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Has anyone here had laser eye surgery done? My procedure was on the 16th of July, this year. I decided to have LASIK done after much research and reading on the IntraLase machine (it creates the corneal flap without a physical blade cutting your eye) and considered that was something I'd be OK with. The excimer laser itself was the LADAR 6000 WaveFront guided system. I did research on everything before going into it, I read the severe complications and I read the successes (much like in this thread) and realized that this elective procedure is a risk and that the best way to counteract this inherent risk is to go with a doctor that you can trust, and go with a doctor that is experienced. The doctor I chose is an ophthalmologist specializing in corneal surgery who had performed cataract surgery on a good family friend. Do they see as well as they did with glasses? With now a month past, I can say that I see very well although I am experiencing fluctuations here and there (especially after waking up). I can pretty much read the 20/15 line of the Snellen chart with both eyes operating independently and together, even better. I have noticed that one eye will see clearer than another for a time which is something that I'm adapting to given that my left eye has always been dominant. Another issue you'll mostly face for the first 2-3 weeks after surgery is the steroid they'll prescribe to you getting stuck in your eyelashes and you'll experience visual phenomena from eyelashes not being where they're supposed to be (as in, if I move my eyes outward away from the lashes, the visual aberrations go away). Does it hurt (before/during/after)? I can only speak for the IntraLase experience but I didn't experience any pain during the procedure, it was more of a psychological fear of having someone making a cut in my cornea, moving my cornea around, cleaning the surface of my eye with water, brushing the flap back onto my eye and etc. I was prescribed Vicodin to help me sleep after the procedure and I didn't really feel much pain though there is one issue which I will describe for you. In my right eye, on the bottom, there was what I would describe to you the feeling of sand on your eye. Also for some reason, when the mentioned dried steroid gets into this eye, it stings and I feel it the most. I had the ophthalmologist check on this the following checkup day as well as a week or so after. It appears fine. I've been told it messes with your night driving, is that the case? I did see halos coming from light sources for the first two weeks after surgery, but lately these have been going back down to a level that I could remember emanating from a light source at night while I was wearing glasses. Does it make working with a computer more difficult? (Using contacts slows down your blink rate which can cause dryness when working at a computer, did this happen to anyone?) Yes, this has happened to me though they've advised me to use lubricating drops in my eyes for the first two months every hour. Now, I didn't have dry eyes going into the status of being a LASIK patient and I do have some dry eye, but I do not require drops every hour. About every 4-8 hours seems right. My eyes at this point are a bit strained from computer use and I have toned my monitor's brightness down a little. I expect that as with the halos, this will change. Having done it, would you still choose to do it over again? At this point, I really can't say. It's about 50/50 for and against. There are many benefits I could mention, but also many fears that have been in the back of my mind (for instance, the possibility that I might develop keratoconus (Basically, your corneas bulge and look like boobs and it fucks up your vision and there's really nothing that can be done besides rigid gas permeable lenses to stave off this really, really bad condition.). Though I am liking not seeing without glasses, for the time being, I'm generally concerned about my overall corneal health. I cannot wait until the doctor performs a post-operative topography and tells me exactly how many microns of my cornea have been vaporized. Is there anything bizarre (like your eyes falling out) that I should know about? If you're into contact sports or get hit in the face a lot on a daily basis, I would suggest you look into PRK over LASIK because while the cornea heals really well, it can still become dislodged by a traumatic event to your eye (though it's likely the traumatic event would have caused a blindness in that eye anyways). Kalimar fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Aug 18, 2009 |
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Aug 18, 2009 22:50
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3rdEyeDeuteranopia posted:Well I had PRK a week ago. I wouldn't worry. All of the literature on LASIK would tell me the epithelium doesn't come in and establish itself for some time. Given that PRK is surface ablation I'd wait for your eyes to heal some more.
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Aug 19, 2009 03:26
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geochick84 posted:They've told me that I will be at the clinic for 4-5 hours, and that I should bring a book/laptop/snacks... why am I there so long if the surgery only takes a few minutes? Of that time, only 30 minutes at most will be the procedure itself. It's two step with two separate machines, or processes (you just mentioned Wavefront LASIK, which is the excimer laser) depending on whether you're going with the IntraLase (flap of cornea is created with a mesh of bubbles from a laser) or the microkeratome blade (a specialized blade on a guide track cuts the thin corneal flap). They'll probably have you signing some paperwork and they'll have you take a Valium as well as let it set in. That's all an hour or so at most. Perhaps they'll want to keep you for awhile afterwards? Strange though that they'd have you bringing a book or laptop.
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Aug 19, 2009 04:53
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Totally Negro posted:Did any of you ask your surgeons/doctors this question The best information I got on this subject I found on the history of eye surgeries (corneal modifications) and how long they've been performed. I know RK patients from the 80s who still see fine and it has been 20 years for them, and RK is in principle the same thing as PRK, just that RK used a blade. These procedures had taken place in Colombia in the 1950s and, as most people remember learning about keratomileusis, from the USSR during the 1980s.  You can have cataract surgery after having LASIK, LASEK or PRK, though the ophthalmologist will want to have a record of your prescription before having refractive surgery because that's been a problem I've read reported by surgeons. I took it upon myself to ask for copies of my pre-operative corneal topographies and I've kept the scores as well as my glasses for this reason should I need cataract surgery at a late age. Some 10 year studies from the early LASIK patients have come back and most are still seeing close or near to what they were seeing after the procedure. As far as I know, Weird Al and the 97/98 bunch haven't had problems yet. To be quite honest however, I can only hope that in the future, and through stem cell research, grafting, and repairing corneal tissue/structure becomes more advanced. A recent study published April 2009 this year found that patients with diseased corneas were able to see after injecting programmed stem cells into their corneas. The diseased portions of their corneas were repaired and became clearer. Overall, it's a modification to the structure of your eye, but it's nowhere near as serious as an entire corneal transplant with all of the issues associated with that (whether or not the donor cornea will be accepted). There is a medical history of corneal modification. Edit: It's also advised to go to an eye doctor you can trust yearly as is the usual even if you decide to have refractive surgery or not, they'll catch things early. Kalimar fucked around with this message at 13:12 on Aug 19, 2009 |
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Aug 19, 2009 12:00
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