My eyesight is causing me to enjoy running less (trail running, mostly). Don't run with glasses. Anyone here do lasik?

I had Lasik 12 years ago and I am very happy I did. Best $3000 I ever spent. I used to run with contact lenses before the surgery. Vision is still 20/20, with no problems at all. I definitely reccomend it.

I've heard a lot of horror stories about Lasik personally; complications during surgery, permanent pain, or just being worse off and without recourse when the eyesight inevitably worsens over time and there's no change for additional treatment.

I wear glasses too, and run trails exclusively, though thankfully don't need to wear the glasses when I run. I've had a couple times without where my vision was blurry that day and I got a bit of a headache. If it ever gets to that point regularly I'll either adjust to contacts or get some of the basketball/soccer style glasses with elastic, extra padding and larger lenses.

Lasik is great. I can run without glasses, and can now go to the movies without needing glasses.

Do it!!!

I can do it for you, but Master Obi-Wan will make me use the force.

+1 I highly recommend it.

Had the surgery in 2000. My sight was so bad they had to do it 2 times on both eyes but I have no regrets. Quality of life is so much better.

Get contacts. Lasik without the risks

Non-Permanent Alternatives wrote:

If it ever gets to that point regularly I'll either adjust to contacts or get some of the basketball/soccer style glasses with elastic, extra padding and larger lenses.

Rec Specs!!!!

There is always one kid on the team who wears Rec Specs, usually the center. On my team his name was Brent. Still remember that dude.

Love it!!

I agree with contacts. In the early 90's I hated mountain biking with glasses. They make contacts that you can leave in for a month at a time. I guarantee I've worn the same pair for 4-6 months without taking out. Once you get contacts then you will probably have to get reading glasses but my sister said lasik was the best $4000 she ever spent but immediately had to wear reading glasses. I'm not going to spend that amount of money for lasik and still have to wear reading glasses. I talked to an optometrist friend about it and he agreed. He suggested waiting until you start getting cataracts and then get the crystal lens where you never have to wear glasses again. He explained it's the one good thing about getting old.

I wore glasses as a kid, then contacts for 25 years, back to glasses, and just recently did Lasik. Love it. No regrets. As someone else mentioned, it's definitely worth the money.

My suggestion is to find a great Lasik doctor in your area. I did my research and went with the best one I could find. You might end up paying more, but it was worth it to me. From what I learned, statistically, the risks are pretty low.

Consider getting a pair of running-specific prescription sunglasses. Rudy Project makes some good ones, some of their lenses are just fine for low light, too.

I'm pretty happy with mine, they're very stable and keep dirt, branches, and other trail grit out of my eyes. Well worth the cost for me.

I had it done many years ago, about 12, I think. It is only worth doing if your vision is really, really bad, because your vision will eventually degrade with time/age, and you don't want it going back to where you started from. Mine was 6.2 in one eye and 6.5 in the other eye. I had perfect vision for quite a few years, and then it started to degrade. Now I have a prescription of .5 and .7 or something like that, so I'm wearing glasses again, but they're not lenses from the Hubbell space telescope anymore. My vision continues to degrade, but it will never get back to the vision I was born with.

In recent years, though, I've noticed my night vision is getting really bad. I don't know if that's related to the lasik or not.

Did lasik 8 years ago. Best 3000 I ever spent, too. I admit I was scared to death. It is your eyes. 2 days after you will laugh that you hadn't done it earlier.

Cheers

I had Lasik about 10 years ago. Money well spent. However, my eyesight has worsened a bit but not to the point that I want it corrected yet.

I had LASIK in 2002--the "conventional" kind, as opposed to

http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/custom_lasik.htm

(which is better, and certainly the kind I would get were I to get LASIK today).

Certainly the best (roughly) $1000 I ever spent. No complications, excellent result, worked exactly as advertised.

Had Lasik 15 years ago. Had to start getting glasses again 5 years ago. Still worth it. I'd like to have it again, but can't afford it.

I can't wear contacts anymore, though, because the Lasik made the surface of my eye less smooth and the contacts won't stay still. That means I can only do glasses now.

Non-Permanent Alternatives wrote:

I've heard a lot of horror stories about Lasik personally; complications during surgery, permanent pain, or just being worse off and without recourse when the eyesight inevitably worsens over time and there's no change for additional treatment.

I wear glasses too, and run trails exclusively, though thankfully don't need to wear the glasses when I run. I've had a couple times without where my vision was blurry that day and I got a bit of a headache. If it ever gets to that point regularly I'll either adjust to contacts or get some of the basketball/soccer style glasses with elastic, extra padding and larger lenses.

I heard a lot of stories like that in the 1980s and 1990s, which still put me off.

I've not heard any bad reports for a long time and assume that's because the surgery has become more reliable.

Non-Permanent Alternatives wrote:

I'll either adjust to contacts or get some of the basketball/soccer style glasses with elastic, extra padding and larger lenses.

All you need is "Cable Temples" or "Cable Ends" as they're sometimes called, been wearing them for years, optical clear pair on cloudy days, optical sun glasses on glary days.

(bottom of link page).

I had it when I was 40 and now I'm 55. I have to wear reading glasses but that is due to the weakening of the eye muscles for focusing (age-related). I still have 20/20 vision and before the surgery I had to wear contacts or glasses constantly. I started wearing glasses when I was 8. Huge quality of life improvement for me - worth every penny.

Everyone, thanks for the great feedback. I would appreciate reading more experiences.