I'm never getting Lasic Surgery
 

You have your heart into something when you've shed blood, sweat, and tears for it. I was driving my pile of parts and new frame to the LBS to have it built up. I'm doing about 65 mph on a 55 mph two lane road, a work truck is doing about the same speed in the oncoming lane. I find my spinal cord running the show, making me duck and throw up my hand, giving my brain enough free resources to contemplate the concept of a shattered, spiraling, 2x4, seemingly hovering over the hood of my car. The resounding thud of the windshield caving in was engaging enough for me to have a vivid memory of a piece of wood, about 2 feet long, broken on the left side, flat and slightly askew against my crazed white, windshield. Glass was spraying inward, frozen in the air, a la the Matrix.

I pull over, in what turned out to be a paramedic's driveway, the truck hauls tail. I am covered with powder fine glass, and have gazillions of itty bitty cuts, that just well up a touch of blood. I looked like I had a wicked case of the measles or something, except my eyes. I wear glasses and have a reverse raccoon mask of white skin on an otherwise red speckled face. Long story short(ish): I need a new windshield, and a careful shower (which I could have done at home, but my new favorite paramedic, insisted I get the full hospitality of the fine folks at Athens Regional. Someone there gave me one of their own shirts from their locker because mine was coated). Eyes are fine, and just as importantly I don't have a case of wood poisoning.

I have resented looking through glasses for years, just not more than getting over the thought of having one's eyes cut on. Now that I've experienced that a bit more up close and personal than I would have cared, I love glasses. I'm going to sleep and shower in my glasses. I completely understand why some folks ware those huge, heavily reinforced, brown plastic, frames. I even now understand the wrap around, tinted plastic, insert things that are favored by cataract patients and old union guys.
Glasses rock.
Oh, I got my frame to the LBS. I've already bled for it, it's going to be a great frame.

--A

I had laser eye surgery 5 years ago - best thing I ever did. I ride with glasses all the time. Sunglasses during the day and clear lenses at night.

Glad you are okay and for sure wear glasses when riding - none of us have any parts we can afford to lose...:)

Glad to hear you're ok OP. And nice to know cowards will still run away from an accident after almost killing someone rather than check on them to see they're ok and maybe apologize. [/sarcasm]

WOW! :eek:

AllenG, I'm glad you had your glasses on too... geesh!

Did they catch the guy in the truck???

I'm glad you're okay...

Laser eye surgery tends to be a waste I've found. 3 people I know have had it, but 2 of them are back to wearing glasses. The treatment cost them £400 per eye and the one was back to wearing glasses within 6th months.

Kudos to your glasses protecting your eyes though :) really really lucky!

Sounds like either a bad doctor or poorly screened patients. I know 20+ people who had laser eye surgery and none of them has had any problems at all. You definitely need to ensure the doctor you are considering has an excellent track record.

I wore glasses for 30yrs and now after 5 years I can barely remember what wearing glasses was like. The procedure cost me $2500 CDN and if I had to do it over again at a cost of $10,000 I would.

I also found that because I had been wearing glasses constantly for 30yrs I had some bad habits as far as protecting my eyes were concerned. I am a lot more careful now that I don't have thick lenses between me and the world at all times.

The first thing I am doing after getting my eyes lazered is getting a cool pair of cycling glasses with clear, yellow, and tinted lenses. I have wanted a pair since the rudy project II glasses from the 80s.... GIMME!!!


;p

However, more importantly, very glad to hear you are ok

Just the chance of the surgery taking my eye sight away forever is enough for me to never have eye surgery. The thought of being blind scares the **** out of me....and we dont know the effects of it 30 years down the road.

Thanks for the support, folks.
Nope, the truck has not been seen or heard from since.
And I just went to my opthamologist and ordered a new set of impact glass lenses for both my current sets of frames.

--A

Glad you made it out fine man!

That's the primary reason why I had driving glasses, even when I wore contacts...sunglasses for day, and clear for night. Yeah the clear ones looked goofy, but goofiness is irrelevant when in a crash.

I'm scared of people poking in my eyes, plus I don't mind my glasses! My girlyfiend, though, has had laser surgery, and never looked back. Perfect vision still after 3 years. I can't even stand to put contacts in!

I dont know. Glasses never really bothered me. I have both contacst and glasses.

But I started wearing them at around 6 years old, so I dont guess I know what I'm missing. :)

This is also my experience, except I only had LASIK a year ago and spent $3400 USD. I can see better than I ever could with glasses or contacts because the correction helps with my entire field of view.

For me, the most significant difference after LASIK was vastly improved peripheral vision. I had a strong prescription and could see just fine in front, but not to the sides. Now, I can see at all angles. It has also made doing anything in bad weather easier, and now I can see when I swim.

However, there were occasions when I was very happy with the protection my glasses gave to me just like the OP. Once I had a huge grease pop totally cover the oversized lens of my 70's style glasses (this happened in the 70's so I wasn't making a fashion statement).

I have become better about wearing protective eyewear after LASIK.

Gah! That sounds terrible! Glad your eyeballs are safely un-hamburgered.

A similar thing happened to my friend on the highway a few years ago. He was behind a truck that had various things attached with chains. One of the chains came loose and flew onto to his windshield, shattering it. The truck driver kept going. It wasn't as bad as yours, though, because my friend was able to keep driving and catch up to the truck and frantically gesticulate to have him pull over. The driver claimed he didn't know the chain had hit anything, it being an 18-wheeler and the action happening about 25 feet behind him, unviewable by mirror.

I'm going to go outside now and sniff the air and look at the sky, and feel incredibly lucky that random tragedy has eluded me thus far. There's so much that could go wrong.