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

[LOLA2]

Can anyone please share what the cost for this procedure is? My husband will need both eyes done. Also, do you need to wear glasses for a couple weeks before the procedure or can you stay in your contact all the way up to the procedure?

 

[freckles and boo]

Can anyone please share what the cost for this procedure is? My husband will need both eyes done. Also, do you need to wear glasses for a couple weeks before the procedure or can you stay in your contact all the way up to the procedure?

I wore gas permeable hard lenses and had to be out of them for four weeks prior to the procedure. I paid $1500 per eye, but that is because they goofed up and quoted me the wrong price. They gave me the custom wavefront for the price of the standard. If they had quoted me correctly to start it would have been $2000 per eye. Right now I am still getting ads for the 18 months no interest from our Lasik Plus place even after having it done.

 

[mickeymousemom]

I had LASIK done about 5 years ago, and I also happen to be a tech for an ophthalmologist.

You cannot wear your contacts up to the day of your procedure. If you wear gas perms, you will have to be out of them for weeks, possibly months, before your procedure. Contacts, even disposables, reshape the cornea to some extent. Your corneas need to be completely back to their original curvature before LASIK is done.

You don't necessarily have to "sleep" when you get home. It's highly recommended that you "rest" your eyes for awhile(a few hours would be ideal) and close your lids. Your corneas are one of the fastest healing parts of your body. An abrasion can easily heal over in 24 hours. Closing your eyes just helps the process.

Maybe it was because of my work, but I wasn't the least bit apprehensive. I felt nothing, and the thing that keeps your lids open wasn't bothersome to me at all. Not comfy, but not bothersome really either.
I think the only thing that really bothered me was the thought have having to hold my eye still and stare at the red light for several seconds. As a PP stated, i was nervous I would glance away. Believe me, though, that these machines are highly detailed computers. I am pretty sure they compensate for small things like that(to an extent anyway, but this is just a guess).

After it was done, it looked as though I was looking thru Vaseline(which is what I expected). Patients we see now after LASIK say that they could see clearly right away. I work for a small practice, and though the Doctor I work for has done this for several years, her practice is not one of those laser vision centers that pump patients in and out by the higher numbers.
Anyway, I did go home and try to take a nap for a couple hours, but had a hard time sleeping. I ended up laying on the couch and resting my eyes when I could. I also went back to work and saw patients the following day with no problem(and no glasses or contacts!!!! ) It took me a few weeks to get my best vision, but I had quite a bit of nearsightedness. The Lasers today have come quite a ways recently and are much more advanced than the one used on me.
I actually never experienced any pain. I did have some dryness and scratchiness, but not much and I just used the artificial tears for that.

For most people Lasik is a very easy process. Actually, I've never seen a patient of ours have ANY trouble after the LASIK. PRK(which did precede LASIK, but is a different procedure) can be a different story, and I've had fellow employees who had it when it was brand new.

Good luck with your procedure. You'll walk out feeling like it was a piece of cake, and you'll be able to see the alarm clock in the morning!!

Also, I do still see starbursts around headlights, and I opt to wear a very minimal prescription for night driving to help that. I don't need them, but they do help(when I remember to wear them ).

 

[LOLA2]

I had LASIK done about 5 years ago, and I also happen to be a tech for an ophthalmologist.

You cannot wear your contacts up to the day of your procedure. If you wear gas perms, you will have to be out of them for weeks, possibly months, before your procedure. Contacts, even disposables, reshape the cornea to some extent. Your corneas need to be completely back to their original curvature before LASIK is done.

You don't necessarily have to "sleep" when you get home. It's highly recommended that you "rest" your eyes for awhile(a few hours would be ideal) and close your lids. Your corneas are one of the fastest healing parts of your body. An abrasion can easily heal over in 24 hours. Closing your eyes just helps the process.

Maybe it was because of my work, but I wasn't the least bit apprehensive. I felt nothing, and the thing that keeps your lids open wasn't bothersome to me at all. Not comfy, but not bothersome really either.
I think the only thing that really bothered me was the thought have having to hold my eye still and stare at the red light for several seconds. As a PP stated, i was nervous I would glance away. Believe me, though, that these machines are highly detailed computers. I am pretty sure they compensate for small things like that(to an extent anyway, but this is just a guess).

