From: "Kreig McBride" 
To: "Ken Hunter" 
Cc: 
Reply-To: "Kreig McBride" 


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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