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Caseadilla

Conact Lenses- what is the best protection

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I wear contacts. I've lost 3 in 165 jumps +/-.

Lack of blinking is a potential issue. Extra-high speed is an issue (what lens mfr. certifies 120 mph lenses?).

Close your eyes in as much as possible. Few or no vents (tape them over if necessary). Bring spares and eye drops. I wear 'cool' snowborad gogles.

Landing w/ one missing contact is not the end of the world. It can be a bit rough but it's not horrible (my Rx -3.25 L -1.75R).

I think your key is to keep blinkning unless you have big vents on your gogles. Skip sunglasses entirely IMHO.

-Dave


Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

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Have the insides of your eyelids checked. It'll do a lot of damage to them if you do that. Eventually your eyelids will get rougher and rougher and won't stop grabbing your contacts. Then you won't be able to wear them anymore.
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Michael Teator
Lexington, Kentucky

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I ware Acuview disposables, and have only had them come out once when air scooped under my goggles and flipped them up a little. I have even jumped a couple times without any eye protection. I forgot my goggles, and there were none on the plane. I never lost a lens on those jumps.

My theory is that they only come out when air hits my eyes from the sides, top or bottom, not strait on. So for those of you who tape the holes on your goggles, I guess I don't believe that does any good. But I do feel that you must wear them as tight to your nose as possible. This keeps the air from comming in under them and scooping your lens out.


Blue Skies,
Wags

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Well, I'd have to say LASIK. The skydiver/eye surgeon Dr Joel Shugar rocks - he is truly a legend in this field. He has a huge eye care clinic in Perry, Florida. Very impressive. He even has a skydiver discount. I talke to about 10 skydivers personally who had work done by him before braving the sugery. It changed my life for sure - worth every cent of my retirement money. A link in case your want to check it out: http://www.shugar.com/

When I did have contacts, I found the best sucess to get my contacts to stay in with the Sky Systems Oxygen Helmet (the shield sits inside a grove around the helmet's edge) and, like Pablito said, mini Flexis. I would tape up all the little holes and leave only a couple at the top open so I wouldn't steam up too much.

Good luck!!!!

~Kim
-Kimberly Griffin

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LASIK? or PRK?

Here in the US, the Dept of Defense will not allow anyone who is in a Jump Qualified position (Spec Ops, Aircrew etc) to have any vision correction surgery other than PRK (the no-flap predecessor to LASIK). They state that the "flap" can be torn loose for a very long time after the surgery, and so would present a hazard in the event of lost goggles etc. I've heard that the DoD will continue to evaluate LASIK, but have not changed their position.

It May be perfectly safe to jump after LASIK, but I think I would do some further investigation before having it done... Everybody and their dog are now offering LASIK, PRK is a little harder to find. You can likely find PRK being done near some of the major military installations that serve Special Ops groups and or Aircrews. I know it is available in San Diego.

I had the PRK procedure done to correct "trauma induced" astigmatism. Worked pretty good, although after a number of years, I need a touch up. It is said to be a little more uncomfortable for a day or two, but the results are the same. PRK takes a couple days for your vision to improve since the surface of the eye takes that long to heal.

I did not pay for mine, but the price back then ('97) was about $2200 I believe. The LASIK price has dropped to about $500 per eye in So Cal, plus up to $250 additional for astigmatism. I don't know what PRK might cost now. It might be worth a trip if you are serious about vision correction.

Good Luck,

Russ

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

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The place here that I referred to, actually does what is called IntraLASIK, where the flap is cut by a laser, not a knife, and they also use an eye tracking system, so you don't have to worry about accidentally moving your eye. I have heard of the $500 per eye specials that are offered in larger markets where some chose to compete with price, instead of technology. I feel my eyes deserve the best, and if I cannot afford it, then I will have to stick with the lenses.

I do need to look into the PRK thing. That sounds interesting........I found some info at my doctors website. He also has this chart that shows which type of correction works best for different degrees of far/nearsightedness. PRK doesn't seem to work for people that are VERY blind. I however am just within the specks for it.
http://www.vancethompson.com/which.cfm


Blue Skies,
Wags

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Exactly! Price should definitely not be the determining factor when making decisions regarding eye surgery.

I suspect that the huge demand has helped to pay down the investment in the equipment, thus lower overall prices due to reduced overhead.

I'm happy I had mine done. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Russ

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

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The price is also affected by which kind of laser is used. A lot of the low prices are with the older equipment with older lasers.

Just make sure you do your homework. Personally, I've avoided it because of the slightly reduced night vision. It doesn't impact normal night sight that much, but if you're into astronomy or other night vision intense activities then it sucks.

