Laser eye surgery - your experience?

[bugs4cy]

Two and a half years after I had lasik I ended up in glasses again - - bifocals for reading. I can drive and do most everything without glasses, but computer work, tiny font, and sitting through long meetings staring at PowerPoints on a distant screen give me a headache. I don't mind wearing glasses at work because it's not imperative that they're on my face. I don't run into walls without my glasses and I can see the alarm clock by my bed.

 

[cstrunk]

I should mention that I'm 26 years old. I think age is an important factor in everyone's experience.

Well so far so good. Had the procedure done late this afternoon. Paid $3900 and got a free 16GB iPod Nano, $50 iTunes gift card, and t-shirt.

When they called me back they had me sit in a little "relaxation room" where they had cloth screen walls between other patients doing the same thing. I sat in a massaging recliner. They gave me 2 mg of Ativan to help me relax. The nurse answered any questions and explained the post-op instructions and eye-drop schedule. They gave me a couple drops of antibiodic before the surgery.

About an hour after sitting around waiting it was finally my turn. I walked into the surgery room and laid down on the operating bed. The doctor explained what he was doing at every step. He taped both my eyelids open and put something around my eye to prevent blinking. They put a few different drops in my eye including a numbing agent and more antibiotic. Next was the worst part of the whole surgery, IMO, the suction ring that they put on my eye to hold it in place. They have to put an uncomfortable amount of pressure on your eye. But it's not terrible. Then they use the lasers to cut the flap. The doctor then flips the flap over. Next is the main show, the LASIK lasers. You stare at a light while you feel a bunch of tiny little taps on your eye and you smell a little bit of burning flesh (not bad though). You really don't feel much. Then the doctor puts the flap back into place and lets it sit for a couple minutes to heal before taking everything off your eye. Then they repeat the process for the other eye.

After the procedure I got up and took a picture with the doctor. My eyes hurt a little bit but it wasn't bad yet and I could see pretty well! Just blurry. I went back to the relaxation chair while my chauffeur pulled the car around to the back. They cleaned up around my eyes, put in another antibiotic drop, gave me a pair of sunglasses, then walked me to the car. By this time my eyes were starting to burn and throb more. The car ride home pretty much sucked, it was about a 45 minute trip. I stopped and had my chauffeur pick up some advil and benadryl for the pain and to help me sleep. It felt like I had been punched in both eyes. I tried to keep them closed and sleep, but couldn't until I got home. Once I got home I laid down and almost immediately fell asleep. Thankfully.

When I woke up about 4-5 hours later, my pain was practically gone, and I could see even better! I put in all of my drops. It's still a little blurry and there are halos around bright lights, but I can see pretty good. I'm gonna stay up for a couple hours then go back to sleep. Can't wait until the morning. My follow-up visit is at 9 AM.

What an experience.

 

[ZombieCyclone]

Had PRK (they scrub off the epithelium that grows back in instead of a semi circle flap that opens for lasic) surgeory while in the military.It was free I just had to put in a request for it. Took a week of healing but I got a free week of convalescent leave. Vision is great now best decision ever.

After 40 most people will still need reading glasses because your up close vision fades.

 

[Cyclonesince78]

I should mention that I'm 26 years old. I think age is an important factor in everyone's experience.

Well so far so good. Had the procedure done late this afternoon. Paid $3900 and got a free 16GB iPod Nano, $50 iTunes gift card, and t-shirt.

When they called me back they had me sit in a little "relaxation room" where they had cloth screen walls between other patients doing the same thing. I sat in a massaging recliner. They gave me 2 mg of Ativan to help me relax. The nurse answered any questions and explained the post-op instructions and eye-drop schedule. They gave me a couple drops of antibiodic before the surgery.

About an hour after sitting around waiting it was finally my turn. I walked into the surgery room and laid down on the operating bed. The doctor explained what he was doing at every step. He taped both my eyelids open and put something around my eye to prevent blinking. They put a few different drops in my eye including a numbing agent and more antibiotic. Next was the worst part of the whole surgery, IMO, the suction ring that they put on my eye to hold it in place. They have to put an uncomfortable amount of pressure on your eye. But it's not terrible. Then they use the lasers to cut the flap. The doctor then flips the flap over. Next is the main show, the LASIK lasers. You stare at a light while you feel a bunch of tiny little taps on your eye and you smell a little bit of burning flesh (not bad though). You really don't feel much. Then the doctor puts the flap back into place and lets it sit for a couple minutes to heal before taking everything off your eye. Then they repeat the process for the other eye.

