Lasik and Riding

[Cucciolo]

Hey guys.. I am having Lasik done in a few weeks and wanted to know from those who have had it, what is your experience post op. Did it correct your vision the same or better than with your glasses? Did you have any complications and how does it affect your riding? I have been reading that some people develop dry eyes and even with a full face helmet, the small amount of air coming in would worsen it if I end up with dry eyes post op. I am just concerned and wanted to hear your opinions.
To be more specific, I will be having PRK instead of Lasik, which is a safer procedure since there is no need for a "flap" that could create problems in the future. Anyways, i hope we have a bunch of Lasik done among us.. please share your experience if you could. 

[somegirl]

Hey guys.. I am having Lasik done in a few weeks and wanted to know from those who have had it, what is your experience post op. Did it correct your vision the same or better than with your glasses? Did you have any complications and how does it affect your riding? I have been reading that some people develop dry eyes and even with a full face helmet, the small amount of air coming in would worsen it if I end up with dry eyes post op. I am just concerned and wanted to hear your opinions.
To be more specific, I will be having PRK instead of Lasik, which is a safer procedure since there is no need for a "flap" that could create problems in the future. Anyways, i hope we have a bunch of Lasik done among us.. please share your experience if you could. 

Hi, I had Lasik done almost 2 years ago.

My vision correction is better than with my glasses (I am now at 20/15 and don't have peripheral vision issues).  I have previously used glasses, hard contacts, and soft contacts (the worst!!).

Most people (including me) experience dry eye afterward, this can last for weeks-months.  Dry eyes can make you see halos around nights at night.  As your eyes heal up this improves and in my case has gone away.  This is different than the potential night vision complication that you might hear mentioned.

I did not have any lasting complications, just the short-term dry eye.

My doctor had me avoid riding for two weeks post-op.   I started riding after that and was fine (although I kept night riding to a minimum for a while).  For those few months of dry eye, I carried around the single-use disposable re-wetting eye drops and used them all the time (every hour or two).  Made a huge difference. 

I found riding with the full-face helmet on no worse than walking around in the wind, and far better than driving with the window open, or riding a bicycle.

I don't know how PRK compares to Lasik as far as dry eye and healing.

Good luck!

[DesmonsterS4RS]

I had PRK done in July, and my vision is now 20/20 in my left eye and 20/15 in my right. I didn't have any complications my left eye is just taking longer to lock in to the prescription. Don't be surprised if one of your eyes heals faster than the other. It hasn't effected my riding other than not having to take my glasses on and off with my helmet lol. My eyes do get dry quite a bit but no where near as bad as they used to get with soft contacts, and the wind while riding doesnt seem to make them any dryer. As far as night driving/riding it's not bad but I can notice a difference since before the surgery I think most of it is from the dryness.

Just make sure you use all your drops EXACTLY as your doctor tell you and you should be fine.

P.S. The first 2 days can be pretty painfull 

[swampduc]

Hey Cucciolo, I haven't had Lasik or PRK, but I am an ophthalmologist, so maybe I can answer some of your questions. I don't do refractive surgery myself as I am a Retina specialist and am plenty busy with that, but my partner does them and I see some of his post-op patients. Dry Eye is less prevalent with PRK than with Lasik, but can still happen. The other thing to take into consideration is that visual recovery is slower with PRK. Everyone is different and you may heal faster, but I doubt you'll be seeing 20/20 right after surgery like many Lasik pts do, so you may not feel up to riding for that period of time (unless your ok w/ riding w/ say 20/30 vision).
Ms. Inc's advice about keeping tears handy is good. It's less of a problem for PRK, but you can't always tell how dry your eyes are after these surgeries because the superficial corneal nerve endings can take a few months to regenerate. Therefore, if you're actually symptomatic w/ dryness, you may even consider goggles under your full- face helmet (prob won't be necessary though). Halo's at night should also be less of a problem for you.
Hope this helps a little and good luck with the procedure. I'm sure you'll be happy with the result (well over 90% of pts in my experience seem to be). I'll keep up with the thread, or if you or anyone else has any questions, shoot me a pm.

[♣ McKraut ♣]

i had lasik done almost three years ago exactly.  the first few weeks it was pretty trippy driving at night...halos etc.  but after that it started to clear up, though not as fast as i would have liked.  i would pretty much echo what msincredible said, buy lots and lots of drops.  and get the silicone tear duct plugs put in if possible...those will really help keep your eyes from getting super-dry.  overall, it's been great...wearing glasses while riding sucks; it's nice to be able to simply move my eyes to look at something, rather than my whole head.

