[PenultimateManStanding]

Well today I had the worst of my two cataracts taken out and replaced with an intra-ocular lens. About half the the US price at $1500. Everything went fine. At one point the nurse was getting me ready and said 'cierro lo' and I though she said 'quiero lo' which I'm sure they got a good laugh over after I left since 'quiero lo' is what she would say to me if she was horny. But they were all nice. Strange proceedure. No pain because of the local anaesthetic but you can sense the probe going in and then they emulsify the natural lens and suck it out through a microincision. I couldn't feel the implanted lens going in but I could see it in the bright operating light. Of course I'm paying attention to every detail and I got the one I was looking for: the operating light comes from a circle with a grid pattern on the top half of the circle. The last thing I saw before they taped my eye over was a much sharpenend grid pattern. I am so looking forward to getting the patch off tomorrow morning.

[DomusAlbion]

Good luck, PMS.

"I'll be seeing you
in all the old familiar places..."

[PenultimateManStanding]

Thanks, Domus. funny emoticon, perfect!

[PenultimateManStanding]

Another interesting tidbit: I had my heart checked yesterday by a cardiologist across the street who charged me $100 for a short office check-up. The blood test was ony $47 dollars and the initial clinic visit was only $32. I left wondering if the cardiologist (who turned out to be the guy who did the cataract surgery as well, odd...) wasn't perhaps charging me the Americano price? No problema, I guess. I still saved a bundle of money.

[Jack]

Hopefully, all will go well.

I knew a person that had the surgery some years ago - the vision improvement was quite remarkable. They told me that colors were far more vivid after the operation. Of course, that was due to the cloudiness the lens had developed over time....

[Dvanharn]

I'm 63 y/o, and no where close to needing surgery yet, but would like to get it done before TEOTWAWKI. Your info says you live in San Diego, but you mentioned that the price was less than the U.S. price. Where did you get the surgery done? Will you have one eye done for close vision and one for distance, of both for distance and wear reading glasses? (Apparently not everyone can adjust to the "one eye for close and one eye for distance" scheme, but I work with someone who has done that with laser eye surgery, and loves it - no more glasses for him!

At age 38, I needed my first reading glasses, and now wear bifocals because my distance vision has deteriorated over the past decade from 20/20 & 20/30 to barely 20/50.

I am starting to consider what might be the best options for my senior years, and I could certainly afford $3k for good distance vision without glasses. I am aware that cataract surgery with lens replacement is an opportunity to correct vision "internally."

Any comments/suggestions?

Dave

[Schneider]

I hope myself to get a eye surgery in the next fews months..Will be Lasik to correct my myopia !

I don't want to be depending of glasses in the long run if TSHTF (hope it will not happen,but who know )..I learned it the hard way : while playing paintball some weeks ago,i have completly scratched mine's with sand when i wanted to get rid of the fog !

Schneider
French-Canadian

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dvanharn', '
')Any comments/suggestions?

Dave

[PenultimateManStanding]

The patch came off in the night. I can now read the keyboard and monitor without glasses through the right eye. I picked up a book and could even read that without too much strain. Looks like no more glasses for me. Also, Dave, my close-up vision is a little bit better than the far-away vision. The far-away vision may improve when I get the left eye done in three weeks. Steroescopic coordination of both eyes should improve distance vision.

[PhilBiker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schneider', 'I') hope myself to get a eye surgery in the next fews months..Will be Lasik to correct my myopia !

I don't want to be depending of glasses in the long run if TSHTF (hope it will not happen,but who know )..I learned it the hard way : while playing paintball some weeks ago,i have completly scratched mine's with sand when i wanted to get rid of the fog !

Schneider
French-Canadian

[PenultimateManStanding]

Just returned from the follow up down in Tijuana. Myopia is the common initial condition which is why I can read close up now for the first time for a long while. The doctors are aiming for 20/25 vision for me which would allow for reading without glasses later when everything is settled in. This is their target for me which means nothing is quite guaranteed. But so far, so good.

[PenultimateManStanding]

One other thing for Dave regarding prices. Its more like $6K for both eyes in the US I believe. The $1500 I paid in Tijuana was for one eye. They have an 10% tax which brough it up to $1650. I will have to pay at the Caja counter another $1650. Worth every penny to be able to see again without glasses. Another six months and I would have been blind. Fast developing kind of cataract (anterior). I'm going to go celebrate with my kids after the next eye is done by going to the batting cages and hitting some baseballs. I'll point to right field and knock one out!

[PenultimateManStanding]

I joked with my friend as we walked back across the border on Tuesday that I'll have my eyes fixed only to have world go up in flames. He said 'at least you'll see it all clearly.' Touche! Maybe a nuke will go off over San Diego and I'll look at it and be blinded anyway. My friend wants to see Fritz The Cat again (all the rave in Mexico City when it came out) and I plan to find a copy of it for him. That and 'One Eyed Jacks' the Marlon Brando movie which tells of a friendship between an American and a Mexican.

[I_Like_Plants]

For myopia, there's something called CRT which means you wear, at night, a contact lens that re-shapes the cornea. It's not permenant, so you have to keep wearing it at night to keep the cornea "trained" but it's not invasive, and apparently it works!

Glasses have been around for hundreds of years, they don't hurt the eye and often protect the eye from stuff that would get in if it weren't for the glasses. Near-sightedness is a disease of civilization, at least there won't be as much of it after PO.

[CrudeAwakening]

Just watch out because there is new evidence out that people with thinner corneas are more likely to develop glaucoma.

And LASIK removes corneal tissue, making your cornea thinner.

It'll be interesting to see how many people who have had laser surgery go on to develop glaucoma in later life...

[sklump]

I had PRK in anticipation of the end of surgery as a casual way of life.

Way, way more palatable to me than LASIK.

[PenultimateManStanding]

One of my favorite things to do used to be to soak in a hot bath and read novels (Steven King was a favorite) Then I had to wear glasses to read and the damn glass would fog up. Free at last!

[PenultimateManStanding]

The vision in my left eye, the one that still has a cataract has deteriorated in little over a week to the point that I can't read the monitor anymore with it if I put my old glasses on. I don't think it could have gotten so much more worse in just a week. Must be that my brain just cut loose from it with the radical improvement in my right eye. Spooky to think how close I was to lights out.

[sklump]

The first few weeks after PRK feature quite radical changes to vision. Keep up the regimen: do not forget drops of any kind.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sklump', 'T')he first few weeks after PRK feature quite radical changes to vision. Keep up the regimen: do not forget drops of any kind.