Laser Eye Surgery

Off Topic
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[quote]Power GnP wrote:

[quote]shibalnom wrote:

[quote]Power GnP wrote:
I should wait another year to ensure my prescription stabilizes before I look into surgery. [/quote]

Should be stable for two years. http://www.stronghealth.com/services/strongvision/aboutsv/faq.cfm
http://www.eyesurgeryeducation.com/LASIK_Patient_Screening_Guidelines.html
[/quote]

Vision usually doesn’t stabilize until later into your twenties, early thirties, so I may not have a choice but to go ahead with a surgery anyway.

Edit: Reason being, I’m 21.[/quote]

Just to add to this, I was 24 when I had my eyes done (almost exactly 4 years ago) and I have noticed that my eyes have gotten worse, just in the last few months or so tho. I would still do it all over again, it’s literally life-changing, but do try to hold off as best you can. I think I have SOME glare at night, but no biggie. I believe that my eyes, while not dry, per se, do better when I keep them moist. This is just a short response, PM me if you want a more in-depth take on it.

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[quote]pradaboy wrote:
I’ve never been able to make the decision to get it but I wish you the best of luck! Let us know how it goes.[/quote]

What’s holding you back?

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Main thing to know is that, as your eyes heal, the acuity will change from day to day. The surgery dries the eyes out somewhat which is why this happens. Some days your sight will seem worse than previously. Don’t panic, it’s just the dryness. Keep using the drops.

To facilitate healing, take lots of Omega 3s (which I’m sure you do anyway) and stay the fuck away from the computer as much as possible. I’m a hardcore computer gamer, so what I did was get the surgery on Friday, then go visit my elderly, technophobic parents at the weekend. That kept me away from the dreaded screen.

They’ll advise you not to swim, get water in your eyes, rub your eyes and so forth. You’re not a chick so you don’t have to worry about the no eye-makeup rule. They’ll also give you some attractive eye shields to wear at night so you don’t inadvertantly rub your eyes in your sleep. I managed to claw these off in my sleep every night without fail. Eyes healed just fine anyway, fortunately.

When you go for the surgery, make sure you have someone with you. It’s not like Extreme Makeover where they finish the surgery and the recipient is crying with joy over their newfound vision. My eyes were blurry as fuck after and once the anaesthetic wore off, I felt like a Draize rabbit. Your eyes will close up to protect themselves, whereupon you’re effectively blind. Easiest thing at this point is just go to bed and sleep. When you wake up you’ll be like the accompanying illustration (at least, I was).

Best of luck with this.

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Notes: I went with Advanced Custom Wavefront LASIK at LASIK MD.

T-Minus 3 hours: On the train to the downtown core right now, 2 hours of sleep and a violent incident at work last night didn’t create an ideal pre-surgery night, but I’m awake (with the help of a little caffeine) and looking forward to surgery…no turning back now! Not nervous or worried by any means; just hoping everything goes smoothly. Itâ??s hard to explain how difficult it was to wear my glasses for 36 hours before hand; probably more cumulative time then I had worn them in the last three years.

Eyes are a little dry…but I guess the dry western Canadian air and a short sleep will do that, probably nothing to worry about.

T-Minus 2 hours: Just finished a pre-surgery prescription check, no vision decline in the last three weeks…ha. Asked a few questions, got a few answers. Back to waiting.

T-Minus 1 hour 30 minutes: Forked over three grand in rolled pennies; prescription for extra drops and some “cover our ass” forms. My pupils are slightly bigger than normal, nothing to worry about I’m told.

T-Minus 1 hour: Three different sets of drops given to me, dosing regimen explained: numbing agent, anti inflammatory and a lubricating drop. Got my sexy, non-water proof shower cap, more sitting, mild anxiety and another cup of green tea. Opted out of the optional Adivan…life’s trippy enough on its own.

T-Minus 5 minutes: Numbing drops administered; make eyes feel heavy. Meet the optomoligist, nice guy also from the east coast…might have a new PT client.

