That was so neat! Lasik

[mandelyn]

My eyes were seriously bad starting in my late teens. Astigmatism making everything blurry, close up and far away. All detail lost. Glasses corrected it well enough, but they're not cheap! Contacts, never did get the fit just right on them, and it sucked to be driving and have one shift on you.

Husband starts asking if I want Lasik. Yeah, maybe. His brother got it done. Then my brother got it done. This was years ago, they couldn't do my eyes. But with new advances, now they can.

So, last Thursday I call a number through my insurance, and they set me up with a consult same day. Hour and half. Turns out I have just enough corneal tissue to do Lasik once and maybe a tweek later if needed. PRK was another choice, as it preserves more corneal tissue. Healing time is 3 times as long. Opted for Lasik, one shot, hope for the best, instant gratification.

The nurse... do you want it done tomorrow? What? That soon? Sure.

Not much time to think about it. So there I am on the table, freaking out, wondering what I was doing, if it was the right thing, if it was a mistake. A light flashes over my eye and everything goes black. Great, now I'm really blind! Trusting in the doctors I lay as still as I can. Some more light flashes and we're done. They help me sit up, and I read the clock ACROSS THE ROOM. Crazy! I could see great, though it was like looking through water.

Then my eyes burn for about 4 hours, you're supposed to sleep through it. I tried. Vision going in and out. Panicing about how I'm going to see since my glasses are no good anymore. Every time my vision would blur I'd reach for the bridge of my nose to adjust the glasses that aren't there. So weird!

Woke up yesterday morning, could see perfect! I saw these hairs on my chin that I've never seen before in my life. Peach fuzz really, but still. Shaved them right off. When did I get so many freckles? Wow, the house needs dusted. Drove myself to the doctor for a follow up. He said I had remarkable progress for day 1. I read two lines lower than what is required for driving. Then I went to work, only needed the sunglasses for outside and driving.

I keep looking for my glasses. I'm amazed at what I can see. The detail, I didn't have this much detail back when my eyes were still good! Distance is still a little blurry, but it's coming. That's strange, looking at the dash board of the car, I see every speck of dust on it, crisp numbers. Look up, and can't really make out the giant interstate sign 200 feet away. It isn't clear until about 75 feet.

Best money I've ever spent. Freaky when you're getting it done, but it's fast. No pain. They put drops in the eye to numb it, then grab it with this little eye holder thing (which left some bruising on the whites) and off the laser goes to do it's thing.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Thought about it for years now... Not sure about the being awake an the eyeball stuff...

 

[mandelyn]

Honestly it wasn't that bad. I felt like my eye was rolling around and not being cooperative, but the laser tracks the movement. It's really neat. You just lay there, took them 21 seconds on each eye for the actual laser part. 21 seconds! My husband watched it on a TV monitor, he said it was freaky.

Oh, and my brother was the one that convinced me. He's always been a good shot, but afterwards he had to resight all his guns and now he can aim better and farther. Just hearing him talk about everything he could see was enough for me to bite the bullet and go. If he could sit through it, dang it I can too! That whole sibling rivalry thing. LOL

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I would be cash out of pocket too so maybe one day.

 

[duckluck]

I've heard from too many people who have had the procedure done that they do fine in the daytime but have "ghosts" and other vision problems at night, especially with night driving and other cars' headlights. I also asked that question when I looked into having this procedure myself. So this is not an option for me.

 

[duckluck]

Thought about it for years now... Not sure about the being awake an the eyeball stuff...

That was another problem...they would NEVER get me to hold still without sedation. But as the night vision thing would be a problem for me, like I said, not an option anyway.

 

[mandelyn]

Last night was the first time I drove at night. The halo effect was all I got, but it wasn't extreme. If a car was coming at me, I could still see my line. With my glasses, sometimes I didn't see my lane while the other car passed from the other direction. Still an improvement. I was picking out details as I cruised along, I could see great if there wasn't a lot of artificial light. With my glasses, they'd pick up glare and affect how I could see at night. The new eyes don't have that glare, just the halo around lights. It can be temporary or permanent.

I might not have gotten it done if I had time to think about it. But I figured, what the heck. My husband said he'd love me if I was really blind, and I'm too bullheaded to make myself a complete burden. There is a whole book of risks you have to read through. About how they can't guarentee anything at all, just try. They will only try if you have enough tissue on the eye, and glasses correct your vision. They can't tell you how well you'll see, how long it will take to heal, to what degree you'll have ghosting or halos.

Sleeping in sunglasses sure is getting old though. My left eye is doing a lot better than my right. Only the right one felt like something may have happened to it, and it's a little slower with the adjustment. The left is like a brand new eyeball got popped in there.

Counting myself lucky. There is a guy at work who had the PRK version 3 weeks ago, he still gets a lot of ghosting and halos, and still can't see all that well. That procedure does take longer to come back from. My brother though, he hit the ground running with new eyes. Says it was great. I figured my odds were good for success since we have the same genetic material. LOL

 

[NickyPick]

Oooh. I had the Lasix done back in 1996 - couldn't see further than 3 inches in front of my face. If my glasses had been glass, they would have been coke bottle lenses for sure. I also had astigmatism, so no soft contact lenses for me. The doctors had been doing it in Mexico, pending FDA approval and as it was about to be confirmed, they had just moved the procedure back to the States. Mann-Berekley Eye center in Houston. I don't remember any burning, but did start seeing great right from the get-go. I had halos at night on the lights for about a month, then that went away. In the last 3 years, my vision has been degrading again. I was prepared for it, as even Lasix can't prevent natural aging (I'm 44), but I'm definitely going to have it redone in the next year or so. It's been wonderful and I forgot how much I hate foggy glasses on humid days!!

 

[donrae]

Yep, seeing that clock CLEAR ACROSS THE ROOM is just the coolest thing, isn't it? That's what just everyone raves about, being able to see that clock.

I was fitted for hard contacts in the early 80s, in attempt to slow astigmatism. Then different contacts and glasses forever. My childhood optomitrist quit telling me my numbers when I reached 20/250, he said it was too depressing for me! I tried to schedule lasik when I was nursing my son, but had to wait due to hormonal changes. I had it done 2003 and loved it! My doc gave Valium, I was awake but kinda mellow. My left eye, he didn't get a good "flap" to do the laser part, so I had to wait three months for that attempt to heal, then he did it again. My doc was great, the office is really known for customer service. He comped the contact I needed while the first attempt healed, and the second surgery was covered.

I've not noticed any night driving problems at all.

I'm now 41, and am noticing some age related changes. I need to get in and see what they can do!

 

[chickenzoo]

I had Lasik done after breaking lots of glasses and no longer being able to wear contacts. If I knew what I know now.about it...would have done it long ago.......
My doc was great....lots of mapping of the eye and testing. Day of surgery they numbed the eye and put drops in...so couldn't see much. Layed on a table...they put the clips in etc....did the laser.for a few sec....then put a cover over my eyes to prevent scratching them. Bright light hurt and eyes felt scratchy. .....gave me a sleeping pill to take...woke up feeling good....next day my eyes were better than 20/20.Had to were protective glasses for about a week. That was six years or more ago.....no trouble driving at night etc...
Hubby had PRK. .....never again.