Taking the Lasik plunge (update...i can see!)

[blue tiger]

I'm getting my eyes lasered. Did alot of research in my area. The guy I'm going to is the only guy in my area with the newest (laser) technology. He actually instructs other eye surgeons in it's use. He is also an internationally respected cornea transplant specialist. It's a full laser procedure with no blade. I am only getting one eye done at a time because my flex account does not allow me to pay in advance for a next year procedure and the doc's practice wont allow me to prepay to get them both done in 09. Werid huh ? I will take any hints but spare me the horror stories. They made me watch a video that basically said I would be blinded and have my eyes fall out. The doc who did my exam said I was a good candidate. I have the surgery on the one eye in about 10 days. The second eye will be in February because my surgeon has most of January off to teach other surgeons the newest "custom wavefront  intralase procedure". These guys have better propaganda departments than the commies. Wish me luck !!

[Monsterlover]

Good luck

[ZLTFUL]

Was seriously considering it myself but the Dr. said he couldn't get me as good as my current 20/05 'script.
Good luck. And give us a gruesome details review when you are done.

[Betty Rage]

Good luck! My husband had it done on one eye, no horror stories, it was blade-less like yours and everything went perfect. He was up and around the next day. I got to watch it on the big screen from the room next door, it was amazing! I was going to get it done but my eyes are stilll changing, so they want to wait.

[somegirl]

Best of luck!  I had mine done early last year, both eyes together.  My eyes were 20/15 the next day.

As far as advice, just follow your doctor's advice and make sure to follow their schedule for all the different eyedrops. 

[swampduc]

Good Luck. I'm sure you'll do fine. The vast majority of people do.

[blue tiger]

Bump, I go on Teusday and will provide all the details !!! If my eye falls out or something I'll post pics.

[erkishhorde]

I'm interested to know. I've been thinking about this myself. 

[racing_dave]

please let us know how things work out.  i've always wanted to have it done.  but, once i saw a video of the operation with a blade i changed my mind.  i guess that they've made some improvements to the procedure.

-dave

[blue tiger]

OK. I went Teusday morning at 10 am for the procedure. I had a custom wavefront procedure done. It was also a "bladeless" lasik where the flap is made with a laser.

They took me back and immediatly put eye drops in my left eye. I only had one done (next one to be done on 1/13) because I was using a FSA with alot of rules. I quickly learned that eye drops are my newest friend. The drops numbed my eye and a few minutes later I was under the laser. My eye was totally numb. After I lay down they positioned my head,put a few drops in and then the doctor placed a suction ring on my eye. It took alot of pressure and I actually felt it snap in place. Unpleasant but not really painful. When they do this everything in that eye goes black (i was warned ahead of time about this). The laser that makes the flap descended and engaged the ring on my eye (more pressure and more unpleasantness). The nurse counted to thirty as the laser made the pass and the laser disengaged. When the laser lifted I could see some very IZ_ images as the doctor removed the flap and placed me under the other laser. I concentrated on a little dot as the laser reshaped my cornea. It lookes like a tiny heat lamp up close to my eye and I could smell my cornea burning. The doc then used a little squeegee like device to fold the flap back down. When the set me up (like 1 minute later) I could see the clock on the wall which was amazing. One final check and I was good to go.

My eye watered like mad for about 90 minutes. My mom drove me home (she watched the procedure on a TV monitor). I took a darvocet as my eye hurt a little bit. I took a 2 hour nap and when my kids got home I started running after them. I could see pretty good. I started my 2 eye drops (one antibiotic 4x a day for 1 week and a steroid 4x per day for 2 weeks) as well as artificial tears 4x a day for 1 month. The lasik severs the nerves in the cornea. Your eye doesn't know when it's dry for a while so the tears are needed to prevent dry eye.

I went back for my 1 day follow up. My flap was fine. There were some bloody spots on the white of my eye due to the suction ring. That was normal.My vision tested at 20/15. My right eye with a contact lense was 20/20/ Freaking amazing. I have some very mild haloing at night. It's already getting better. I have halos with contacts also and the repaired eye has less haloing than the eye with the contact lens. The right eye gets done on 1/13. I will need a 1 week and 1 month follow up to insure my flap is healing. My left eye does have a tiny bit if irritation still but is much more comfortable to me than the eye with the contact lens.

I would reccomend this procedure to anyone. My script was 5.75 right and 6.0 left. I was blind as a bat. One word of caution. Shop around for the best eye center you can find. The doc I picked is a internationally recognized corneal specialist. He was one of the few doctors in the US that could do the precursor to lasik. The treatment was for a disease that caused thickening of the cornea. He was also one of the first doc's to perform LASIK and the center I went to has the only laser of it's type in Indianapolis. I believe all that makes a big difference.One thing...I can never rub my eyes again. He said even 30 years from now if I rub my eyes hard I could dislodge the flap and that is very very bad. I also had to sleep in protective goggles for the first few days which was a pain in the ass. The price was 2500 bones per eye. Total of 5 grand barring any difficulties. It also includes a second procedure if needed.

If my eye falls out or I go blind in the next few weeks I'll have someone log in and post about it.

[somegirl]

Glad to hear it went well!

[swampduc]

Glad it's going well. Don't get too freaked out about the eye rubbing - in a few months it won't be that big a deal. I've only seen 1 or 2 pts with flap dislocations or defects years after Lasik, and in both cases it was pretty significant trauma like a tree branch in 1 case.

[He Man]

I can never rub my eyes again.

it never heals?

if you can put up with that And from waht swampduc says. Best of luck to you man! i hope you heal up quickly! Ive always wanted laser eye surgery, but that whole flap thing freaks me out! theres always pkr/prk though!

[eichh]

Best of luck! I opted to go with the ortho k lens treatment. You sleep with lenses in and in the morning you take them out I had 20/20 after 2 days. Its not permanent and half the price.

[blue tiger]

it never heals?

if you can put up with that And from waht swampduc says. Best of luck to you man! i hope you heal up quickly! Ive always wanted laser eye surgery, but that whole flap thing freaks me out! theres always pkr/prk though!

From what I understand it heals but is always succeptible to dislodgement because it is weakened at the site of the flap. Since mine was the bladeless version the flap portion was no big deal to me. I also understand that you can touch your eyelids and pretty much do what you always did with the exception of HARD eye rubbing or pinching. To me that means balling uo your fists and going to town. I used to do this all the time when I regularly wore contacts. I'd rub them for three or four straight minutes until I had starbursts going on. Felt VERY good but never again.