Lasik

[thesaint 0]

Hey I had Lasik last week. What's the general time period you waited before you jumped again? My docter is totally un-realistic about when I should jump again.

Who's had Lasik? Talk to me.

"If a thousand people agree on a dumb ideal, it's STILL a dumb ideal."

Skully Bro #1 - POPS# 10440

[phoenixlpr 0]

Do you searh. I had a PRK last year. I wouldnt've had LASIK, because of skydiving. Its too late for you.

[RevJim 0]

Quote

Do you searh. I had a PRK last year. I wouldnt've had LASIK, because of skydiving. Its too late for you.

why too late?
Read this thread, starting with the post I'm linking:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=312635#312635

It's your life, live it!
Karma
RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1

[phoenixlpr 0]

It could've been better/safer to have PRK or LASEK instead...

[artistcalledian 0]

Quote

Hey I had Lasik last week. What's the general time period you waited before you jumped again? My docter is totally un-realistic about when I should jump again.

Who's had Lasik? Talk to me.

I've had lasik, it was before i took up jumping BUT i asked my Optician just when the flap is fully healed? he said after about 3 weeks it won't be there anymore... so, i'd say it was ok to jump after that?

________________________________________
drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[peregrinerose 0]

The flap isn't 'fully healed' for years, the scar will be there for the rest of your life. The cornea has no blood vessels, so harder to send raw materials there for repair than the rest of your body.

Talk to the surgeon/eye doc about when to go back into the sky. Everyone heals at a different rate, there is always the chance of complications. I would not recommend less than a month off of jumping. The longer the better, but clear it with your eye doc first. Take lots of rewetting drops with you, your eyes won't make as many preserative free tears after surgery as they did before, so use them just before getting in the plane and again on landing.

To the person who said LASIK is a bad idea for jumpers, I disagree. Every person, prescription, and cornea is different. There is no one procedure better or worse then the rest or none of the others would exist any more Which is done is between doc and patient.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[nicknitro71 0]

After reading of post-mortem studies on Lasik patients I just said no! Apperently the corneal flap never fully heals.

They've got LASEK nowdays that offers the advantages of Lasik w/out the corneal cut and has better outcomes than PRK. Just my 0.02.

Memento Audere Semper

903

[matthewcline 0]

Agreed.

I had LASIK and was in the air 21 days later.
When I went in the Surgeon knew what I was going to ask about as I had taken the Major on a Tandem a month earlier.

Some Surgeons are watching the long term results as LASIK as compared to PRK. The theory is the "flap" will "shrink" to the conea over a period of time (different duration for different patients) amking the end result the same except for the scar around the edge.

Best damn decision I made though. I shoot, read, drive, skydive and dive in other manners far much better now!

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[peregrinerose 0]

LASEK DOES involve a flap (removal and replacement of epithelial tissue). The difference is that a finer blade than a microkeratome (LASIK) is used. It can be done on thinner corneas thatn LASIK, but the recovery time is longer, vision slower to improve, and is less comfortable.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[nicknitro71 0]

The flap as you said is epithelium tissue that WILL regenerate w/in one month sometimes sooner.

Yes it hurts, yes for two weeks the vision is very bad, yes it takes at least one month to see well, yes you have to take more drops for loger time (three months) but in the end there is no permanent plane in the cornea.

I was in pain for three days and had bad vision for one week. Is that too much of a price to avoid long term side effects?

The reason why is not that popular is because it is not FDA approved yet; more a political thing than anything else because Lasek was not developed in the US...

There is strong evidence now that the corneal flap never heals after Lasik.

There are better alternatives, do you really want to risk a flap displacement years after the surgery? It is rare but why risk it?

Just my 0.02

Memento Audere Semper

903

[AdamLanes 1]

I had Lasik surgery about 5 years ago, and I have had no problems. Definitely give your eyes enough time to heal. It seems to me that riding in a car with the windows down gets more wind in my eyes than skydiving when I wear goggles. I think that a full-face helmet will protect the eyes even more. Of course I went skydiving days after severing my finger, and I may go skydiving this weekend with a tripod fracture, so blue skies!

[peregrinerose 0]

There is permanent change to the cornea with any refractive procedure, there is no way to avoid this. Every surgical procedure has pros/cons, risks/benefits.

I'm not sure what your basis is of eliminating long term side effects of either procedure by comparison due to the relative newness of both procedures, particularly LASEK, so no one can really make that call at this point.

Let me repeat that at this point there is no one 'best' option. Every person is different. Just because LASEK was your best option doesn't mean it is for someone else.

I do pre/post op work for refractive surgeries and evaluate every patient on an individual basis. That's why I can't give individual based information here or any other internet forum, there are just too many variables to make that kind of call without an evaluation.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[Speer 0]

Nate,

There are probably thousands of people who have had LASIK and apparently jump safely... your goal should be to do the same. I had PRK a few years back, chosen on the basis of belief that any other vision correction surgery had additional risks that were not as compatible as PRK for jumping... rightly or wrongly. I'm a little surprised by Matthew's response (or just behind the times) as I was told that it was a DoD mandate that no aircrew or jump qualified personnel receive any vision correction surgery other than PRK. The stated issue is the one of corneal flap healing (or lack therof) and the possibility that the flap could become dislodged by excessive wind in the event of goggle or face shield loss during freefall or ejection.

The risk to you is probably more than you are aware of, so a little education is probably in order. A search here on DZ.com will shed a little light on the subject, but I have a better suggestion...

