poutanen

Reviving a thread from the dead instead of starting my own...

I had LASIK done 4 years ago. Was -4.5 or so in each eye and went to better than 20/20 post-op. Now my eyes have regressed to the point where I need glasses again. I had the surgery at 27 but my eyes may have still been degrading prior to the surgery.

SO... I'm going to do a touch up in a month or so. Various sources suggest different times off from snowboarding. Seems the general consensus is 1 week off and you can go back as long as you wear eye protection (but who really boards without goggles that calls themselves a snowboarder? )

Anybody had it done recently? What did you doc tell you about snowboarding off time? I'm thinking of having it done on a Monday so I can head back to the hill the next weekend. I need to beat my number of days record from last year!

boarderaholic

Your eyes don't ever stop changing. It's part of the natural process of the human body. For some people who have laser eye surgery, they are good until they need a reading prescription, some people need to have their eyes redone after 4 or 5 years. Assuming you suffer no adverse side effects from the surgery, you should be good to go snowboarding a few days after surgery, as long as you wear proper eye protection. Please note, I'm not an opthamologist, but have touched on this subject in school while taking my opticians course.

poutanen

Thanks! Yeah I sort of had a feeling going into the surgery 4 years ago that I would likely keep changing (the myopia that is)... So at the time I paid extra for the "Zyoptik" treatment that included free touch ups for life.

Reacted well to the last surgery so here's hoping this one goes as well...

Lasik-MDs official site says 3 days after surgery if wearing protection, but the lady on the phone said that was optimistic. I don't think there'd be anything wrong with going out to cruise around in some powder if we got a dump a few days after my surgery. I'd probably want to stay out of the trees and calm my groomer bombing tendencies however!

Thanks for the non-official (I won't sue you) info!

tdn

I didn't think you could even be a candidate if you're eye sight progressively got worse prior to surgery. I suppose it depends on the doctor. The one I went to turned away patients whose sight was documented as getting worse within a year or two. Sounds like you got one of those lifetime packages where touch ups are free if ever needed?

boarderaholic

Haha no worries. The primary concern with any surgery really is to give your surgery site a chance to heal before you go bumping it around. I'd also be a bit more concerned about being a bit more sensitive to UV, lights and so on and so forth right after surgery. But really, I'd say to listen to your body and just be careful with making sure you don't crash into things. Duh.

poutanen

Yeah I remember after the first surgery (which I did in April a few years ago in Ontario, to coincide with the gap between snowboarding season and wakeboarding season)... I was most sensitive to staring at a computer screen, and extremely bright days.

I'll make sure not to run headfirst into a tree!!!

Bretfred

What did it cost you guys for people who have had it done recently?

poutanen

Cost me $3800 for the Zioptix Laser surgery a few years ago (they claimed to do a larger area of the eye, and it came with a lifetime warranty).

My GF did hers last year for about $3200 for the same procedure and warranty. She had roughly the same prescriptions is I did, maybe a little less...