LASIK - tell me what to expect!?!?!

[rebecca314]

I am a nervous wreck and thought folks here could give me some insight. I watched 2 videos at the doc's office and talked for a long time before scheduling the procedure for this Thursday, but now I have more questions.

What will my vision be like when it is done?
When can I watch TV again?
When can I drive again?

Lots more than that ... just looking for reassurance. Can anyone here make me feel good? I am so nervous but have been waiting for 3 years to get this done. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[esk]

Well, I'm not a doctor, but I had LASIK 2 years ago and it was the best thing I've ever done. My vision was about 20/550 and now I'm 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other.

They give you a Valium and it calms you down, I guess. Not sure, since I just sort of gritted my teeth and got it over with.

So first they clamp your eyelid up with what I think was like a big eyelash curler or something, but it basically fits into your eye socket. Was uncomfortable but not bad. They numb your eye with some drops. You don't feel anything in the eye itself. I was very nervous about looking at the red laser dot they tell you to look at...because if you move, you can screw up the procedure. But it was only 30 seconds or so and you just remember to breathe out and you can keep your eyeball still for 30 seconds. Your other eye has a patch or something on it. Then they take out the clamp and do the same thing with the other eye. Then you sit up and lo and behold, you can read the clock across the room.

That afternoon, though, was awful....light was excruciating and I just lay in the car like a ball on the way home. They give you sleeping pills and you sleep that day or night or whatever. I got up around 9 pm for a snack, felt awful and went back to sleep. YOu get this mask thing you have to wear while sleeping for a few days so you don't rub your eyes. You have to take these eye drops for about 3 days and then eye-wetting drops for as long as your eyes feel dry.

The next day, I felt great and at my checkup, had 20/35 or something. The day after, I was driving and by a week after the procedure, was at 20/20 and 20/15. My eyes are still dry in the mornings now, but a small price to pay. My doctor told me that I wouldn't have been able to wear contacts much longer because they were causing dry spots on my eyes..so it was LASIK or glasses.

Am so glad I did it. DH did it too, as did SIL and BIL and all of us are thrilled with the results. I do know one guy who had something go wrong with his, and he had to wear a special contact lens for 2 months to correct it, but now he's 20/20 in both eyes. Good luck.

 

[nuzmom]

I had my Lasik done 6 years ago. It was awesome. I was pretty disoriented immediately after the surgery because they placed these clear plastic "cups" over my eyes to protect against injury. They made things pretty blurry. I went home and went to bed after the surgery. When I woke up the next morning, I could see!!! I was like "hey, I can see the clock, hey, I can see the TV, hey, I can see that tree." It was great.

With Lasik, my vision was corrected to 20/30. I had VERY VERY bad astigmatism and that's gone.

You should probably ask your doctor the questions that you have. I know my doctor prescribed Valium to some patients that are very anxious about the surgery. Also, it will build faith in your doctors abilities. I was fortunate to go to of the best eye surgeons in the world. He does lectures for other doctors on eye surgeries.

I can't remember how soon I could drive.

Now, it's great not needing glasses (I'm going to be 41 soon and I dread the day that I need them for nearsightedness). My contacts always made my eyes dry and because of my stigmatism, they would take a split second to adjust every time I blinked. None of that now!!! Also, can you remember what it's like to be in the rain with glasses? Yuck. Also, playing sports without glasses/contacts is so freeing.

Best wishes to you and I hope I help relieve your fears.

 

[rebecca314]

I go Monday for pre-op measurements and stuff, so I have been writing questions down to take with me. The nurse who did the eval this past week had it done, as well as the doc herself. I am just a little worried about that "flap" ... that seems creepy to me.

Thanks for the quick input ... although i am nervous and am SOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to this!

 

[blessedby3]

I had this done a few years ago. I love the results. I have just turned 40 and am thinking that I will need to get reading glasses soon. I am having blurred vision when I hold things up close and the Doctor said that usually happens around 40 anyway. I was very nervous about having the procedure done and the valium did not help or calm me down at all. I got through the procedure (which didnt hurt, but was uncomfortable at times) and as we were driving home something felt wrong. Like when I blinked I felt like my eye "flap" was lifting up. DH looked and said yes when I blinked it was lifting kind of like a contact rolled up-yikes
We called the Dr. back from the car and he said "Im sure its not, but come back and we will check it". Well, low and behold the flap didnt get "glued" back down good and the Dr. said this was the first time it had ever happened to him. Just my luck- I am the statistic now!! Anyway, I had to have the one eye redone (I wasnt happy about that) and then we were on our way again and I havent had any problems since. Even with my little problem I would recommend this to people who are candidates. The biggest plus is that I dont have to wear my glasses and hold them on my face on the rides (like RNR and Space Mtn). Also at the pools and beaches I can just wear sunglasses and not fool with contacts (which dried my eyes out) or regular glasses.

