LAWYER STUFF: LASIK Eye Surgery . . . Are you a lawyer whose eyes were ruined by law school? Then perhaps you need this--

It's LASIK eye surgery. Practically every lawyer is doing it. Using a space-age laser beam, the refractive errors in your eyes can be corrected by simply vaporizing them away. Not only will you be able to see better, but you'll be able to get rid of those glasses that made you look like such a dork. The only downside is that you'll still be a lawyer.*

*Risks of LASIK eye surgery include  loss of vision, anisometropia, epithelial ingrowth, flap melt, aniseikonia, double vision, hazy vision, fluctuating vision, glare and haloes, undercorrected or overcorrected vision, dry eyes requiring use of punctum plugs to reduce tear drainage, corneal ulcer formation, endothelial cell loss, ptosis, and much, much more.

Comments

[Alan]

My eyecare doctor told me about laser surgery/correction oh so many years ago (easily 10-15). I've been wearing glasses since second grade (I graduated from law school last year so that means.. about 19 years). My vision is abjectly horrible (without the glasses, of course). I've never even contemplated let alone tried contact lenses. I'm still scared of the laser surgery. I suspect I'll wear glasses until the day I die.

[Jeff]

Do it when your in your early 20s, after your vision stabilizes.

I'm 43 and am hesitant because it will only solve my myopia and not oncoming presbyopia (need for reading glasses). LASIK can address this, in part, by overcorrecting one eye to provide better near vision. There are also new technologies that promise to provide an "all distance" solution, though they're more invasive.

[Tom]

The scary thing about this surgery is that you only get 2 eyes. If you mess them up worse than they already are, you're pretty much out of luck. I've seen more horror stories about this procedure than I care to count. I know a lot of people that have benefited from LASIK though and the most important thing about this is to make sure you have a good doctor.

By the way, if you wear contacts, be sure to throw away any bottles of this type of contact solution: Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution may be linked to an increase in serious fungal eye infections across the country.

:: ReNu Contact Solution

[Yeoman]

On the "ruined by law school" item, is there any solid evidence that concentrated reading negatively impacts vision? I'm not saying it doesn't, I just wonder if that's been determined.

I've worn glasses since I was about 13, and have worn them all the time since I was 18. But I've been a heavy reader since I learned to read.

I can't seem myself doing a thing like this. I'm so used to my glasses, which are a pair (several pair, actually) of old wire rims made in the 1940s (with new lenses, naturally) that I can't imagine not wearing them. People probably wound't recognize me, and I've always wondered why people bother with contact lenses.