this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
132 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

39277 readers
2301 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

You can elect to get knocked out iirc, but it costs a lot more and I think you have to wait longer as they have to call someone in; however, they give you numbing eye drops so you don't feel it and you also don't see it because they use a vacuum to hold your eye in place which temporarily disables vision in the eye they're working on. You still feel the pressure though and it smells a bit like burning hair (at least with the laser they were using on me).

The least invasive option is to have a special kind of contact lens attached to your cornea after an acid treatment. The cornea then heals to the shape of the lens. This is the oldest type of treatment and you'll have to keep the contacts in for a few weeks I think. It's mostly used by emergency service workers and military people.

Second least is a newer surgery that uses a femtosecond laser that is able to cut away the inner parts of the cornea (the stroma) without damaging the surface (the epithelium). So the only cutting that has to be done is a small nick on the side through which the surgeon pulls out the extra cells that were mucking up your vision.

The last option is the most invasive where the epithelium is cut and folded out of the way (like a hobbit door) so the laser can burn away the excess cells. The epithelium is folded back into place and a special glue is used to keep it there. It took about a month for my eyes to heal and a year or so for them to stop being super dry.

If you do get corrective surgery find a practice that uses a femtosecond laser. It's the best option I think.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Thanks for the details; I was going AHHHHH the whole time reading that, but knowledge is good I guess. My vision is pretty bad (and I'm partially blind) but eek, not bad enough yet to consider that. Genuinely terrifying, even the middle 'just a tiny cut' option, if I have to be awake to any degree.

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

I totally get that. There were a lot of concerned looking people in the waiting room to haha. Just FYI it becomes more difficult for your eyes to fully heal after the surgery as they age, so most places won't operate on people older than ~35 due to the risk of complications.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Just chiming in to say I read your detailed comment here, thanks for the response, so you don't have to copy/paste/parrot the same response to my lengthy comment I left you..