 

[alikat99]

I had my LASIK done 2 years ago. Everyone else has described the procedure pretty well. The biggest problem for me was the rest of the day after the procedure and the numbing drops wore off. To me, it felt like the "burning" sensation in your eyes when you shampoo (or something similar) into them, and you can't get it out. I finally took the sleeping pill and woke up the next day and I COULD SEE, and the burning was gone. I went to my followup appt that morning, and I could see 20/15. I was driving right after that.

I did have to put antibiotics on my eyes for a week or 2 and rewetting drops for a couple of months until my eyes weren't so dry. And, 2 years later, my eyes get dry if I've been up late, but other than that, it was the BEST thing that I have done!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Ah, you want people to help you feel better about it. I can't do that. Never mind!

 

[Feralpeg]

For me, it was a piece of cake. The procedure was fast and painless. When I got home, I went to sleep for a few hours. The doctor prescribed a sleeping pill.

For a few nights, I had to put little plastic things over my eyes so that I would not accidently rub them during the night.

Probably the biggest pain was putting in the drops every few hours.

I could see from the time the procedure was completed. I was a little light sensitive for a few days and there was a star effect at night for awhile.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[jazzgirl]

I had LASIK back in March of 05 and it was the.absolute.best.decision.I've.ever.made!! I was blind as a bat and now I'm 20/20 in both eyes. The procedure was a piece of cake for me. I saw perfectly as soon as it was done, went home and slept for a few hours.

I drove myself to the eye doctor the next morning.

They told me I might feel like I had sand in my eye for a few days, but I had none of that. Used my drops when I was supposed to, wore the eye covers at night for a week so as not to rub. It went really smoothly! The procedure itself took all of about 3 minutes.

I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised at how easy it will be and will wonder why the heck you didn't do it sooner!! Good Luck! (oh, and let us know how it went!)

 

[LOLA2]

Two questions - my husband has been considering it.

How much?
Do you need to wear glasses afterwards? He doesn't have any. He heard you have to wear a pair for a month. True?

 

[Feralpeg]

Two questions - my husband has been considering it.

How much?
Do you need to wear glasses afterwards? He doesn't have any. He heard you have to wear a pair for a month. True?

I only had one eye done. I think it was a little over $1k. It was discounted by about $400 because they had some deal with my health insurance carrier. I have BC/BS.

I didn't have to wear glasses. My sister had both eyes done and she was extremely near-sighted. She didn't wear her glasses from the moment she finished her surgery.

 

[pigfishinn]

From what I aware there are two types of Lasik.

Corneal Flap surgery (which from what I can tell so far is what people have been describing)

and

PRK - the "original" Lasik

Difference:

Corneal Flap - they cut a flap, fold it back, laser your eye to the correction needed then lay the flap back down. With this type of surgery you can see right away.

PRK - they scrub layers off - laser your eye to the correction needed then put what they call a "bandaid contact" on your eye that you have to wear for a week. With this type of surgery it is supposed to take 7 - 10 days for "clear vision".

I had PRK. Both eyes in Feb. 2006. I did not take the valium offered as I wanted to be well aware of what was going on. ESK described the prcedure very well in terms of the clamp that holds your eye open. With PRK they then scrub your eye - then you see the "red" light while they laser. There was a "burning" smell also. They warned me about that so I was not alarmed.

What I was not prepared for is not being able to see clearly. I wanted to be able to see right away because that is what you hear from so many about Lasik - that you can see right after or by the next day. It is not that way with PRK and they did not prepare me for that. I actually cried later that evening because I could not see anything. My uncorrected vision was 20/600 and to those that have very poor uncorrected vision like that you understand the not being able to see part. After the Lasik my vision was like not having on my glasses. It was quite distressing. They did tell me the next day (you always have a follow up appointment the day after surgery) that I needed to patient as a PRK patient. They were not kidding.

One week later I had to go in to have the "bandaid" contacts removed. But lo and behold - mine had to be replaced. Like previous poster blessedby3 I became a statistic - mine was the "we have never had to replace them before" statistic. Apparently though we found out I don't heal well. I was very discouraged and wondered if I was ever going to be able to see "normal" again. Well, after another week they took off the "bandaid" contacts and my eyes were healed enough to leave them alone. It took about 1 1/2 weeks after that before I was driving although I probably shouldn't have driven until about 3 weeks out.

But somewhere into the 3rd week then the 4th week there were actually time periods where I could see perfectly clearly. It did take a while for my full 20/20 corrected vision to come (6+ months) and I had to have a glasses prescription for a while in the middle. There were times when I wondered why I had the Lasik. But there was still one more problem.

