“Vision So Good You Can See Into the Future”
The other day, a patient told me, “After my LASIK, my vision felt so good, I felt like I could see into the future.” It was a lighthearted comment, but it made me reflect: Is it really a good thing to be able to see into the future?
What Type of Vision Can You Expect After Refractive Surgery?
Vision is incredibly subjective. We measure it by comparing what a person can see to what is considered “normal” using vision charts. If you can read the same small letters from a distance of 20 feet (or 6 meters) as the average person, your vision is considered “normal.” But often, patients with “better-than-normal” vision can feel dissatisfied, while others with worse-than-normal vision might feel content.
This brings us to a key point: how we perceive our vision often ties back to our expectations. A person who starts with very poor vision often feels a greater improvement after surgery than someone whose eyesight wasn’t so badly affected to begin with.
Advances in Refractive Surgery
Today, refractive surgery technology is truly incredible, giving us the ability to improve vision dramatically. However, age becomes a key factor:
- Under 40: If you are younger than 40, your natural lens can accommodate well, allowing you to see both distant and near objects clearly. In this group, we can often achieve vision as good as—or better than—what you have with glasses or contact lenses. For patients with high amounts of higher-order aberrations on the cornea, we may perform a wavefront-optimized laser ablation, which not only corrects lower-order issues like myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism, but also addresses these higher-order aberrations. This can lead to even better vision than what glasses or contact lenses could provide.
- After 40: Vision becomes a bit trickier after 40, as the natural lens starts to stiffen and loses its ability to focus on near objects, a condition called presbyopia. Although we have various ways to optimize vision at this stage of life, it will unlikely be as sharp at all distances as it was at age 20.
Is It Really Good to See Into the Future?
Returning to the question—would it truly be helpful to see into the future? To know what trials or suffering lie ahead? Or, on a more optimistic note, to know what blessings or good experiences await us?
Probably not. Knowing the future might make us so worried about what’s to come that we’re unable to enjoy the present. Or, we might become discontent with today, longing for a future that hasn’t yet arrived.
Instead, I believe the key is to embrace the present. This moment is all we truly have control over. Being grateful for today and making the most of it is far more fulfilling than trying to peer into a future we cannot see.
While we can improve vision dramatically these days, one thing remains certain: we can’t see into the future. And perhaps, that’s just as it should be.
Dr Wilna Rautenbach