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For nearsightedness, can we get ICL instead of PRK?

AirGuy

AirGuy

Member
MasterBates said:
You want in? Uncle's game, uncles rules.

Just be glad there ARE options now. One of the main reasons I didn't do NROTC or USNA was my vision, since at the time it was not 20/20 and that was the standard.

My eyes got better in my late teens, but I was already a junior in college by then. So I did BDCP

Sent from a van down by the river via Tapatalk
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Oh, well it's cool you got through somehow then. How did they get better? Just did or did you do anything to make them better?
 
AirGuy

AirGuy

Member
NavyOffRec said:
Think about this, LASIK has been around for how many years, and just recently the USN is doing a study letting people in and those aren't implants, so odds are you would be WAY past the age limit before the USN even thought about a study, that is IF they would think about implants, they don't let people in that have had much less done.
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Yea I understand. Thanks for the info. I'll just go and get PRK then. Would it be better to get PRK from a Navy surgeon or just find a civilian one?
 
jbweldon04

jbweldon04

Eye Guy
ICL or IOL's are never a better alternative to PRK or LASIK. ICL and IOL's manipulate the best part of your eye, that's your lens. Your lens is responsible for a great percentage of your vision. Think of this anatomical body part of the eye like the lens iris in your camera. It has the ability to focus from things that are close to things that are far away. If you have Myopia, that is a refractive error that can be corrected with glasses, contact lens or corneal surgery. If you keep your cornea then you maintain the ability to focus on things at different distances. If you manipulate your lens, you lose the ability to focus. The lens will correct for only a specific distance (16 in. if you want to correct seeing up close or 20 ft if you want to see far away). You will then need different prescriptions to see at different distances.

The visual pathway starts at your cornea (PRK and LASIK) and then goes through your pupil to your lens (IOL or ICL). The first procedure reshapes your cornea while the second one takes the lens OUT!! The better alternative will always be to keep what works instead of getting something mechanical. You're crazy if you want to mess with your lens.
 
AirGuy

AirGuy

Member
jbweldon04 said:
ICL or IOL's are never a better alternative to PRK or LASIK. ICL and IOL's manipulate the best part of your eye, that's your lens. Your lens is responsible for a great percentage of your vision. Think of this anatomical body part of the eye like the lens iris in your camera. It has the ability to focus from things that are close to things that are far away. If you have Myopia, that is a refractive error that can be corrected with glasses, contact lens or corneal surgery. If you keep your cornea then you maintain the ability to focus on things at different distances. If you manipulate your lens, you lose the ability to focus. The lens will correct for only a specific distance (16 in. if you want to correct seeing up close or 20 ft if you want to see far away). You will then need different prescriptions to see at different distances.

The visual pathway starts at your cornea (PRK and LASIK) and then goes through your pupil to your lens (IOL or ICL). The first procedure reshapes your cornea while the second one takes the lens OUT!! The better alternative will always be to keep what works instead of getting something mechanical. You're crazy if you want to mess with your lens.
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This is not like cataract surgery where the natural lens of your eye is taken out or manipulated. In Visian ICL, an ICL is placed in front of your natural lens and behind the iris (in other locations with the other types of PIOL surgery). Here's a quick animation of what happens:

The complete procedure:

Don't take this as another argument over something rather pointless, since it is not an approved procedure. I'm simply trying to provide some information with those links. Luckily for me, the doctor here provides both PRK and ICL.
 
AirGuy

AirGuy

Member
jbweldon04 said:
Get LASIK. the downtime is much shorter for healing and it hurts a lot less.
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I didn't know they were allowing LASIK. But I hear PRK is recommended for aviators due to risk of flap dislodging. I willing to go through the pain because I hear PRK is less risky and burns away less corneal tissue (for future corrections / touchups). Does LASIK have any particular advantages like less side effects or something? Also, do you know if one's tear production always decreases post-op to LASIK / PRK, by at least a small amount? Are there any other significant changes? In other words, I'm wondering if my eyes will be the same pre-op and post-op after fully recovering (except for the burnt away corneal tissue).

Thanks for your help.
 
jbweldon04

jbweldon04

Eye Guy
Surgery will not be the same for everyone. There are certain cases where PRK is better than LASIK and vice versa. For instance, I had to get PRK because I had a corneal scar from childbirth that would affect the healing process for LASIK. There are other reasons that would affect why you would get one over the other, like corneal thickness. Trust in your doctor and have him give you a plan.

For aviators who are already in and have a terrible time predicting flight schedules, most elect LASIK because they're only down for two weeks. During those two weeks they just take leave.

And in response to your post about allowing or not allowing LASIK, the NAVY has done extensive research for years on LASIK and they have found that the flap isn't compromised while flying so you can get it and it won't affect your career unforeseen any adverse reactions to the surgery of course.
 
AirGuy

AirGuy

Member
jbweldon04 said:
Surgery will not be the same for everyone. There are certain cases where PRK is better than LASIK and vice versa. For instance, I had to get PRK because I had a corneal scar from childbirth that would affect the healing process for LASIK. There are other reasons that would affect why you would get one over the other, like corneal thickness. Trust in your doctor and have him give you a plan.

For aviators who are already in and have a terrible time predicting flight schedules, most elect LASIK because they're only down for two weeks. During those two weeks they just take leave.

And in response to your post about allowing or not allowing LASIK, the NAVY has done extensive research for years on LASIK and they have found that the flap isn't compromised while flying so you can get it and it won't affect your career unforeseen any adverse reactions to the surgery of course.
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I see, well I'll definitely ask my doctor then what's best for me. Thank you for the input. I will admit though, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the whole LASIK flap thing. I'd literally be nervous for the rest of my life to rub my eyes.
 
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