By Sept. they decided my left eye was not fully corrected to I had to have a second surgery on my left eye. That surgery ended up being in Oct. 2006. This time though (because the laser was only 22 seconds compared to 96 seconds the first time) the healing was much easier. (I told you I had bad eyesight). And since I had one good eye then I just covered my left eye when I really needed to read something.

Now here it is almost Aug. 2007 and I want to tell everyone I would do it again in a heartbeat. It seems like so long ago that I had the problems associated with it. And being able to see without glasses/contacts is WONDERFUL!!! and worth all of the problems I had.

The reason I told my story is not to frighten people but to let people know that there can be problems. I also want to encourage those that may have to have the PRK Lasik that there is light at the end of the tunnel and your vision will end up good in the long run. You just have to be patient and have LOTS of it. I only wish that I had been better informed that PRK is not an immediate "oh you have 20/20 vision now" type of Lasik.

Good luck to anyone considering Lasik - like I said before - I would do it again in a heartbeat. If anyone has any questions that I may not have covered, I will do my best to answer them.
Becky aka Pigfishinn

 

[a1tinkfans]

Becky
Glad everything turned out so well for you.
I had the consult not once but twice. My eyes are also POOR but I have DRY EYES and both doctors did not recommend the Lasik procedure for me becasue I was told that I would be applying drops 4-6 times a day for the rest of my life. That just really turned me off!
I was disappointed as both my brother and sister in law had it done and they are both THRILLED with the results.
So, its still glasses for me, but no more hesitation in spending the Xtra for the frames I love, which right now are black designer frames with pink on the inside (I think I am a HOLD OUT pink lady since beating B/cancer, LOL!)
Anyway, my advice to all is always
Go with your gut feeling, feel CONFIDENT in your doctor and BEST OF LUCK TO ALL FOR
FABULOUS RESULTS!!!! ( I am so envious, it must be wonderful to SEE without glasses!!!)

 

[freckles and boo]

I had Lasik on May 10 - just a couple of months ago. I am extremely happy and have almost forgotten over thirty years of nearsightedness. I was a nervous wreck the day of the procedure but I did very, very well without any kind of sedative. Good luck.

 

[rebecca314]

From what I aware there are two types of Lasik.

Corneal Flap surgery (which from what I can tell so far is what people have been describing)

and

PRK - the "original" Lasik

Difference:

Corneal Flap - they cut a flap, fold it back, laser your eye to the correction needed then lay the flap back down. With this type of surgery you can see right away.

PRK - they scrub layers off - laser your eye to the correction needed then put what they call a "bandaid contact" on your eye that you have to wear for a week. With this type of surgery it is supposed to take 7 - 10 days for "clear vision".

I had PRK. Both eyes in Feb. 2006. I did not take the valium offered as I wanted to be well aware of what was going on. ESK described the prcedure very well in terms of the clamp that holds your eye open. With PRK they then scrub your eye - then you see the "red" light while they laser. There was a "burning" smell also. They warned me about that so I was not alarmed.

What I was not prepared for is not being able to see clearly. I wanted to be able to see right away because that is what you hear from so many about Lasik - that you can see right after or by the next day. It is not that way with PRK and they did not prepare me for that. I actually cried later that evening because I could not see anything. My uncorrected vision was 20/600 and to those that have very poor uncorrected vision like that you understand the not being able to see part. After the Lasik my vision was like not having on my glasses. It was quite distressing. They did tell me the next day (you always have a follow up appointment the day after surgery) that I needed to patient as a PRK patient. They were not kidding.

One week later I had to go in to have the "bandaid" contacts removed. But lo and behold - mine had to be replaced. Like previous poster blessedby3 I became a statistic - mine was the "we have never had to replace them before" statistic. Apparently though we found out I don't heal well. I was very discouraged and wondered if I was ever going to be able to see "normal" again. Well, after another week they took off the "bandaid" contacts and my eyes were healed enough to leave them alone. It took about 1 1/2 weeks after that before I was driving although I probably shouldn't have driven until about 3 weeks out.

But somewhere into the 3rd week then the 4th week there were actually time periods where I could see perfectly clearly. It did take a while for my full 20/20 corrected vision to come (6+ months) and I had to have a glasses prescription for a while in the middle. There were times when I wondered why I had the Lasik. But there was still one more problem.

By Sept. they decided my left eye was not fully corrected to I had to have a second surgery on my left eye. That surgery ended up being in Oct. 2006. This time though (because the laser was only 22 seconds compared to 96 seconds the first time) the healing was much easier. (I told you I had bad eyesight). And since I had one good eye then I just covered my left eye when I really needed to read something.

Now here it is almost Aug. 2007 and I want to tell everyone I would do it again in a heartbeat. It seems like so long ago that I had the problems associated with it. And being able to see without glasses/contacts is WONDERFUL!!! and worth all of the problems I had.

