Eyeful

Complications from contact lenses

Even though she was good about keeping her contacts clean and taking them out at night, realtor Feroza Syed got an infection landing her at an urgent care clinic. Feroza’s eye healed, but her optometrist said she may be more prone to similar eye problems down the road that could put her vision at risk. That’s when the doctor suggested Feroza talk to an Ophthalmologist about LASIK, its risks and benefits and to see if she is a candidate for the LASIK procedure. Her only regret? Letting her fear keep her from getting it done long ago.

For more about Feroza’s story, click here.

Not having a face for glasses … literally

Singer/songwriter Apryle Dalmacio could never wear glasses — not because she didn’t like the way they looked, but because she doesn’t have a bridge on her nose, which caused her glasses to slip right off, and the way she had to contort her face muscles to keep them in place would give her tension headaches. While LASIK had always been in the back of her mind, she never actively considered it until hearing that her aunt, cousin and best friend had the procedure. So she decided to get a free consultation.

You can read Apryle’s full story here.

A professional reason

Pro pitcher Tommy Milone started having vision problems about eight years ago when he was playing in the minor leagues. Glasses weren’t an option on the field, and contacts didn’t sit right on his eyes and caused a lot of discomfort. Tommy’s vision was hugely frustrating not only for him, but also for his teammates and manger who depended on him to read the catcher’s signals a full 60 feet from the pitcher’s mound. After hearing that other players on his team had gotten LASIK, he decided to look into it himself.

You can read Tommy’s full story here.

Educating yourself

When marketer Kelsey Lee was assigned a project to increase awareness of LASIK online, she viewed it as an opportunity to re-immerse herself in a procedure she’d given off-and-on consideration to for years, but had never acted on out of fear. She immersed herself in the business, learning the ins and outs of LASIK and researching statistics on the high surgery satisfaction rate and potential side effects, like dry eye and visual disturbances, along the way. And learning more about LASIK ultimately lead her to get the procedure done herself.

Read the rest of Kelsey’s story here.

Rejecting two ill-fitting solutions

Ashton Timmons’ vision impairment crept up on him slowly, like it does for many people, posing a problem for the avid surfer, snowboarder and rock climber. He found contacts irritating, and glasses would have to come off for surf or climbing practice, as they affected his peripheral vision. Faced with two ill-fitting solutions, he sought a consultation for LASIK and once he understood the risks and benefits of the procedure, he learned that he was a good candidate for LASIK, he decided to get the procedure.

You can check out Ashton’s story here.

A growing occupational hazard

Paramedic Jessica Churovich preferred wearing contacts at work, but this was problematic during her night shifts when she’d take them out to sleep and had less than two minutes to get them back in if a call came in. But wearing glasses were their own challenge. The hot truck caused them to fog up, and one time a patient even punched them off her face. Once colleagues introduced her to the 911 Foundation, which provides free LASIK to first responders, it was a no-brainer! After she talked to her doctor and understood the risks and benefits of the procedure and found out that she was a good candidate, she had the procedure done.

Read Jessica’ full story here.

Asleep at the station, the phone rings and Jessica Churovich is startled to alert. She has no more than two minutes to put on her gear, run out to the truck, and map the route before she and her partner have to be on their way to the scene.

While it may sound overwhelming, this has been Jessica’s work routine for over a decade now. And for much of that time, she was doing it all with some form of vision correction.

Jessica preferred wearing contacts at work, and she would have to take them out to sleep during night shifts. She recalls, “As soon as the phone went off, first thing I would have to do is grab them — you would have to rinse them with contact lens solution — and then I’d have to take the time to put them in. And while it doesn’t take forever, you’re looking at 30 seconds when you could be doing something else.”

If she wore glasses instead, other complications arose.

Jessica’s route covers 339 square miles, which means she often has to look through more than one map book to confirm the right directions. When she wore glasses, the hot truck caused them to fog up, making it difficult to see as she flipped through the books.

At the scene, adrenaline pumping and sweat beading on her nose, Jessica struggled with glasses sliding off her face. Or worse: “I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had my glasses punched off my face.” 

But last November, Jessica took this extra stressor off her plate and got LASIK through the 911 Vision Foundation. 

For Jessica, there wasn’t a singular, defining moment that led her to get LASIK. Rather, it was realizing her vision was only getting worse.  After hearing her friends’ overwhelmingly positive LASIK experiences, Jessica decided to see an ophthalmologist to see if she was a good candidate for the procedure. After hearing she was a good candidate, and after discussing the risks and benefits of LASIK, Jessica decided to finally take the leap. She admits she was nervous at first, but for her, the procedure ended up being easy and quick.

“For me, it was simple. After I walked in, they asked me to look at the clock across the room (without my glasses or contact lenses) and it was blurry. Then after drops were put into my eyes, I was asked to lay down for the procedure. An instrument was used to keep my eyes open, and I think my procedure then took ten, maybe fifteen minutes. And I literally sat up after the procedure and now I could see that same clock across the room clearly, as if I had my glasses on.”

