what's the long term prognosis with Lasik?

I'm aystigmatic and near sighted, but I hear that as we age we get farsighted... So maybe part of that will self-correct?

I think I'm like 20/40 or something. Can read without glasses, but prefer to drive/sail with some perscription glasses.

Do a Google on polarized bifocal sunglasses to find a bunch of options.

I keep a pair of these handy for those days needing closeup. Try to do a ring-ding into a pin without bifocals.

Tom G

Good to see that I'm not the only one...

At 46 I find I can't comfortably read print without a cheapy pair of reading glasses. This after a whole life of perfect vision. I can see everything on the boat fine at this point, but worry about needing to read a chart in a distance race. For this, I brought along younger crew on Tybee! But, seriously, I figure I'll throw a plastic magnifying glass in with the chart stuff.

But, the answer about younger crew brings up the thing I've realized about trying to read GPS while helming. The overall thing is that trying to helm a fast boat while interpreting any GPS display except for the big arrow that points to the next waypoint is going to cause you to helm poorly. Any time I've been tempted to look and fiddle with the GPS while driving has led to really poor immediate results (mostly Alec yelling "watch your course!"), especially on the N-20. So, let somebody else do the nav, and have them let you know what heading to follow (can still read the compass I hope...).

On the N-20 I did two things - we had the SpeedPucks on the boom to show either heading or speed (in nice big numbers) and I strapped my GPS to the boom right behind them set to the arrow display. Between the two I had enough to satisfy my immediate curiosity without screwing up driving. Any other nav functions needed while underway are punted to Alec, with him relaying what heading adjustments might be necessary. While that's on a distance race N-20, I suspect the same advice could be followed on your big boat.

I don't know how the helm is on your TRT, but my F-27 "suffers" from the same responsive helm as the N-20. If I take my eyes (previous or now) away to try to mess with the GPS I'm off course. When I singlehand I deal with it, but for any crewed situation (and if I ever race it) I'll split the duties with a similar solution to the above.

My $0.02. In a nutshell, make Roger do the nav and give you the headings, you concentrate on driving fast and keeping the pointy end up!

Cheers!

This is a really good subject, considering that, for some strange reason, sailors all seem to be getting older. Vision problems generally start after age 40.

Rick and I have gone through all sorts of things to try to keep our eyes working right, including some gadget we bought with strings and beads to exercise our eyes and make them work to focus at different distances.

Thanks to this thread, I have found "night-driving glasses," and I am very excited about that.

So, we have ordered the bifocal stick-ons and the night-driving glasses.

We'll let you know how well they work for us.

I had dinner last night with the eyeball doc to the stars. He said that people with good eye sight are usually a little far sighted. Between 40 and 50 is when sight starts to degrade for these people.

He did say LASIK is currently a very good option but, with a few more technology breakthroughs, it will be great. He estimates that should be in about seven years.

Lasik is a good option for the near-sighted people, apparently,but not for the far-sighted people like Rick and I. We can see a course mark off in the distance, but we can't read a newspaper without magnifying glasses from the supermarket.

The nice thing about it is that when he or I can't see some small print, we borrow each other's glasses and double them up. I don't know what we would do without each other.

I go to the local flea market: good quality polarized sunglasses that fit perfectly over my bifocals are $4. Use a string to tie them on (better than Croakies). Buy 2 pair, one to wear and hang up on the rearview mirror, another pair for someone else to sit on or scratch by jamming them into a gritty glove compartment. Solar Shield brand is good = $20.

Also- as previously stated here- lick the dang things off and spit out the salt. My $400 plastic bifocals last many years when licked off. NEVER RUB ANY PLASTIC LENSES with a nasty cloth or shirt.

Mary,

LASIK is effective for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. It can also treat presbyopia (old eyes) with monovision.

Another treatment modality is intraocular lens implants, which can also treat presbyopia, such at the ReSTOR or Technis multifocal lens implants. The FDA studies--which tend to be quite conservative--found that well over 80% of patients receiving these implants did not use glass at all, regardless of age. In my practice the vast majority of people receiving these implants do not need to use glasses at all from then on.

Glasses for correcting vision are going the way of the slide rule and manual typewriter--they're becoming obsolete. Quite frankly, this isn't something futuristic--we have the technology available right now to eliminate the need for glasses for most people.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in, including all those who described some very nasty sounding vision conditions. I kind of feel like our declining vision has helped bring us together; seeing some posters who were squaring off on that interminable "drilling" thread coming together to discuss how we deal with this crap of getting older (the great equalizer?).

Storz; I've got the Ronstan THAT I can see; I love it.

Eric; the vinyl correction add ons sound great; I've never seen them in a drug store; where do you get them?

Also the lens replacement seems like the complete solution (along with Lasik?). It is the hardening of our lens that leads to needing reading correction. I've been talking about that for years, but didn't think that technology was available yet. When I add up what I spend on glasses about every 15 months, it makes surgical solutions seem not so far out of reach.

Eric, your email box is full; at least that is the message I got; I'd like to talk to you further about some of the solutions you work with in your profession.

Thanks to all. I know I'm going to find something that works better than the squinting I do now.

David
ACat and big cat.

David,

I cleared our my mailbox.

Stick-on bifocals are available from many sources, eg:
http://www.burfish.com/catalog/2020.html

Probably will work AS LONG AS YOU DON'T WORK FOR A Proctologist