The reason I told my story is not to frighten people but to let people know that there can be problems. I also want to encourage those that may have to have the PRK Lasik that there is light at the end of the tunnel and your vision will end up good in the long run. You just have to be patient and have LOTS of it. I only wish that I had been better informed that PRK is not an immediate "oh you have 20/20 vision now" type of Lasik.

Good luck to anyone considering Lasik - like I said before - I would do it again in a heartbeat. If anyone has any questions that I may not have covered, I will do my best to answer them.
Becky aka Pigfishinn

Becky - thank you for sharing this story. What is important to me is the ending - that you would do it again. I am being so careful with food and insulin right now, I have Type I diabetes, and doc warned me to take care of myself for healing. I did the same thing for both pregnancies and have 2 healthy kids, so I know I can do it.

I WILL be taking the meds before to calm me down. I just prefer that. (Of course the second I was eligible for a epi during labor I demanded it! )

 

[momto2girls]

I really want to get Lasik done. Unfortunately I have just been told that I have chronic dry eye. I'm undergoing a regimen of eye drops and Omega 3 to see if that can help my problem. If it does, I might be a candidate for Lasik. I really hope so. The dry eye issue makes it hard for me to wear contacts and I hate glasses!! I usually wear my contacts and just suffer all day.

 

[PrincessasMommy]

So great to see this post!!!!

I booked my LASIK yesterday, my evaluation is August 1st and if all goes well my procedure is August 8th!!

If you don't mind me "sharing" your thread.......

I have a newborn, I am nursing her every 2-4 hours, do you think this is going to cause me a problem? Do you HAVE to go home and sleep? I can't take sleeping pills and am up twice every night so I am wondering if I will be in pain or just uncomfortable? I can take Advil/Tylenol, will that help?

Please let us know how it goes....I am so excited but so nervous!!

 

[pigfishinn]

Princessasmommy: I personally was not given sleeping pills. They did tell me I should go home and try to take a nap. The purpose behind that is they just don't want you to use your eyes too much that first day/night. If you have help at home I don't see a problem with your nursing.

As for the other medicines - they give you eye drops that could/would help with any discomfort. But - I did not need any. Just a second pair of "bandaid" contacts a week later.

With my PRK I wouldn't describe it as having any "pain" - just some discomfort from the bandaid contacts. But it was not as bad as having an eyelash in your regular contacts (all of us contact wearers know what that is like).

I was so nervous the first time but excited because I had worn "coke bottle" glasses since 2nd grade. And since I am now 46 that was a long time ago. My "featherweight" glasses were still too thick for any frames. So - like I said before - I encourage anyone who can qualify for the surgery (regardless if it is Corneal Flap or PRK) to GO FOR IT!!!! It is a beautiful thing to see without glasses or contacts.
Becky

 

[Princess Roo]

I had LASIK 8 years ago and am SO glad that I did. My two main pieces of advice are to 1) go with a doctor who has done MANY eyes 2) realize that not everyone ends up with perfect vision when they're done. I had VERY bad eyesight and now am close to 20/20, but the procedure caused some mild astigmatism so that I need to wear glasses when I drive at night. For me, no big deal and I could always get LASIK again to fix it if it were worth it to me. Some doctors have programs set up where you can get a free 'adjustment' if you aren't happy with the results if you are set on perfect vision.

I have a newborn, I am nursing her every 2-4 hours, do you think this is going to cause me a problem? Do you HAVE to go home and sleep? I can't take sleeping pills and am up twice every night so I am wondering if I will be in pain or just uncomfortable? I can take Advil/Tylenol, will that help?

There was a thread on this a week or two ago that I didn't weigh in on, but I'm pretty sure that so soon after having a baby your eyes haven't gone back to normal yet (due to hormones) so it would be a bad time to have LASIK. My eyes got worse during pregnancy, but my eye doctor told me not to bother coming in for an eye exam while nursing at all unless my eyes were bad enough that I wanted a temporary prescription. There seems to be some ambiguity about when your eye goes back to normal after pregnancy, but I personally would wait until your baby is older or you stop nursing. Mine seemed to get better around 7 months into nursing...which was around the time that my body went back to something resembling it's previous state, too.

 

[carrie6466]

Hi. I had LASIK in January of 2005. I also had horrible vision and very bad astigmatism. I was at the border for not being able to get the surgery with their machie due to the seriousness of the astigmatism. Having said that, they also told me that they couldn't guarentee that one surgery would do the trick, I might need a 'touch up' surgery following the original.

I had the surgery. My doctor didn't give sleeping pills either. They told me go home and nap, best way to heal. I woke up the next day with a little of the 'sandy' feeling, but able to see for the first time since I was 7 (I was 36 at the time). It's the best thing I ever did, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I had both eyes done at once, the surgery was successful the first time and five years later I still see fine (20/20 combined, 20/15 one eye, 20/30 the other one). I am 41 and dreading the day when I may need reading glasses