Anyone ever had lasik eye surgery?

#26
#26
Obsessed said:
Thanks for all the input guys.

Does the actual surgery hurt? Sting? Can you see the laser doing its thing?
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No, you are very numbed up with eye drops. It is highly uncomfortable though.. mostly because they describe to you in detail what is going on before the surgery. So you're laying there thinking "Well, they just used a micro-knife to slice the front layer of my eye and I can't blink.. great".
 
#27
#27
I've heard it causes dry eyes and astigmatism there's lik3 actual websites devoted to saying lasik is really bad for you. No idea what to do
 
#28
#28
JFreak said:
No, you are very numbed up with eye drops. It is highly uncomfortable though.. mostly because they describe to you in detail what is going on before the surgery. So you're laying there thinking "Well, they just used a micro-knife to slice the front layer of my eye and I can't blink.. great".
Click to expand...

Well on the flip side it is nice that they describe it to you..."you are about to see nothing, it only lasts about 5 seconds though". Okay good!

But yes, you don't feel anything, but you do smell the burn.
 
#29
#29
You're so high nothing bothers you. It's like an out of body experience.

The surgery fixed my astigmatism, so there's that.

Freak out a little because by the time the laser gets to the second eye, you can smell the burned eye the laser fixed!
 
#30
#30
I've heard eye dryness is bad after surgery. People have trouble seeing at night as well. I'm sketched out a little
 
#31
#31
You won't regret it if you have the procedure done. Just chose a doctor (optometrist) that you trust. I had LASIK and PRK done in both eyes this year where the doctor implanted a new lens. It was very similar to cataract surgery. I had severe astigmatism and near sightedness and had been told I was not a candidate for LASIK for years until recent advancements.
I had one eye that was slow to heal but now I see 20/20 in both eyes. I use reader glasses for reading on the computer and reading fine print but considering I was nearly blind before this is miraculous!
I was extremely nervous before my procedure also, I had a wonderful doctor and staff. Your eyes are numbed up with drops before the procedure and they give you medication to relax you as well. Yes, there is some pressure as I recall ( you have to be still and boy you don't want to be flinching) for a few seconds and you can smell the Laser doing it's job. But it is over quickly. The delay is the healing time. It varies with each individual.
 
#32
#32
So I was given this tiny bottle of steroid drops that came with two refills. You start with something crazy like 6 drops per day, and gradually decrease to one drop per day. For this to work, you use almost every ounce of all three bottles. I had my surgery done by the Army and a lot of guys in my unit had the operation after I did. A few encountered problems like those y'all are afraid of. When I went in for my 1 year checkup I asked the doc about it. He said he knew for a fact every one that reported issues was because they didn't take their drops. I asked how he could be sure, and he replied that's why the eye drop bottle is so small. You have to get both refills. He said most didn't even get the first refill when he went to check.

Morale of the cool story bro? Take your medicine and you'll be fine.
 
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#33
#33
Had PRK done in 2006. Best medical decision I've ever made. 10 years later and still perfect vision after wearing glasses for 24 years.

Dunno about others, but the numbing drops (they used about a half a bottle per eye) was the worst part. Literally could not feel the top of my head.
 
#34
#34
Had it done in 2007. Results are great 20/20 & 20/15. I did have a complication because my flap did not want to reseal properly. Here is the scoop.

PRK and Lasik are almost identical. In PRK they blast away the flap and in Lasik they cut it, lift it and finally lay it back over the eye. Essentially the flap trick in Lasik is essentially what speeds up the recovery when compared to PRK. You don't regrow the entire flap! Lasik is a walk in the park compared to PRK. I would do both again. Some post surgery pain but huge gain.

Now I was a candidate for both so PRK was essentially my insurance policy. I would ask the doctor what the backup plan is for you.

To the comment on needing reading glasses later in life, well that is a horrible analogy. Lasik works on the outer curve of your eye. Readers are needed because your lens within thet eye has thickened and can't change shape any more or it does so very very slowly. So you would need a different fix for that. Good news, they are working on that surgery!
 
#35
#35
I had my first consultation today and am set for surgery this Friday afternoon. I can't believe how quick they scheduled the surgery, but am very excited for it. Everyone I know says it was the best thing they've ever done.
 
#37
#37
OK so I have astigmatism and presbyopia...but I have really think corneas...still not a candidate for Lasik....just got glasses for the first time today...progressive lenses. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to wear them.
 
#38
#38
VolnJC said:
OK so I have astigmatism and presbyopia...but I have really think corneas...still not a candidate for Lasik....just got glasses for the first time today...progressive lenses. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to wear them.
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I couldn't use the progressive lenses. Made me sick to my stomach.
 
