[Tuthmosis]

I want to get the group's take on doing Lasik to stop wearing glasses and contacts, when it comes to looks, style, and by extension, game. I usually wear contacts to go out at night and workout. I wear an expensive pair of boutique-designer glasses during the day, on nights when I want more of a hipster, "intellectual" look, or when I'm just being lazy.

How much do you guys think glasses detract from your overall impression with chicks, even if you wear non-lame, unique frames that you can't find at your average store? I've always suspected that on a deep, instinctual level, girls see glasses as a genetic defect, even if your shit is cool and stylish. It doesn't really mess with my inner game, but it's in the back of my mind as something that I could potentially improve.

What do you guys think? How many of you guys wear glasses/contacts? How many of you guys have done Lasik yourselves?

I know plenty of people that have gotten Lasik and endorse it without reservations. So this isn't really about the health aspects, which has been discussed in another thread.* I know there's a certain segment of the population that's too afraid of the side effects or risks of the surgery to ever do it, but I'm more concerned with the liabilities of wearing glasses around girls, and with weighing the costs and risks of the surgery against the potential, overall benefits.

*edit

[MrPink]

(04-29-2011 12:22 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  

How much do you guys think glasses detract from your overall impression with chicks, even if you wear non-lame, unique frames that you can't find at your average store? I've always suspected that on a deep, instinctual level, girls see glasses as a genetic defect, even if your shit is cool and stylish. It doesn't really mess with my inner game, but it's in the back of my mind as something that I could potentially improve.

*edit

I think the genetic defect bit is true. Stopped wearing glasses recently and have had much success with women. Getting far fewer turn downs than before.

[Chad Daring]

To me something like this should have not base in how women will react, its giving them to much influence on you. Lasik isn't a small thing, its costly, has hazards, and it really is life altering (in a good way usually)

And if you DID get Lasik just buy glasses and pop the lenses out. If someone calls you on your bulshit just make a sarcastic comment about wanting to "look smarter" and roll with it.

I've thought about getting a fake pair of the thick frame hipster glasses to compliment a "hipster-esque ensemble" and see how the arty girls react to it.

[azulsombra]

I had corrective eye surgery done, and it has probably helped my game marginally. Then again, I was never mr. magoo to begin with so the results were not as dramatic as they are for some. One nice thing is for ONS, I dont have to carry a contact lens case around with me anymore for the times I ended up crashing at some random chick's house and she doesnt have any contact solution at her place.

[Chad Daring]

I havent taken my contacts out when I sleep for almost 5 years now. I wear the bastards for a few months at a time as well. I'm very comfortable saying all the scare stories about "how bad it is to do these things" that optometrists give you is all bullshit to get them to sell you more contacts or more expensively glasses.

I also dont tell the eye doctors this and never have they commented on my vision getting worse, its been stable for the duration of me doing this.

[Brian]

i had lasik done (actually intralase which at the time was the safest version available - google it) like 7 years ago. i dont think it really makes a difference w/your game, especially if you have contacts, unless the contacts make you blink often or something. and some guys can pull over the glasses look very well. but honesty i cant tell you how happy i am i had it done. i was pretty blind w/o glasses/contacts and to be able to not have to deal w/contacts is so nice. no more saline solution, waking up and being blind, torn lenses, etc. its just makes life so much easier and more convenient.

[azulsombra]

(05-17-2011 09:17 PM)Chad Daring Wrote:  

I havent taken my contacts out when I sleep for almost 5 years now. I wear the bastards for a few months at a time as well. I'm very comfortable saying all the scare stories about "how bad it is to do these things" that optometrists give you is all bullshit to get them to sell you more contacts or more expensively glasses.

Hey, if your comfortable sleeping in contacts more power to you,but i wouldnt play around with my health like that. I've personally seen people get nasty,painful infections from sleeping in their contacts.

Just because YOU can get away with sleeping in contacts doesnt make their advice bullshit. Hell, you COULD get away with not flossing (people have for thousands of years), but that doesnt mean the dentist who told you to is just trying to sell you more floss.

