Lasik

[trichy94]

I'm 22 and my eyesight is very bad...terrible actually, about -10 in both eyes and getting worse as the days go by. I know I can get lassie done and I know there's a chance my eyes will not be corrected 100% and I am prepared to wear glasses even after surgery. My question is what exactly does it mean when your eyes stabilize and when does it happen. I always ask my doctor and he never truly answers the question. I don't believe your eyes ever stop changing especially when your eyes are as bad as mine or your job is to sit in front of a computer screen all day like I do. He always says lasik is best when your eyes are stabilized and stop changing but every time I go it always changes and he always say I have to wait another year or two even if they only change about .5. He has said the last time that it's still changing but only slightly, it's creeping as he put it. It seems like every time I go my eyes aren't "stabilized" but if your eye truly never stops changing then how can I ever be stabilized? Would I not be able to get it now if I choose to? I feel like since he's a regular eye doctor and isn't a lasik doctor he doesn't 100% know what he's talking about and is just after the 1,000+ dollars I have to spend on glasses and contacts every year. Would I be better off going to a lasik surgeon to look at my eyes or would I be told the same, if the latter then how long of a wait are we really talking because I feel like I'll be completely blind by the time I'm 30!

[JohnHaganMD]

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[JohnHaganMD]

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[SoftwareDeveloper]

I've read that most people seem to have their myopia stop progressing by  their early twenties, some continue to see it progress into mid and  even late twenties. Different MDs at the American Academy of Ophthalmology posted:

http://www.aao.org/eye-health/ask-ophthalmologist-q/high-myopia
"In this condition the growth of the eye will generally stabilize between 20 to 30 years of age. "

http://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/myopia-nearsightedness
"High myopia will usually stabilize between the ages of 20-30 years old. "

A 25 yr old high myope had asked about worsening myopia and gotten this response:

http://www.aao.org/eye-health/ask-ophthalmologist-q/should-i-be-concerned-about-my-high-myopia
"At your age having as little as .5D of change is normal. I would advise ICL (implantable contact lens) as this would leave your cornea untouched. Thus, if you needed a bit more treatment as you age, you could easily have a small amount of LASIK/PRK performed to sharpen up your vision.  "

A study of myopia progression in adult contact lens wearers age 20-40 showed that even after that a minority see some progression in their myopia:

http://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2123890
"Of these, 21.3% progressed by at least −1.00 D over the 5-year period. The 5-year rate of progression decreased with increasing age...
. Table 1 shows that the frequency of myopia progression decreases with age from 34.9% in 20 to 25 year olds to 10.0% in 35 to 40 year olds ...
Studies of students and military recruits in their twenties suggest that between 26% and 47% of myopes progress by at least −0.50 D over a period of up to 3 years. 3 4 6 Data on older subjects are scarce, but Ellingsen et al. 8 found a mean shift of −0.39 D per decade in myopes in their thirties "

[JohnHaganMD]

First its not possible to tell when anyone's glasses RX (prescription) will stop changing. second there is no reason to believe you will be blind by 30. It's not your vision without glasses that is important its what you see with glasses or contacts. Finally I would see a MINIMUM OF THREE different refractive-lasik surgeons to learn your options on refractive surgery: lasik, PRK (surface surgery) and ICL and clear lens extraction. (the latter two are much higher risk and much more controversial)