From: George Anderson 
To: Kreig McBride 
CC: Ken Hunter , atm{at}shore.net
Reply-To: George Anderson 


I agree with Kreig 100%, I still have my eyesight because I wear glasses. I
have had foreign object strike my glasses many times, and most times were
not times where a person would think about wearing safety glasses
(refilling the wood stove, BBQing, etc) including one time at work where I
was replacing three plug in LED's in a control panel. The panel slipped
inside the power cabinet and one edge touched the 3 phase 50 amp breaker.
The aluminum splatter left burn marks on the schematics I had on the floor,
burn marks on my sweater, and the frightening part was the three small
pieces of aluminum fused into the left lens of my glasses.
If I have to have eye surgery to save my eyesight I will go for it. I will
not have eye surgery just to avoid wearing glasses (I won't even consider
contacts).
On a course that I took once we were asked which of our senses would we be
willing to give up, I received a black mark as I refused to give any up. My
job requires the use of sight, sound, smell (component overheating), and
touch. If I lost the sense of taste I wouldn't eat, ergo I die.
All 5 senses should be guarded with equal effort.

George Anderson
Montreal Canada

Clear skies and good health

Kreig McBride wrote:
>
> I only have two eyes.
>
> I wear glasses.
>
> The glasses offer me some eye protection.
>
> I have 20/20 with glasses and dont care what my correction is when I sleep.
>
> Images through telescopes are perfect without glasses and slight adjustment
> on the focuser.
>
> I can see up close, only 3 inches without glasses.
>
> No one can replace youe eyes if something goes wrong.
>
> Eye surgery?     No way!!!!!!!
>
> I only have two eyes.
>
> Kreig
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Hunter 
> To: Robert Fifarek ; atm{at}shore.net 
> Date: Saturday, March 08, 2003 8:54 AM
> Subject: Re: ATM Lasik Eye Surgery/Astronomy
>
> >
> >Robert, ATM's...
> >
> >I can attest to the degradation of resolution and enjoyment due to Radial
> Keratotomy (SP?) where incisions are made into
> >the lens from the outside edge towards the center. The length of the
> incisions are determined by the amount of
> >correction needed to re-focus the eye's lens. If your vision is only
> slightly degraded, the incisions are short. My
> >vision was fully correctable with glasses to 20/20 and both eyes were
> nearly identical in prescription but the
> >degradation was nearly 20/200 without glasses. I was offered the chance to
> have the RK surgery at employers expense and
> >opted to do so. (I needed the surgeries to keep my job as it required 20/50
> uncorrected vision and the company didn't
> >want to pay me disability - so they offered the surgery)
> >
> >Due to the amount of correction needed, the surgeon made long incisions
> from the edge of the lens towards the center and
> >today I can report that in bright sunlight, I can go without glasses and
> not worry about stepping on broken bottles at
> >the beach etc.
> >
> >HOWEVER...
> >
> >At night the Pupil opens wide enough that I am looking through the scar
> tissues surrounding the incisions and there is
> >NOTHING that can be done short of shining a light into my eyes to get the
> lens stopped down enough to see properly.
> >Driving at night is the worst, all lights visible have LONG-WIDE multi-ray
> starlike diffraction spikes. It would be a
> >telescope owners worst nightmare to see what I see at night in their
> telescope. My vision is also degraded under most
> >types of lighting, for instance the typical Home Depot, Walmart or Lowes
> store has a LOT OF LIGHT inside, almost like
> >daylight it would seem but my eyes are not properly stopped down enough to
> see clearly in these stores and it is a
> >bother. Probably something to do with the type of lighting not effecting
> the eyes the same as daylight.
> >
> >For the first months after the surgeries, I was despondent, I considered
> suicide very strongly but was not willing to
> >give it all up. Now nearly 7 years later the scarring has gone down (maybe
> 50%) and I have gotten somewhat used to
> >looking through my severly scratched lenses. It's still a bother driving at
> night but by squinting I can eliminate most
> >of the bad effects when I need to see better. Car's with bright headlight
> beams (if not dimmed) will usually cause a few
> >profanities and adverse verbal reflections on the other drivers heritage. I
> still wear glasses most of the time. I now
> >need them to read the computer screen as my
"accomodation" to varying
> distances has deteriorated (it's hell to get old)
> >but I am corrected to 20/20 again and light-weight bi-focals are not all
> that bad.
> >
> >Would I have the RK surgery again?    NO, not in a million years.
> >
> >Before the surgeries, I had 20/20 vision and High Resolution 24 hours a day
> at the cost of thick, heavy glasses. Today I
> >have 20/20 vision, LOW Resolution and variable vision with terrible
> diffraction spikes and fuzziness in low light
> >conditions AND I still need glasses to read. The ONLY improvement has been
> the full daylight vision. I should have
> >actively persued the disability issue.
> >
> >In fairness to the RK procedure, my correction was an extreme example. The
> cuts HAD to be long to correct the vision
> >and that is why I see through the scar tissue at night. Lesser amounts of
> correction would have a more positive (less
> >negative) effect on the night vision due to shorter cuts.
> >
> >Would I consider the LASIK surgery?    Yes but...
> >
> >I would read the above and show it to the surgeon and ask for his comments.
> LASIK is a different type of surgery but it
> >involves the cutting of the eye. I do not know enough about that procedure
> to comment other than to say ASK A LOT OF
> >QUESTIONS beforehand... It's your sight and something precious that you
> might lose if something were to go wrong. I
> >didn't know what questions to ask and therefore I didn't. MY BIG MISTAKE...
> >
> >I hope this helps someone avoid the mistake I made.
> >
> >Ken Hunter
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Robert Fifarek" 
> >To: 
> >Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 8:54 PM
> >Subject: ATM Lasik Eye Surgery/Astronomy
> >
> >
> >>
> >> This may be off topic a bit and may generate varied discussion, but, I
> >> like many Ambers where glasses. My vision is not very good
without them,
> >> and I am 44 years old. I have always heard night vision with Lasik
> >> corrective vision surgery can cause star like patterns at
night for those
> >> who have had the surgery performed, and I have considered doing the
> >> procedure before. On the other hand, a good friend of mine who is not a
> >> ATM'er swears by the procedure and does not have any problems with it.
> >> Has anyone seen any medical article or experience that documents the
> >> affects of this procedure on night vision? Don't worry, I am
not looking
> >> for a medical opinion or recommendation from anybody on the
list! Thanks.
> >>
> >> Rob F.
> >>
> >
> >

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