Laser eye surgery & night vision

D

dinwood

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 Feb 2007
Messages
130
Location
European coast
www.inwoods.org
I'm getting fed up with my worsening eyesight (yes, and my age) and am considering laser correction for long-sight. Does anyone have practical experience of whether it can affect night vision? I've got good long-distance & night vision which I don't want to jeopardise, but coping with glasses for reading charts, pilots etc is seriously getting me down!
 
I've got to that point too. Over the last couple of years the change has been dramatic. Didn't need glasses to read 2 years ago, now I can't read without them.

I wont take the surgery gamble though. I want to keep what I've got left.

Simon
 
I did a lot of research on this at the end of 2007 and would thoroughly recommend it - subject to certain provisos. Only use the system approved by NASA for their space pilots, namely fourth generation treatment which is 100% laser and does NOT involve miniature scalpel treatment of the cornea. I had the surgery (in Cyprus) in Feb this year (just before 62nd birthday) (£2800). Eyesight was -3.8 in left eye and -4.8 in right eye (short-sighted) with a small amount of astigmatism in each eye. Because of age, surgeon corrected right eye (master eye) for long sighted use and left eye for reading at normal reading distance - brain sorts out which eye to use. For normal day-to-day use the system is perfect, but there are small drawbacks, as follows: whilst it is easy to judge distance on still objects, it is harder with fast moving objects (driving), especially at night. As a normal matter of course I do not wear glasses and am very pleased with results. I do wear glasses in the following circumstances: night driving, night sailing when it is necessary to pick out buoys etc and night chart table work. My optician has given me some distance glasses for night work ( and I now have fighter pilot vision at night) and specially formulated low-light work reading glasses for the chart table. PM me for further discussion. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Laser surgery won't help in your case. I am not an expert, but I have learnt a LOT about eye problems from having being issued a distinctly dodgy set of original equipment, and having several sessions of eye surgery and other means of correction of vision, including cryotherapy, vitrectomy and cataract surgey.

If you have good distant vision, then your eyes are optically in good order. What is happening - and it is an inevitable effect of ageing - is that the lens in your eye is getting stiffer, and the muscles that deform it to allow focussing are getting weaker. This means that you can't focus as close as you once could. Laser surgery can change the overall focus of your eye, but it won't restore the ability to change the focus of the eye - in other words, laser surgery could make your eyes able to see close things, but at the expense of your distant vision.

I should say that in the situation you describe, a reputable clinic would not advise laser correction.

The only real solutions are to wear a cheap pair of reading glasses when necessary. I keep several pairs around, including a set permanently by the chart table. They only cost a few pounds each, so you can keep as many as you need, and have them ready for use wherever they are needed.

Personally, having had to have eye surgery for serious conditions, I would never undergo it on an elective basis.
 
I did a great deal of research on this a while back. Moorfields hospital, who are a centre of excellence for eye treatment in the UK, say that even modern techniques can result in loss of night vision in up to 48% of patients 1 year after treatment, and that glare and halo effects when night driving, which is more severe just after surgery, especially with those who have had high levels of correction performed. Though this will drop off within 6 weeks for most people, a small percentage will have enduring problems.

There are some treatments available to counteract both of these problems, but don't work on everyone.

So, it's a bit of a gamble, and one I decided not to take at the time.
 
One of my sisters had this treatment many years ago, and she experienced the effects you describe. Fortunately, she does not drive.
 
Picking one person out of hundreds of thousands?, compared to the data that Moorfields has?

Doesn't prove anything. I'd rather go with Moorfields, than with recommendations made by people with knowledge of one person who has undergone the procedure.
 
I had it done in 2003 by boots the opticians. I was -8.25 in one eye and -8 in the other. (Very shortsighted) I was 37 at the time. I was borderline for the technique and as warned that I may end up at -1 due to the amount needing to be reshaped.

The yactually gat me to 0 which is incredible - I can read the 2nd bottom line on the sight chart with ease and get the botom one right but some are a struggle. I found the Halo effect very noticeable for the first few weeks but after a year not really aware of it. 5 years later I've either gopt used to it or its gone

Other downsides - MUCH more sensitive to bright light - I need sunglasses in bright sun now (Some chance!!) and my eyes get drier when i get tired (Although that may be old age of course!!)

The upside though makes it worthwhile - no smudged glasses in the rain / spray - able to see well all the time. More comfort, better peripheral vision.

HOWEVER.

the one thing i was told was that by the age of about 50 I would start to deteriorate and at sometiome between 50 and 60 would almost certainly need reading glasses. It's part of teh ageing process. As someone said - they can do one long sited and 1 short sighted which will help butyou are on a downward trend.

Definetly go see a couple of places, be prepared to wait for the side effects to die down and see what happens.
 
