My vision is failing. It has been since I was about 11 years old. I'm nearsighted, which is the good news. I can see close-up objects well but not far away objects. Before it didn't affect me at all. Now I can still do daily things like read or play TF2 normally, but when I hit the town it's glasses or bust.

But I went to the optometrist recently and got a nice, big fat-ass shock. My shitty eyes are failing more epically then ever, and soon I'll have to wear glasses everywhere I go. It's impractical to get new $300 lenses every 6 months. They are going down that fast.

So I'm wondering about laser surgery. I know nothing about it. All those 'informational brochures' are useless wastes of paper written by half-mute child slaves because noone wants to spend 4 fucking minutes and give Ciao some information that's going to change his life permanently.

I want to know if anyone here has had it before, because none of my friends and immediate family have. Side effects, long-term pain, anything like that. Like, it is really the miracle cure for vision phailure everyone is ranting about on Saturday morning commercials, or should I find another solution before some quack goes SHOOP DA WOOP on my corneas?

I recommend anything with lazorz.

Lazor testicle hair removal
Lazor tooth brushes.
Lazor toasters (@ Sears)

My mom had lazer eye surgery in the late 80's. Obviously this stuff is more advanced today, her vision was improved for well over 20 years. Unfortunately she has to wear glasses now, not all the time, mainly for reading. Id be happy to pass on your questions to her.

I also reccomend Lazorz!

Well personally Im considering getting it done when im older ( I can't stand glasses and I can't be assed with contacts ). I can't now though, beacause im still growing, My Vision is still going to change so theres no point . ( Think of the Lazors as being like a pair of glasses, eventually you need stronger ones, but with the Lazorz, You can't get more Lazorz cheaply. ) If you go for the procedure they will or should oviously tell you the risks and what is involved.

there are at least two major types of laser eye surgery. The most common one (LASIK?) leaves a flap of tissue that can come loose in high-G environments. If you get it done you can never visit space or be in any kind of high performance aircraft, but things like roller coasters should be fine I believe. The other less common kind takes longer to heal and costs more.

Okay, take my advice because I definitely know what I'm talking about. I have a shitty case of myopia (near-sightedness) ever since I was about 7 or so. It's been glasses for me ever since,  until I got to high school and decided to go with contacts to help my self-esteem. Well, I have a couple jobs now that require me to be in the field for extended periods of time - so contacts won't cut it, and I'll be damned if I ever have to wear BCG's (birth control goggles) ever again. So I've been looking into laser eye surgery for quite some time now.

In your situation, since your eyes are still changing, I would not recommend laser eye surgery at this time; reason being that if you get the surgery and your eye change, that means you'll have to get it again or be stuck with another prescription of glasses. It would probably be a better investment to shoot for disposable contacts (run around 15 bucks a box X 2 = 30, which will last you 3 months for Acuvue 2's). If for some reason you can't wear contacts, I'd say stick with glasses, at least for now. Now I'll explain the two different types of laser eye surgery that most people get, the benefits of each and why people would choose one over the other - and I'll stupify it to make it easier for me to explain and you to understand (in no way insulting your intelligence).

LASIK
Mainstream. Most people get it due to the fact that the healing procedure hurts very little. What they do is that they cut a flap in your eye, flip that bitch open and use a laser to reshape your eye. Remember physics class? Remember reflection/refraction? Well what the laser does is that by reshaping your eye, your eye will be able to properly refract (reshape) the light into a clear image. Your eye is too narrow if you have myopia and how it refracts results in you only being able to see things up close. It's the opposite for people with farsighted-ness, eye is too broad resulting in only being able to focus on images far away. It's kinda like why old people need reading glasses. The majority of the surgery is spent cutting that flap (after a few numbing eye drops) and prepping the eye for the laser, it's somewhat uncomfortable, but does not hurt. The actual laser procedure only takes about 20 seconds in each eye. The best way I can describe the actual operation is in that scene from Robocop when all those doctors were fucking with the dude's eyes and shit, putting in the LED and what not. When the laser is going on, you can smell a burning, I'd bet it's the burning flesh of your eye, but don't freak out - that's normal. Once the procedure is over, they finish cleaning your eye, sit you up and give you some sunglasses for the sensitivity to light you will be experiencing. They don't need to give you anymore numbing eye drops due to the fact that the healing process isn't that bad. The flap they cut is acting like a bandage.

PRK (no fuckin clue what it stands for)
Old-school laser eye surgery. Generally, it's a better idea to get this because the procedure does not include them cutting a flap in your eye, instead they use something that looks like a miniature grinder to remove the top layer of your eye completely to use the laser to reshape your eye. It doesn't hurt either, a little bit uncomfortable and it vibrates you like a whore's dildo. The laser sounds/looks/smells just the same as LASIK. When they're done, they place a bandage contact lens in each eye (doing what the cut flap from the LASIK procedure does). You will have these contacts in your eyes for about one week, then you go back and they take them out your eye. DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT YOURSELF. The good thing about PRK is when it heals, it heals your eye back to its original condition, with LASIK that little flap still exists, but it healed over. So, if somebody punches you in the eye, that flap could potentially re-open and cause an infection. And this is the main reason people get PRK as opposed to LASIK. People who get PRK do so because of their fairly active lifestyle, where dangers exist. Those do do sports and who are in the military (only accepted form of laser eye surgery for the military - job dependent) get PRK due to the benefits. Now for the bad news. It's hurts like a MOTHERFUCKER when it's healing. Remember, your eye has to completely regenerate a whole new top layer of eye-ball-material-stuff so it will hurt. I would describe the pain as severe sensitivity to light/sharp eye pain at times, this is where the numbing eye drops come into play, USE THEM. They will save your life, I shit you not. After about the 4th day, the pain will start to go away.

Here are a few things both procedures have in common: your eyesight will be blurry for 1-2 weeks, slowly getting better after the first few days. You need to use the antibiotic eyedrops (Vigamox - 80 bucks for me with insurance) and Omnipred (steroid to reduce eye swelling) as well as the artificial tears you will be told to buy and use them as you're told to. For PRK, only use the numbing eye drops when you feel discomfort, not just for the hell of it because it will hinder your healing time. As for price, most insurances will NOT help pay for this surgery. Their reasoning; "well you can use contacts or glasses, which will cost us - the insurance company - less money". Also, both procedures, regardless of what you may have heard, now cost (at least where I went) exactly the same amount.

As you may have already realized, I did receive laser eye surgery, PRK to be exact in preparation for my upcoming deployment. Actually, at the time I post this message, I would have had the surgery for 1 week tomorrow (Monday the 5th). I actually still have the bandage contacts in, which will come out on Tuesday. I had to setup payment plans for the surgery (which ran about 2700 for both eyes - including my military discount) - 18 months no interest. The price can be much less, 900 per eye, but I sprung for the better deal which includes unlimited adjustment for life if my eyesight starts to deteriorate later on. So far, I'm pretty happy with the results. My eyesight is getting better by the day, but if you decide to get any of the laser eye surgeries, make sure to take some time off work (1-2 weeks) to give your eyes the best conditions to heal. If you have any other questions, let me know. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I wear a 30 day lense that have worked better than anything I have every worn.  But if you are as blind as I am, which it sounds like you are, then you have probably worn these before.

Yup, Well looking at his XFire profile hes 40, so I guess It would have stabilized.