(Credit: Soonhee Green)

While this was Jessica’s experience, yours may vary. Patients may experience dry eyes or visual disturbances, like glare, halos and starbursts among other possible complications. Important safety information can be found here. Moreover, not everyone is a good candidate for LASIK. You can read more about what makes an eligible candidate here, or talk to a LASIK surgeon (which you can find here).

The 911 Vision Foundation improves vision health for first responders in and around Missouri by providing no-cost LASIK surgery. Further, the foundation funds eye research advancing the preservation and restoration of sight, and trains eye care providers through outreach programs.

Squinting your way through the workday because you left those pesky glasses at home for the third time this week? It’s only for another month or so, you promise yourself, I’ll look into vision correction surgery when the time is right.

Well, what if that perfect time never comes, huh? Have you thought about that??

Lucky for you, it will. We know this because “perfect times” are happening all the time! Big life changes can come in heaps, which is why we’ve outlined five major milestones that could be the ideal opportunity to reconsider LASIK. Talk to your doctor (or find one here), and find out if you’re a candidate for LASIK surgery.

1. College graduation

Sure, you can kind of make it through college with blurry vision. You can trace your steps to the library and memorize the menu at your favorite brunch place. But there’s no reason to keep tripping, girl, when you could be setting your sights on your future. What better way to tell the world “Hey, I’m great at adulting,” than by investing in your vision? Give yourself the graduation gift of seeing without glasses or contacts. Or better yet: get someone else to give it :)

2. A promotion at work

Whether you are a high-powered, no nonsense criminal defense attorney or an exec assistant balancing seven skinny vanilla lattes in one arm and a planner in the other, your job matters. Your ability to succeed in your job matters. The money you make in your job matters! The point is, a nice way to treat yo’self after a promotion might be to get LASIK.

3. Getting married

Tying the knot? Congrats! Don’t be stuck on your big day trying to guess if that double chocolate fudge brownie wedding cake is five or six layers. What if you were able to see it clearly without glasses and know that it is, in fact, eight and that you will be having at least three slices? For your wedding, consider walking the aisle without glasses or contacts. Could you even add it to your registry? Big thinking… More on weddings and contacts here.

4. Planning for parenthood

We aren’t going to sugarcoat it — parenting is a high-speed train ride taking you from sweet sleeping baby to angsty tween in the blink of an eye. Your child is not going to wait for you to grab your glasses when they are ready to strut across the lawn taking their first steps. They also will not redo their role as tree number three in the middle school musical just because you forgot to put in your contacts. Before you start family planning, maybe consider eyesight planning and check with an ophthalmologist to see if you’re a good candidate for LASIK. Unless you’re pregnant or a nursing mother — then you’ll have to wait. You can a LASIK surgeon near you here, or read more about LASIK and planning for parenthood here.

5. Your next travel adventure

“Look at that breathtaking, stunning, one of a kind, out of this world waterfall over there,” your friend exclaims while taking selfies in front of the ninth Wonder of the World™. Unfortunately for you, your glasses didn’t make it out of the hotel room this morning and all you can see is a mysterious, dazzling, indistinct shimmer. Before you skip halfway around the world, you might want to consider how LASIK will open you up to exploring majestic waterfalls, stately mountains and stunning views without the extra packing list items associated with glasses and contacts.

LASIK isn’t going to magically transform you into employee of the month or mom of the year, but it may help you enjoy your life less the hassles of glasses and contacts. Even if you are a hopeless romantic or homebody who is getting ready to close this webpage because none of these reasons relate to you, there might be other, small moments where not having to deal with glasses or contacts would make daily life a little easier.

If you’re curious to learn more, you can get more information at BackinFocus.com, or you can take the conversation directly to a LASIK surgeon by finding one near you here.  

When you’re planning for parenthood, if there’s one thing you’re probably not thinking about, it’s an elective medical procedure for yourself.

You’re probably more concerned with conception, baby proofing, work/life balance and how you’re going to fit a little bundle of joy into the big mess of life. However, taking care of yourself is a big part of taking care of your family. And seeing clearly, whether it means being able to see right away during those middle-of-the-night parenting duties or keeping an eye on your child make a new friend on the other side of the playground, is a safety must.

Planning for parenthood is already complicated, which is why a procedure like LASIK might make things simpler if you don’t have to deal with the hassles of contacts or glasses while you’re dealing with the hassle of the kid you’re planning for.

Here are a few times where better vision without glasses or contacts could come in handy for you.  

1. When your glasses won’t play nice with others 

Kids just seem to know when something is off limits — and that is usually the item they want to steal, put in their mouths, or hide in the most unlikely of places. Your glasses, portable and fragile as they are, are a perfect target for playtime mischief.

2. Every time you get up in the middle of the night

New parent, meet insomnia. Insomnia, new parent. During your child’s first few years, you might be privy to all sorts of untimely wakeup calls. Wouldn’t you rather be up and out of bed as soon as you hear crying rather than fumbling around for your glasses?

