Laser eye surgery - anyone’s tween had this done?

[Panic71]

Just wondering what age they were stable to have this done and what the result was.

thank you!

I had it done myself around 20 years ago and at the time you had to have 2 years of a stable prescription before you could get it done. For me this wasn't until my late 20s so I would say it will be entirely different from person to person.

I had it done in my early twenties, and it only lasted for a few years.
The advice then was stable for two years, and over a certain age.
I would not do it again.

I guess the technology is improving all the time?
Unabletomitigate - how long ago was that?

I had it done years ago but my prescription didn’t stabilise until I was early 30s. I went from -9.5 and -10 to 20/20 vision. It was amazing.

When having it done, I went with having one eye slightly long sighted and one slightly short sighted. This meant I had good vision for many years and have now only just started needing reading glasses in my mid fifties. A recent eye test has shown slight differences and I now need distance glasses again but only for driving.

That’s amazing!
My son is only -0.5 and -0.75 and 16 so wondering how he might progress. I’m -6 and want to avoid that happening so he’s starting Mysight lenses.

I don't think laser eye surgery can prevent them from getting worse, which is what you seem to be thinking...?

I know it has to be stable but I wondered if someone could be stopped getting to something like -6 if they had laser earlier

The minimum age is 18 for refractive surgery.
He's not short-sighted enough yet, you're better with the glasses/contact lenses. If he's only -0.75 now, he's very unlikely to ever get near to -6.

Refractive surgery cannot prevent your eye deteriorating naturally, all you're doing is shaving a bit of the cornea off equal to the current amount of short-sightedness.

That’s reassuring. I just wondered if it was ever used to stop progression? How stable is stable?

I got it done in 2020 when I was 34- they do stress that it won't stop them getting worse and they will deteriorate at some point. One of my eyes has slightly got worse already but still great vision.

His prescription is so low, why would you bother? Especially so young, they will probably get worse before he's 21 and then it would have been pointless.

Mainly as he wants to go into the army and not have the hassle of lenses in the dessert for example

I'm around -4 and started wearing glasses at his age and a similar prescription. However my eyes just never settled - they are still changing now in my 40s (now I've got the extra complication of long sight!) I can't see that he would be a suitable candidate for a long time, and doing it now would be a massive waste of time and money if they are going to keep changing.

It can't be used to stop progression, you're only treating the prescription at that time.

There is a banding procedure with has been trialled a bit in other countries to stop the eye growing by using a band around the eye. It's not done here though as it has quite significant risks, doesn't work that well and is only done on those who already have significant myopia.

For the army, you need to be within +6 to -6, you can't have had laser surgery within the last 12 months to be accepted either.

Thank you
My worry is him getting to -6 but my husband has 20/20 so I’m praying he doesn’t progress to that level and the Mysight lenses might help?

If it help, my eyes were awful as detailed above and ex-DH also had bad eyesight. DS is 22 and only has a very mild prescription for driving glasses so it doesn’t always follow that your children will inherit vision problems.

My dad had appalling eyesight yet neither of my siblings wore glasses until their 40s when they needed them for reading.

I live in hope!