Any orthopaedic surgeons have Lasik?

i operated on a ophtho resident recently and i asked him the same question. he said that risk of any complication (if you don't have any astigmatism) is something like 1/1000, per eye

given how hard you worked to get where you are right now, are you willing to risk 1/1000?

looks like i'll be wearing glasses and contacts for a while

fyi, found this on google. those haloes and starbursts would make me crazy.

I have a good family friend who is an ophthalmologist attending. He offered to do my husband's (he's an MBA/business type) eyes for basically free... but he refuses to do my eyes because he himself thinks the risks are too great for a surgeon-in-training whose eyes are "priceless".

I had Lasik 9 years ago... and then had it redone with "custom" Lasik as an MS4. Both times I had "complications" and a "difficult course." During the redo as an MS4, my right eye went perfectly, but in my left eye, they had a hard time trying to raise the flap causing me one week of pure hell (essentially no vision for a week in my left eye).

So... that being said, I would do everything all over again. I was essentially blind without my glasses in the beginning (-12.5 for those who care). My current vision is 20/15 in my right eye and 20/40 in my left eye. Because of the discrepency, I wear glasses when I read or work on the computer for extended periods of time... and while driving at night.

So, for a surgeon, do the risks outweigh the benifits? You have to make that judgment on your own. I do plenty of things in life that are more risky to my career as a surgeon than Lasik -- using saws is just one (we just had a vascular surgeon at our institution saw his fingers off with a table saw)

I am overall very happy with my decision... even with a complicated course. Not having to wear contacts during those long call nights is a huge advantage. On the other hand, I don't mind wearing glasses when doing procedures in the OR or ED... I've saved myself a few exposures just because I had my glasses on. But, there is a huge difference betweeen using glasess when you want to and being utterly dependent on them.

Like with any surgery it's a tough decision and every individual needs to weigh the risks and benefits. The one recommendation... if you proceed, find somebody who is doing custom (like Wavefront) Lasik... it's a little more expensive, but you get much better vision and it seems to not degrade as quickly.

Oh... by the way... the "starburst and halos" can be a problem. The "custom" Lasik goes a long way to fix this. There are tests they can do to meausre the extent of your pupillary dilation to determine if you are at a higher or lower risk of developing these.

Trigen and everyone else, thanks for sharing your experience. I have heard of the new wavefront lasik too. Apparently, it corrects higher order aberrations of the lens which the conventional lasik cannot. The conventional lasik only corrects near and farsightedness and astigmatism which are all lower order aberrations. The halos and glare is from what I read due to the higher order aberrations which the wavefront lasik can now correct. An ophthalmologist can tell you if you have higher order aberrations. There is a specific scanner they use that scans either your lens or cornea (dont remember which one) and exactly map the thickness at various points. Not all opthalmologists have this gizmo which appears to be a high tech gaget. Although the wavefront lasik corrects the higher order aberrations, they can also be corrected by what opthalmoogists call a 'hard' contact lens. All the above info is from the conversations I have had with my opthalmologist or atleast my understanding so confirm with your own doctor. I might also suggest you visit an opthalmologist not an optpmetrist. Nothing against optometrists per se but they have limited knowledge regarding screening for high order aberrations and wavefront technology and such. If any of the orthopods here live in new york, may I recommend my ophthalmologist who is really patient with the barrage of difficult questions I fire off at him regarding all this new stuff. PM me for more info.