After it was done, it looked as though I was looking thru Vaseline(which is what I expected). Patients we see now after LASIK say that they could see clearly right away. I work for a small practice, and though the Doctor I work for has done this for several years, her practice is not one of those laser vision centers that pump patients in and out by the higher numbers.
Anyway, I did go home and try to take a nap for a couple hours, but had a hard time sleeping. I ended up laying on the couch and resting my eyes when I could. I also went back to work and saw patients the following day with no problem(and no glasses or contacts!!!! ) It took me a few weeks to get my best vision, but I had quite a bit of nearsightedness. The Lasers today have come quite a ways recently and are much more advanced than the one used on me.
I actually never experienced any pain. I did have some dryness and scratchiness, but not much and I just used the artificial tears for that.

For most people Lasik is a very easy process. Actually, I've never seen a patient of ours have ANY trouble after the LASIK. PRK(which did precede LASIK, but is a different procedure) can be a different story, and I've had fellow employees who had it when it was brand new.

Good luck with your procedure. You'll walk out feeling like it was a piece of cake, and you'll be able to see the alarm clock in the morning!!

Also, I do still see starbursts around headlights, and I opt to wear a very minimal prescription for night driving to help that. I don't need them, but they do help(when I remember to wear them ).

So if you don't have glasses do you need to buy some or do you get some to borrow before surgery? Just wondering as my DH does not have glasses and has never worn glasses.

 

[Princess Roo]

So if you don't have glasses do you need to buy some or do you get some to borrow before surgery? Just wondering as my DH does not have glasses and has never worn glasses.

Oh - I understand what you're asking now. You would need to purchase eye glasses. I know there are some websites now where you can get them quite inexpensively, though, and that would probably work for a few weeks just fine.



Here I have seen advertised as little as $500 per eye (which kind of scares me, honestly) up to $2500 per eye at the "best" place. Some vision insurance will cover part of the cost.

 

[carrie6466]

I paid about $2000 an eye, but again that was 5 years ago. I don't really know what it goes for now.

 

[bellarella]

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!!

Did you tell them when you booked the appointment that you had a newborn? I'm surprised that they will see you. Pgcy can affect your vision and it can take quite some time afterwards before your eyes are back to their "normal" state.

 

[krystalleigh1]

I just wanted to add that most medical reimbursement plans (flex or cafeteria plans) will now reimburse for lasik.

 

[Hayloburger]

I'm 40 and had it done April 2006. I'm in Memphis TN. I booked my appointment in January (it was a slow time) and they were advertising pretty heavy. $2800 for both eyes and all follow up appointments. There were places that were cheaper, but this dr was highly recommend by many people. I had been wanting to do it for 7 years and didn't have the guts....somehow I got the guts after 7 years.

I was nervous until I went to my consultation and met the Dr and went through all the tests......the drs really put my mind at ease.

Surgery was fast and simple. No problems. Recovery was great. I did have some kind of infection (don't remember what it was), and I had to do the eye drops more often and a little longer....but overall, it wasn't a problem (the dr said that I wouldn't even had known that I had this infection...no pain, no sight problems with it). I saw perfectly in the recovery room (it was like opening your eyes underwater, but once your body absorbs the extra fluid, it goes away.....30 minutes or so).

In a nut shell, I guess I worried because it was my EYES, but the worrying wasn't necessary. Read alot on the internet, talk to your dr alot and you will do great. I tell people, it's like getting your teeth cleaned..it doesn't hurt, it's just uncomfortable, but afterwards, it's really worth it!!!

Good Luck!!

 

[rebecca314]

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!!

At my appt this morning there was a list of who would NOT be eligible for LASIK. Nursing moms was one of the things listed - just wanted to let you know!

BTW, congratulations on BF. I know it can be tough sometimes.

 

[PrincessasMommy]

At my appt this morning there was a list of who would NOT be eligible for LASIK. Nursing moms was one of the things listed - just wanted to let you know!

BTW, congratulations on BF. I know it can be tough sometimes.

Thanks!! ​

I started doing more research on it online and actually found the disboard lasik/breastfeeding thread in my search and found many other websites stating until 2 months after I am done breastfeeding I am not eligible, then 20 minutes ago they called to cancel. I am glad they did, but after talking to 3 people that worked there in the first place why would they bother booking it all, I had times set up for my evaluation, surgery and follow-up.

 

[ribbot]

I had Lasik done in 2004 and I'm that one person in a million that had problems. My eyesight was 1 point away from being legally blind--and I saw the ad where Tiger Woods was legally blind and thought if he could do it without problems, so could I. And I hadn't met anybody that had problems, so what was there to lose?

So I went to Tiger Woods Dr. and had the consultation---nope, shouldn't have any problems. I scheduled the surgery and went in to have it. I didn't take any relaxing pills---I thought I didn't need them. (note to self---NEVER EVER do that again).

