I love badminton and hate wearing glasses. Have been considering Lasik procedures, but unsure if I still can see the shuttlecocks with a white background wall. I was told most of the time, patients loose contrast after Lasik.

I would appreciate any experiences or stories or advice for this matter.

Stick with the glasses I say (been wearing mine for 15 years)

If there is ANY chance my eyesight may be not good enough to play againwith surgery, i wouldnt even consider it. It may be a pain, but is it worth the risk?

There is some figure of 0.5% of procedures not being perfect (or something like that).

I know a couple of people (non sporting) who have had a less than perfect result.

It's OK for them but their requirements are lower than seeing a small shuttlecock.

0.5% (1 in 200) is too high for me!

Well, people should wear eye protections when playing Badminton.
Doctors always recommend this because there are many cases when the shuttle hit people's eyes directly, people's eyes got damaged severely. (some of them even can not see again, forever!!):(

Originally posted by bluejeff
Well, people should wear eye protections when playing Badminton.
Doctors always recommend this because there are many cases when the shuttle hit people's eyes directly, people's eyes got damaged severely. (some of them even can not see again, forever!!):(

You are scaring him bluejeff.. :). Personally i think lasik is a safe procedure. Nowadays its common and the machine are very hightech. The procedure actually take less than 5 mins. Very fast and safe. But still there is risk involve.. anyway risk is part of our live.. even if we cross the road , we might get run over by car or truck , the risk is even higher heheh.
I have a friend who did lasik.. after the procedure , he rested his eyes for about a week. Now he is back in Badminton. Its good he says.. near perfect eyesight.
That i want i can share about regarding Lasik. Good thing i do not need to spend on these things. So far i have perfect eyesight...thank god.

oh no, I am saying you should wear some protection whether you have good or bad eyesight.

Don't be scared :)

Ok. :)

check out http://health.howstuffworks.com/lasik.htm

Someone at my club had it done, and he plays just as well now as before.

I've worn glasses for over 30 years, and I'd to not have to, but I can't bring myself to gamble with my eyesight.

too much of a risk......never mind not being able to see the shuttle...what if it all went wrong :cool: and you couldn't see your girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse/children:confused:

I was told that Tiger Wood had his eyes done, but he was not trying to return a 100+ mph object coming straight at him.

I know he is one of the biggest name in sports but I also would not think it is relevant to base his Lasik experience with that of a badminton player.

He is hitting a stationary ball with consistent background and we are totally not.

So, I am trying to get as many facts and details about any badminton player who had Lasik and their experiences.

Not really concern about the procedure itself or the surgery or the recovery period, but rather mostly on the SIDE EFFECT.

Whether it is easier to see with a yellow shuttlecocks or colored wall background.
or the shuttle is out of focus or blurr on the opponents side of the court and only appear when it is on your side.

Or even if it is leaving a trail of white streak / shadow when you hit the bird.

Or maybe I am just being paranoid about it.

It is mostly because I am certain that I want Lasik done and the only doubt that I have is whether I will be able to play badminton as I did or I if the eye can eventually adapt to the changed condition.

Thanks guys for all your input, I hope I can get more details on badminton players who had Lasik done. Don't worry, I am already scared.... I need to hear the horror stories i guessed.

:cool: :confused:

Never mind badminton, how about night vision?

Don't get Lasik. It's too early in the medical stage right now.

-dave

had LASIK done couple yrs back.
and just started to play badminton again recently. it does feel different.
it takes awhile for u to get use to the birdie's distance. u might experience frequent frame hits i think bc when u wear glass, things appeared to be closer.
and if u play in a gym with bright lites, ur pretty dead, bc the u'll see fuzzy halos around the lights...fuzziness will get worse if its too cold bc ur eyes tend to be dry up faster.

but its not too bad once u get used to the distance issue, just takes time to adjust.
and bout the halos, use eye drops to lube ur eyes. u'll see less halos.

i'd still go for LASIK given all these circumstances....just make sure u get a good eye doctor

not sure if u remember Rashid Sidek (malaysia's top singles player in late 90s), he stopped playing after the LASIK surgery, not sure if its got anything to do with it or he's just too old to cont to play professionally.

I appreciate your valuable inputs.

It really paint a very good picture in my mind and will help me tremendously on how to make the right decision.... ( at this time ).

Do you mind telling me what degree was your shortsightedness ?
Do you have Astigmatism?

The gym that I play weekly has bright lights and white background wall.
Do you have any problem seeing the bird against a white wall?

I did not know depth perception could be a problem too.

I am most concern about halos, because even with glasses, my eyes tend to get very dry in colder wheather.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

I assume you are still playing badminton and you are adjusting to those changes effectively....???

my eyesights....pretty bad!!!
.8 and .3 for astigmatism
after LASIK i have 20/20 on left eye and 20/25 on right eye

so despite all the halos and occasional dry eyes, im still very glad i got LASIK done.
never thot bout depth perception b4, but for the longest time i couldnt hit the bird without hitting the badminton frame, took up to 20-30 hours to get adjusted to it.

and as for the halos and dry eyes, just take a yawn or eye drops to wet them.

most of my family is short-sighter (apart from me :) ) 1 wears glasses and has done all the time he's played, one wears contacts and has done all the time she played, and one has played without either, then glasses, and now contacts. i spoke to him about this and he says contacts are the answer, much cheaper than surgery adn without the risk of side effects. the risk of getting the shuttle in ur eye is similar. so the simple answer is to get contacts.. or if you can't bear to put them in, stick with your glasses..