[sfarchie]

Great topic, OP! I've always considered Lasik, too, so it's great feedback from those who ride. My friends, co-workers who had it done don't ride, so they couldn't answer questions re: riding with these types of corrective procedures.

My biggest concern is my eyes tend to dry easily already, hence the reason why I hated contacts. After a while, all the re-wetting solutions didn't help and I had to almost peel them off. Hard ones were worse.

Now I have to decide: termis, eco-safe fireplace, or Lasik...

[MadDuck]

I had Lasik done 7 years ago. It has been the best thing I ever did for myself, having spent years with glasses and years with soft contacts. I guess I'm fortunate as I never had any dry eye syndrome or pain. I used the eye drops daily but more due to the recommendation of my doctor rather than any dry eye discomfort. Once in a great while I have to use the drops at this point. Never had any halo issues at night either but to this day I'm sensitve to bright light and headlights/streetlights are especially noticable at dawn and dusk. I always thought that was a bit weird. My peripheral and night vision have diminished somewhat but I chalk that up to being 57 years old more than anything else.

[hypurone]

I had wavefront lasik done 2 years ago. It is the best damn thing I ever did for myself. I am 2 years down the road and seeing 20/15. Halos at night were prevalent for the first 6 months and then started to diminish and by a year in were competely gone. Dry eye was def there for me. Do as your surgeon says, EXACTLY. Use the antibiotic drops etc, wet your eyes etc etc, get your follow exams done and you should be good to go.

The only affects that the surgery has had on my riding are:
1. I can see everything, what's on the road and sooner!  [moto]
2. I can see well into dark areas from bright areas and tranisition easily
3. My eyes don't tire as easily
4. NO MORE GLASSES TO FOG UP when riding
5. I could go on for days... 

[Triple J]

I had Lasik last January. I then had my left eye enhanced in June. I'm now at -0.25 in both eyes which is really great. I'm extremely happy with the results.  I was between -2 and -3 in both eyes originally.

I waited about 1 1/2 weeks between the surgery and any riding...just because of the wind in the helmet. I did a track day 2 weeks after the enhancement and all was well. I had way more problems with contact moving around than I've had with the Lasik.

Just use your drops like your instructed. Then use the artificial tears as much as possible so the flap heals correctly. I still use drops 2-3 times per day in my right eye, and 3-4 in my left. Computer work really dries my eyes out (did before the LASIK as well). My left eye still gets dry because of the enhancement, but that should go away within the next 6 months. Apparently folding the flap back to do an enhancement can slow the healing process a bit compared to the initial surgery.

[greenohawk69]

I've had Lasik surgery done...about 5+ years ago.  To date, I don't have problems.  Vision was approximately 20/325 in each eye and had previously used contacts.  Vision was corrected to approximately 20/25 in each eye.  Never had the halo effect or the dry eyes.  Next morning vision was great.  No more contacts.  Didn't have a cycle at the time, but have two now and don't experience any problems during the day or night. 

[jakem696]

I had lasik done 8 years ago. the best money spent evaaarrr. 
The only regret I had was not getting them done earlier. 

Jake

[Cucciolo]

Wow!! Thank you all for posting!!  I am really happy to read such positive outcomes !! Makes me feel better... as I've been reading a Lasik forum that makes me worry since all they post is complications.
swampduc: Thanks for the medical insight. I have done my research and found that PRK will be the safest way to get this done even though it takes longer to heal. It sucks that PRK may take months to get the results I would get in a couple of days with a flap (lasik) procedure. I am doing this with Dr. Wang here in Nashville. He is the doctor of doctors, harvard graduate and even has a Phd in laser Physics. Have you heard about him? I am just curious to know if he is that good and maybe people like you in the field may have heard about him. He is using the Visx Star 4 and custon wave will be done as well! This is supposed to be cutting edge lasers and procedure. I will update this thread after I get it done as well!!! Thanks again!! can't wait to ride without my glasses or contacts

[swampduc]

Haven't heard of him Cucciolo but I'll ask around - I have a close friend who's a cornea specialist in Lexington KY so I'm sure who knows who the guy is. Best of luck, and I'm sure you'll do great. Anything I can do, let me know.

[swampduc]

Cucciolo, is it Ming Wang? If so, he's supposed to be pretty good, pretty cutting edge.

[Cucciolo]

Yes.. Dr. Ming Wang. I am glad to get confirmation on this.!!  Thanks a lot !!!