(February 2), in U.S. popular tradition, the day that the groundhog, or woodchuck, comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow. If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his hole. If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of coming spring and stays above ground. Convincing statistical evidence does not support this tradition.
The tradition, which sometimes includes the bear or badger, stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas (also February 2) in England. According to an old English song:
PRK - This method is very safe - it has been around for a while so we know it is.
LASIK - Very safe as well, but not quite as safe as PRK. When I did my laser surgery erlier this year (in May) they had not found the bug in the LASIK machine (that cuts off the thin surface layer of the eye). The bug caused the machine to suddely stop in the middle of the surgical procedure, in like 1 case out of 100 000 or something, I don't remember the exact figure but it was pretty unlikely. Since the manfacturer could not recreate this unusual bug they just raised the feeding voltage by around 0.1-0.2 volts, and hoped it would go away. I don't know if it did solve the problem.
The result of the LASIK treatment is not quite as good. This is due to the extra surgical step that adds another variable in the procedure. It is of course "good enough", but don't belive if they say there is no difference, there is, at least according to the people making the LASIK machines themselves. After the eyes have healed for 2-3 months the PRK eyes are better than the LASIK eyes.
LASIK is very popular though, expecially in the U.S., thanks to its instant effect. It is however usually more expensive and, as I wrote, less safe. It is good if you can't stand a few days without vision on your treated eye, and also if your correction is worse than -4.
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from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
(February 2), in U.S. popular tradition, the day that the groundhog, or woodchuck, comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow. If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his hole. If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of coming spring and stays above ground. Convincing statistical evidence does not support this tradition.
The tradition, which sometimes includes the bear or badger, stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas (also February 2) in England. According to an old English song:
If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas bring clouds and rain,
Go, Winter, and come not again.
PRK - This method is very safe - it has been around for a while so we know it is.
LASIK - Very safe as well, but not quite as safe as PRK. When I did my laser surgery erlier this year (in May) they had not found the bug in the LASIK machine (that cuts off the thin surface layer of the eye). The bug caused the machine to suddely stop in the middle of the surgical procedure, in like 1 case out of 100 000 or something, I don't remember the exact figure but it was pretty unlikely. Since the manfacturer could not recreate this unusual bug they just raised the feeding voltage by around 0.1-0.2 volts, and hoped it would go away. I don't know if it did solve the problem.
The result of the LASIK treatment is not quite as good. This is due to the extra surgical step that adds another variable in the procedure. It is of course "good enough", but don't belive if they say there is no difference, there is, at least according to the people making the LASIK machines themselves. After the eyes have healed for 2-3 months the PRK eyes are better than the LASIK eyes.
LASIK is very popular though, expecially in the U.S., thanks to its instant effect. It is however usually more expensive and, as I wrote, less safe. It is good if you can't stand a few days without vision on your treated eye, and also if your correction is worse than -4.
It is hard to fit two months of research into one Slashdot posting :) Questions?