I had LASIK Eye Surgery last week in Sarasota’s Center For Sight. Dr. William Lahners performed the state of the art IntraLase LASIK surgery on 2/25/10. It is an all laser, blade-free procedure. The major decision I had before surgery was what I wanted to actually improve. I have been near-sighted and wearing glasses to see the school blackboard since the 5th grade. Contact lenses were my favorite invention as they removed the bulky glasses to play sports. Now that I am approaching 47 in April, the “dreaded” up close vision was vanishing too. Doctors tried to make small corrections with my contact lenses taking away a little distance vision to make the up close vision better with bi/tri focal type lenses. After a while, you seem to compromise in both areas. My new eye doctor, Dr. Altman, suggested I go for a LASIK consultation as he thought I would be a good candidate for LASIK surgery.

Then, Dr. Lahners said I had two choices. Option #1: correct my distance vision to the best of my ability (that is 20/20 in my left eye and 20/15 in my right dominant eye) leaving me without contact lenses and glasses for distance, but still needing “readers,” or Option #2: correct my distance vision in my right eye and correct my left eye for up close vision – thus leaving me without contact lenses and glasses for distance and no readers for up close – sounds attractive right, no glasses at anytime if things go well!?

Dr. Altman’s advice and my initial purpose in having LASIK Eye Surgery was to correct my distance vision to the best of its ability. I would for once not need contact lenses or glasses for distance, and be left to wear readers for everything up close. After further research, I stayed with my initial purpose for the surgery – fix my distance vision. With my outdoor lifestyle as a coach and athlete, I felt that I would greatly compromise my ability for fine motor skills with “mono vision” – one eye for distance and one for up close. Even though it sounds so attractive – no glasses at all – with the brain adapting to see properly through each eye’s role, I did not want to compromise my abilities as an older athlete. I wanted to see the tennis ball better than ever. One of the obstacles for older athletes in hand-eye sports and fine motor skill activities is the diminishing ability to “read” what is coming from a distance. Thus, making  reactions slower. Mono vision would be a good choice for someone who works in an office all day, but in the future another surgery must be performed on the eye for up close vision to remain sharp as the capacity to see up close continues to diminish with age.

I will happily break out the readers to see my iPhone, computer, or read a book knowing that I now can see crystal clear distance. I am no longer a near sighted person. Dr. Lahners has successfully changed me to a far sighted person. A week after the surgery I am continuing to heal. I am finishing up the eye drops. I still have the redness in my eyes from the scarring of the surgery. This will go away over the next week. With the cornea being the fastest healing part of the human body, I was 70% healed by the day after surgery and I should be 100% healed in no time. You can check out more at www.centerforsight.net.