3. When you realize traveling light is a thing of the past

When you leave the house, you’re no longer grabbing your purse or briefcase and jetting out the door. Soon you’ll also need the diaper bag (check), toys (check), snacks and baby food (check and check), and your glasses or contacts are just one more thing to remember. It doesn’t matter whether you’re heading out for a week or just the afternoon, you’re going to have some serious baggage either way.

4. While finessing the family budget 

A common thought among new parents: how the #$!* am I going to pay for college?! Some families set up special college savings accounts before their child is even born — that is, right now.

While you might think of money spent on contacts or glasses as a non-negotiable, try tallying up how much you spend on those items in a year. While LASIK isn’t cheap, it could end up costing you a lot less over your lifetime. Calculate your cost savings here.

5. During any of the “life moments” that make parenting so great 

More than anything, there are going to be times when you want to be able to see and remember everything down to the littlest details. It might be your baby taking their first steps, seen out of the corner of your eye; or watching your son or daughter smile as they cross the graduation stage.  Sometimes you might feel like you blinked and they grew up before your eyes, so don’t let yourself miss any of it. 

LASIK isn’t for everyone. Specifically, it’s not for pregnant women or nursing mothers, so if you’re thinking about starting a family, it’s something you may want to consider in the early stages of family planning, or else you may have to wait until your little one’s a little older. You’ll need to consult with a doctor first to see if you’re a candidate, and to learn what to expect from your procedure, including potential side effects.

1. LASIK can’t fix astigmatism

Actually, it can. Well probably. If you have an astigmatism, you likely already know what it is and have used the football analogy to describe it to people who have no idea what you’re talking about. But, can LASIK turn your football-shaped cornea into a basketball? (Okay, we promise no more sports talk.)

LASIK works by using a highly focused laser to reshape the cornea, and people with mild to moderate astigmatism can be candidates for the procedure. However, you first must be a candidate for LASIK, which an ophthalmologist can determine if you are.

2. It hurts!

Many people avoid LASIK out of fear of the pain involved. Well, we have good news. Thanks to modern medicine, you may experience a lot less discomfort than you might expect. Prior to the procedure, you’ll receive eye drops to numb your eyes. And while the discomfort varies from person to person — some experience none at all — you’ll likely feel a pressure that usually lasts no longer than a minute. 

But what if you’re still anxious? We’d recommend talking to your doctor. He or she can give you a medication prior to the procedure to calm your nerves. We also encourage you to ask all your questions up front. You’ll find the more you know, the less there is to be afraid of!

3. It’s dangerous

It’s not. While there are known potential side effects, which you can read more about at the bottom of this story, complications from the procedure can usually be managed with follow-up care. The frequency and severity of complications vary, depending on how much nearsightedness, farsightedness and/or astigmatism you have prior to the procedure and other factors.

4. Everyone is a candidate for LASIK

LASIK can yield excellent results when performed on the right patient, but it is not for everyone. If you have collagen vascular, an autoimmune disease, or an immunodeficiency disease, you should avoid LASIK, as they affect the body’s healing ability. Additionally, if you are pregnant or nursing, experiencing corneal thinning, or taking medications with eye-related side effects, you should not get LASIK. When in doubt, check with your doctor. Some more information on what makes someone a good candidate for LASIK here.

5. There is one kind of LASIK

Did you know that there is actually more than one kind of LASIK, one being blade-free LASIK? Hold on a minute… LASIK involves blades? Well it can, but it doesn’t have to. When preparing your eye for the procedure, a doctor can use either a microkeratome blade or a femtosecond laser (blade-free). We encourage you to ask your doctor about the blade-free option.

6. LASIK involves one laser

LASIK typically involves two lasers — the aforementioned femtosecond laser, which is used to prep your eye for the vision correction part, followed by an excimer laser, which is used to correct the corneal tissue to fix your vision.

7. I have to pay for LASIK up front in full

On average, LASIK can cost $4,200 for both eyes, or $2,100 for each. And, while we are talking about your eyesight here, we realize that’s not exactly pocket change. Fortunately, many LASIK surgeons recognize this and offer payment plans either directly through their office or through a third-party provider. Learn about this and other ways to pay for LASIK here.

8. I have to put my life on-hold to recover from LASIK

Well this one is sort of a myth because it depends what you do with your life. For example, if you’re a swimmer or someone that does high-impact sports, you’ll want to talk to your surgeon about when it’s okay to resume these activities. If this doesn’t sound like your typical day, then it’s safe to assume that you’ll be able to go back to your daily routine within a few short days. As with any surgery, side effects and recovery time can vary from person to person, so it’s best to keep in close contact with your doctor to ensure your eyes heal properly.

9. I have to keep my eyes open for a long time

Scientists have shown that the average person blinks between 15 and 20 times per minute. Knowing this, your eyes are likely already starting to water thinking about how long you’ll need to keep them open for LASIK. But, there’s no need to shed tears over this. Remember those numbing eye drops we mentioned earlier? Those will also help reduce your impulse to blink. And your LASIK procedure won’t take that long — in fact, less than one minute is spent on each eye!

