Unicycling and LASIK (eye surgery)

General
1

I thought I would let y’all know that I just had laser surgery on both
eyes and now have excellent vision (like 20-10).

There were several considerations, but some of the most important had to
do with unicycling: It’s dangerous (and no fun) riding with glasses in
cold temps or in the rain or snow bc the specs tend to fog up or get wet.
There were days I actually took off the glasses so that I could see
better, even tho my vision wasn’t too strong, bc the lenses were harder to
see thru than my own (drier) eyes. Definely the cold was the worst bc of
the fog. OK, I could have gotten some defogging liquid, but i only thought
of that now, and anyway, I had this special money set aside which I had
forgotten to spend till last month, so it made sense. The LASIK only cost
me $1,500 (about $1,000 after taxes).

Anyone interested can e- me privately for an account of my LASIK
experience or for a recommended place to have it done. I used
DiamondVision, a place I found in a subway ad.

I must say that the first time I rode a Coker in the snow (a few days ago)
WITHOUT GLASSES was such a relief – nothing to fog up or get wet.
Definitely worth the money.

David Stone Co-founder, Unatics of NY

2

Hi

Glad to hear it went well. I had laser eye surgery done on both eyes
about 3 years ago and am pleased to say that it has been a fantastic
experience for
me. I was not unicycling back then but I was having a lot of trouble with
my glasses steaming up under my motorcycle helmet (which was proving
VERY dangerous) also they were a lot of hassle when performing, the
glasses didn’t look right with my costumes, and without them I
couldn’t see well enough to perform. Also they were problematic during
gymnastics. Had I been able to wear contacts (I could never get them
in!) I would probably not have done it. But I am glad I did.

There has been a couple of problems, though not in any way severe. But I
have ended up with eyes that are both better than 20-20, which is, I have
been informed by an optician, not perfect as widely believed. Simply the
average standard of eyesight. If anyone has any questions about laser
surgery, which is different to lasic, I would be happy to answer them. I
can be emailed or I will be at Kidderminster this weekend. Just look for
the scruffy blonde haired guy on an Nimbus 2 frame with an Onza wheelset
falling off a lot!

David Straitjacket www.straitjacketcircus.co.uk

David Stone <dstone@packer.edu> wrote in message
news:mailman.1010600048.16819.rsu@unicycling.org…
> I thought I would let y’all know that I just had laser surgery on both
> eyes and now have excellent vision (like 20-10).
>
> There were several considerations, but some of the most important had to
> do with unicycling: It’s dangerous (and no fun) riding with glasses in
> cold temps or in the rain or snow bc the specs tend to fog up or get
> wet. There were days I actually took off the glasses so that I could see
> better, even tho my vision wasn’t too strong, bc the lenses were harder
> to see thru than my own (drier) eyes. Definely the cold was the worst bc
> of the fog. OK, I could have gotten some defogging liquid, but i only
> thought of that now, and anyway, I had this special money set aside
> which I had forgotten to spend till last month, so it made sense. The
> LASIK only cost me $1,500 (about $1,000 after taxes).
>
> Anyone interested can e- me privately for an account of my LASIK
> experience or for a recommended place to have it done. I used
> DiamondVision, a place I found in a subway ad.
>
> I must say that the first time I rode a Coker in the snow (a few days
> ago) WITHOUT GLASSES was such a relief – nothing to fog up or get wet.
> Definitely worth the money.
>
> David Stone Co-founder, Unatics of NY

3

'Just look for the
> scruffy blonde haired guy on an Nimbus 2 frame with an Onza wheelset
falling
> off a lot!’

I will be falling off a lot, not the wheelset… Could be read either
way that sentence!

