About 3 years ago I had laser eye surgery, Lasik. I decided to document my experiences so that other people might benefit from the opinion of some one who has already had the Lasik experience.
Why I got it done
I had what they call commonly call Coke bottle thick glasses. My prescription was about +4 in each eye with astigmatisms also of about 4 in each eye. There was very little I could see without glasses. I was also spending about $500 for glasses each year. I had tried contact lenses but I found they were very expensive, complicated, time consuming, uncomfortable and did not even give all that good vision. Every time I blinked, my vision would go blurry for a second until the lenses straightened up as they needed to be for astigmatism correction.
Getting Lasik was part of a real makeover for me. I lost 40 pounds, changed my hair color and got rid of my glasses.
The day surgery experience
This is pretty straight forward and nothing to be too anxious about. Extra nervous patients are given a calmative drug before the surgery but I was not offered one. The Doctor did about 10 procedures on the morning he did mine and only 1 person needed the drugs.
About 15 minutes before the surgery they put in pupil dilating an anesthetising drops and asked me to wait outside again. For some unknown reason it took some 30 minutes and 2 reapplications for my pupils to dilate to the required amount. Finally I was taken in and laid down for the procedure. At his point I had no glasses and fully dilated pupils so I could not tell you what anything looked like.
They clamped open my eyes and then cut a circular flap on my eye and lift it away to let the laser get in. This flap is very thin, circular and important. The Doctor Lasered away occasionally reminding me to look at the red light when my focus drifted off. I felt no pain at all, but it was uncomfortable. The smell of burning flesh that comes form your eye being Lasered is quite disconcerting but that is purely psychological. About 20 minutes later, they finished. My flaps were returned to normal position and they taped large clear plastic guards over my eyes. I then went home to rest.
After care
My after care pack consisted of anti- inflammatory drops, antibiotic drops, artificial tear drops, some sticky tape and a trucker hat.
I needed the hat to cover my eyes from the bright light of day when we drove out of the car park. The light sensitivity was probably the most painful part of the whole experience.
I had to put both drops in 4 times a day and use the tears when ever I wanted. It is vital to do all this. Infection must be avoided if possible.
You must never rub your eyes until the flaps are healed. When I had my procedure done, a woman was rushed in because she had stupidly done this. You must wear the plastic guards every night for a week using the sticky tape to adhere them to your face to protect against accidental rubbing during sleep.
I revisited the Doctor the next day and he said everything was looking OK. I did my surgery on a Thursday and took the Friday and Monday off. This allowed me to recover at my own pace and not have to worry about having to work before I was ready. Many people go back to work the next day after the surgery but there was no way I could have done this as I was far too light sensitive.
The rest of my recovery was uneventful. I had no infections, the flaps healed normally. My advice to others is to follow the after care instructions to the letter. This is not the time to be flippant about your health. A screwup by you here could leave you blind. If you have any problems see the optometrist and check it out, even if it costs you money.
Others Peoples Experiences
Here are a few other people that have done Lasik:
My result
Basically, one eye is perfect but the other nearly as good. One eye needs no correction and the other, if I wanted to wear glasses would need +.25 correction.
I am ecstatic about this result. I have never worn glasses since. I even passed my driving eye test without a problem. It became a great part of my make over too. Here is my before and after photo:
My vision after the surgery was not as good as it is now. Night vision was marred by the commonly experienced “halo” effect but this subsided over the space of 12 months. I also had the dry eye problem where the eyes do not sense that there is not enough moisture and so do not naturally add some. I used the fake tears for 3 months for comfort but then my eyes seemed to adjust to the surgery and went back to properly sensing when to add moisture on their own.
Cost
I had my Lasik done in Sydney, Australia because thats where I live. I paid $2200AU per eye. Plus $200 for a follow up treatment if required. Always remember when buying, price should be your last consideration. This is not a time you want to save a few dollars. I chose The Eye Institute located by coincidence in my own suburb. My surgeon was Dr Chris Rogers. Dr Rogers imported the first excimer laser machine, used for refractive surgery, into the country, it is likely that he has the most experience with Lasik surgery in this country and he is highly respected amongst his peers. This is the kind of Surgeon you should be looking for.