Bolo,
I remember reading about a year ago that you had undergone Lasiks. I'm just wondering how it turned out. Have you been hit in the eye yet? Have you had any issues with the flap.
I'm not Bolo but.....I had Lasik about 3 months ago. I layed of intense stand-up sparring for a couple of weeks just to be safe but I've never had any problems with the flap or anything else concerning my eye when training. My doctor had me lay off any physical activity for 1 week after the procedure, but when that was over I could do bjj and clinch work fine. I did protect my face more just to be on the safe side, but as long as you're aware of what you're doing you should be able to roll fine.
Thai boxing sparring was a little different. I layed off getting hit in the face with boxing gloves for about 2 months just to be on the safe side. I never experienced anything negative though to make me lay off, but I just didn't want to take any chances.
C.J.
I had Lasik several years ago and never had any problems. I also have 4 students who had it done and none of them have had any problems. Having grappled and also taken headshots from the kali sparring, I have never had any problems.
In fact, I recently accidently poked myself in the eye with a corner or of a plastic bag. It hurt bad and my vision was blurry in that eye for a few days. Then my eye healed and my vision is perfect as usual.
As far as the flap, you only really have to worry about a deep eye gouge right after the procedure. My doctor examined my eyes 6 months after the procedure and he said that he could barely tell I had the procedure done as the flap healed perfectly.
I highly recommend the procedure as it was one of the best investments I ever made for myself.
As soon as they come up with a flap-less version, I'm there. :)
Flapless = PRK. The laser does its thing on the outer surface rather than underneath the flap. The Air Force will let people do PRK but not LASIK (at least yet).
The main tradeoffs are that PRK healing time is longer, maybe more painful, and I'm not sure it can handle extreme prescriptions as well as newer LASIK/wavefront can. I could be wrong on that part, though.
I had LASIK less than a month ago, and have gone from worse than 20/400 (couldn't read the big E on the top of the chart) plus astigmatism to 20/15 with no sign of the astigmatism.
The flaps do not heal instantly: when LASIK touchups are done (for undercorrection after 3 months), all they have to do is lift up the old flap, not make a new incision. So I'm trying to take it easy on them right now.
Okay then, I'll wait for that flashy-light thingy McCoy waved around in Star Trek :)
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I've seen two docs in San Jose and each had a seperate opinion. One preferred to do LASEK or PRK because of my lifestyle and the other didn't think that the flap would be an issue if I let it heal properly. I've done several literature review search on pubmed (medical science database) and most of the research is positive. Some cases of dislodgement as far a 2 and 3 years out from traumatic experiences (e.g., football in the eye in one case). What would happen when I spar and get punched in the face repeatedly??? That's my biggest concern. About PRK, the results are almost as good as LASIK but unfortunately the healing pattern of the epithelial cells is unperdicatable at times, hence starbursts, halos, etc. Additionally, the long term effects are not known...will you be most suseptible to retinal disease or glaucoma or cataracts??? Do the benefits outweigh the risk? In the end, the decision is really left to the patients. Can he live with the result?
By the way, how much did you guys pay? I've been quoted $4600 by the two docs. My buddy paid $3800. This is for the wavefront technology since I have "higher order aberrations?"
BTW...Michael, I'm the guy who sat next to you on the flight from Phoenix about 2 years ago from Ralph's school. Just wondering if you are still teaching???
Thanks for the advice.
Yes, I remember you.
I spoke to my doctor a while ago about martial arts training. He said that there is no way the flap is going to move just from getting hit on the side of the head. Your main concern when doing striking is if the thumb of the glove pokes you in the eye if you are doign boxing. He has had several people who were martial artists have the procedure done and he said that you just need to wear headgear with the bar across the front for the first couple months. The bottom line is that you need to get gouged in the eye really hard for the flap to dislodge.
For BJJ, there is no need to worry about the flap. I can't even remember the last time I gouged in the eye in training.