Anyone who is short-sighted?

[Droo]

I'm sure there are a few and I'm one of them.

I have Myopia, or short-sightedness, and am due to have surgery to correct my vision early next month. My mind was at ease until about 10 minutes ago when I read something disturbing about my condition.

I have extreme Myopia, truth be told I knew my eye-sight was bad but I didn't realise the implications. High Myopia is a prescription of over -6.00 diopters. My prescription is -8.00 to -8.50.

Now with any luck, this procedure will fully restore my eye-sight, if not then it should leave me with a mild myopia of between -0.50 and -1.00. But fingers crossed for complete sight restoration.

Anyway, that is not what concerns me. What concerns me is a fact I'd just been made aware of regarding my condition. People with high myopia have a 1 in 20 chance in their lifetimes of retinal detatchment resulting in complete loss of sight. And I do not like those odds one bit.

My nan was blind, she lost her sight due to vanity and refusing to wear glasses. Her eye-sight became worse and worse until she lost her sight when she was about 40. I'm 24, and my eye-sight can't get much worse.

Tomorrow, I plan on calling the clinic and ask every question bubbling in my mind. As far as I know, while cataracts surgery is a chief cause of retinal detatchment, this surgery doesn't have that effect. But I'd like to know for sure. What also bothers me is I've had to wear glasses since I was 9 and never has my optician brought this issue up but given that there's been blindness only two generations from me, I feel my fear is justified.

I find all this deeply concerning, I'm only young and hopefully have a long way to go yet. The thought of losing any of my senses terrifies me beyond belief and if there's anyone who has any knowledge on the issue they would like to share I'd be very appreciative of it.

[Hartus Kenobi]

a 5% chance is higher than we would like, but I don't think you should lay awake at night over it, considering there's not much you can do about it right now. What I think you should also consider is that technology improving by leaps and bounds. It's not unlikely that ten or twenty years in the future, the chances of retinal detachment are much much lower.

anyway, good luck on the surgery. I plan on doing that within the next handful of years. maybe when I'm done with all my schooling.

[Eluna Thals]

I used to think my vision (4.0 & 3.75 respectively) was bad, how do you even make it out of bed?

[Droo]

I keep my glasses on the bedside cabinet.

As for technological advancements, what you say is true, but it's a bit stomach churning to think that at this age, my prescription can already be so bad. As soon as I have some answers, I can relax, and for the time being I'll try not to think about it.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I have slight astigmatism in my right eye, and a hairline scar just below my field of vision in the left. Both problems thankfully stop just short of the 'we can't operate on this' line. I think my vision is -5.75 in both, so I'm looking forward to when I can afford the surgery and not have to deal with contacts ever again.

[Hartus Kenobi]

I'll be 24 in a couple of months, and I've had glasses since the second grade. My prescription was at -6.0 and -6.5 at the end of highschool, at which point I decided I shouldn't wear contacts anymore and wear glasses exclusively. My eyesight has remained steady since then, even with all the books and tv. Recently, I have ventured back to contacts, but daily disposables so that I don't have to worry about cleaning them. If I had continued wearing contacts back then, I really believe my eyesight would be as back or worse than yours.

I'm assuming your eyesight has been stable for a few years now? My understanding is that you shouldn't get the surgery if your eyes haven't stabilized.

[Droo]

There has been a minute change in my prescription over the last three years but that's it. What you've just said intrigues me, do contact lenses increase the chance your eyesight may degrade?

[Hartus Kenobi]

I think it's different for different people. I've known some people say contact lenses have even helped them improve their vision. But from my experience, whenever I wear contact lenses it's much more likely that something will attach itself to the contact that can irritate or even infect the eye. This is particularly dangerous when you don't take the time to clean your contacts extremely thoroughly before each use (if you don't wear dailies). I'm usually skeptical of those all-in-one cleansers, and when I used high-strength soap and the disinfectant, then you have to be extra careful to rinse both out completely before wearing. It was just too much of hassle, and I must've not been perfect in my method. Plus, my eyes are naturally pretty dry, which makes keeping my lenses moist a problem, which might've contributed to they irritating my eyes.

[Eluna Thals]

Contacts actually coincided with my prescription leveling off. I stopped getting worse vision when I started wearing them. Now I almost exclusively wear glasses again but my eyesight hasn't suffered for it. I don't know if there is a correlation at all.

[Taja Loraan]

I have astigmatism in both eyes; it runs in the family. I've been wearing glasses since I was roughly 4 or 5 years old, and have come to accept them as a permanent feature of my face.

[Eluna Thals]

Hey Taj I have astigmatism too. They make contacts to correct against that if you're interested.

[Solani Naleen]

I have astigmatism in both of my eyes and like Taja, I've worn glasses since I was a little kid. 5 years old actually.

As for the chance of getting a detached retina, I wouldn't worry too much about it. A family friend had that happen to him last year and he underwent surgery to have it fixed and now he has almost perfect vision again.

[Aretsuya]

Like Taja, I suffer from astigmatism as well. Which sucks, because I can't read something only 3 metres away. And in both my eyes, so.

I'd love corrective surgery, but sticking a laser in your eyes sounds kinda freaky. Heard you can go blind if it goes wrong. Would rather see blur than nothing at all.

[Hartus Kenobi]

which is why I'm too chicken to do it for another few years- years in which I hope the procedure to become much safer and/or less gross.

[Morgan Evanar]

I'm about -4 in each eye with minor astigmatism in my left eye. I'm also looking at laser surgery.

[Droo]

I'd love corrective surgery, but sticking a laser in your eyes sounds kinda freaky. Heard you can go blind if it goes wrong. Would rather see blur than nothing at all.

That's really an old issue and one only to worry about if you're happy to be treated by some backstreet surgeon in the middle of nowhere. The company with whom I'm having the surgery have been going for nearly twenty years and have never had a case of sight loss. They are completely forward and honest with you about the risks; dry eyes, light sensitivity, ruptured blood vessels. All of which are temporary. The only major risk is that of infection but the actual chance of that happening is less the 0.2%. Contact lens wearers have a 1 in 100 chance of infection in their lives so I'm comfortable with those odds.

[Aretsuya]

That thought is a bit comforting, I suppose. But I'm still a bit of a coward, and I'll wait a few years to see if everything is improving.

[Taja Loraan]

Hey Taj I have astigmatism too. They make contacts to correct against that if you're interested.

I'm not sure why, but optometrists have generally always advised me against getting contacts. I have no issues with glasses but I'd prefer not having to wear them till the end of my days. I brought up laser surgery with my dad the other day and he was a bit disconcerted due to the risk of cancer, so yeah, I think I'll wait a while as well.

[Droo]

Bit of an update:

I CAN SEE!! :D

[Razielle Alastor]

Awesome Droo! :)

[Mu Satach]

Awesome! Someday, someday I may get corrective surgery as well.

I'm in the same boat as you. Been wearing glasses since the 2nd grade, my prescriptions are -8.75 & -8.5 and my optometrist started warning me about the possibility of retinal detachment when I was about 14.

What he told me is that I need to watch out for any kind of white flashes showing up at the sides of my eyes and every year like clockwork I get a check up whether I need new glasses or not. At that time they dilate my pupils and check the retina for any tears. It's actually kind of fun afterwards wandering around unable to focus on anything for a while.

In fact, it's that time of year again. :)

[Pierce Tondry]

Bit of an update:

I CAN SEE!! :D

And here, I thought that picture you showed me was just your tribute to Heath Ledger's Joker, not a case of botching your makeup. NOW I KNOW THE TRUTH!

I kid, I kid! Grats on being able to see Droo! :)