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At the risk of being labeled non-DIR, I had LASIK surgery last February to
correct both a large amount of near-sightedness and astigmatism. I was
correctable with lenses prior to the surgery, but I was concerned with the
type of diving I've been more involved in lately, that if my mask were
knocked off in some other sort of emergency management scenario, I would
essentially be blind. ("What's that red blob over there? Oh, hi buddy!") I
thought it was better to have vision, impaired by lack of an air space in
front of my eyes, rather than virtually none. (Of course, I also hope not to
be in an emergency situation...)
The answer to the question regarding post-operative recovery time prior to
diving is really: wait whatever period of time your doctor says is an
appropriate time to wait, and also don't dive if you don't feel you are
seeing as well as you should. The time will be different depending on which
procedure you have performed.
I had LASIK and my doctor recommended not diving for two weeks. The
near-sightedness was corrected right away, but the astigmatism correction for
my extreme level of astigmatism needed some time to settle in. While I did
some diving prior to that, I had some difficulty focusing on small print (it
took concentration) until some time around 2-3 months. I could see perfectly
with one eye or the other, but I had to concentrate to see only one image
when I used both eyes. This did not occur with distance vision or larger
print. Somewhere around 3 months post-surgery, I realized I was reading
something very tiny without trouble. I'm not sure when the change actually
occured.
My vision was corrected to 20-20; I no longer have any astigmatism. I've
also heard a few scary stories since the time I had the procedure, so weigh
the risks and choose your physician carefully.
The LASIK procedure took 75 seconds per eye (a long time because of the great
amount of correction, chances are you'll need 25 seconds or less). I had it
done in the morning and returned to work 2 days afterward. Some people
return to work the next day. The binocular vision thing made me hold off a
day on driving. I bought magnifying reading glasses at a drugstore, and used
them when using the computer for about 3 weeks afterward. I'm a computer
geek in my non-diving life so I'm looking at a screen a lot.
I did a deeper trimix dive about a month after surgery. I've had no problems
with any kind of diving (deep, cave, trimix, etc.) related to the procedure.
Good luck whatever you decide.
JS
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