Asked to lay down on operating table, given two “stress balls”, right eye is taped shut, left eye table open. Surgery starts…this is where it gets hard to explain, (not sure of the exact steps and order) each eye took about three minutes. The most uncomfortable portion being the prep before the actual laser starts, some mild pressure on the eye which I’d explain as more uncomfortable then painful. Actual laser treatment only lasts a few seconds and sounds like a high pitched electric saw (and smells like that saw is cutting through press board). Vision slowly fades out for a few seconds and comes back almost immediately. Optomologist quickly checks eyes and its out to a dark corner of the waiting room for 45 minutes with a pair of dark sunglasses. At this point vision is fairly blurry and eyes very sensitive to light (vision is still better then pre-treatment though.

45 minutes Post-Surgery: Quick check-up with an optometry technician to ensure no major complication and I’m sent home to rest.

1 hour 30 minutes Post-Surgery: Finally home, eyes are really uncomfortable at this point. Start drop regime, 1 drop of each per eye: Zymar, Pred Forte and Refresh Ultra. Try to sleep from 30 minutes but pain keeps me awake.

2 hours Post-Surgery: Administer 1 drop per eye of Tetracaine Minims…this stuff is magic, pain completely disappears and I’m out in 2 minutes.

5 hours Post-Surgery: Wake up feeling substantially better, big change in vision, still quite blurry but I’d imagine I’m about 40/20 at this point. Continue Day 1 dosing regimen of Zymar 4 times a day, Pred Forte every 2 hour and Refresh Ultra every 2 hours (and as needed).

12 hours Post-Surgery: Back to sleep, glasses on to prevent itching during sleep.

Day 2: Wake up with the best vision I’ve had in years. Left eye is a little bloodshot,completely normal I’m told and will disappear in a few days. Eyes are sensitive to light and focus is a little off, right eye feels a little irritated. Check-up confirms that right eye is slightly inflamed, dosing of Pred Forte for this eye is to be kept at every 2 hours for the next two days. Everything else goes to regular dosing schedule of 4 times a day for next four days, switch from Refresh Ultra to Refresh Tears (except before bed).
Vision is about 75-80% set in: Right eye 25/20, left eye 20/20. Focus was a little off so I may have been able concentrate and see the chart a little more clearly. One week post-op will be a little more thorough and a lot better gauge of actual visual acuity.

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Also, special thanks to KBC, Cal and JP for their detailed help.

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Just to add my 2 cents… I had PRK (thin corneas) a couple years ago… would definitely recommend it. My experience pretty much mirrors what others have said–with PRK, the laser operates on the surface of the cornea (instead of cutting a flap and operating within the cornea). The advantage is there isn’t the chance of lingering structural weakness from the cutting of the flap, or of the flap being cut too deep (which can be the cause of some of the side effects of excessive tearing or dryness – when cut too deep it can damage the nerves in the eye that regulate moisture in the eye).

The procedure itself wasn’t bad. They had me not wear my contacts starting about a month prior to the surgery (I wore gas permeable lenses, and they can cause some reshaping of the eye, so wanted to give my eyes time to revert to their normal shape). The day of the surgery, they put some numbing drops in my eye, did some last minute checks, then went into the operating room. Basically, I just lied on a bed that moved me into position and looked at a blinking light. The eye would momentarily get cloudy, then clear up fairly quickly. I could also smell the cells being burned (smelled like burning hair). Then a cooling disc was put on the eye for about a minute, then the whole process was repeated with the other eye.

One thing I found surprising (for me at least), was since my eyelids were taped open during the surgery (don’t want blinking while the laser is working obviously), I found myself starting to feel panicked when I wanted to blink but couldn’t. The reaction seemed involuntary, which is why I found it strange and surprising. Thankfully, I was able to relax myself pretty quickly once I was cognizant of what was happening (they did offer Xanax or such if I thought I needed it, but I declined).

As others said, unlike LASIK, it’ll take about a week for your eyes to heal (i.e. don’t expect to drive home afterwards, arrange transportation home). It’s mostly just your epithelium (a layer of cells over the cornea) regenerating (LASIK doesn’t remove the epithelium, so doesn’t have to regrow unlike PRK), and until it’s complete, you’ll be sensitive to light. I also found the contact bandages to be rather annoying (I liken the sensation to when I had gas permeable lenses and would get something in my eye), but those come out after a couple of days.