10. If I move my eye, I can mess up the procedure

Another concern that you can cross of your list. The laser used in the procedure has built-in technology that tracks and accounts for the eye’s movements, including the tiniest of involuntary movements. This keeps the laser on track to correct exactly the right spot. By exposing the myths behind LASIK, we hope you feel more comfortable and knowledgeable about the procedure. You likely still have questions, which we encourage you to ask here. But, the best resource to consult is always a qualified LASIK surgeon. Find one near you here.

Now there are also side effects associated with LASIK. While they are rare, they can include eye dryness, which may be severe, loss of visual acuity or the need for glasses or contacts after surgery, and visual disturbances like halos (hazy rings around lights), glare, starbursts, double images and other visual irregularities that may be debilitating.

Long before an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, Chris Connolly wanted to be a doctor. And while his condition may have been an obstacle, he didn’t let it become a barrier.

As with any disability, even the simplest daily tasks became challenging and time-consuming for Chris. Imperfect vision was one thing he could take care of to remove one inconvenience from his busy, med school schedule: glasses. Fortunately, Chris was a good candidate for LASIK.

Watch his story here.

Now Chris can see clearly from the moment he wakes up in the morning. Chris is working on another dream, too. He’s getting more and more movement back in his arms, and is even doing a little bit of walking.

“Here is a young man who let nothing get in his way,” said Chris’ LASIK doctor, Dr. Kraff. “They say they’re going to cure his disability, and I believe it. I believe Chris can do it.”

Cassady was 62 in 1988 and had cancer of the orbit, which means she was about to lose one of her eyes. Knowing that was the case, she volunteered to have an experimental eye surgery performed on her by Dr. Marguerite McDonald.

That was the first laser vision correction surgery, a PRK (photorefractive keratectomy), which is still performed today. This procedure laid the groundwork for what would later become LASIK.

The 30th anniversary of Cassady’s procedure is this month, so if you or anyone you know has benefited from laser eye surgery, give a little cheers to Cassady and her memory.

You know you want to get LASIK, and you’ve known for some time. That’s the easy part.

The hard part is understanding the different kinds of LASIK. There are so many doctors offices offering so many LASIK options, and you feel like you don’t know the terminology well enough to ask the right questions.

It’s important to you that you get the absolute best LASIK for you, so to dive into the nitty gritty, let’s talk about wavefront.

What is a wavefront?

To understand what a wave has to do with eye surgery, you first have to know a little bit of physics. We’ll keep it simple, promise.

Light is actually an electromagnetic wave that can be seen by the human eye. Think of the light from a distant star. This light is made up of a collection of rays that, as they enter the eye, are collected and focused by the eye’s lens to form an image on the retina.

The rays of light and the image they carry, that’s the wavefront.

If everything were perfect, then the image on the retina would be an exact image of the star. However, since nothing is 100% perfect in nature, the wavefront gets distorted by  imperfections in the cornea or lens, and doesn’t form an exact image. Typically people that need glasses for nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism will have a lot of error, so the distant star image will be very blurry.

It turns out if we can measure the imperfections in the wavefront and then correct them, then we can also correct the way you see.

That is what wavefront-guided LASIK surgery tries to do. By measuring the wavefront of the eye and then using this information to guide a laser, we have the chance to correct for even fairly complicated errors in someone’s optical system.

Measuring that wavefront is the key to developing a personalized map of the problems in your eye, and it is unique to you.

Creating your personalized eye map

To measure that wavefront, you need a more advanced diagnostic tool than the phoropter — that steampunk-looking measurement device you get up close and personal with if you have glasses or contacts.  This measures the amount of focus and astigmatism needed to correct your vision over the pupil.

(This is a phoropter.)

For personalized LASIK, though a phoropter may be used in part, your doctor will also use a high-tech diagnostic device called an aberrometer. It delivers a small beam of light into your eye and captures the actual wavefront of light that is reflected back. This is equivalent to measuring over 1,000 points across the pupil of your eye.

The aberrometer uses this information to create a map of your eye’s unique irregularities, or aberrations (thus the name “aberrometer”). This is the map needed to guide the laser for wavefront-guided LASIK.

Wavefront-guided LASIK

The wavefront map created by the aberrometer is the key to custom or wavefront-guided LASIK. Like the name suggests, the personalized map is used to guide the laser during your LASIK surgery, making corrections to the unique aberrations in your eye, creating a smooth surface that provides the best image.

Wavefront-optimized LASIK

Despite its name, wavefront-optimized LASIK is not based on a personalized wavefront map and is not really a  customized treatment.  The surgery is based on a phoropter exam rather than an aberrometer and, just like your glasses, is designed to address refractive errors. It includes some average adjustments or optimizations that represent the average of many people. And thus the results are based on being close to the average aberrations of people in general.

So what about WaveScan?

You may come across other terms in your search, like the WaveScan or iDESIGN® system. These are particular eye wavefront measurement systems that have been used to measure the optical pathway of the eye. Like all technology, this technology has improved and evolved over time. Ask your doctor about the measurement system they use and what that means for your procedure.

Oh, and the doctor! You can find one near you here, and during your consultation (most do them for free), get all your followup questions answered and determine if you’re a good candidate for the procedure.

