Lasik and wakeboarding

Looking at getting Lasik done and was wondering if anyone had issues with boarding afterwards. I hear they will only do PRK on people that may be subjected to heavy blows to the head, such as fighter pilots and correction officers. I know I took one helluva spill last year that left my eyeball strained for a week.

What's your experience if you've had Lasik?

Thanks.

I haven't had any problems. I got it done a couple of years ago and have taken a few eyeball crushers.

Lasik is the best thing invented....next to Tivo! Seriously though, I had my eyes done about 2 years ago and I have loved it. Not having to worry about contacts, solutions, or glasses is wonderful.

When I ride I no longer have issues worrying about losing a lens or spray messing with my eyes. I've taken quite a few good falls and had no issues at all. Seriously worth the money. Just don't go with the super advertised specials as they fly in unlicensed "doctors" from places like Canada to do the procedure. Your vision is certainly not worth the risk!

^^^^What they said

K the unlicensed Dr's from Canada statement is just ridiculous I am not sure if it was a joke or not.

I think what Jason was trying to get across is do not go to the guy on the corner above the liquer store with a neon "LASIK - $299" sign in his window.

Went to TLC Laser Eye Center, cost about $5k, I know I had the best in the industry.

Ya totally understand that just really unsure why he called out Canada. You can not be to careful with your eyes.

Shop around, I went to about 5 different offices. Talk to the doctor that will actually be doing the surgery. If they want a consultation fee or are too busy to see you, walk away. Get a doctor you are comfortable with and don't choose based on price.

The surgery is not bad at all, but it's not exactly fun either. Having a doctor that you trust and feel comfortable about helps the anxiety of someone slicing back a layer of your eyeball greatly.

I am getting surgery in January. I sat down with the doctor and he said nothing about wakeboarding, he did caution me about snow skiing/boarding, that I need to be sure I wore goggles. He probably assumes no one in there right mind goes boarding in January, Feb, March... I need to ask him a couple more ?'s.
What is the typical healing time for the surgery? I would assume all is good within two weeks.

Just had mine done last Feb.. two weeks is not enough... I think the doc can lift the flap back up after a couple of months in case you need a tweak... so talk to him and tell him what you plan on doing If he doesn't tell you to wait a month or two run..

PS... i pussed out for two years after my wife had it done.. wish I had done it earlier.. best money I ever spent.. no pain.. absolutely amazing.

Had it done, best decision I ever made. No issues boarding. I have hurt everything but my eyes, so I think you will be good to go.

Actually- the eye is an amazing thing. It begins healing almost immediately and the flap is almost undetectable after two weeks. There's no scarring at all so a "tweak" is easy to do. I had lasik 7 years ago and my wife is getting it done in January. It's by far- the best thing I've ever done. Get it done now so you're ready to go in the spring. If you're one of the fortunates that can board year-round, take a month off. It's more about getting an infection than screwing up the flap.

5years and running on mine. I was told to take it easy and avoid anything that could result in a blow to the eye for about a month.

Take the down time and then come back strong and contact free.

How bad was your vision before you had the surgery? I'm running about -4.75 on my contact perscription with no astigmatism. I'm near sighted like no tomorrow. About the only reason I haven't done it is the fact that by age 40-45 I'll need glasses anyways. I'm 35 now, so I guess 5 to 10 years of nothing would be worth it.

Don't rule out PRK either. I had it done last winter and I couldn't be happier. It is essentially the same as Lasik except no flap is made. The vision enhancement time may take a little longer, but your vision will be improve dramatically with both. With PRK you don't have to worry about the flap folding back.

will5150,
My eye doc told me the flap actually takes a year or longer to heal. In fact, if they have to do touch up work in the first few months, they can peel the flap back? No matter, had my eyes done 7 years ago and like other said, best money I ever spent. Would do it again in a heartbeat.

My doc told me the same thing about the eye. He said that it starts healing almost instantly and in about a week you can hardly tell that one was ever there

I love these kinds of threads. I am an eye doctor, work with lasik patients everyday. If your surgeon new the impact the eye can take on a peeler, he would certainly direct you towards PRK. I have seen the flap popped open by the impact of a car's airbag.

Also the flap is never fully healed. It can at any point be pulled open. This is frequently done at the slitlamp prior to lasik enhancement surgery with the blunt edge of the scalpel.