I got on the table, they clamped each eye shut, one at a time---and it was longer than 30 seconds as one previous poster noted---for me, it was over 1 minute on each eye. You could just smell the burning. Your eyesight goes totally black when they peel the layer off---scary. But when they flop the flap back over, you slowly get your vision back.

The whole procedure is just a few minutes and you sit in a waiting chair so they can check your bandages. Then you're sent home. Well, on my way home, I thought there was something seriously wrong. My eyes were on FIRE! The worse pain I've ever had in my entire life. I came home--and went to bed. I woke up about 2-3 hours later and couldn't see anything but blur. But some of the burning was gone.

It took me at least a week to be able to see the television. I also could not see to drive--day or night. I visited the Dr. every week for the first 6 months trying to figure out what was wrong. Apparently, the eye is made up of 3 layers and one layer is oil---well, they ruined that part of my eye. For the first year I barely made any tears--in fact my eyelid would stick onto my eyeball when I blinked. Then once I finally got tears made, they dry up too fast. So I had at least 4 sets of silicone plugs put into my eyes--some of those popped out--eventually I ended up having the tear duct cauterized in the one eye and the other eye still has 1 silicone plug left in it. But when it pops out, I'll go get it cauterized too. Believe me, the cauterization was worse than the surgery.

If anybody here even has a little bit of dry eye syndrome--do NOT get it done. You, most likely, will be miserable for the rest of your life. I have to take flax seed oil twice a day--that's supposed to supplement the missing oil in my tears.

I can not drive at night..period. My vision is 20/35 in one eye and the other is 20/30. They want me to get glasses, but I refuse---I paid $3300 and it's just too early to start relying on glasses to see crystal clear again. So I squint and save my money to get my smile lines fixed in a few years..

I don't mean to scare you---and I still have only met one other person that had problems--and you could see the pain in her eyes--she was a mess and had been to every specialist around, but you need to seriously consider what MIGHT happen.

Would I do it again? My answer to that is---I don't know that I regret it, but I also don't know if I'd do it again. Contacts aren't that bad afterall.

Good luck to all who are considering.

 

[mickeymousemom]

I just skimmed thru the later posts, but let me give more info...not much....

My Dr. charges $2400 per eye.

If you don't have a back up pair of glasses(you should ALWAYS have a back up pair) and wear contacts, then yes, you'd need to pay(or maybe you have insurance that covers them) for a pair to wear for the time period before you have your LASIK done.

If you already suffer from Dry Eye Syndrome, your ophthalmologist would know this and advise or not advise on whether LASIK is right for you.

Also, for those of you who are getting close to, or right at that "bifocal" age, be aware that LASIK is not meant to correct this. It IS an option to have one eye undercorrected so that you will have monovision. You'd use one eye for near and one eye for distance. Your doctor should try out your tolerance for this first by putting you in monovision contact lenses for a few days.




ETA: In response to a previous post: 20/30 vision is very good vision and is close to what I have. On most eye charts that I've worked with, you will have a 20/20 line, then a 20/25, then a 20/30. I am very happy with my vision, but, yes, I do have trouble at times driving at night. I have a very minimal prescription for this and do wear them occasionally, but only after dark. Sometimes, it's not so much the vision itself that makes it harder at night, but the starbursts. I think this used to be fairly common problem after laser surgery, and I'm not sure how it is now. I'm just so glad not to have to deal with contacts or galsses that I don't care that I don't have 20/20 vision. IMO, I see very clearly. Presently though, most of our patients come in one day post op seeing 20/20 or even 20/15!!

 

[ribbot]

The astigmatism is why my eyes are failing---but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. Yes, they might be 20/30 or 20/35, but the astigmatism is awful. I never had 20/20---even the week after the surgery. It started going down hill within a month and each year it's getting progressively worse. It wasn't like I sat up off the table after surgery and said, WOW I can see! But I guess that does happen to a lot of people.

The Dr. wanted to "touch up" my one eye---I said I think I'll wait till it gets REALLY bad and then I'll just THINK about it. I never really want to go through that pain or the horrible dry eye problems again. (even though I have dryness everyday--but not quite as bad). I was on several prescription eye drops that did nothing too. I have a collection of eye drops in my medicine cabinet--either one's too goopy, one's too thin, etc. And I wanted to add---winter time is the worst. If the sun isn't out, I can barely see. The brighter the sun, the better I can see, plus it makes my eyes water.

I wore thick coke-lens glasses since 2nd grade and the whole procedure really tested my mind. I was still reaching for my glasses for quite awhile before my feet hit the floor in the morning. And being able to see in certain situations just freaked my mind. Statistically the procedure works for a lot of people, just be comfortable with your Dr and maybe get some references before you take the step. Good luck!