David

David Straitjacket <straitjacketcircus@'DELETETHIS’totalise.co.uk> wrote
in message news:u3p3lqd5hhnq5f@corp.supernews.com…
> Hi
>
> Glad to hear it went well. I had laser eye surgery done on both
> eyes about
3
> years ago and am pleased to say that it has been a fantastic experience
for
> me. I was not unicycling back then but I was having a lot of trouble
> with
my
> glasses steaming up under my motorcycle helmet (which was proving VERY
> dangerous) also they were a lot of hassle when performing, the glasses
> didn’t look right with my costumes, and without them I couldn’t see well
> enough to perform. Also they were problematic during gymnastics. Had I
been
> able to wear contacts (I could never get them in!) I would probably not
have
> done it. But I am glad I did.
>
> There has been a couple of problems, though not in any way severe. But I
> have ended up with eyes that are both better than 20-20, which is, I
> have been informed by an optician, not perfect as widely believed.
> Simply the average standard of eyesight. If anyone has any questions
> about laser surgery, which is different to lasic, I would be happy to
> answer them. I
can
> be emailed or I will be at Kidderminster this weekend. Just look for the
> scruffy blonde haired guy on an Nimbus 2 frame with an Onza wheelset
falling
> off a lot!
>
> David Straitjacket www.straitjacketcircus.co.uk
>
>
>
>
> David Stone <dstone@packer.edu> wrote in message
> news:mailman.1010600048.16819.rsu@unicycling.org…
> > I thought I would let y’all know that I just had laser surgery on both
> > eyes and now have excellent vision (like 20-10).
> >
> > There were several considerations, but some of the most important had
> > to do with unicycling: It’s dangerous (and no fun) riding with
> > glasses in cold temps or in the rain or snow bc the specs tend to fog
> > up or get
wet.
> > There were days I actually took off the glasses so that I could see
> > better, even tho my vision wasn’t too strong, bc the lenses were
> > harder
to
> > see thru than my own (drier) eyes. Definely the cold was the worst bc
> > of the fog. OK, I could have gotten some defogging liquid, but i only
thought
> > of that now, and anyway, I had this special money set aside which
> > I had forgotten to spend till last month, so it made sense. The
> > LASIK only
cost
> > me $1,500 (about $1,000 after taxes).
> >
> > Anyone interested can e- me privately for an account of my LASIK
> > experience or for a recommended place to have it done. I used
> > DiamondVision, a place I found in a subway ad.
> >
> > I must say that the first time I rode a Coker in the snow (a few days
ago)
> > WITHOUT GLASSES was such a relief – nothing to fog up or get wet.
> > Definitely worth the money.
> >
> > David Stone Co-founder, Unatics of NY
>

4

Welcome to the club. I had lasic a little under a year ago. My eyes still
feel somewhat dry as a result, but it was well worth the expense in my
mind. (Though, I felt a little funny wearing goggles every time I juggled
while I waited for things to fully heal)

Glad to hear it went well for you. Also, that price sounds like a good
deal… I paid a bit more than that, myself.

Since there are probably lots of math people around here, if you’re
interested, there is work being done towards correcting more than the
current standard vision defects (myopia, hyperopia, and astygnatism). Dr.
Scott MacRay (who performed my surgery) was mentioned in Popular Science a
while back for the work he’s doing with the wavefront laser (based on
adaptive optics technology pionered by NASA for high resolution telescopes
on earth) to correct the other possible aberations of the human eye. It is
estimated that with a perfectly corrected lens, the average human eye can
see at about 20/8.

(Ok, to go further off topic, the 20 scale works like this… the first
number is how far you are standing, and the second number is how far the
person with average vision is standing. So, 20/50 means you see at 20 feet
what an average person sees at 50 feet. The 20 scale only talks about
myopia (near-sightedness) – it won’t tell you anything about reading
glasses. Optics being what they are today, I think many people can get
glasses or contacts which correct to 20/15.)

Anyway, to anyone considering LASIK or similar procedures, remeber, it is
surgery. Things can (though, don’t often) go wrong. The procedure is not
unlike having a contact lens prescription ground into your cornea. This
means you might notice prespyopia a little earlier (typically happens
between your 40’s and 50’s… rarely before that). Also, remember, you are
not guarenteed 20/20, and especially not 20/15 or 20/10 vision. Ok, so
David has 20/10, I have just better than 20/15, and others too…
correction us usually between 20/20 and 20/40 in successful procedures.

