Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic LASIK

I'm getting Lasik (actually, customvue lasik, which is more expensive, but supposedly better suited to my eyes) in 10 days. My eye doctor said my vision is about 20/800, so this'll be a big change for me (hopefully, a good one, with everything going well).

Anyway, I was just curious to if anyone here had had LASIK and could tell me what to expect. Not really about the procedure, but the couple of days afterward. Of course, they tell us what to expect, but I'm a little curious to hear it from a first-hand perspective.

I'm afraid I can't give you first- but only second-hand experience.

My mother-in-law had LASIK two or three years ago. Her sight wasn't too bad (actually I can't remember her ever wearing glasses...) but it still bothered her.
Anyway, after the operation she had to wear special sun glasses (that she had to buy from the doctor, so I take it the "normal ones" are not enough) for about three or five days. Her eyes hurt and she had headache at the beginning. Oh, and the sight was very blurry, so people might get afraid that their sight indeed got worse.

But after a week or so, she could start doing all her normal things like watching TV, reading and so on. And she hasn't complained yet that the effect diminishes (as some people who got LASIK do).

Wish you good luck with everything!

Jana

I've had it done. The first time was in December of 1997. I had pretty much the same vision you had, IOW horrible.

The procedure itself is quite painless. It's a little weird staring up at nothing and then you feel your cornea being peeled back. You go from blurry to no eyesight at all when that happens. You can see light but nothing else. The hardest part is trying not to move your eyeball, but fortunately you only spend a few seconds under the laser. Of course they told me that it wasn't really possible for me to move my eyes away from the laser but you worry about it all the same.

For the first day, I had to wear goggles that looked like bug eyes or a metal collander. After that, I had to wear the goggles to bed every night for about a week. The big drawback is that your eyes are very dry so you're constantly putting eye drops into them. Plus your eyes feel grainy like you have sand under your eyelids.

If the description sounds scary, it isn't. Only once or twice did I have a nearly irresistable urge to rub my eyes.

The first time I did it, my left eye came out around 20/30 while my right eye was off. A couple months later I had to go back and do a touch-up on that eye. After that my eyesight was pretty much 20/30 in both eyes.

It stayed that way until last year some time. My eyes started to deteriorate, whether from age or something else. I went to a different doctor since I'd moved to another state.

Apparently technology had changed a bit in ten years time. Your cornea is no longer cut with a keratome but rather by a laser as well. But as it turned out, my cuts in my cornea from the first time were sufficient that they only had to lift the flap on both eyes. No additional cutting was necessary.

They re-lazed both my eyes and gave me back my near perfect vision. This time I didn't have to wear the goggles that much, only for a few days at night. And these goggles were much nicer, closer to swim goggles than the bug eyes I'd had the last time.

The feelings were the same. My eyes were constantly dry and I felt like I had sand under my eyelids. After a week or two my eyes pretty much went back to normal.

If my eyes start deteriorating again, I'll just go back and have another touch up.

It's definitely worth it for me. I'd worn thick glasses since I was a small kid. Being able to see when you wake up is amazing! Its not terribly uncomfortable and the benefits are awesome. I never had any serious problems some people have, such as nighttime glare. My wife had the same procedure done ten years ago as well and she did have some glare problems, but nothing terrible.

Thank you for letting me know that. Since the procedure is different now, I don't know if I'll have that experience, but at least I'm prepared for it now. Going to no eyesight would have freaked me out.

You lose your eyesight temporarily because they're lifting the flap of your cornea. Your cornea helps to bend light so that the lens can focus it on the retina. Without the cornea, you see pretty much nothing but white in a lit room.

Think about it this way. Take a peek through your binoculars or camera sight. Then turn the wheel or focus until everything blurs completely. That's kind of what it's like. It was a bit disconcerting but when you're expecting it, it's not too bad.

And there are two reasons things start out blurry. First, you're not wearing your glasses so they're blurry to start with. Even if your vision wasn't too bad, the eye drops they put in just before being lazed will cause everything to blur further.

Oh, way back when I first had the procedure done, there were actually two options. The first was to laze directly over the cornea, essentially burning the outer layer of the cornea. That was only a choice if your vision was something like -2 or less. Any more and you'd only have the option of slicing the cornea with a keratome and lazing underneath it.

Today, that first option isn't available anymore. I can understand that. You're more prone to infection and it takes longer to recover since the protective outer coating of the cornea is essentially burned away. It was an option back then because many people are uncomfortable with the though of something slicing most of the way through their cornea.

Well, I got my LASIK yesterday. My eyes don't feel gritty - the left of them sporadically feels a little odd (like a bit of dust is in it, but not bad), but that's it. Certainly there's no pain. My vision is wonderful (I do enjoy being able to see without glasses, I admit). Gory-looking red spots on my eyes (particularly big and deep on the right eye), but they don't hurt.

Trying to not to rub my eyes, of course. I don't rub them that much, in general, but now I can't touch them at all.

I'm supposed to keep lubricating drops in them, and I'm trying. Yesterday it was every hour, but I forgot several times because my eyes didn't feel like they needed it. Today it's every four hours, so it's easier to keep up with. The steroid and antibiotic have been every four hours from the beginning, so no problem with those.

I'm in a pretty good mood, now.

Delighted to hear that the procedure has worked for you, Tzigone. I'll admit to being way too much of a coward to even try something like that, so well done, you!

LabRat

Congratulations! I'm glad it worked out. The best part of the whole thing was opening your eyes right after waking up and being able to see without having to reach over for the glasses. After decades of blurriness, it really puts the world in a different perspective and makes me a bit envious of those who have good eyesight to begin with.

I would LOVE to get this done... if you don't mind, about how much did it cost?

Carol [who thinks she'll be able to afford it next year no problem }

If memory serves, it was about $2000-2500 total with any subsequent touch ups around $400.

I'd check if your insurance covers it or at least part of it.

I already checked and no such luck . I already had a baby this year and so met all of my deductibles/out of pockets so I got my wisdom teeth done and asked about that... don't I wish...
Carol

Be sure to check at more than one place - and check in larger cities nearby. In one place here, it was 1200 an eye. Go to the larger city an hour and a half away and it was 800 an eye.

Also one of the places had free corrections (within the first year) if needed.