Of course, LASIK isn’t for everyone and individual experiences will vary. Side effects are rare and can include eye dryness (which may be severe), loss of visual acuity or the need for glasses or contacts after surgery, and visual disturbances like halos (hazy rings around lights), glare, starbursts, double images, and other visual irregularities that may be debilitating. Also, LASIK is not recommended if you have diabetes, a history of herpes simplex or herpes zoster keratitis, significant dry eye or serious allergies. For full safety information, read more here.

Whether you’re a minimalist who prefers the au naturel look or you go for glamour at all hours, makeup can present unexpected challenges for contact wearers. Because handling your lenses in and out every day presents opportunities for contamination, it’s important to make sure anything coming in close contact with your eyes is clean and high quality, like your cosmetics.

Here are a few beautiful reasons to consider ditching your contacts.  

1. Mascara is your frenemy… 

Mascara has a funny way of getting everywhere it’s not supposed to be — your eyelid, your hair — but have you ever gotten it on your eyeball? Wearing contacts means that black-brown goop just might make its way right onto your contact lens, and unless you want blurry vision for the rest of the day, your options are to blink it away (unsafe) or start from scratch.

Contact wearers should also be mindful of ingredients to avoid. Any mascara with added fibers in the product have the potential to clump and get stuck under your lens — ouch. And try to avoid waterproof mascara unless you’re going to be filming a pool party music video or something. The drying nature of waterproof mascaras make your lashes susceptible to breakage, meaning they could end up irritating your eyes.

2. …ditto for eyeliner…

A Catch-22: you need your contacts in to see well enough to put on eyeliner, but if your eyeliner comes in contact with your contact lens, you have to take it out to sanitize it. Annoying.

3. …and eyeshadow is shady 

Oil-based products and powder eyeshadows can easily make their way into your eyes, causing irritation, dry-eye and cloudy vision, meaning your smize could be compromised by incessant blinking and eye rubbing — not the look you were going for.

4. False eyelashes can create a sticky situation

Not unlike mascara, the glue from false eyelashes is also an eye irritant and has a habit of going where it doesn’t belong: on your lens. And if it does, you should remove your lens, clean it with contact lens solution, wash and dry your hands, put your lens back in, and start all over. Funnnnn.

5. Keep it clean when it comes to makeup removal 

A few things that are not sterile: 1) tap water 2) your makeup remover. Even when tired at the end of the day, be sure to take your contact lenses out before your take off your makeup. This prevents oils and chemicals from your makeup remover and bacteria from your tap water coming in contact with your corrective lenses. Not only could these things cause stinging and redness, but lenses have the potential to hold onto these materials and cause future irritation. 

Something we often forget to add to our beauty routine: get regular eye exams with your eye doctor. And if you’re sick of your contacts and your mascara wand being at war, maybe talk to a LASIK surgeon about ditching those lenses for good. You can find one near you here, most do consultations for free, and they can advise if you’re a good candidate and answer any questions you have.

You’ve been thinking about LASIK a lot lately, particularly after you lost a contact lens at the very beginning of your last weekend getaway. Thankfully, your back-up lenses were stored safely…on your bathroom counter *sigh*

But then you find out your friend’s mom had LASIK many years ago — and now she needs glasses to read. You thought LASIK meant you could ditch your contacts and glasses forever. So, what gives?

The truth is, having LASIK doesn’t guarantee you’ll never have to wear glasses or contacts again.  But chances are, you may not need them for a very long time, depending on how old you are when you have your procedure done.

A study published last year in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery examined more than 4,000 studies on LASIK done worldwide. The authors found that 90 percent reported 20/20 vision or better, and more than 99 percent reported 20/40 or better.

But even with those percentages, there is still the possibility that people who have LASIK will need glasses at some point in their lives.

The main reason for this is a condition almost everyone over 40 struggles with at some point, called presbyopia. From the Greek words “presbys” and “opia,” meaning “old man” and “eye” respectively, presbyopia is when the lens in one’s eyes loses flexibility as they age, which affects their ability to focus on things up close.  There comes a day when your arm just isn’t long enough — as hard as you might try — to get your phone far enough away from your face so you can actually read your texts.  At that point, people typically need reading glasses.

So while LASIK can help correct your vision, it can’t stop the aging process.  People who have had LASIK will eventually experience presbyopia too, and may need glasses or contacts.

LASIK is a medical procedure and, like any medical procedure, it has potential risks and side effects. Not everyone who has LASIK will achieve perfect vision, and certain circumstances might make it more likely that you’ll sometimes need to use glasses or contacts even after your surgery. If you have more questions, you can find full safety information here or talk to your eye care professional.

Socks, earrings, headphones — some things we expect to disappear from time to time. However, nothing compares to the feeling of panic when you realize you’re missing something big.

Maybe you left something in an rideshare car or “misplaced” your keys/phone/wallet during a long night on the town. That moment you realize it’s gone, followed by a frantic check of all pockets and bags, a mad dash back to wherever you just were to retrace your steps… Losing stuff is the literal worst, and as much as you might try to up your organization game, it’s a part of life.

