I’m curious about this fairly new surgery called Radial Keratotomy. It is
touted to correct nearsightedness and astigmatism.
My vision is not acutely bad, but corrective lenses wouldn’t be out of the
question.
However, if this (RK) is a legitimate and safe alternative to eye glasses,
I would be very interested.
Has anyone had this kind of surgery or have some information about it?
I appreciate any e-mail.
Thanks,
–Henry
In article <335pee$…@news.u.washington.edu>,
Henry Walker <hwal…@u.washington.edu> wrote:
>I’m curious about this fairly new surgery called Radial Keratotomy. It is
>touted to correct nearsightedness and astigmatism.
>Has anyone had this kind of surgery or have some information about it?
I had this surgery a year and a half ago and have not worn glasses since.
Before you have the surgery, you are told that you are not guaranteed to
not have to wear glasses. My doctor has been performing this surgery in
this country for 12 years. It was first done in Russia starting about
30-40 years ago. They wrecked quite a few eyes in trying to perfect it.
US doctors have made this surgery the state of the art that it is today.
My eyesight was 20/400 in one eye and 20/425 in the other. I could not go
anywhere without my glasses and I could never wear contact lenses. I now
have 20/25 in one ey and 20/30 in the other. It took a bit of getting
used to not having 20/20 vision (with my glasses), but not wearing
glasses has been worth it. It is quite possible that in a few years down
the road, I might have to wear glasses again. They will not perform this
surgery on people under 25 years old because many peoples eyesight does
not stablize until then. When I had this done, it cost about $1000.00 per
eye. I think that it is worth checking into, especially if you need to
wear glasses to function. People whose eyesight is not very bad (maybe
over 20/100?) most likely will be told they are not good candidates – but
this info is old, so check it out. ___Shanti
In article <337fvk$…@merlin.nando.net>, sha…@nando.net (Shanti) says:
>In article <335pee$…@news.u.washington.edu>,
>Henry Walker <hwal…@u.washington.edu> wrote:
>>I’m curious about this fairly new surgery called Radial Keratotomy. It is
>>touted to correct nearsightedness and astigmatism.
>>Has anyone had this kind of surgery or have some information about it?
>I had this surgery a year and a half ago and have not worn glasses since.
>Before you have the surgery, you are told that you are not guaranteed to
>not have to wear glasses. My doctor has been performing this surgery in
>this country for 12 years. It was first done in Russia starting about
>30-40 years ago. They wrecked quite a few eyes in trying to perfect it.
>US doctors have made this surgery the state of the art that it is today.
I had mine done about 9 years ago.
>My eyesight was 20/400 in one eye and 20/425 in the other. I could not go
>anywhere without my glasses and I could never wear contact lenses. I now
Mine was about the same, I ended up with 20/15 and 20/20.
[Snip]
>eye. I think that it is worth checking into, especially if you need to
>wear glasses to function. People whose eyesight is not very bad (maybe
>over 20/100?) most likely will be told they are not good candidates – but
>this info is old, so check it out. ___Shanti
My recommendation is: If you can use contacts, why take the risk? I
couldn’t, and I am very glad I had it done. I currently have gone farsighted,
and need glasses for reading and to clean up an astigmatism which was
not corrected by the RK (there is a technique, but I wan’t a good candidate).
But I would *much* rather be farsighted than nearsighted.
The risk for RK is primarily that of infection leading to the loss of vision/eye.
There have been some cases of extreme sensitivity to light. My advice is
to investigate *very* carefully, and if you decide to go ahead, make sure
your doctor is *very*, *very* experienced!
Again, if you can use contacts, I suggest using them instead. The longer
you wait, the better the technology gets. RK works best on those whose
vision has stabilized, i.e. older people…
Your mileage will vary!
David Seghers (segh…@hpcc01.HP.COM) 415-691-3730
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Solipsist Society, Founding Member (I think, therefore you are.)
Charter member of the "I HATE vi!" Club.
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The statements and opinions above are my own, entirely my own, and no one
else’s.