I gave the example of my sister merely to corroborate your description of the side effects that some people experience.

For some reason you seem to have taken it as an attempt, by me, to discredit laser eye surgery. If I had thought that, I would not have applied to have that operation carried out on my eyes, at Moorfields. Sadly they were unable to carry it out because the preliminary examination disclosed some eye problems I was unaware of, and which themselves led to two successful operations.

Like you, I have the highest respect for the skilled staff at Moorfields.
 
Sorry. Completely misread your post.

Put it down to frustration at taking many minutes to access any post on here at the moment.

I totally agree with you.
 
I got it done... life changing... spot on vision... initial "halo" bleeding gone by 6 month... beating into a heavy sea without having to constantly wipe or worry about contacts is a gift... night vision sharp as a dart... has not impwooved my spelling!
 
I've hadthe consultation and what it boiled down to for me was that they could 'cure' my need for glasses to correct my long vision but that I would then need classes for reading !.......... I ski , scuba and sail so its a hard call to make but given the choice which would you prefare ?
 
Evening,
My late evening 2 h'porth..
My cousin is married to a -really quite good-eye surgeon,who is quite a close drinking buddy so inevitably the standard chant crops up-so why dont more (any) eye surgeons undergo laser ?...In fact part of his (NHS) workload is to address eye surgery that has gone wrong..having said that he has operated on both my mum and a sister,neither of whom expressed any interest in night driving and both of whom were completely wowed by the instantaneous improvement but neither of whom have ever had any interst in distinguishing red/green buoys on a dark wet night with salt spray flying...
Myself ?
Bifocals at the moment but remain seriously interested in the prospect of reliable laser were it not for the night vision issues-which is the time when you really need clarity of vision..
 
[ QUOTE ]
..... If you have good distant vision, then your eyes are optically in good order. What is happening - and it is an inevitable effect of ageing - is that the lens in your eye is getting stiffer, and the muscles that deform it to allow focussing are getting weaker. This means that you can't focus as close as you once could. Laser surgery can change the overall focus of your eye, but it won't restore the ability to change the focus of the eye - in other words, laser surgery could make your eyes able to see close things, but at the expense of your distant vision. ....

[/ QUOTE ]


I came to the same conclusion. My "long distance" shortsightedness has stayed the same for 10 years but wearing the same glasses I can no longer focus as close up as I used to. So it seems that if the shortsight was corrected I would still have to wear glasses for reading and as time marches on for middle distance as well.

My additional concern with laser treatment is that if I am one of those who do suffer some permanent adverse effects there is no remedial treatment.

A friend has gone for replacement lenses - effectively the same as a cateract operation - with the lenses chosen for good medium / middle distance sight. The downside is that these are essentially fixed focus so he needs glasses for close work and also for driving.

An alternative I'd like to know more about is supplementary lens inserts, effectively contact lenses inside the eye, leaving the original lenses in place and allowing you to continue to focus on different ranges, albeit still with glasses for close distance.

Does anyone have any knowledge of this ?
 
Another case study! I had my eyes done in Nov 2006. I wore bifocals, so needed optical assistance for distance and close work. Like several have said, sailing with rain/spray is a pain in the bum wearing glasses.

Needing correction for long and short sight, I was advised that I could have 'mono correction', this is where the leading eye is corrected (right in my case) for distance and the other (left) is corrected for close work/reading. This has been more successful for the distance vision than the close vision, and I now wish I had had the eyes corrected for distance vision only and carried on wearing glasses for reading, in fact I have now had a pair of glasses prescribed for reading; interesting point here, the optician said that my eyes are very good and that an excellent job had been done with the laser surgery.

My own general experience has been good, most of the time I can read without using glasses, but at night or with poor light (chart table) I use my glasses.
Night vision is fine, I can easily see the reds and greens.
Driving at night to start with was not good, I still get a dazzle with oncoming head lights.
My eyes, as someone else said, get dry, one in particular.

My advice to the OP would be, if he has good distant vision, leave well alone. He would almost certainly have to compromise this to improve his sight for reading.

I think you will find that the clinics will tell you, mine certainly did, that they cannot recover your sight to that of a 20 year old, but they will be able to reduce your dependency on glasses. That they certainly have done for me.

Lase eye surgery is not for everyone, it was uncomfortable, but not painful, it took a month to recover my sight and this got gradually better, but you need a year before your eyes settle down completely, or at least this is my experience.
 
Another option which can be tried and abandoned are contact lenses, one set for reading one for long range work. I've been wearing normal lenses for years and my optician has already flagged that as my eyes get a little older a pair set for different focussing ranges is an option to avoid reading or distance glasses. Similar result as Foreverfreedom38 reports but a readily reversible option.
 
Take Care!


Kung_Fu-From_Dark_Angel.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top