#39
#39
VolnJC said:
OK so I have astigmatism and presbyopia...but I have really think corneas...still not a candidate for Lasik....just got glasses for the first time today...progressive lenses. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to wear them.
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It took me a while to get used to them. I picked up my first pair in the morning a few hours before a hike in the Smokies. I couldn't tell where my feet were, and I kept stepping over tree roots etc with at least an 8 inch clearance.

But give it a few days, and let your brain learn where to point your eyes. It should work.

If not, they may have made the distance part too big relative to the close part, or vice versa. They might need to adjust this, or there might be some other tweaks as you adapt.

ETA: but with all the weird adjustments post-LASIK, and the year or so of halos, especially at night, I would absolutely do it again, in a heartbeat. (getting back to the question about LASIK)
 
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#40
#40
VolNExile said:
It took me a while to get used to them. I picked up my first pair in the morning a few hours before a hike in the Smokies. I couldn't tell where my feet were, and I kept stepping over tree roots etc with at least an 8 inch clearance.

But give it a few days, and let your brain learn where to point your eyes. It should work.

If not, they may have made the distance part too big relative to the close part, or vice versa. They might need to adjust this, or there might be some other tweaks as you adapt.

ETA: but with all the weird adjustments post-LASIK, and the year or so of halos, especially at night, I would absolutely do it again, in a heartbeat. (getting back to the question about LASIK)
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Yep haven't been hiking yet...but I've definitely been high stepping all day :)
 
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#41
#41
As for the surgery itself:

Before surgery, I was -8 diopter in one eye, worse in the other. I last saw the big E on the eye chart when I was 16. Literally: I could not read the big E on the first line of the eye chart. It was a light grey blur on a black wall. And then it got worse.

By 21, I started to need bifocals when hunting books in the library, although I could still read without glasses. (Pretty much all I could do without glasses.) Both parts of my vision, distance and near, kept getting worse.

By age 48-50 (?) or so, everything had stabilized, as in it wasn't getting worse every year, and my trifocals glasses were costing $400+ a year without getting me to 20/20. I saved up my $2800 per eye, as it was then, and had the surgery. You have to understand that although I am a stoic in most areas, I am a complete weenie when it comes to eyes and dental. But I swallowed the Valium they gave me and strapped in.

Warning: they won't warn you about the burning smell. It's not super-strong, but be prepared.

They do put a shield on the "surgical eye", so you don't send them coming at you until the last moment. Just suck it up and stare straight ahead. Lamaze training helps btw. IT DOESN'T HURT. It's just scary as hell if you''re a control freak like me.

After they did the first eye, they moved the shield to the other eye, and I blinked. There was a pink haze, but I could read the time on the clock on the wall. I had not been able to tell time without glasses since I was a teenager, but I read the clock on the wall, 16 feet away. Maybe 90 seconds after the procedure. I still remember it: 12:17 pm.

After a few weeks, my bad eye tested st 20/20, and my good eye was 20/15. Those of you who have had decent vision just don't know what this was like. I could see, any time, any place. I could wake up in the middle of the night, read the clock, and see and identify everything (and everyone :)) in the room.

The first year or so did feature dry eyes in the day and halos around headlights and streetlights at night. This passed. A nuisance at the time, and now barely remembered.

12 or so years later, it's still all good. I wear glasses for reading, which will be fixed if I one day develop cataracts and have cataract surgery. I do have prescription sunglasses, just so that I can read maps in the car. I had astigmatism before surgery, which wasn't fixed (wasn't expected to be), but it's not limiting.

All I can say is that I know it isn't perfect for everyone, but it was literally life-changing for me. :hi:


ETA: prob more than you asked, lol. But that's how it went for me.
 
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#42
#42
Agree with pretty much everything exile said. I got mine done at 27 and had dry eyes for a while after. Lights at night were more intense but either that settled out our I got used to it.

The only other thing was they didn't tell me about the suction when they make the flap. It is a bit unsettling. Was my least favorite part of the whole thing.
 
#43
#43
I had mine done in JC. I didn't like the facility at all. The numbing drops rolled out of my eyes and I felt the entire procedure on both eyes. Hellish it was! I told the doc several different times but he kept telling me that if I moved he would screw up my vision permanently. I told a nurse afterwards that I felt it and she told me that was "impossible" and then asked if I would be willing to take phone calls from people considering lasik and tell them about my wonderful experience! Gladly I replied

That being said, I would sell a kidney if I had to to get it done knowing what I know now. My night vision isn't as good as it was but I was 20/800 when I had it done and now I'm 20/15. It's amazing going from legally blind to hawklike vision.
 
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