LASIK surgery

by drwtsn32 47 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  drwtsn32

  I have a pre-op appointment for LASIK eye surgery on Thursday. Assuming everything checks out ok my surgery will be on the following Tuesday. Woo hoo!!

  I normally wear contacts but have had to endure wearing glasses since Wednesday. (Not supposed to wear contacts for 7 days before the pre-op or surgery... ARGH!)

  Contacts work very well, but the toric lense I wear in one eye (because of an astigmatism) drives me nuts. I look forward to seeing clearly when I first get up in the morning... and not having my contact get lost in somewhere in my eye if I rub it too hard. Also I usually have a problem with contacts getting dry in the evenings.

  Anyone here have LASIK surgery? How did it work for you?
• 

  SanFranciscoJim

  I won't have it until I see a commercial on TV where all the doctors performing it aren't wearing glasses.
• 

  drwtsn32

  LOL!! Those are safety goggles, you goof!
• 

  StinkyPantz

  Doc-

  Okay.. I'm scared.. I was just about to start a thread asking the same thing. Stop reading my mind, would ya?!?!
• 

  Princess

  Hey doc, I had it done three years ago. I also had toric lenses that were miserable, especially after my kids were born. My eyes must have changed...

  Anyway, I ended up needing a touch up six months later because my astigmatism was pretty bad. Long story short, I went from 20/200 with severe astigmatism to 20/15. I would do it again in a second. Totally amazing! I forget that I wore glasses/contacts until someone mentions it.

  It's quick and really quite painless. The recovery was not bad either. My mom drove me (we went to Canada) and stayed with me in the hotel. She bought a bottle of scotch and kept my glass full until I fell asleep. My eyes felt like they were full of sand the first night but were much better in the morning. After that, as long as you have a bottle of artificial tears with you, you'll be fine.

  Good luck. Let me know how it goes and if you have any questions.

  Rachel
• 

  drwtsn32

  Stop reading my mind, would ya?!?!

  SP: Not a chance!
• 

  drwtsn32

  Princess:
  

  Your results seem typical from what I've heard when talking to others recently. I talked to three coworkers and all of them were corrected to 20/15 using standard LASIK done locally here in the Tri-Cities. The two surgeons have done a total of 31,000 procedures between the two of them, and even the latest Wavefront LASIK is an option (but I have to travel to another office to have it done and it costs more). They have offices here and in Renton and Portland.

  Prices have dropped a lot lately...it'll be nice to have it done locally so I don't have to travel anywhere for the operation and followup visits.

  BTW, I had a different kind of eye surgery a couple years ago (for strabismus)... talk about PAINFUL. That first night was simply excruciating. Oddly enough, I had a second strabismus surgery 6 months later and there was no pain that night. I doubt this will be anywhere near as painful as that surgery was...but I'll keep a bottle of tequila handy.
• 

  Big Tex

  I had PRK done in 1996. That's a little different from LASIK in that it is entirely done by computer. There is no cutting. I'm 20/15 in my left eye and 20/25 in my right. It worked great for me, no problems in the last 7 years. The only side effect is my eyes are drier than they were before, especially first thing in the morning. But, like Princess, I just use some artificial tears once in the morning and I'm good to go.
• 

  drwtsn32

  Big Tex: Yep... PRK is almost exactly the same as LASIK except they don't cut a flap with a microkeratome. The laser works directly on the surface of your cornea. They still use that method if your cornea isn't thick enough to have the flap cut. Also, there now a method where the cut the flap with a laser instead of using a microkeratome.

  PRK has a longer recovery time, so I hope that I am able to do LASIK.
• 

  Princess

  I had to use the eye drops for about six months maybe? I haven't used them in a couple years at least now. I'm all fixed.

  Now that the price has come down, Steve is probably going to get it done sometime soon. It's finally cheaper here than traveling to Canada. Plus you save on that really fun hotel stay where your eyes are uncomfortable and you are getting trashed so you can't feel them anymore.