How much it affects you depends on the size of your pupil when fully dialated (sp?). Mine open up to a little bigger than 7MM. Most of this surgery only cuts 5MM of your eye. At night with the fully open pupil, the light outside the 5MM good part gets scattered rather than focused, reducing your night vision.
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Michael Teator
Lexington, Kentucky

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Wow, that is a lot. Please don't quote me on this, my surgery was over a year ago and I have long forgotten abou the money. It was around $3000 for both eyes.

The laser was one of those that will shut off at any movement. It's so sensitive that you can't even wear a fragarant deoderant or perfume.

You get a complimentary breakfast of valium before surgery.

I was told to wait 2 weeks after surgery to jump, but waited 1 month.

~Kim
-Kimberly Griffin

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Quote

Just make sure you do your homework. Personally, I've avoided it because of the slightly reduced night vision. It doesn't impact normal night sight that much, but if you're into astronomy or other night vision intense activities then it sucks.

How much it affects you depends on the size of your pupil when fully dialated (sp?). Mine open up to a little bigger than 7MM. Most of this surgery only cuts 5MM of your eye. At night with the fully open pupil, the light outside the 5MM good part gets scattered rather than focused, reducing your night vision.



People with Large Pupils Can Now Get LASIK and Avoid Night Vision Disturbances

July 24, 2003

SAN FRANCISCO – People who previously were not considered good candidates for LASIK because of large pupils can now get the procedure, according to a study appearing in the July issue of Ophthalmology, the clinical journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Eye M.D. Association. By using a larger laser treatment zone on the underlying layers of the cornea, surgeons can avoid inducing night vision disturbances such as haloes and glare that patients with large pupils often experience.

In this study, the first to evaluate laser treatment zones larger than 6.5 millimeters, 352 eyes of 186 patients underwent LASIK for correction of nearsightedness and nearsightedness with astigmatism. The treatment zones varied from six to eight millimeters, depending on the size of the patient’s pupil, degree of astigmatism and amount of needed correction.

Among patients with nearsightedness, nearly 56 percent achieved uncorrected visual acuity of 20/20 or better; among those with nearsightedness with astigmatism, nearly 62 percent achieved 20/20 or better. In addition, preoperative best-corrected visual acuity and best spectacle-corrected contrast sensitivity were maintained.

Brian S. Boxer Wachler, MD, co-author of the study and a faculty member at the UCLA Medical Center, Jules Stein Eye Institute, said, “We know that corneal aberrations and night vision disturbances after LASIK are directly proportional to the degree of nearsightedness corrected and the size of the clearance zone – that is, the difference between pupil size and the optical zone treated by the laser. With this study, we now know use of large optical zones is safe and effective in preventing nighttime glare and haloes in patients with large pupils.”

“This study shows using ablation zones from six to eight millimeters did not pose a problem in terms of safety. If anything, the larger optical zones had a higher percentage of eyes achieving 20/20 and 20/40 uncorrected visual acuity than the smaller zones,” said Academy spokesperson James J. Salz, MD, clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California and attending ophthalmic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “A subjective report on the patients’ satisfaction with their night vision outcomes and measuring these treated eyes with wavefront studies to determine the level of postoperative higher order aberrations would be a good follow-up to this study.”

Dr. Boxer Wachler estimates that 50 percent of patients who have the LASIK procedure done have large pupils and would benefit from large laser treatment zones because they would be less likely to have night vision disturbances.

Rylord
Kentucky Skydiving Center

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Here's some info from Dr. Vance's website about the night vision / large pupil thing. It doesn't say how large of a pupil he can treat, but knowing what I do now about night vision problems, this sounds great!!


Scanning Laser Technology available to maximize the ability to treat with an area 1 mm larger than your pupil size in low light

If your pupil stays smaller than your laser treated area, the night image has a better chance of being good after refractive surgery. If your pupil gets larger than the treated area, than a halo of uncorrected image can create night vision problems. We feel it is important to have a treatment zone at a minimum as large as your pupil in low light. In our opinion, it is actually ideal if your treatment is 1 mm larger than your pupil in low light. This is because as we sit in low light for a period of time, the pupil can get even larger. Again, if your pupil gets larger than the treated area on your cornea, a halo or glare can occur. Thus, two very important questions need to be answered before undergoing refractive surgery. Number one is: "How will my pupils be measured in low light? Are you using modern day testing that involves light amplification or infrared technology?" Number two is: "Now that we know the size of my pupils in low light, can we perform a treatment that maximizes my change of night image quality in low light? Can we do a treatment that is 1 mm larger than my pupil in low light?"


Blue Skies,
Wags

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I have yet to find a pair of goggles that don't give me some air spillage while freeflying.
I'm -8, -7.5. I have landed with only one in. It was....interesting.
I want Lasik next year but I heal incredibly slow and I'm afraid of infection.

Just keep swimming...just keep swimming....

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