Lasik experiences
 

Hi all,

I recently had Lasik Laser Eye Surgery and found that reading the experiences of those that had gone before me made the whole thing a lot easier.

As such I've started a blog where I'm collecting these experiences. It's at www.lasikexperience.blogspot.com

If you've had Lasik, and would like to share your experience, I'd be happy to post it. If you're considering it, and would like some reassurance, have a read. If you're just curious as to why any sane person would let another person fire a laser into their eye, then have a look as well.

Thanks,

Damo

im thinking about it because im pondering joining the military....and it would make things much easier for me

My wife had it done and love it but had to go back for a touch up after about 5 months, they said that was typical. I'm waiting on a back pay check to get mine done and CANNOT WAIT!!!

I went in for LASIK this morning, my eyes are still a little blurry but they said that would be gone by morning. Cool thing is, I CAN FRIGGIN SEE!!!!! (And my glasses aren't attached to my melon) I have worn glasses since I can remember, and the past few weeks have been getting harder and harder to put the glasses on. I'll post again tomorrow. (They say 3-5 months before the healing is complete)

Had mine done 5.5 years ago. Best money I've ever spent.

i have friends that do the post-op check up for the local surgeons around here... best beat and bang for your buck is to make sure that you do lots of research in who you get your lasik from. None of us around here can afford to lose thier eyesight and I have seen several go the bad way (all from less than poor surgeons mind you).

With that said, I plan to get mine soon!

My glasses prescription is about -13 diopters. Previously, I was chicken about the laser surgery. I spoke to my opthamologist, and he told me that my retinas are too thin, and that when the increase the eye pressure to immobilize the eye during surgery, it might tear my retinas off. So, none for me, but I can still fantasize about reading the numbers on my bedside clock...

My wife did the same thing a little more than five years ago. Lot's of research and finally paid top dollar to a surgeon who did patients from as far away as Asia.

I did mine 6 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did. I have to go back and redo it though because yes as you get older your eyesight gets worse. I don't have the same vision I did for the first few years and it's a little frustrating. I do wear a contact in one eye when I play baseball.

how much are you guys getting charged around? Is this usually not covered under insurance?

Back in '99 I paid $4,000. It is much, much cheaper now. My insurance didn't cover any of it then.

1250 per eye at the end of 2002 (canadian dollars)

Best thing I ever did. I was -4.75 in my right eye and -5.0 in my left.

When I was finished with it, I was about 20/30 for vision. I was disappointed, because with my glasses I was corrected to 20/20; I was thinking "Aw, shit. This is better, but I'll still need glasses."

I went for checkups:
1 day after
1 week after
2 weeks after
1 month
6 months
1 year.

The checkup a week after I told my eye doctor I was expecting better results. He said "just wait, your eyes are still healing". Then at 2 weeks I would wake up and see PERFECTLY out of one eye. Cool! Then the next day I would see perfectly out of the OTHER EYE, and it switched back and forth like that for about 6 days. I thought, What is going on here? And then it finally happened. Both eyes, perfect sight. And it stayed like that.

I would gladly pay 5 times what I did to get away from glasses. Only those who have worn them all our lives can understand what a pain it is sometimes.

The place I went had a policy of only taking referals from Optometrists. You couldn't just walk in and say "Zap me please." The referal appointment cost 100$. I got every test done on me, and then my Optometrist sent them my file. I was in in less than a week.

The place I went was owned by a group of Opthamologists (eye surgeons) that took turns using the laser machine. My laser doctor did it on his lunch break between cases of Cataract removals. You can't get more qualified that these guys.

hahaa... totally. (I got ya beat by .5 btw).

I have no idea if my eyes would qualify for lasik, but I do plan on looking into it once I'm in a better financial position.

Around here, I have been told around $1,000 to $1,200 USD per eye. (Including all follow up and pre-op visits).

Resurrecting an old thread rather than starting a new one...

I just had lasik done on the 23rd (2 days ago)

I needed to meet the vision requirements for the police force, so I had this done sooner rather than later (had always planned to do it eventually)

The procedure itself was a breeze! They tape one eye shut, tape the other open, then put a suction clamp over the eyeball that cuts off vision on that eye. Then a flap is cut from your cornea (you can hear a buzzsaw-like sound).. then the eye gets lasered. You smell burning flesh at that point, and see multicoloured flashes. The whole eye takes maybe 5 minutes, then it's repeated on the other eye.

No pain, just some minor irritation. You have to put anti-inflammatory and anti-biotic drops in for 4 days, and lubricating drops in for over a week.

The day after the surgery, I had an optometrist appointment to see how I was doing...

20/15 in the left eye and 20/20 in the right, and still healing :)

What's the nicest thing about it so far? Shaving my face this morning, and actually seeing details in the mirror!

I wear contacts; they're great, in that I pop them in every morning and can go through the rest of my day like anyone with normal vision, not having to worry overmuch about my glasses. However, I would like to get LASIK some day, just to be rid of the whole affair. My prescription is nearly identical to what BigBen's was (only with swapped eyes; I'm -5.5 in the right and -4.5 in the left) so I should be alright.

Question for those who've done it, though : I've heard the antibiotic eyedrops can sting quite a bit. Did you find this to be true? Not that it would slow me down in any way, I'd just like to know what I'm in for when I can finally afford to do this.

even right after the surgery, the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drops stung a little, but barely enough to register as pain. By day 2 they don't sting at all.