Ok, I could go on, and on even, but I’m still not talking about
unicycling. If anyone wants to know more, you can always e-mail me.

jeff lutkus

> I thought I would let y’all know that I just had laser surgery on both
> eyes and now have excellent vision (like 20-10).
>
> There were several considerations, but some of the most important had to
> do with unicycling: It’s dangerous (and no fun) riding with glasses in
> cold temps or in the rain or snow bc the specs tend to fog up or get
> wet. There were days I actually took off the glasses so that I could see
> better, even tho my vision wasn’t too strong, bc the lenses were harder
> to see thru than my own (drier) eyes. Definely the cold was the worst bc
> of the fog. OK, I could have gotten some defogging liquid, but i only
> thought of that now, and anyway, I had this special money set aside
> which I had forgotten to spend till last month, so it made sense. The
> LASIK only cost me $1,500 (about $1,000 after taxes).
>
> Anyone interested can e- me privately for an account of my LASIK
> experience or for a recommended place to have it done. I used
> DiamondVision, a place I found in a subway ad.
>
> I must say that the first time I rode a Coker in the snow (a few days
> ago) WITHOUT GLASSES was such a relief – nothing to fog up or get wet.
> Definitely worth the money.
>
> David Stone Co-founder, Unatics of NY
>
>
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> www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu

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5

Well … while on the subject of eyes I should mention the permanently
implanted artificial lens I have in each of my eyes and the option I had
to have LASIK.

When I was 13 or 14 I was diagnosed with cataracts in both my eyes. While
cataracts are not common for people of this age, it isn’t that rare
either. Many children are diagnosed with them each year. At the time I was
told that they were finding a link between heredity and cataracts (I’m a
little behind on my late night medical reading, so I don’t know if this
claim has been substantiated today).

When I was 15 I had the right eye done. It was a really neat experience. I
was put under local anaesthetic (one had the choice of general or local)
and I was “awake” for the entire procedure (roughly 45 minutes). A metal
device (any doctors out there with the proper name?) was used to keep my
eyelids open so I could see everything that was being done. It was most
interesting when I saw the scalpel coming for my eye, but not caring one
bit cause of the drugs I was given. It then went all blurry (I would guess
this was the point when they removed my cataract ridden lens). The next
thing I remember … the operation was over and I had an eye patch over my
right eye. The eye patch was taken off the next day and I could see. It
was strange at that point … it was the feeling one gets when you get
glasses for the first time or a new lens strength … it took several days
to get used to the new lens and for the stitches to dissolve, but it was a
really amazing difference once everything healed.

A year later I had the left eye done.

While having the lenses replaced I also had the option of having LASIK
as one of the issues with lens replacement cataract surgery is that
vision is often not perfect after the procedure. This is due to the fact
that the artificial intraocular lens is solid, like plastic, and
therefore some of the muscles used for fine tuning short and near
distances cannot be reconnected; resulting in the need for glasses both
at short and long distances (or bifocals). LASIK in my case would have
left me with either perfect distance or short-sighted vision requiring
me to wear glasses to account for the state that I hadn’t chosen to have
corrected. My parents decided not to have LASIK done as it was extremely
experimental at the time.

So, to tie this story back in to unicycling … I’ve had artificial lenses
in my eyes for almost 10 years now and it hasn’t affected my unicycling
one bit! :wink:

Carl

----- Original Message ----- From: “David Stone” <dstone@packer.edu> To:
<rsu@unicycling.org> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 1:22 PM Subject:
Unicycling and LASIK (eye surgery)

> I thought I would let y’all know that I just had laser surgery
on both
> eyes and now have excellent vision (like 20-10).
>
> There were several considerations, but some of the most
important had to
> do with unicycling: It’s dangerous (and no fun) riding with
glasses in
> cold temps or in the rain or snow bc the specs tend to fog up
or get wet.
> There were days I actually took off the glasses so that I could
see
> better, even tho my vision wasn’t too strong, bc the lenses
were harder to
> see thru than my own (drier) eyes. Definely the cold was the
worst bc of
> the fog. OK, I could have gotten some defogging liquid, but i
only thought
> of that now, and anyway, I had this special money set aside
which I had
> forgotten to spend till last month, so it made sense. The LASIK
only cost
> me $1,500 (about $1,000 after taxes).
>
> Anyone interested can e- me privately for an account of my
LASIK
> experience or for a recommended place to have it done. I used
> DiamondVision, a place I found in a subway ad.
>
> I must say that the first time I rode a Coker in the snow (a
few days ago)
> WITHOUT GLASSES was such a relief – nothing to fog up or get
wet.
> Definitely worth the money.
>
> David Stone Co-founder, Unatics of NY
>
>

> rec.sport.unicycling mailing list -
www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu