Do I need glasses?

[Infiniti2000]

Eye surgery has not been perfected, it can leave you worse off for wear, with a possibility of going blind permanently.

Nothing will ever be perfected, but it is getting very good. The chances of going blind permanently are for all intents and purposes nil. You have a better chance of getting struck by a car an fatally injured on your way home than go blind due to LASIK, PRK, LASEK, transepithelial PRK, etc. As someone who writes laser eye surgery software, I know quite a bit about it.

Canada, like every place in the world, does have a few screwballs loose. I can name a few, but let's not and say we did. The 2/1 specials are really hurting the industry. It lowers the quality of just about everything, with doctors buying 10-15 year old systems on the cheap and paying their staff next to nothing. If you look at the surgical plan of a doctor doing a 2/1 special and compare it to a real surgeon who doesn't take shortcuts, you'll see a world of difference, pun intended.

The thing about non-US countries is the lack, or near lack, of regulations. I could compile my software right now, e-mail it to a doctor in Toronto, and have him start surgery in 20 minutes. The EU is not much different, requiring mainly electrical safety system standards. They have software guidelines, sure, but no one making sure you implement them. The FDA, on the other hand, well, let's not go there. Anyway, this lack of regulations is good on one hand, that you get the latest and greatest, emphasis on the latest. Software bug? Oops, my bad.

Now, being in the USA, I have implemented and use very strict guidelines, pretty much the strictest possible outside the structures for the space program and the really dangerous surgical devices like radiation therapy machines (if you don't know what I mean, Google therac-25). Most laser surgery companies do the same, but not all. Worse yet are the doctors who get some schmuck to hack into their second- or third-hand system and reprogram it. This happens mostly just down in South America though, so don't worry about it too much in Canada, eh.

Okay, I'm babbling.

 

[Algolei]

Nothing will ever be perfected--

Some of us are working very hard at the sex, though.

"Do yo' duty for America!" :salute:

 

[Warrior Poet]

Which looks clearer, 1?

*snikt*

Or 2?

*snikt*

1?

*snikt*

Or 2?

As someone in the optical industry I would say that, unless you have a very strong Rx, eye surgery is the last thing you should be looking at (haha). Wearing glasses or contacts is not the end of the world and it is far less risky than some of the horrific things I have seen eye surgeons do to patients.

I'm waiting 15-20 years until they've perfected the technology and procedure so precisely that you can have it done in a walk-in kiosk at 7-11 for $39.95: run credit card, place eyes against the laser as if getting a retinal scan, two minutes later walk out with a Slurpee and fighter-pilot vision.

I have been getting headaches (not bad, more just annoying) and rather bad, bloodshot eyes with a burning sensation in them.

I'm not a doctor, but this could also be a hangover. (only kidding)

Go get checked. A few years ago, my once-flawless vision seemed less flawless, so I went to the ophthalmologist.

Worst mistake I ever made. Kidding again. Turns out I did need glasses (near-sighted) and despite my protests and inquiries as to whether an increased carrot-content in my diet or something else could be done, the doctor said it was time for glasses. Only need them for driving or concerts or ballgames, not too bad.

Warrior Poet

 

[Eternalknight]

Well, it seems I have astigmatism in right eye

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Well, it seems I have astigmatism in right eye

Easily corrected with glasses or contacts! Aren't you glad it wasn't something serious?

 

[ssampier]

Now you can join fellow astigmatic people and overpay for Toric contact lenses.

 

[ssampier]

Which looks clearer, 1?

*snikt*

Or 2?

*snikt*

1?

*snikt*

Or 2?

3?

[sexist]
Those are brutal. I need something like a sexy girl to focus on, then I can really tell you what looks clearer.
[/sexist]

 

[Eternalknight]

Easily corrected with glasses or contacts! Aren't you glad it wasn't something serious?

Thanks everyone in this thread too

 

[Algolei]

I have a stigmatism. It's my face.