Hi Bernie As someone who wore contact lenses for 25 years before having laser surgery I have the following comments.
Contact lenses: Correct hygiene technique is essential to avoid eye infections. These days disposable lenses make the daily disinfection rigmarole redundant. I don’t know if they can now make soft lenses that can correct other issues such as astigmatism, however I believe that they can do this with hard lenses. I would avoid hard lenses due to the disinfection requirements, and the chance of losing one: you probably don’t care if you lose a soft disposable lens. Hard lenses also take a long time to get used to. I wouldn’t recommend any contact lens when swimming: (don’t ask…) but I never had issues wearing them when showering or exercising. As for monovision, I had this for several years before the laser surgery, however it’s a bit of both worlds: you can see good at distance with one eye, and can read with the other, however this comes at the disadvantage that everything you see is blurred and clear at the same time. I was offered the option of monovision for the LASIK, but I chose to have good distance vision in both eyes. Laser surgery. Like most, I was concerned about the possibility of the operation going wrong, but the surgeon I chose had an excellent reputation and record. I chose to have both eyes done at the same time: you feel absolutely nothing at all, and when the foggles were removed a couple of days later, voila! Perfect 20/20 + vision, and it has remained so ever since. I honestly believe that it was the best money I have ever spent. One potential issue is for pilots requiring a class 2 medical. If you turn up at the next one with corrected vision, CASA will get upset and require confirmation from your surgeon that your eyesight meets the required standard(again don’t ask…) If you have any further questions, just ask Cheers Derek From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Bernie Baer Sent: Monday, 19 August 2013 12:05 PM To: aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Contact lenses, laser surgery etc Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated. Like Niall I have used reading glasses since my early 40's but only in the last year felt I needed help with long distance as well. I also used to use regular sunglasses with stick-on lenses for close up work (tying knots when fishing, reading PDA's etc when flying). I'd be happy to return to that scenario if I could. I'll have a chat with my optometrist. One further complication is that I swim & shower or cycle & shower nearly every lunchtime. Contacts don't sound so good in that case. Can o' worms. Regards, Bernie. _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13
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