Lasik is a great surgery, -4.50 is not a difficult Rx to correct, but you need to talk to your surgeon about the real risks.

If any of my wakeboarding friends or family were to have refractive surgery, I would encourage them to have either PRK or Phakic intraocular lens implants.

Good luck, be informed.

Not to sound too much like an infomercial, but everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that there is a way to have perfect vision without surgery and without wearing contact lenses or glasses during the day. You just wear specially designed contact lenses at night, when you sleep, and take them out in the morning. While you sleep, they reshape your eye so that you can see right all day after you've taken them out. I use them when I feel like I need 20/20 vision without glasses, and they work just fine.. no surgery, no worries...:
http://www.paragoncrt.com/

(Message edited by Monkey on December 06, 2007)

Those contacts you're talking about Tim do not work for anything over a -5. I was told about them but after the doc checked, my eye wasn't the correct shape to use them.

Only bad thing I hear about PRK is the time it takes to heal.

Hey Diego, what's the scoop on the tear "blocker" inserts? The office over here will put them in for $100 a piece and they say it helps a bunch with the dry eye side effect. That was the first time I heard about them.

I had lasik 6 yrs ago and I have yet to have a problem. I try not to take diggers but then again who doesn't.

Shawn, they are called punctal plugs. You don't need them. You would be better off to make sure and use artificial tear drops four times a day for the first month after surgery.

Punctal plugs block the drainage of your tears and debris from your eye thus leaving dirty tears on the eye. Unless your at risk for serious dry eye, artificial tears will be fine.

I'm sure you could get away with regular lasik but I'm just informing you of the risks and the fact that I would not take
the risk with wakeboarding.

I have had PRK with no probs and taken a many hard falls. I highly recommend it. Lasik Plus is the company I went through.

Diego-
Thank you for the added input and cautioning. I have been informed to not take Vit-C or MSM supplements for 6 months due to the potential of accelerated healing time. I will follow-up with my doctor about Lasik; however, I would like to better understand what can be expected for heal time with Lasik. My understanding is that it was shorter than a PRK? What could I or the typical person expect for a heal time, that is where an "eye-wash" might be considered "tolerable or safe" for the eye to handle? Or after surgery is the cornea simply weakened along the cut line of the flap and will never heal to a point where "tear-off" of the flap is unlikely to occur? I appreciate your contribution to this discussion.

When I had my procedure, I was told that PRK would take longer to heal, but I was able to see 20/20 within a few days of surgery and currently see 20/15 in both eyes. The healing process isn't that painful, it just feels like you've got something in your eye for about a day. The drops really make it very tolerable. One other thing to consider if you are looking into PRK at all is that I had one eye done on one day and the other eye a week later to make sure the first eye was healing properly. I'm not sure if every doc does it this way, but that's the way it was presented with me. Other than that, PRK would be a great option.

I worked for an Ophthalmologist for 6-7 years before med school and I would add that when choosing a surgeon, you should consider a few things. I would look at the number of cases they have done and I would also look for a surgeon who has done a fellowship in cornea. I am biased given the fact that the doc I worked with was a Cornea/anterior segment specialist, but I saw the results that he got, and I feel that his training was a benefit. Again, personal opinion.

I agree with Stephen Higgins, a corneal fellow would be a much better choice as a surgeon.

Michael, the flap is held in place by osmotic forces created by pumps in the endothelium (inner-most layer of the cornea). It is a strong adhesion but doesn't heal like a normal incision with scar tissue. If the cornea healed in that way the tissue would become opaque from the scarring. PRK does not have a flap, the outermost layer is pulled away, or loosened to create the treatment zone. Epi-Lasik is very similar with a slightly quicker recovery time.

Most of our patients see very well in 2-4 days post PRK, comparable to Lasik. FWIW professional Hockey players are not to have Lasik, if they opt for refractive surgery, their choices are EpiLasik, PRK, or Phakic implant.

How about Epi-LASIK? Is that any good?

"And those who have professions or hobbies that increase the chance of being hit in the eye (such as soldiers, police officers, boxers, and racquet sports enthusiasts) may find Epi-LASIK safer than LASIK because there's no risk of the flap being dislodged."

http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/epi-lasik.htm

I've seen 2 LASIK flaps dislodged in eleven years of working with LASIK. Not from wakeboarding, both freak accidents by the patient days after LASIK. Both were fixed in the office and neither patient had permenent vision loss.