Laser eye correction in the northern virginia area?

September 9, 2009 6:34 PM

I am nearsighted with a slight astigmatism, have about $2,000 to spend, and a desire to never wear glasses again.

I'm in the northern Virginia area. I can travel to DC, MD, or anywhere close by, but not too far, as I don't want to make any followups too difficult.

Where should I go?

What kind of surgery should I get?

Is transepithelial PRK (all-laser) surgery the best? Or Custom Vue IntraLasik? Or something I don't know about?

Should I worry about what version of what software the center is running? How detailed to I need to get in this quest? Who has the best rep, the best service, and the best results? Is this possible to do responsibly for that much money?

Please help me not do something stupid to my eyes that can never be undone.

posted by Nonce to health & fitness (19 comments total)

A year ago I made a visit to TLC and I couldn't be happier about the decision.

I had a fairly bad prescription, so I went with the custom lasik option. The whole procedure lasted about 10 minutes and was relatively painless (but weird). You can consult with them for free and I highly recommend an optometrist appointment first for a second opinion.

Good luck!
posted by purephase at 6:41 PM on September 9

Has your glasses prescription been stable for at least 10 years? If you're like me, your astigmatism has continuously changed your whole life. And if that's the case, then lasik or any other surgical procedure is a waste of time.

It might correct your vision in the short term, but your eyes would continue changing and you'd have to get glasses again in a few years. Why bother?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:53 PM on September 9 [1 favorite has favorites]

This is an interesting question for me, and especially in light of Chocolate Pickle's answer. If my prescription has not been stable for at least 10 years, why do two separate ophthalmologists ask me if I want surgery?

I think I know the answer, though.

Great...
posted by jgirl at 7:04 PM on September 9

Please help me not do something stupid to my eyes that can never be undone.

We can't do this. Do the legwork. Talk to multiple doctors. Then talk to those same doctors about what the other doctors all said. Don't take anyone's advice on what you should do unless they have actually examined your actual eyes and are qualified to make recommendations.
posted by hermitosis at 7:05 PM on September 9

Why bother? The glasses you'll need in a few years will be a lot less strong than the ones you'd need if you didn't have the surgery--you'll reset back to normal. Plus, you'll at least have a few years with no glasses. I made that decision 5 years ago. I'd worn glasses and contacts for 25 years, and it's been sweet to not have to wear them. Even if I had to get a (weak) prescription tomorrow, it will have been worth it. I guess it depends on how bad your eyes are now--mine were so bad that I couldn't get up at night to use the bathroom without putting on my glasses.

I went to The Eye Center in Falls Church (oh god turn down your sound before following that link). The doc I had isn't there any more, but it's a class place--it is pricey, but all followups and pre-visits and meds are covered in the quote.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:14 PM on September 9

To Chocolate Pickle:
The worse the eyesight, the thicker the lens needs to be. My eyesight is so bad that I purchase the expensive thin/light weight lenses so I don't have 2 pounds of glass resting on my nose.

Sure, my eyesight still changes a little year to year, but if I get my eyes corrected and I still end up needing glasses some day down the road, they will never be as bad as they are now and I won't need the expensive lenses. Furthermore, I could be a little more functional without my glasses on, which would be a boon.
However, this is just my incentive to get lasik.
posted by nikkorizz at 7:52 PM on September 9

The worse the eyesight, the thicker the lens needs to be.
when you're near-sighted.
posted by nikkorizz at 7:54 PM on September 9

Oh, wait--my surgeon is still at The Eye Center: Darrell Reisner. He did my wife's eyes, too, and those of a friend. Go for it, say I.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:00 PM on September 9

We can't do this. Do the legwork. Talk to multiple doctors. Then talk to those same doctors about what the other doctors all said. Don't take anyone's advice on what you should do unless they have actually examined your actual eyes and are qualified to make recommendations.

I appreciate that. I was hoping to collect information (including anecdotes) on providers and price, links to relevant articles, and other such insights. I'm not going to go from a two-sentence comment to surgery without a few steps in between!

