ectasia, Corneal Collagen Crosslinking with Riboflavin (C3-R) is a technique where the eye is flooded with a riboflavin solution and exposed to ultra high frequency light. C3-R causes the collagen fibrils to thicken, stiffen, and reattach to each other, making the cornea stronger and more stable.