Your doctor may have an excellent reason, beyond disdain for skydiving, for a longer "time out" than you would like... it is after all your vision that is on the line. If it were I, a frank discussion about the reasons for refraining from jumping would ensue. The bottom line is that you should get your information from your doctor, not those of us who have had laser eye surgery here on DZ.com... Tell the doctor you fear their instruction to not jump is based more on their feeling that skydiving in unnecessarily risky, rather than sound eye care concerns; then ask for them to explain why you're wrong. It is possible you'll receive an answer that make you want to obey their instruction...

Blue Skies, and safe jumping,

Russ

Generally, it is your choice; will your life serve as an example... or a warning?

[nicknitro71 0]

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Just because LASEK was your best option doesn't mean it is for someone else

I was not my best option it was my only option and only dictated by my personal choice. I was a very good candidate for Lasik but strongly opted not to after 6 months of research I've done before letting a MD cutting and burning my eyes so I could see better.

I respect what you do for a living yet I still do not agree with you. There are much more severe long term side effects with Lasik than Lasek or PRK that's why military pilots are not allowed to have Lasik being performed but they have the OK for PRK.

Heck I even go with the old radial keratotomy before going with Lasik!

Memento Audere Semper

903

[Reginald 0]

Quote

***
Heck I even go with the old radial keratotomy before going with Lasik!

Now you're just being silly...

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[riddler 0]

I was told to wait six months - after six months, they said the chances of problems are virtually nill.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[matthewcline 0]

DoD runs the surgical clinic I had my proceedure done at.

Ft. Campbell has 1 of 3 (I do believe) PRK/LASIK clinics.

SOF and Pilots still have only PRK available, if assigned to a Flight or SOF unit.

But things move pretty fast these days and that is subject to change.

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[johnny1488 1]

I had Lasik and waited about 2 months before jumping. My doctor wasnt exactly sure how long to wait, I think he said about 4-6 weeks. I wanted to ,make sure I waited long enough.

I also wore regular goggles for a while too (I usually wear sunglasses).

Now 1.5 years later, I have made plenty of jumps w/o goggles or glasses. I have never had a problem.

Johnny
--"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!"
Mike Rome

[apollard24 0]

I used to assist with Lasik surgery every Thursday for years. Just going off other patients healing time I would say 3-6 weeks, but like everyone said ask your doctor for advice. You may heal fast and have no wrinkles in the flap and be good to go soon. I would not risk going earlier than your doctor advises just because you may cause a wrinkle in your flap. If that happens you will have to have the flap smoothed out (or relifted)and it does not feel very good. Hope all goes well, blue skies!

Breathe out so I can breathe you in...

[artistcalledian 0]

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I used to assist with Lasik surgery every Thursday for years. Just going off other patients healing time I would say 3-6 weeks, but like everyone said ask your doctor for advice. You may heal fast and have no wrinkles in the flap and be good to go soon. I would not risk going earlier than your doctor advises just because you may cause a wrinkle in your flap. If that happens you will have to have the flap smoothed out (or relifted)and it does not feel very good. Hope all goes well, blue skies!

do women suffer more with wrinkles in their flaps?

________________________________________
drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[apollard24 0]

I have not seen more women than men and vice versa. I think it depends on the person and how their flap is smoothed out and also how the person follows their doctors orders. example - Do not rub your eye. seems simple but when told not to, your eye seems to itch more and you just gotta do it. Most people that have had problems with their flaps have been people who's flap did not smooth down well during the surgery or from rubbing their eye.

Breathe out so I can breathe you in...

[Speer 0]

Thanks for the update Matt. I may have misunderstood which groups were restricted to PRK... of course I had mine in '97, and LASIK was still fairly new, so the views on LASIK have no doubt matured since then.

If you had a choice, what did you see as the benefit of LASIK over PRK?

Russ

Generally, it is your choice; will your life serve as an example... or a warning?

[Sled14 0]

I want to eventually get lasik, once I'm out of school though. Only thing I think about is that my friend got it and he said he was conscious the whole time and they cut the top part of the eyeball and peel it back then do work on the eye. Just thinking about that is kinda weird. Was this the same on your surgery?

[Speer 0]

Sled14,

Not sure if you're asking me or the original poster, but I did not have LASIK. I had PRK, and will likely have PRK again if I have any touch up correction done in the future. It is similar to LASIK, but there is no flap. Reshaping of the eye is done from the surface down. It does not have to go as deep into the eye tissue to obtain the same results as LASIK, and there are no concerns about the flap becoming dislodged due to accident or "high speed air".

A downside to PRK is the moderate discomfort for a day or two, and your vision is a little blurry for a couple days (mine was not much worse than pre surgery). I was conscious during the procedure, but experienced no discomfort. I certainly recommend you study all your options prior to getting a procedure done... LASIK is what is pushed currently, but there may be better options for skydivers...

Get educated, and good luck!

Russ

Generally, it is your choice; will your life serve as an example... or a warning?

[apollard24 0]

With Lasik, they put numbing drops in your eye and they use a microkaratone to cut the first 2 or 3 (i cant remember) layers of your cornea and leave a hinge like on one side, they flip the flap over (this is when your vision will go black) and they will use the laser (which is usually 15 to 20 seconds), smooth the flap back over and your done. The whole process is usually 20 minutes for both eyes. I wont even begin to tell you about how PRK is done. It is a little more uncomfortable than lasik.

Breathe out so I can breathe you in...