[Chad Daring]

(05-18-2011 01:42 AM)azulsombra Wrote:  

(05-17-2011 09:17 PM)Chad Daring Wrote:  

I havent taken my contacts out when I sleep for almost 5 years now. I wear the bastards for a few months at a time as well. I'm very comfortable saying all the scare stories about "how bad it is to do these things" that optometrists give you is all bullshit to get them to sell you more contacts or more expensively glasses.

Hey, if your comfortable sleeping in contacts more power to you,but i wouldnt play around with my health like that. I've personally seen people get nasty,painful infections from sleeping in their contacts.

Just because YOU can get away with sleeping in contacts doesnt make their advice bullshit. Hell, you COULD get away with not flossing (people have for thousands of years), but that doesnt mean the dentist who told you to is just trying to sell you more floss.

Dentists dont have retail sections that they get commission on. Thats why dentists give general advice "brush and floss" and dont try to pump up a product with designer names and adjectives.

I had an ex that worked in a optometrist office and she told me they were basically told to be like car salesmen and do whatever to push for a higher checkout.

[gringochileno]

(05-17-2011 09:17 PM)Chad Daring Wrote:  

I havent taken my contacts out when I sleep for almost 5 years now. I wear the bastards for a few months at a time as well. I'm very comfortable saying all the scare stories about "how bad it is to do these things" that optometrists give you is all bullshit to get them to sell you more contacts or more expensively glasses.

I also dont tell the eye doctors this and never have they commented on my vision getting worse, its been stable for the duration of me doing this.

Your vision won't get worse because that's dictated by the shape of your eye and whether it's too short or too long to focus light properly, not whether your eyes are in good health. If you're leaving your contacts in and they're not the kind you're supposed to leave in there is an elevated risk of getting an infection or an abrasion from the contact scratching your cornea (the latter happened to me--not fun). One of the reasons I want to get laser surgery done is because the risks associated with the surgery are significantly less than the risks that go along with simply wearing contacts on a daily basis for many years.

Not having anything happen in 5 years doesn't mean anything, the incidence of the most common infections is between 1 and 20 per 1000 people per year so even if you're at an elevated risk that doesn't prove anything except that you've gotten lucky so far. If you want to leave your contacts in for long periods of time they make varieties that are designed to be worn continuously for up to a month.

[Chad Daring]

I brought up vision worsening because that's what every optometrist I've ever had has told me will happen. A few have briefly mentioned the risks of leaving lenses in, but all of them have told me that it would make my vision worse. Now granted I might have just had crappy C- students for eye doctors.

Another good reason to have lasik, for me, is that I've had contacts randomly just fall out, and before someone quotes me about leaving them in, the worst case of this was a rainy night a few days after putting a fresh pair in. I was driving home in heavy rain and I blinked and BOTH lenses fell out. Without them in I can only really discern colors and general shapes, so it was a pretty intense moment. Thankfully I hadn't gotten far and just turned around and slowly made my way home and got new ones.

I've had that happen on a few occasions where contacts, regardless of age, just decide to jump ship. Between that and simply having an itch that I go to rub and accidentally shoving the lens under my eye lid while driving has made me dedicated to getting lasik as soon as I can afford it.

[gringochileno]

Optometrists aren't doctors. If you want an MD, see an ophthalmologist (by the way, there are no C- students in ophthalmology, it's one of the hardest residencies to get into).

The only way your vision would get worse from leaving contacts in is if it led to a condition that damaged the lens or cornea. Usually, near-sighted people's eyes keep getting worse until their early 20's or so because your eyes are still changing shape so that's probably what your optometrist was talking about. My contact prescription hasn't changed in like 4 years.

I would have gotten lasik already but my ophthalmologist advised me to hold off for a few years since there's an improved procedure currently waiting for FDA approval.

[Chad Daring]

Does anyone know about going outside of the country to save money on Lasik? My dad flew to Canada to get his done, apparently saved about half versus having it done in the US

[seeker04542]

(05-25-2011 06:50 PM)Chad Daring Wrote:  

Does anyone know about going outside of the country to save money on Lasik? My dad flew to Canada to get his done, apparently saved about half versus having it done in the US

I had it done in Colombia (Bucaramanga) about ten years ago when it was still relatively new (and expensive) in the U.S.; it was performed by the guy who was supposedly the assistant of the guy who invented the procedure (who was in his nineties by that point), I think his name was Virgilo Galvis (it was part of a group tour organized by an American guy from Hawaii.)