For an accessory that essentially functions as an extension of our bodies, you’d think you would be inseparable from your glasses. But they’re small, sometimes uncomfortable, and when you’re on the go being the boss that you are, these things happen. If you’re ever curious where they ended up, this list might give you a few ideas.

1. That one drawer

Anyone who says they don’t have this drawer is lying to your face. You know, the “random stuff” drawer where you put whatever you don’t have a better place for to deal with later. Home to ticket stubs from your first date with your ex, nail clippers, old birthday cards, chapstick, spare change, the occasional hand tool and now, your glasses. You probably won’t think to look for them in here, because why would you ever put something actually useful in there?

2. Working on their summer bod at the gym

Sometimes the most laborious part of a trip to the gym has nothing to do with the actual workout. What’s even worse is all the stuff you have to bring — you’ve got your workout clothes, your headphones, your change of clothes (don’t forget clean underwear!), deodorant, a lock, a water bottle, maybe some makeup…lugging your life back and forth to the gym is its own mental workout, so it’s easy to see how a small item (like your glasses, perhaps?) could get left behind in your locker. And if you can’t remember which one you used that day, so it could be gone for good.

3. On a permanent vacay in your hotel room

That “I swear I’m forgetting something” feeling? Usually spot on. It’s a sign of a great vacation when you start to feel at home away from home, and this typically involves dispersing your belongings all over the hotel room. However, if you forget to check under the bed or in the nightstand drawer, that’s exactly where your glasses will stay long after the trip is over.

4. Seatbacks up. Tray tables stowed. Glasses…?  

As the ancient proverb says, “Airplane naps are the key to happiness.” Okay maybe not, but they’re pretty crucial in surviving a red eye or early morning flight, and glasses frames make a terrible pillow for your temples. Naturally, your glasses will find their way from your lap onto the ground, or more likely into the black hole that is the seatback pocket in front of you. And while you’ve made it safely to your destination, you can tell your corrective lenses “Bon voyage.”

5. Hiding in plain sight

Would it have been helpful if we put this one first? Oh. Sorry. It seems that no matter how many times you “lose” your glasses, this will still likely be the last place you check: on top of your head, or in the neck of your shirt.

For most of her life, Feroza Syed has depended on contacts to get through the day. Sometimes she even slept in them. Without them, she says, she couldn’t see a foot in front of her. 

“I was blind as hell,” giggled the 35-year-old realtor. “I was like a negative 6.00, I think, in one eye, and a negative 5.75 in the other one, with some astigmatism.”  

She’d only wear glasses in an absolute emergency, and never in public if she could help it. It was not a look she felt went well with her career selling upscale homes in Atlanta. 

“The glasses I had had thick lenses that make your eyes look like all crazy bugaboo.”

Over the years she’d lost contacts everywhere from a night club to the ocean. One went missing on a trip to St. Simons Island, and since she was out of replacements, she spent more than four hours with one eye closed as she made her way home.

Until now, she hadn’t considered LASIK because she was afraid of the potential side effects. “I had psyched myself out so hard that I was going to have night vision halos and I was going to have migraines,” said Feroza.

But in January 2017, fear of losing her sight in one eye made her reconsider. Even though she was good about keeping her contacts clean and taking them out at night, she got an infection.

“I woke up and I thought it was conjunctivitis. At first it was just really uncomfortable. But within a couple of hours, the light was burning through my eye. It hurt to look at anything.”

The pain got so bad she asked her husband to drive her to an urgent care clinic. The clinic referred her to an optometrist who diagnosed her. “He said the most horrifying stuff: ‘You could potentially lose your eyesight in this eye,’ and ‘We need to put in drops immediately.’”

Feroza was lucky. After three days of putting two different kinds of medicine in her eye frequently, she healed and she suffered no permanent loss of vision.  But her optometrist told her that she may be more prone to similar eye problems or issues down the road. Feroza was determined not to accept a bug-eyed life going forward. That’s when the doctor brought up the option of LASIK.

It took three consultations before she settled on the right doctor. Despite her poor vision, each gave her a thorough examination and all three found her to be a good candidate. She chose Dr. Eugene Smith, from LASIK Plus Vision Center in Atlanta, after watching him perform LASIK in a glass-walled procedure room in the middle of his office.

“It helped settle my fears so I wasn’t so freaked out,” Feroza said.

Of course, not everyone is a good candidate for LASIK. If you have questions about whether it’s an option for you, you can get more information here. 

Feroza says the LASIK procedure itself was exactly like she had been told to expect, with minimal discomfort. That’s not everyone’s experience, and you can learn more about what having LASIK is like here.

But despite all her research beforehand, nothing quite prepared Feroza for how she felt once her LASIK was done.

“I could see. I literally got up and I was like, this is crazy, I can see. It was amazing. Every day it just got better and better.” 

Her one side effect was feeling like she had a grain of sand in her eye for the first few days following surgery. “I didn’t even have eye dryness.”

While Feroza experienced only temporary discomfort from LASIK, others have experienced dry eye or visual disturbances. You can read up on the potential side effects here.