Chocolate Pickle:

That sucks. It's been a year since my last exam. I'll be interested to see what's changed.
posted by Nonce at 8:16 PM on September 9

If you are anywhere near 40, talk to some people your age or older who have had the surgery. I have some friends who weren't happy with their operations and their comments dissuaded me from getting it done. One still had to wear a single contact lens. One, who has a medical background, felt that normal age-related vision degradation happened a lot faster for her than it would have normally. Also, the surgeon's office was upfront with me and said that I'd probably need to take a prescription for dry-eyes forever. At that point, for me, it just wasn't worth it.

And, uh, lasikdisaster.com did not give me any warm fuzzies either. I have no idea whether they are accurate or not, though.
posted by txvtchick at 8:18 PM on September 9

I was 37 when I had mine done, for what it's worth.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:23 PM on September 9

I had Lasik in 2007, though not in the US. It's certainly an expensive procedure, but so far it's been completely worth it for me. I have three close friends who've also undergone the procedure, around roughly the same time that I did (in the year before and after I went), and none of us have had any reason to complain yet. Long-term effects are probably worth looking seriously into, though.
posted by Zero Gravitas at 8:47 PM on September 9

If you want to go top-shelf-- and remember that top-shelf costs-- you probably won't beat the Laser Eye Center at Wilmer Eye Institute, which is part of Johns Hopkins Wilmer's a really good eye hospital; your surgeons would undoubtedly be very experienced (over 1,000 vision correction procedures performed).

NB: I am not a doctor, I wouldn't be your doctor, and I have a serious preference Hopkins-trained eye docs, as one of my old specialists was a Hopkins grad and probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. I'm also a wicked snob about my ophtho care.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 9:31 PM on September 9

During eye surgery, I was chatting with my doc about various things and asked him about the popularity of Lasik. He paused and looked down at me, then said "You'll notice that I am wearing glasses ..."
posted by adipocere at 1:05 AM on September 10 [2 favorites has favorites]

a desire to never wear glasses again.

Can't be done. By the time you reach fifty, you'll start to need glasses again to read. (And let me tell you, reading glasses are way more annoying than glasses for myopia. Forgetting to take them off before standing up makes me feel nauseated.)

Actually, it is possible get the lenses in your eyes replaced with focusable implanted lenses that won't age like your natural ones inevitably will, so you won't need reading glasses, but that will cost a lot more than $2000. It's not worth doing unless you have cataracts, and even then, the people I know who've had cataract surgery have so far all opted for non-focusable lenses, due to the lower risk of future problems.

Make sure you don't have any contraindications to eye surgery, such as large pupils, thin corneas, or dry eyes. Horrible outcomes are uncommon, but they do happen to some people. Some eye surgeons are happy to do the surgery for people who are poor candidates and more likely to have problems.
posted by Ery at 6:44 AM on September 10 [1 favorite has favorites]

If you start talking to doctors, be sure to find out how many procedures they've done. I'm too lazy to look it up right now, but I remember reading a study about lasik complications like haloing, dry eyes, etc., and it came to the conclusion that experience on the doc's part is a huge factor in how successful the surgery is. They had a magic number for the number of procedures you should be looking for, but I can't remember what it was off of the top of my head.
posted by craven_morhead at 7:19 AM on September 10

I was 37 when I had mine done, for what it's worth.

Yeah, my comment is just an anecdotal data point. Lots of happy customers out there too, no doubt.
posted by txvtchick at 9:15 AM on September 10

Thanks for the feedback! I'm afeered now that my eyes are still changing (I'm in my mid-20's), and it would make more sense to wait at least two or three years.

If anyone feels like sharing real-life cost datapoints, though, I'm still interested in seeing them.
posted by Nonce at 10:27 AM on September 10

Mine was somewhere around $4000. My astigmatism was bad enough that I needed to get each eye done twice, which is somewhat unusual, I understand. Again, this was a while ago, so I don't know if the price is still there or if there are new techniques. I was able to use a medical savings account to pay for it, which was nice, since the money was taken out pre-tax and deducted directly from my checking account bi-monthly, lessening the sting significantly. The Eye Center worked with me to do the assement in December and the surgery in January, so I could set aside money in the new year to pay for the procedure.
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:44 AM on September 10