After the procedure I got up and took a picture with the doctor. My eyes hurt a little bit but it wasn't bad yet and I could see pretty well! Just blurry. I went back to the relaxation chair while my chauffeur pulled the car around to the back. They cleaned up around my eyes, put in another antibiotic drop, gave me a pair of sunglasses, then walked me to the car. By this time my eyes were starting to burn and throb more. The car ride home pretty much sucked, it was about a 45 minute trip. I stopped and had my chauffeur pick up some advil and benadryl for the pain and to help me sleep. It felt like I had been punched in both eyes. I tried to keep them closed and sleep, but couldn't until I got home. Once I got home I laid down and almost immediately fell asleep. Thankfully.

When I woke up about 4-5 hours later, my pain was practically gone, and I could see even better! I put in all of my drops. It's still a little blurry and there are halos around bright lights, but I can see pretty good. I'm gonna stay up for a couple hours then go back to sleep. Can't wait until the morning. My follow-up visit is at 9 AM.

What an experience.

Would love to hear more updates on how this worked out for you. Good stuff!

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

When I had mine done they had a camera zoomed in on each eye so I watched the person in front of me get theirs done. I thought it was cool because I knew exactly what was happening when they did mine. Most people say they don't want to see it.
I agree age is important. My eyes finally stopped getting worse in my late 30s and barely changed anymore in my 40s so I didn't get it done till I was over 50. If you get it too young and your eyes are still getting worse then you will need glasses again. It doesn't fix your eyes, it just adjusts the curvature to get the focal point in the correct spot for the current prescription.

 

[cstrunk]

I went in for my day after post-op visit this morning. They checked my vision: 20/20 in each eye and 20/15 with both eyes - amazing. Then I saw the doctor who checked each eye to make sure the flap was healing properly and make sure there were no other issues. He says there may be some fluctuation with my vision for the next 7-10 days while my eyes continue to heal, but he says it looks like everything is fantastic.

Right now I am continuing with my drops schedule. I no longer have any pain at all. I can see very well. I still have a fair amount of "fogginess" around lights, but he said that should be expected and should slowly diminish with time.

So far, I'm loving it!!

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I had mine done about 8 years ago (39 now) and it was the BEST money I've spent. So far, my vision is still 20/20, but I am anticipating needing reading glasses in the next 5 or so years (from what I hear). If I could get another corrective surgery that would last another 8-10 years to avoid that, I would do it in a heartbeat. I hated wearing glasses and I could never find contacts that didn't dry out my eyes (and I tried about everything)

The scariest part of the procedure that I remember is having your eye held open, having the incision made and then seeing nothing out of an eye that you know is open. Thinking of that still makes me hold my breath for a bit.

I did have the fogginess around lights at night for about 8 months or so, but it wasn't anything that kept me from normal activities. Good luck cstrunk !

 

[BigBake]

Bumping this old thread. I finally decided to take the plunge and get the eyes fixed. Reading this thread definitely helps one feel better about dropping $4k to get your eyes fried by a laser.

I'm only -2 and -3 but wearing glasses all day for almost 40 years sucks. Doc did say I'll likely need reading glass post op but said that's normal due to my age. He said "for reading" which I took to mean also for using a computer. I have a 24" monitor and am on my computer full time for my employment.

Biggest benefit I'm looking forward to is not switching between Rx glasses and Rx sunglasses while out and about.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Bumping this old thread. I finally decided to take the plunge and get the eyes fixed. Reading this thread definitely helps one feel better about dropping $4k to get your eyes fried by a laser.

I'm only -2 and -3 but wearing glasses all day for almost 40 years sucks. Doc did say I'll likely need reading glass post op but said that's normal due to my age. He said "for reading" which I took to mean also for using a computer. I have a 24" monitor and am on my computer full time for my employment.

Biggest benefit I'm looking forward to is not switching between Rx glasses and Rx sunglasses while out and about.

My eyes were much worse than yours. When I had it done the talked me into that monovision crap where they make one eye for reading and the other for far away. They say most people get used to that but I absolutely hated it. They have to laze away more for seeing far away so I had it reversed at the first opportunity. I can still read most things without glasses because they didn't make both my eyes 20 20. I keep a pair of glasses in the car because I prefer to wear them when driving at night because of halos. I'm very happy with it.