Eyeware industry experiencing serious depression in profit margins.
- Thread starter wilburbear
- Start date
I got my eyes lasered over 10 years ago. Best $3k I ever spent. I think you can get it done alot cheaper now though. I see ads for like $300 per eye or something like that.
I wore contacts for 15 years before that and it always cost so much to buy solutions and new contacts every few months, then also having to buy a back up pair of glasses in case I ran out of contacts.
I dont know why everyone doesnt just get the laser surgery. Surely it pays for itself over your lifetime.
I wore contacts for 15 years before that and it always cost so much to buy solutions and new contacts every few months, then also having to buy a back up pair of glasses in case I ran out of contacts.
I dont know why everyone doesnt just get the laser surgery. Surely it pays for itself over your lifetime.
Lasik is SO worth it - had mine done about 12 years ago and actually drove to Montreal from New England - cost about $3k if I recall, and BEST money I have ever spent without question.
Odysseus
Odysseus
Interesting that you should post this. I have been meaning to post about my recent experience with my vision, but never had a good reason/thread to put it in here on ET.
I have always had very poor vision (started wearing glasses probably in 2nd/3rd grade or so).
My prescription numbers the last time I was checked were:
Right: -11.5/-3
Left: -12.5/-3.5
Anyone who knows prescriptions knows how bad those numbers are! Here is a quote from Wikipedia "High myopia usually describes myopia of −6.00 or more.[5] People with high myopia are more likely to have retinal detachments[22] and primary open angle glaucoma.[23] They are also more likely to experience floaters, shadow-like shapes which appear singly or in clusters in the field of vision.[24] Roughly 30% of myopes have high myopia.[25]
I would guess my eyes were something like 20/800~1000.
One day my glasses just flat broke and I started thinking about looking into LASIK or other options - I found out I could not do LASIK as my eyes were too far out (I think there was something like the layer of something wasn't enough for the amount they had to LASIK).
I found out about ICLs (Implantable Contact Lenses). I went ahead and had that done - long story short - I am seeing almost 20/20 (I think now my left eye is and my right eye just a bit weak). I had the surgery close to 2 years ago now and I have been driving without glasses with no problems. I did actually have to have LASIK as well, which corrected the astigmatism (the ICL's which can do that aren't FDA approved in the U.S. yet - at least not when I had this done).
If anyone wants info about this kind of surgery, go to www.visianinfo.com - I have no connection to the company or anything and I'm not even saying anyone should do it - just trying to give people info about it.
Of course it is a very large decision to have something like this done - I wore glasses from probably age 10 range up to 36, but I haven't for well over a year now and I hope it continues to work for me! As far as pricing goes however, I probably paid almost $13,500(!) for the procedure in full - 2 ICLs plus LASIK, plus over $2500 for the surgery center.
So overall I would do it again, but it IS expensive - don't assume you can get away with a $500 LASIK no matter how bad your eyes might be!
JJacksET4
I have always had very poor vision (started wearing glasses probably in 2nd/3rd grade or so).
My prescription numbers the last time I was checked were:
Right: -11.5/-3
Left: -12.5/-3.5
Anyone who knows prescriptions knows how bad those numbers are! Here is a quote from Wikipedia "High myopia usually describes myopia of −6.00 or more.[5] People with high myopia are more likely to have retinal detachments[22] and primary open angle glaucoma.[23] They are also more likely to experience floaters, shadow-like shapes which appear singly or in clusters in the field of vision.[24] Roughly 30% of myopes have high myopia.[25]
I would guess my eyes were something like 20/800~1000.
One day my glasses just flat broke and I started thinking about looking into LASIK or other options - I found out I could not do LASIK as my eyes were too far out (I think there was something like the layer of something wasn't enough for the amount they had to LASIK).
I found out about ICLs (Implantable Contact Lenses). I went ahead and had that done - long story short - I am seeing almost 20/20 (I think now my left eye is and my right eye just a bit weak). I had the surgery close to 2 years ago now and I have been driving without glasses with no problems. I did actually have to have LASIK as well, which corrected the astigmatism (the ICL's which can do that aren't FDA approved in the U.S. yet - at least not when I had this done).
If anyone wants info about this kind of surgery, go to www.visianinfo.com - I have no connection to the company or anything and I'm not even saying anyone should do it - just trying to give people info about it.
Of course it is a very large decision to have something like this done - I wore glasses from probably age 10 range up to 36, but I haven't for well over a year now and I hope it continues to work for me! As far as pricing goes however, I probably paid almost $13,500(!) for the procedure in full - 2 ICLs plus LASIK, plus over $2500 for the surgery center.
So overall I would do it again, but it IS expensive - don't assume you can get away with a $500 LASIK no matter how bad your eyes might be!
JJacksET4
i do not yet need reading glasses no, but have heard that also.
I wonder if by that time there wont be a laser corrective procedure to fix far-sightedness too LOL!
I wonder if by that time there wont be a laser corrective procedure to fix far-sightedness too LOL!
Doesn't seem likely. The primary reasons we lose 20-20 vision are (1) the lens loses its full range of elasticity over time, and (2) the growth of the eye is such that the lens can't focus light properly. Lasik allows you to accommodate distant vision, mostly.
My cousin is an ophthalmologist... he says Lasik candidates often opt for changing only one eye. That way one can have both near and far vision... and that the brain accommodates both such that after a time, you don't notice. You'd still have stereoscopic vision... one eye blurred, of course... but the brain sort of ignores the out of focus image. (I didn't ask him about driving.. I suspect you'd legally have to wear eye correction for the distance eye which was not focused properly.)