[pct-l] Lasic, contacts, etc

[robert.riess at cox.net (Robert E. Riess)]

I wore glasses for years. Then I wore contact lenses for years, both daily wear and extended wear.  I gradually became intollerant of them.  I went back to glasses, but my optomitrist fitted me for distance vision only.  After a year of misery, I went back and told him I was a school teacher.  I use an overhead projector a lot, so I am constanly (1000 times a day) shifting my focus from the projector (14 inches) to the classroom (5 to 25 feet).  He fitted me with midrange glasses, which turned out to be unsatisfactory for both distances.  

I went to a doctor who does several kinds of lasic, and after a 2 hour consult, we settled on the corneal ring implant in my left eye and no treatment at all in my right eye.  This technique is called monovision.  Somehow, my vision center adjusts to near and far by switching from one eye to the other.  By some miracle I can see sharply at reading distance with the untreated eye, and at driving and movie theater distance with my implanted eye.  It has been 5 years now and I honestly haven't even thought about my eyes since very soon after the implant was put in.  I am very pleased with my results.  No side effects.  Except for one.  When I am watching TV, if I take a sip of soda from a can in my left hand, it obscurs the treated eye, and distant objects blur out when seen by my right eye only.  One beneficial side effect was after about two years, the deep grooves cut into the side of my head by the glasses actually disappeared.   I can thread a needle and count the hairs on the back of your hand at 30 feet, simply by shifting my line of sight.  Focus is instantaneous and precise.  My eyes do not get tired late in the day.  I do not see halos around bright lights at night.  I have spent zero minutes and zero dollars on vision since i was implanted.  Even if they know exactly where to look, I defy anybody to look closely into my eye and detect my implant.  You cannot see it. 

The brand name of my implant is Intacs.  The technique is reversable in that the ring can be removed.  And if the vision in the treated eye changes over time, a thicker ring can replace the earlier one.  If there are drawbacks to this technique, I haven't experieced them.  

Oh, this is trail related.  When I hike, I don't even think about my vision.  It's just there.  20/16.

Is it too early to say good luck to the Class of 2006?  

Hike on !  Bob Riess at the trailhead.