Neil

i have worn glasses since i cannot remember when. and for all the years i have played badminton, i remember only once i had a cracked lens. but apart from running home, putting on my contacts and then resume my badminton afternoon, the thought of permanently fixing my eyes or switching to contacts for badminton never really crossed my mind.

another time i had to drive back a birdie that was heading towards my right ear, the frame of my racket caught the back of my glass, flunk it off and left me so blind (my eyes are -7). however, i somehow managed to drive back another two shots and evetually won the rally! my partner had no idea what was going on.

"feel the force, Luke."

I totally agree w/ Coops241180... try contacts.

I wear soft contacts during my competitive sessions, it allows for a greater peripheral view of my opponents. Then, I wear glasses on all other sessions where I know I don't need to be so focused (pun intended) and my opponents are much weaker.

Mind you, pending on your level of astigmatism, you may or may not be able to wear soft contact lenses. Have you tried speaking to a specialist? :)

Originally posted by Cheung
There is some figure of 0.5% of procedures not being perfect (or something like that).

I know a couple of people (non sporting) who have had a less than perfect result.

It's OK for them but their requirements are lower than seeing a small shuttlecock.

0.5% (1 in 200) is too high for me!

Cheung: Owhh, are you sure about that 0.5% figure?? This is *very* different from what I've heard. Or perhaps those 0.5% went blind or something :)

What about those you hear about that need to redo the lasik when their vision has degraded over time (due to natural degrading regardless of lasik or not), that's *another* €/$1.800 :D. Yup, that's the approximate cost of lasik for your 2 eyes in europe.. (EVEREADY2PLAY: I hope you've checked thoroughly if you can wear contact lenses!)

Ants: You wrote: "I have a friend who did lasik.. after the procedure , he rested his eyes for about a week. Now he is back in Badminton. Its good he says.. near perfect eyesight.". Why did he only have near perfect eyesight? I know that I would want a perfect result, especially after all that cash spent!

Break.My-String: Astigmatism is hardly even a problem today. There are contact lenses for almost all levels of astigmatism.

I too have thought about lasik but more for my work than anything, I am longsighted which of course means they cannot do just as easily as short-sighted. with the new wavefront technology I think results are even better than before

http://www.castervision.com/question.htm

I think i will wait a little longer, I still use contacts and have tried several pairs to find which stay moist the longest. so far the best has been B&L 66.

Originally posted by freeheeler
I too have thought about lasik but more for my work than anything, I am longsighted which of course means they cannot do just as easily as short-sighted. with the new wavefront technology I think results are even better than before

http://www.castervision.com/question.htm

I think i will wait a little longer, I still use contacts and have tried several pairs to find which stay moist the longest. so far the best has been B&L 66.

Sure, I'd consider lasik too. The basic idea is great, however, when you run across places like http://www.surgicaleyes.com/ you start having your doubts unfortunately..

Originally posted by Break-My-String
I totally agree w/ Coops241180... try contacts.

One of the guy's at my club just recently changed to contacts but found them funny because he had no flow of air getting to his eyes and was not used to them after wearing glasses.

I tried contacts for about 2 years (about 8 years ago) but gave up in the end. My eyes always dried out and became sore. More to do with not blinking properly than airflow.

Some people had difficulties with contacts. Like me, I loved to play all kinds of sports, but my doctor told me my eyes were dry and not good for contacts. He even not suggested for wearing just several hours for sports session. So I wear glasses for badminton. The protection was there. Yesterday, I played double. I was close to net and the opponent smash right into my left eye in very close distance (a very weak return from my partner). I heard a big noise and felt my left side glasses hug onto my eye (a sudden cold feeling) and stayed there. The impact force was enormous. (My thought at that time, oh no, my left eye was gone). Everyone went close to me and I opened my eye and took my glasses off. It was a US$400 pair glasses (frame made by metal had memory like AT700 racket shaft). It supposed to be able to bend towards any direction or shape and then restored itself. This was the ultimate test. The left lens was hit directly. It had no scratch at all (this was surprised to me even with this lenses were harden to certain degree). The frame was restored to original shape. The only distortion was the screw joint at the left side. It was slightly bent. So in the end, it did not memorize all its shape or the screw confused its memory?! I put it back and continued play for another 2 hours.

wow.......$400 glasses....heck..to think i got mine for £9. It may not have memory...but it has me bending them back into shape:)

With my and my wife’s double insurance on vision, I only paid about $40 out of pocket for this $400 glass plus eye checks etc. I ticked nearly every upgrade in lenses and picked this special frame with very fashionable looking. Wow, I would not buy it without vision insurance back on me. It costs 2 AT700. After this weekend incident, I was amazed about its quality. Frankly, he was only about 4 feet away from me (both of us stand in front of service lines). The guy is about 6 feet tall with his full smashing power. During impact I could feel the striking force like hitting by a fist but all concentrated on my left eye (I never hit by a bullet, this may be the closest thing you can feel).