Similar situation, except I'm -6.5 in both eyes. My eye doctor actually mentioned that I'd be a good candidate for the surgery. And, I would love to wake up in the morning and be able to see the clock or not trip over stuff when I'm stumbling around in the middle of the night. To my point... I'm on the computer for several hours a day, both at work and some at home. I've heard that heavy computer users have lots of problems with their eyes feeling "tired". Anyone experience this or anything similar?

I know there are two types: LASIK and LASEK. Is LASEK the one that is better (and purportedly improves nightvision as well)?

shoegirl: Take breaks. Every half hour to an hour, just close your eyes for a couple of minutes, and give them a break from the computer. Also make sure you get up and do other things. CRT monitors especially can fatigue your eyes.

Check out http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

And hey, why not try LASIK@Home?

/shudders

I'm thinking about doing it. Question is, do you do both eyes in 1 session or is it smarter to do it one now and one at a later date?

I will definantly have this done, I am typicaly either busy or lazy all day and night, read all the time and have fairly bad vision without glasses or contacts.. I have got a week and a few days without even taking out my contacts before, my eyes heart from being sore so much, but that will be beter when I get my eyes fixed I suppose.

Definately both in one session. The first 4 days of healing is kind of annoying - wearing big granny sunglasses inside and outside, 3 kinds of drops every hour, etc... I wouldn't want to do that twice when I don't have to.

Plus I think having 1 blurry eye and 1 clear eye would make you dizzy :)

I had it done last year, my wife had it done in 1998 - we're both happy with the results.

I can't wait till I get some extra money to get this done. My eye sight isn't that bad, but wearing contacts or glasses (I've done both for years so it's not like I didn't give them a chance) irritate my eyes so it's a good thing I can get by without them, but its really annoying.

Does anyone know if it completely wears off by 10 years? 20 years? Does it ever wear off altogether or are the people who go back in 10 years just re getting it because their eye sight has naturally decreased with age? versus the actual procedure wearing off.

I'm just worried it will only last 5-10 years and then my sight will be worse than when I had it done in the first place.

It's been 6 years for me, and my vision is good. Not 20/20, but certainly good enough to drive. My night vision is slightly worse than my day vision, but still much, much better than previously. I'm still amazed I can see the clock numbers in the dead of night.

And yes, your vision will deteriorate over time, as happens to most people. Lasik won't prevent that. Reading glasses could still be needed as you age. Your doctor should give you all of this info during a consultation.

Thanks, I just wanted to make sure the work itself didn't reverse itself over the years. My only experience was with someone who had it done in the 90s (i forget when exactly) and he had heard some horror stories...

It's been about 6 months, and it has been the best thing i've ever done for myself. I still find myself reaching to the nightstand for glasses, but it is AWESOME gettting out of bed and SEEING!! I paid about $5500, but that was for ''custom LASIK'', where they mapped out the eye and supposedly fixed all the problem spots. The reason I say supposedly is...how the hell am I supposed to know what the difference ''might be'' having never sen the difference???

My wife, who had awful vision, had a custom job done, while I, with vision that just failed the driving exam eye test, had the cheaper version done.

Both of us are happy, I think if your vision is worse than -4 or there is a big astigmatism, they recommend the custom job.

Aw, come on! I can find a quiet place with no disruptions for a few minutes... I'd just have to make sure I didn't blink... you could tell the people that purchased this and did blink though... walking around with holes in their eyelids...

Seriously though, did anyone have it done in/near Orlando, FL? If so, who did you use, and did you like your results? I'm -6.5 in both eyes, with astigmatisms (sp?), so I'd probably need this custom done as well, but I've been wearing contacts for 13 years, and glasses for 9 years before that. It would be worth it to get it done while I'm young, and get my money's worth. =)

A word from the weary:

In the early 90's my mom had RK surgery performed on both her eyes. RK is a very similar procedure compared to LASIK, but the tiny cuts in your eyes are made with a scalpel instead of a laser. The Dr. that performed it cut too wide and deep (something that can happen with LASIK as well), and now my mom is legally blind. She has something like 20/300 vision in both her eyes, and her vision cannot be corrected enough by glasses to allow her to work. The scarring from the surgery left her intolerant to contacts, so she can't wear them anymore.

I'm fairly certain the surgeon was sub-par, so do your research.

Any one know what's the minimum age recommended to have this done? One source tells me it's 21 while another tells me 25 or it depends on when your eyes are fully developed, i.e not worsening as you grow up (not due to old age). I want to get this done by summer at the earliest and I definitely don't want to wait until I'm 25, which is still a few years away.

I was 24 when I had it done. I've heard that it's not advisable to do when younger, not from my lasik doctor but from an optometrist, so take that with a grain of salt.

I just had a consultation with a opthemalogist yesterday at LASIKplus and am considering going there for my procedure. She recommends that I do a PRK because my cornea isn't thick enough for the LASIK. The plus is that they won't cut a flap, which I think is really frightening and the risk is a bit less, but the downside is that it takes longer to heal, around 3 months and the result isn't as immediate.

So I have two questions in mind:

1) Does any one know any thing about LASIKplus? Are they reliable? I'm still looking up on them but I'd like some first hand account about them.

2) For those who has done PRK can you give me some feed back about the procedure?

Edit: uhh, ok. I'm getting mixed information about this...:|