Driving After LASIK

LASIK vision correction in Dillon, Colorado is a very quick procedure that is performed to correct a patient’s myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism with the ultimate goal of 20/20 vision without lenses. While most patients do not experience pain during the procedure, it is not uncommon for patients to feel anxious prior to surgery. Some patients may elect to take a mild sedative prior to surgery just to “take the edge off” and make it easier to fully relax.

Whether or not you take relaxation medication prior to surgery, you must arrange for someone to drive you home after surgery. Some patients are able to see more clearly immediately after surgery; however, your vision will not be completely stabilized and there can be sensitivity to light, glare or starbursts for the first few days after surgery. You may also still have the relaxation medication in your system.

Slight physical discomfort after LASIK may also make it difficult to drive home. These eye discomforts can include:

• Itching
• Tearing / watering
• Mild burning sensation
• Mild pain

It is important to refrain from rubbing your eyes after surgery, which is why you will be given an eye shield to wear for protection.

Each patient will heal at a different rate after LASIK. Some patients will be able to drive themselves to their post-operative appointment the next day while others may require help getting to and from the appointment. Pay attention to your own eyes and make smart decisions about driving after LASIK.

To learn more about what to expect after LASIK in Dillon, schedule a free LASIK Consultation at Lake Dillon Eye Care. Our team will fully explain the LASIK process and perform tests to see if you are a good candidate for LASIK. Call 970-468-0389 or visit lakedilloneye.com today. 

How Alcohol Affects Vision

Researchers in Canada recently studied how drinking a “legal” amount of alcohol affects vision. What they discovered is that up to 30% of vision is impaired even before participants hit the legal blood alcohol concentration limit, which is 0.08% in most states.

The researchers used a process called the Hermann Grid for the study. One group of participants consumed nonalcoholic drinks; the other consumed enough alcohol to get just under the legal limit. Both groups then looked at a grid of black squares on a white background to estimate the number of ghost-like dark spot illusions they saw at the intersections of the grid.

Participants who consumed alcohol were 30% less effective in distinguishing contrast of the spots in the grid as they approached the legal blood alcohol limit.

The results of this study showed that drinking alcohol will make it difficult to distinguish differences between objects based on lightness and darkness. Your vision may be impaired by up to 30% when driving at night or at twilight under the influence of just one or two alcoholic drinks.

Everyone should take note of this study, whether you are nearsighted, farsighted, have perfect vision or have had LASIK vision correction. No one is immune from the effects of alcohol, and even if you “feel” good enough to drive after having one or two drinks, your vision may still be impaired.

At Lake Dillon Eye Care we inform all of our patients when they can safely consume alcohol before and after eye procedures, such as LASIK. We encourage all patients to be responsible when drinking and always have a designated driver. To learn more about LASIK, including the cost of LASIK, schedule a free LASIK Consultation with our doctors. Call 970-468-0389 or visit lakedilloneye.com today.

How Do You Handle Visual Information Overload?

Have you ever experienced information overload…on your eyes? There is a real condition called Load-Induced Blindness that occurs when you have too much visual information coming at you. A new study showed that when you are faced with a lot of visual data at once, your ability to see critical information is reduced – similar to what happens when there are lower light levels on an image you need to detect.

The study included volunteers with normal vision who completed a sensory memory task involving colors, positions and line orientations on rapidly flashing squares. In high load situations (lots of visual data), participants were only able to accurately spot line orientation in 64% of the images; in low load situations, that percentage went up to 95%. In the high load situations, participants needed 50% more light contrast to increase accuracy.

The bottom line is that too much visual information at one time may cause you to miss important things. Add into the mix that your vision is impaired with nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism and you may have an even more difficult time at distinguishing important images during attention-demanding situations (although this was not specifically included in the study).

Having LASIK in Dillon, Colorado to correct vision problems will not change how your brain processes high loads of visual information, but it may allow you to see without the need for corrective lenses (glasses or contact lenses)…removing one more barrier to seeing clearly. LASIK has changed the lives of many of our patients at Lake Dillon Eye Care, allowing them to work, play and parent with visual freedom.

To learnmore about LASIK technology in Dillon and find out how much LASIK costs, contact our doctors at Lake Dillon Eye Care to schedule a free LASIK Consultation. Call 970-468-0389 or visit our website at lakedilloneye.com today. 

Olympic Medalist Bode Miller Regrets Not Having LASIK

The 2014 Olympics are over, but many of the athletes are still feeling the pain of disappointing losses. One such athlete is alpine ski racer, Bode Miller. After failing to reach all of his goals in Sochi, he revealed to the media that he would have changed the skis he used for one of the races, would have changed his skiing style and would have had LASIK vision correction surgery before the Olympics as he had planned.

"I was supposed to get an eye surgery earlier this year," Miller said. "We just never found a time to do it because the race schedule was so tight. We were pretty [upset] looking back that we hadn't found a time to do that. For me, my vision is critical. When the light's perfect, I can ski with any of the best guys in the world. When it goes out, my particular style suffers more than the guys who are more stable and don't do as much in the middle of the turn."

Miller’s comments drive home the fact that waiting for the ‘perfect’ time to have LASIK simply doesn’t pay. So many people fret over the idea for years before having a LASIK evaluation…only to find out that they were never a good candidate for LASIK in the first place because of their eye condition or health condition.

At Lake Dillon Eye Care, many of the patients we perform successful LASIK procedures on remark that they “Wish they had done it sooner” because of the level of visual freedom they experience after LASIK.

Even if you’re not an Olympic athlete, having better vision can not only improve your game…it can improve your life. Don’t regret not having LASIK. With the amazing LASIK technology available today, the perfect time to have LASIK is right now. Contact Lake Dillon Eye Care at 970- 468-0389 or lakedilloneye.com to schedule your free LASIK Consultation. 

Spring into Allergy Eye Relief

Beautiful springtime weather inevitably brings scratchy eyes, swollen eyes and itchy eyes in Dillon, Colorado. If you wear contact lenses, it’s virtually impossible to keep them in your eyes when you are constantly rubbing them.

Here are a couple of tips to help you through the allergy season:

• If you’re using eye drops to relieve the discomfort, make sure you take your lenses out first and leave them out for at least ten minutes or you’ll just aggravate the condition.
• If you’re taking antihistamine that can cause dry eye you should check with your ophthalmologist who may advise switching back to glasses for the duration.

If wearing your glasses for the entire springtime season doesn't sound appealing, another option is to have LASIK vision correction. While LASIK won’t prevent you from having eye irritation during the spring, it may allow you to enjoy this season without the need for corrective lenses.

At Lake Dillon Eye Care, our advanced LASIK lasers may help to alter the shape of your cornea to correct your nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. Many patients can even achieve 20/20 vision after LASIK, allowing them to live life without glasses or contacts.

The only way to know for sure if you are a good candidate for LASIK is by scheduling a free LASIK Consultation. Contact Lake Dillon Eye Care today to schedule your consultation at 970-468-0389 or lakedilloneye.com.