Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hey,

I was just informed by my eye doc that I am now at the ideal age for LASIK eye surgery (my eyes are no longer worsening at a fast rate like when I was a teenager).  I'm also no longer able to attain 20/20 vision with glasses or contacts, making corrective surgery all the more appealing.

However, given that I plan on taking T relatively soon (within the next 1-2 years), I'm worried that my eyesight will significantly change due to the hormones.  When I went through puberty the first time, my eyes worsened at an alarming rate; I don't know if it was caused by puberty, but I do know that hormones cause a significant change to the body... so the eyes could also be affected.  I haven't asked my eye doc whether this can happen, because I doubt he'd now about my kind of special case (ie, a second puberty).  So I'm asking you guys:  did you notice any significant changes in your eyesight after being on T for a while?  If you had glasses before & your prescription was relatively stable, did your prescription change after taking T?

And for Dennis: you said in Nate's thread that you had laser eye surgery.  Was this before or after T, and did you notice any changes in your vision because of T?

Any help is appreciated.  I'm currently thinking I'll wait on the eye surgery until after T just to be safe... the eye surgery is kind of expensive (~$5000) and I'm not sure if it can be revised if my eyes change significantly after it is performed.  I also would rather top surgery & hormones first, and I'm on kind of a limited (college) budget here...

I've been resisting glasses for years.  My eyes did not decline faster on T than off.

I had laser eye surgery before T. It crept back a little so that I don't legally need glasses to drive, but I prefer having them. That happened before T as well. After 3.5 years on T, I still use the same prescription for driving glasses that I got shortly before starting T, so nothing has changed.

My eyes went through horrendous deterioration during my first puberty too. I had to change prescriptions more than once a year and wound up with -10.75 and -11 lenses by the end of it, so I was really blind without glasses.

So no, T didn't change my eyes at all. There was a natural creep back to a small extent after about 4 years after laser surgery, but it wasn't T related.

Dennis

I've always had 20/20 vision, and after starting T I noticed the changes. I can no longer see things, street signs, billboards, etc a hundred or so feet in front of them. I can still read fine without glasses, but I'm assuming after a couple years I might need to get glasses. It hasn't been a DRASTIC change, but noticeable non the less.

Research indicates that various parts of the eye have separate receptors for estrogens, progesterone and androgens.
I'm not sure if testosterone is the most significant factor, but estrogen levels affect curvature of the cornea.

Quote from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2415/7/9Conclusion: The results suggest that changes in estrogen level of women with menopause are associated with slight alteration of horizontal curvature of cornea.

As a trans-woman, I mentioned to my optometrist that I was on estrogen. I don't think that he considered that significant.

Quote from: Dennis on September 13, 2008, 11:15:14 AM
My eyes went through horrendous deterioration during my first puberty too. I had to change prescriptions more than once a year and wound up with -10.75 and -11 lenses by the end of it, so I was really blind without glasses.

So no, T didn't change my eyes at all. There was a natural creep back to a small extent after about 4 years after laser surgery, but it wasn't T related.

Dennis

Wow, that's an insane prescription.  Mine have been holding at -6.00 and -6.00 for 4 years now, with slight changes in corneal curvature due to astigmatism.  Thanks for the info, it makes me less concerned that my eyes might drastically worsen due to T.

Quote from: Renate on September 13, 2008, 02:50:10 PM
Research indicates that various parts of the eye have separate receptors for estrogens, progesterone and androgens.
I'm not sure if testosterone is the most significant factor, but estrogen levels affect curvature of the cornea.

That's interesting, especially about E affecting the curvature of the cornea.  Makes me wonder if my astigmatism would be as bad as it is if I hadn't been bathed in E at puberty. *shrug*  Come to think of it, my mom had a slight worsening of her astigmatism when she went through menopause...

Quote from: GQjoey on September 13, 2008, 11:34:52 AM
I've always had 20/20 vision, and after starting T I noticed the changes. I can no longer see things, street signs, billboards, etc a hundred or so feet in front of them. I can still read fine without glasses, but I'm assuming after a couple years I might need to get glasses. It hasn't been a DRASTIC change, but noticeable non the less.

That's unfortunate about your eyes.  I'm not going on anything scientific here, but just from people I've met most people's eyes seem to worsen either in childhood (elementary-middle school age) or as they hit middle age.  So either their 20/20 vision starts to deteriorate in childhood, or it is 20/20 throughout their young adult life and begins to worsen with middle age.  I'm guessing you're between those ages, so... is there anyone else in your family whose eyesight started to deteriorate at your age?

For me my eyes are the most precious thing I have and though I loathe glasses, I'm far too squeamish for contacts (don't know why; I'm not very squeamish in general).

Personally I couldn't/wouldn't have surgery on my eyes, ever, unless my eyes were in danger (trauma, disease, etc).  I come from a family where several family members had severe visual issues and multiple eye surgeries to save their sight.  That and having a medical background and knowing about surgical complications (sh*t happens to the best surgeons sometimes! OR quacks abound - get references!) makes me more wary, esp. when dealing with eyesight.

That said, I understand the appeal of LASIK and the like to correct vision and avoid glasses.  But always remember this: when you hit your 40s, just about everyone becomes farsighted and needs glasses then, as your lens can't change shape as readily as it did when you were younger.  I'm not sure the surgery people make that clear.

Just throwing that out there; feel free to ignore!

Jay

I was so blind it was crippling. Before LASIK, I could only see clearly about 3 or 4 inches in front of my face. After that, everything was a blur. LASIK has a very low complication rate, provided you have a reputable surgeon and follow the instructions for aftercare. The worse your eyes are, the higher the risk of complications.

You will need glasses for farsightedness, regardless of whether you have LASIK, if it's in the cards. I don't yet at 46, but I'm sure I will one day. Bifocals, woot!

Dennis

My prescription has changed for the better but I doubt that was the hormones as much as training my vision.

JQjoey, you are due for an eye check up. The symptoms you describe could be related to high blood pressure in the eye. Anybody who experiences acute vision changes should be assessed to ensure no major issues are present.

I was asked to come in a little more often when I first started T but they never found anything for concern.

->-bleeped-<-boy

Quote from: Dennis on September 13, 2008, 04:31:35 PM
Bifocals, woot!

Dennis

Already have them!!  WOOT!   

Yeah, my eyesight wasn't that bad, Dennis, though my ex's was.  His prescription before the new type of lenses came out were typical coke-bottle thickness.  Added to the nerd-appeal, I guess.



Jay

I'm not gonna say it was the hormones, but For the past 4-5 years I have had 20/70 vision. This year  I started taking it, and last month I got my eyes checked and I have 20/100 now which is worse. When I was 10-12 that is when my eyes went from 20/20 to 20/70 by age 13 and remained that way for about 5 years. All of a sudden it just declined within this year and I didn't know why. It could be anything but it's pretty suspicious what just happened to me. We wont know for sure tho but it's a good theory

my eyes have been steadily eclining for about 5 years now.  im still in my first puberty. :(

My eyesight is worse... but i don't know if it has to do with T or not.  I got new glasses about six months before I started T and i think i was squinting during the test or something.

I didn't really notice until I got my license renewed in early May, and BARELY passed the vision test. I used to pass those with flying colors. I'm 25 though, and both of my parents needed glasses for reading etc around my age, so I'm thinking its genetics?

Still ideal to be checked out might need a light pair. It is just a rule of thumb if things change make sure everything is alright. Most vision problem can be caught early by periodic exams anyways, so your call but I would call my doc just to be safe.

->-bleeped-<-boy