Lasik Eye Surgery

[dr_evazan22]

Earlier in the year I decided that I wanted to receive Lasik surgery on my eyes. I've needed glasses for the last 15 or more years, and have been wearing them for the last 10 (never wore contacts). Besides hating wearing glasses, I was also at the point where I needed to replace both my regular glasses and my prescription sunglasses. (btw - I'm nearsighted. Well, I was)

I decided to go with LasikPlus, as my bene's helped to pay for it. When setting up my appointment I explained that I wanted to get my exam, and if a good candidate, surgery on the same day (the closest office to me is in King of Prussia, PA, about an hour's drive). When you receive surgery, you need someone to drive you home; plus there is a follow up visit the next day. So the KoP office was great for me as my brother lives nearby and I could stay there overnight.

So my big day comes (Thurs 10/30/08) and I go in for my exam at 9a. The exam and all took about an hour and a half, then the tech (or doctor?) asked when I wanted to schedule the surgery. Hunh?! After explaining that I wanted it that day, the guy explains to me that no surgery was being performed there that day, that I would have to go to Cherry Hill, NJ (about another hour away, still about an hour from home). :frustrated:

I gather up my brother and head to CH, arriving about 1p. They were pretty busy and I ended up waiting until about 3 - 3:30, friendly and courteous service. Surgery was probably less than 1 minute for each eye. The first one, the right, went well. They put something in to keep them open (think Clockwork Orange). They used a laser to make the corneal flap, and you could smell it. Unpleasant.

Next was the left. This was not as easy, feeling whatever uneasiness left over from the first eye. They told me to look at a red dot. First, I couldn't see it the whole time; second, they told me that I was looking too high, to look lower. Then they told me to look lower again. At this point you can kinda feel the dryness of your eye. The actual surgery probably didn't last that long, but it felt like forever.

Leaving, the light hurt SOO much! And it was a sunny day, and we're driving west. I lowered my sun visor and kept the eyes shut the whole trip back to my brothers place. There was much light coming thru my eyelids! When we got to his place I went to open my eyes, and they were 'glued' shut from tears. When I finally got them open, all this tear fluid just ran down my face and I could feel it hitting my shirt. My instructions were to take a nap for a couple hours... No problem! I was feeling pretty miserable. It was now about 5p, napped until 9 - 9:30. Got up, ate, and was back in bed by 11, sleeping until at least 8a. I had to wear eyeshields while I slept so I wouldn't rub my eyes.

Follow up was at 10a, lasted about 5 - 10 minutes, everything looked good. They gave me a pair of shatterproof safety sunglasses (another very sunny day), I had a killer light induced headache. By dinnertime I felt comfortable not wearing the sunglasses inside.

Over the next week I kept wearing the shields while sleeping, and using a lot of eye drops. My 1 week follow up was excellent, they told me I'm seeing 20/15 now.

Its been about a month now and I'm loving it. Every now and then I see something that shows me the improvement, and I really appreciate the clarity.

My brother wants to get the surgery now.

Anyone else have the surgery? Or considering it?

[Jargo]

i wish i could afford to get surgery. I have astigmatism in both eyes and afterchanging to a chain optician rather than a rinky dink family one i discovered that the old optician had misdiagnosed me as short sighted when in fact i'm long sighted. I also have floaters in my right eye which the old optician failed to pick up on.
every single member of my family wears glasses and i'd love to be able to get the astigmatism sorted because other than that my eyes are fine. the surgery is just too damn expensive for me though. i've been told that I'm a perfect candidate for laser surgery by my new optician and if there's a deterioration in my sight the next time i get tested in 2010 I'll consider taking on a small debt in order to get the surgery.

[El Chuxter]

I'm a wuss and will wait until there are more long-term studies about the effects. Also, I tend to distrust any field of medicine in which "surgeons" print 50%-off coupons in the Penny Saver.

[Slicker]

I've wanted to get the surgery. I've noticed my eyes are slowly getting worse. I'm actually considering it when I go home on leave. A guy I work with had it done on a Thursday and was good to go for the weekend.

[Rocketboy]

I wanted so bad to have Lasik done, but my eye doc went and squashed my dreams.
Apparently I have unusual eyes - my corneas are quite a bit flatter than normal, making it impossible to have the lens reshaped. It took him quite a while to find and order contacts that would properly fit my eyes.
But I guess contacts are better than glasses.

[bobafrett]

I'm starting to have problems reading fine print. I would like to see if I'm a canidate but I doubt my insurance would cover it, besides I'm still paying off a $3,000 from having the veins in my legs sealed with lasers, two seperate surgeries required for that one.

[Darth Jax]

I'm starting to have problems reading fine print. I would like to see if I'm a canidate but I doubt my insurance would cover it.

Insurance typically won't cover laser eye surgery since it's considered cosmetic.

As the eye ages (sometime after 40), the lens inside the eye slowly loses the ability to focus on near objects (presbyopia). Since LASIK is altering the shape of the outer portion of the eye (cornea), it won't prevent presbyopia and the need for reading glasses. Some people having surgery will opt for monovision, where one eye is corrected for distance and one eye is intentionally corrected to be slightly nearsighted so it can see better up close.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

I wore glasses in junior high, then contacts through my first year of grad school. I took stopped wearing them while I had a cold because they were kind of bugging me. I thought I might have switched the left and right as well.

Glasses are kind of inconvenient, but I'm not too keen about the idea of having my eyes messed with like that. There were stories of some people whose surgery messed things up.

I'm hoping that the farsightedness that begins to affect people when they are older will offset my nearsightedness so that I'll be able to see just fine when I get old.

[mtriv73]

I had the surgery in 1999 and have been 20/15 ever since. I had been in contacts since 3rd grade and was starting to develop neovascularization. Also, anything touching my temples gives me a headache. Since contacts were quickly not becoming an option and glasses were out, I'm really glad for this option. Considering I would have spent twice the amount it cost (at least) in contacts over that time period (if I could still wear them) I think it was money well spent.

[Lowly Bantha Cleaner]

Received the PRK (which is the more extenstive of the surgeries) in 2003 (Thanks Darth Jax for all the advice you gave me) and have had 5 years of near perfect vision.

I was considered legally blind prior to the surgery and thick lenses that I didn't quite like, but definitely needed. Just like Ari, I had 20/15 vision after the surgery but I think it has regressed to 20/25 since then.

Dry eyes for a year after the surgery were the biggest inconvenience, especially in the morning. I would wake up and immediately begin to tear due to the dryness. Eye drops helped.

The biggest lasting drawback is that my vision at night now is not spectacular. I never had a problem driving at night until after the surgery. It is hard for me to pick up on lane markers and objects even at a near distance away, not so much because they are blurry, but because of the darkness. This was known prior to the surgery so I am not surprised that it did happen.

Ari, enjoy the world of sight without assistance.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

I have enough trouble driving at night as it is now.

[dr_evazan22]

Thanks, LBC. I'm glad its working out for you as well.

DJax - They asked me if I wanted the monovision, but the thought of that scared the carpe diem out of me. I saw a couple people walking around the office with something on their faces, I guess it was to show them how they would see, it didn't sit well with me. I pictured myself getting headaches from the split vision. I won't have as much of a problem wearing reading glasses.

Slicker - the guy that did my eval started out doing it in the navy, and has been doing it over 10 years now. If your interested, go for an eval. They'll be able to tell you if your a candidate and what you can expect.

[CaptainSolo1138]

I had Lasik done in-utero to avoid having to wear glasses.