Feroza now enjoys 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/15 in the other. But while she’s had countless amazing moments since she had LASIK, there’s one moment that stands out in particular.

“Shaving my legs, that was my oh my god moment — shaving my legs in the shower,” Feroza said. “Oh my god, I was like, What? I can see my legs? And they’re not getting all fogged up? And I’m not blind and I’m not cutting myself? This is amazing!”  

Her one regret is that her fear kept her from getting it done long ago. 

“My advice for younger people,” said Feroza, of people 18 and older who are determined to be a good candidate by their doctor, “is if you are going to do it, do it now.”

Fitness, what it means to be fit, what you need to do to stay fit… changes so quickly that it can be hard to keep up.

The line between gyms and luxury spas is getting blurrier, athleisure is acceptable everyday attire, and just like every other area of our lives, technology is infiltrating. However, if you’re thinking about trying your hand at indoor climbing, a VR-enhanced spin class (we didn’t make that up) or any of the other unconventional workouts we now have at our fingertips, you might find your frames get in the way.

There is a reason corrective lenses are not what your favorite fitness magazine was referring to when they suggested you incorporate “wearables” into your workout routine.

1. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)  

High Intensity Interval Training has increasingly become one of the most popular workouts around, but be warned, it’s intense. And near impossible if you’re going to have to adjust your glasses every 30 seconds as you switch from burpees to jump squats to push-ups and back again. Short spurts of intense exertion will fire up your metabolism, so you can burn off those cheat day eats in a shorter amount of time. Hopefully your glasses don’t fly off at the same time.

2. Group Training

If you’re looking to shake up your workout routine and find your #fitfam, you might try your hand at group fitness classes. Half of the adventure is trying to keep up with what the instructor is doing, and seeing if you can keep up with those unfamiliar Zumba moves or tap-backs (it’s a spin thing). Just make sure your glasses are real secure on your face. There are few better opportunities for crushed frames than by an errant sidestep from your neighbor in a group fitness class.

3. Destination Fitness

Some people buy new workout clothes to self-motivate. Others buy a vacation. Yoga retreats can be found in exotic locales around the world, and rumor has it marathons are less exhausting when you’re 5,000 miles from home (don’t hold us to that). Whatever your reasons, with any #sweatcation comes all the hassles of regular travel with your glasses: Your case is too bulky, but you need it because what if you want to take them off and they get scratched or crushed in your carryon? You’d love to leave them back in the hotel room, but then you might get a headache during class, which is not very relaxing…

4. Boxing/Defense Classes  

When it comes to perfecting your one-two punch, hand-eye coordination is the key. You’ve got to duck, swing and pivot at the right time, and always think two steps ahead. But just as much as you need them to see, one errant punch from a fellow novice and there’s a $200+ trip to the frame store. Ouch.

5. Indoor Climbing

Ready to elevate your fitness game? Indoor rock climbing is a full-body workout that gets your body and your heart rate up. As climb to new heights, you’ll be constantly on the lookout for the next teeny tiny rock outcropping to grab. However, don’t forget that your hands will also be covered in chalk, and should the brush past your lenses, you may need to reset as white powder obscures your vision.

6. Stand-Up Paddle Board Yoga

Because balancing on solid ground isn’t hard enough, we should all definitely try doing standing splits on a narrow platform while at the mercy of waves of all sizes. For sure! If you’re brave enough to try two of the most challenging balance activities out there combined, be prepared — you may get wet. And if you do fall, your glasses might find a new home at the bottom of the ocean (or lake or river or body of water of choice).

7. VR Workouts  

The future is now. Why should you have to live with the reality that you’re strapped to a spin bike at 6am when you can pretend you’re biking through the Italian countryside? Or jogging through the, I don’t know, Alps? The caveat is that to immerse yourself in a preferable reality you prefer to your own, you gotta wear one of those suuuuuper stylish headsets. You might want to leave your glasses in the past, because VR headsets don’t fit so great over your glasses.

Chances are, if you try any of the cutting-edge workouts above, you have an adventurous side. And not only could your glasses be holding you back from reaching your fitness potential, but your future probably holds a multitude of adventurous escapades where having frames on your face won’t fly.

No joke, LASIK is quite the investment. It’s a good investment in improved vision, but it is definitely an investment…

And while there are good options to help pay for it, that doesn’t suddenly make it affordable. Like the security deposit on a new apartment, or a spring trip to Cancun, it’s something you’ve gotta save for.

That being the case, there are ways you are — ways we all are — just throwing money away that, added up, could go a long way toward ditching those glasses for LASIK.

Here are just 7 tips to avoid the patently dumb ways we just throw money away.

1. Going a little further to the cheaper grocery store

It’s a blessing and a curse living right by a luxe, hip, organic grocer. The cold-pressed juices and hot food bar are choice, but when you inevitably have to pop out of your apartment for cumin or oregano or whatever, it costs like twice what you’d pay anywhere else. And those quick trips add up fast. So even when you’re just running out to grab that one little thing, going a little farther to the cheaper grocery store is worth it. Or, bonus points, move closer to the cheaper grocery store.