I would also recommend not planning on doing much of anything that first week (I took the week off work), due to the light sensitivity (which for me made it hard to do much of anything). But by the end of the week, I was fine. I did need to wear sunglasses while outdoors for a few weeks after that (but was fine indoors).

I can’t remember what my vision was prior to the surgery, though I remember with one eye, I was just under the threshold for the strongest contact you could get (even with gas permable lenses), and ended up with 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other.

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Glad it went well, PowerGNP - the eyes should settle down a lot after about three months but even before then you’ll be constantly amazed at the amount of detail you can see. I was walking around, awestruck at the fact I could see individual twigs on trees, and small things like that.
Hope the healing goes well for you.

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[quote]jason01 wrote:
Just to add my 2 cents… I had PRK (thin corneas) a couple years ago… would definitely recommend it. My experience pretty much mirrors what others have said–with PRK, the laser operates on the surface of the cornea (instead of cutting a flap and operating within the cornea). The advantage is there isn’t the chance of lingering structural weakness from the cutting of the flap, or of the flap being cut too deep (which can be the cause of some of the side effects of excessive tearing or dryness – when cut too deep it can damage the nerves in the eye that regulate moisture in the eye).

The procedure itself wasn’t bad. They had me not wear my contacts starting about a month prior to the surgery (I wore gas permeable lenses, and they can cause some reshaping of the eye, so wanted to give my eyes time to revert to their normal shape). The day of the surgery, they put some numbing drops in my eye, did some last minute checks, then went into the operating room. Basically, I just lied on a bed that moved me into position and looked at a blinking light. The eye would momentarily get cloudy, then clear up fairly quickly. I could also smell the cells being burned (smelled like burning hair). Then a cooling disc was put on the eye for about a minute, then the whole process was repeated with the other eye.

One thing I found surprising (for me at least), was since my eyelids were taped open during the surgery (don’t want blinking while the laser is working obviously), I found myself starting to feel panicked when I wanted to blink but couldn’t. The reaction seemed involuntary, which is why I found it strange and surprising. Thankfully, I was able to relax myself pretty quickly once I was cognizant of what was happening (they did offer Xanax or such if I thought I needed it, but I declined).

As others said, unlike LASIK, it’ll take about a week for your eyes to heal (i.e. don’t expect to drive home afterwards, arrange transportation home). It’s mostly just your epithelium (a layer of cells over the cornea) regenerating (LASIK doesn’t remove the epithelium, so doesn’t have to regrow unlike PRK), and until it’s complete, you’ll be sensitive to light. I also found the contact bandages to be rather annoying (I liken the sensation to when I had gas permeable lenses and would get something in my eye), but those come out after a couple of days.

I would also recommend not planning on doing much of anything that first week (I took the week off work), due to the light sensitivity (which for me made it hard to do much of anything). But by the end of the week, I was fine. I did need to wear sunglasses while outdoors for a few weeks after that (but was fine indoors).

I can’t remember what my vision was prior to the surgery, though I remember with one eye, I was just under the threshold for the strongest contact you could get (even with gas permable lenses), and ended up with 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other.[/quote]

Thanks for that summary Jason, I hope this thread can become a good resource for anyone planning on pursuing refractive surgery.

When did you notice your eyes finally stabilizing with PRK?

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Left eye 36 hours post surgery, just a little bloodshot, should go away in a few days. Ironically, not the eye that is experiencing inflammation.

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I had LASIK performed over 11 years ago, when it was not FDA approved. The doctor cut the flap, zapped my eyes for 30 seconds each. I was stoned from the Quaalude he gave me before the procedure, so I didn’t care about anything. I went back to normal life 2 days later.

Back then they wanted the patient to keep their eyes closed so as not to irritate the incision or cause the flap to fold up. So, it was recommended to take Nyquil and just sleep for any entire 48 hours.

I had 20/200 vision.

My vision is still 20/15 and 20/13 in other eye. Bifocals will be inevitable due to age not the surgery.