Canada was also an option back then (and now presumably) but including airfare and hotel I had it done for about half of what it cost in the U.S., we were only in-country for 2-3 days. (My eye doc in the U.S., who had recommended against it, said the Colombian guy did a good job and I had 20/20 [after having -6 diopters in both eyes] until a couple years ago [I'm 42, it regressed to 20/40 {which isn't uncommon and unrelated to the procedure}]).

If you do a Google search the guy may still be doing the tours (I forget his name).

[Walderschmidt]

I started wearing contacts right after middle school and never looked back. Before contacts, when I wore glasses, I played fewer sports due to limits imposed on me by glasses and was way less confident in myself physically. When I wore contacts it was like a new world opened up to me. Suddenly I could play rugby, run track, and shoot sporting clays without too much difficulty. I didn't have to worry about how I looked or if my nose looked ginormous in glasses anymore. I felt like a completely different person with contacts in. Whenever I wear glasses now, I feel a little beta compared to the way I feel with contacts. If I'm alone at home I don't really give a shit - but if I am in public I make myself wear contacts.

I like wearing them so much that I probably wear my dailies too much sometimes. I got a corneal abrasion (my cornea got cut) when I slept with them in by accident and couldn't play in rugby tournament because of that - but my desire to wear contacts hardly took a hit. Within a week I was wearing contacts full time again. Every now and then I take a break and wear glasses but almost never in public.

I came to the game a little late, so I am not sure how much it has affected me with girls - but wearing contacts gave me one of the biggest confidence boosts of my life - which helped me get to where I am today.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

(05-18-2011 07:23 PM)Chad Daring Wrote:  

(05-18-2011 01:42 AM)azulsombra Wrote:  

(05-17-2011 09:17 PM)Chad Daring Wrote:  

I havent taken my contacts out when I sleep for almost 5 years now. I wear the bastards for a few months at a time as well. I'm very comfortable saying all the scare stories about "how bad it is to do these things" that optometrists give you is all bullshit to get them to sell you more contacts or more expensively glasses.

Hey, if your comfortable sleeping in contacts more power to you,but i wouldnt play around with my health like that. I've personally seen people get nasty,painful infections from sleeping in their contacts.

Just because YOU can get away with sleeping in contacts doesnt make their advice bullshit. Hell, you COULD get away with not flossing (people have for thousands of years), but that doesnt mean the dentist who told you to is just trying to sell you more floss.

Dentists dont have retail sections that they get commission on. Thats why dentists give general advice "brush and floss" and dont try to pump up a product with designer names and adjectives.

I had an ex that worked in a optometrist office and she told me they were basically told to be like car salesmen and do whatever to push for a higher checkout.

If I sleep without taking out my contacts, it's fine for a day or two, but for any longer period, they start getting "foggy" and my eyes start to dry up or burn. I don't think it's bullshit advice.

[Vicious]

Glasses can be effective if you're good looking and need to appear more Non-threatening or softer in general. Apart from that I can't think of any advantages they have over going without.

[rlongo924]

I would get the Lasik dude, I've been wearing contacts for ten years now and I'm just about done with it, should be getting the Lasik relatively soon, just need my vision to be stable for three years in a row and it's been stable for two now.

Just the comfort of waking up and being able to see makes it worth it alone.

[DarkTriad]

Did Lasik, much better results for me without glasses. You can always get clear lenses if you really want. I would also NOT underestimate eliminating the hassle factor of glasses and contacts.

Another recomendation - Most of the cost for Lasik in the US is licensing fees. Such price gouging is illegal in Canada, and can be done substantially cheaper over ($800 per eye back when I did it). Makes a great Montreal road trip.

[DrZoidberg]

I had lasik done when I was 22. I actually noticed a fairly substantial difference in the way women responded to me afterwards. I mean it wasn't huge, but I definitely noticed it, and it felt great. I think if you wear glasses but have a very optimized look, the difference will not be as big, but I never really found a look that worked well with my glasses, so that could be part of the reason I saw a more drastic change than others.