Hi, I'm new to the board and I have surgery scheduled on the 28th of this month. After reading so many horror stories I am now considering cancelling/postponing my surgery. My prescription is od -8.25, -2.00 x 170 os -8.00, -2.75 x 168. Mu pupils are 4mm and my corneal thickness in 542, 522. I am more concerned with the quality of my eyes than the actual acuity. When you have been CF for many years an improvement to even 20/100 would make me extremely happy. While my doctor has an excellent reputation and is respected he has not discussed complications in any depth. I know nothing is guaranteed but I would feel better if I knew the odds were in my favor. Any advise or opinions? Thanks in advance. Kim

4mm pupils? thats tiny! They may dilate bigger in darkness though but your size isnt an issue. Your corneal thickness may not leave enough for an enhancement. Have you mentioned surface ablation to your surgeon to see if this is also a viable option? 20/100 is a relistic expectation of uncorrected vision. Your BCVA may improve half or even one line mostly due to spectacle minification. -8 glasses make things small so you may be seeing 20/25 or 20/30 thru those but improving to -1.5 theres little minification and your more likley to see 20/20 if you can be corrected to that. Youll also be very happy not to need reading glasses and greatly reduced dependancy on distance glasses. Laser surgury is real surgury with real risks. I am not going to talk you out of it, but some of the anti-lasik guys will. I see youve done your reserch, have relistic expectations and made an informed decision.

There are some excellent LASIK surgeons in Atlanta. AS one would expect - there are risks with surgery, and the risks are higher with higher degrees of preoperative myopia/myopia astigmatism.
I would disagree with ACE and say that with most lasers - you would probably have plenty of cornea available for treatment. You should double check with your surgeon to confirm this.
I hope this helps. Do your research, and then discuss your questions and concerns with your surgeon.

I hope this helps

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

Its still better to go with surface ablation. Trattler has shown to me and others that this way to go is better than lasik. Its nice not to have to worry about a flap for one. Its nice to save cornea. When I got an evaluation some time back and the technician measured my cornea at 550, he said ill have enough for "three times" but if I want to stay above 300 cornea, I may only have enough for one enhancement if even that. I am not going to take the risks going below 300 cornea. Of course surface ablation saves more cornea among other advantages.