2. Actually use the coupons on your receipt

And while you’re at it, hang onto that receipt. They often have coupons that nobody uses that can save you a buck here or there.

3. Searching for coupons when you shop online

If you don’t already do this, it’s a genius way to hang onto some cash. When you’re doing some online shopping and about to check out, most stores have a text field for entering a discount code. Well, open a new tab and do a search to see if you can find an available discount code online. It’s a little extra step that can amount to a little extra dough.

4. Buy in bulk

This one seems both obvious and challenging for those of us who live in small studio or one-bedroom apartments, but if you’ve got the space, it really actually does save to buy in bulk. Yes, even after you’ve paid for the club membership at your local big-box, bulk goods store.

5. Pick up your own damn takeout

Gotta love those new courier apps. The gig economy means there are people at all hours of the day willing to pick up your takeout, your dry cleaning, your dog from the vet — anything, and bring it right to your door. But it often means that pad thai costs like twice what it would’ve if you went and got it yourself. Choices…

6. Using the carpool version of rideshare instead of the single rider one

Yes, it means sitting with strangers, but you can save serious bucks by opting for the carpool version the next time you order a car to get to your friend’s place. Bonus challenge: try to make your rideshare partner a new friend! Or ignore each other in uncomfortable silence — totally appropriate.

7. Remember: apps cost real money

It can feel very insignificant when buying an app is as insignificant as a couple button clicks and a fingerprint scan. If you can buy something in less than five seconds, does it really count? Yes, it does, and that real money is really being charged to you. So give it that extra 30 seconds of thought you would any real purchase before you just hit “buy” in the app store.

Of course it’d be ridiculous to say that never buying an app again will suddenly make LASIK affordable, but each of these ideas can save a few dollars here and there on everyday purchases, and combined with some other great tools for financing LASIK, it adds up.

There are a number of factors that determine what your LASIK procedure will involve and what that mean for your outcome. Knowing these factors is important because it helps you have an informed conversation with your doctor about what to expect.

But before we get to that, there are two kinds of people who want to get LASIK:

“I’m ready to geek out on LASIK. I will research exhaustively so I know exactly how to work closely with my doctor on what I want.” 

“I want LASIK. I’d really rather not think about it. Just correct my vision and don’t get too specific about what you did to my eye.”

If you’re in group 2, we totally get it! LASIK can be intimidating.  But at the bare minimum, you should feel comfortable talking to your doctor in as much detail as you like.  It is surgery after all, and here’s a simple primer on what questions you should ask your LASIK doctor that may be more appropriate to prep you for your LASIK consultation. Or if you’re just ready to talk to a doctor, you can find one near you here.

If you’re in the first group, let’s chat :)

Blade-free LASIK

Wait, there are blades involved in LASIK? I thought it was all lasers!!

Yes, the LASIK procedure uses a laser to correct your vision. But in preparing your eye for surgery, the doctor can either use another highly sophisticated laser, called a “femtosecond laser,” or what’s called a “microkeratome blade.”

You’ll want to ask your doctor about a blade-free option because there are actual benefits to opting for the femtosecond laser. The laser is linked to fewer complications compared to the blade, and higher patient satisfaction.

Wavefront measurement

Before beginning your procedure, your doctor has to tell the LASIK machine how to correct your vision. Which means your doctor has to measure your vision.

Your doctor can measure your vision using a phoropter, which is the same device he or she would use to prescribe you glasses or contacts. This gives an indication of your overall vision prescription based on one data point, and done correctly, should give you vision on par with the correction you’d get from wearing a pair of contacts or glasses.

(This is a phoropter.)

In contrast, your doctor may instead use the Wavefront method, which scans your eye for more than 1,200 data points. Who doesn’t want more data? This gives a more personalized measurement of your eye, which can lead to a more personalized LASIK procedure that may be up to 25 times more precise than what you would get from phoropter-based LASIK.

The bottom line is different measurement systems come with different levels of information about your unique eyes and vision, and more info may lead to a more personalized, precise level of vision correction. If you’re interested in finding an iLASIK® System surgeon specifically, you can find one near you here.

The bottom line

If you want to get into the finer points with your doctor, asking about your options is the best way to get started, and the above points are a great way to get the ball rolling.

Also remember, LASIK is not for everyone. It’s not recommended if you have diabetes, a history of herpes simplex or herpes zoster keratitis, significant dry eye or serious allergies. There are also side effects associated with LASIK. While they are rare, they can include eye dryness, which may be severe, loss of visual acuity or the need for glasses or contacts after surgery, and visual disturbances like halos (hazy rings around lights), glare, starbursts, double images and other visual irregularities that may be debilitating.

If you’d like to read some first-hand experiences of patients who’ve undergone LASIK, you can find some here, here and here. You can also get full safety information here, and these are also good points to bring up with your doctor about what you can expect to experience and anything you can do to manage side effects.

Now that you know the right talking points, you just need a doctor to talk about them with. You can find a LASIK doctor near you here. Most do consultations for free, and are really good at talking through all the above and more.