was your eye surgery successful? - Lasik Eye Surgery Message Board

theodorija67 · 06-28-2007, 09:02 AM

I heard unsucessful surgery can make eyesight even worse. I was looking for statistics for successful eye surgery but couldn't find any. After you've healed can you see more clearly or worse than before? Thanks

Hating glasses · 06-28-2007, 12:16 PM

My surgery was a success. I had mine done a bit over a year and a half ago. I still suffer from dry eyes when I wake up in the AM but, I just need to put some drops in and then I am fine. I went from 20/40 and 20/60 to 20/15 and I had a pretty bad case of astigmatism which is almost completely corrected. Basically, if I had to measure my astigmatism, my doc said it is barely a grain of sand it is so small. So, I am tickled with my success. Even with glasses on, I would squint all the time. After my surgery, it took me quite some time to train myself not to squint. I would struggle to see words on the computer from as far away from me as it is now even with my glasses on and, there is no struggle at all now. Watching tv is a different experience and going to a sporting event is really cool. After I first had my eyes done, I was completely in awe of the colors outside. The sky was so blue and the trees so green. It literally hurt for me to see that crisp until I got used to it. Basically, I never new colors so vibrant, brilliant and beautiful until after my surgery.

So, yes...my surgery was a success and, despite the am dry eye issue, I have absolutely no regrets!

criscobaby · 06-29-2007, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hating glasses

My surgery was a success. I had mine done a bit over a year and a half ago. I still suffer from dry eyes when I wake up in the AM but, I just need to put some drops in and then I am fine. I went from 20/40 and 20/60 to 20/15 and I had a pretty bad case of astigmatism which is almost completely corrected. Basically, if I had to measure my astigmatism, my doc said it is barely a grain of sand it is so small. So, I am tickled with my success. Even with glasses on, I would squint all the time. After my surgery, it took me quite some time to train myself not to squint. I would struggle to see words on the computer from as far away from me as it is now even with my glasses on and, there is no struggle at all now. Watching tv is a different experience and going to a sporting event is really cool. After I first had my eyes done, I was completely in awe of the colors outside. The sky was so blue and the trees so green. It literally hurt for me to see that crisp until I got used to it. Basically, I never new colors so vibrant, brilliant and beautiful until after my surgery.

So, yes...my surgery was a success and, despite the am dry eye issue, I have absolutely no regrets!

Did you have regular Lasik, Intralace, or what?

Hating glasses · 06-29-2007, 09:39 AM

Mine was Lasik. I can't remember the name of the machine they used on me. I tried to find it in some of my old posts as I am sure I mentioned which one it was but, I couldn't find it. I did see where I said that they couldn't do the wavefront on me because my astigmatism was a grain of sand over the level with which they could use the wavefront. But, that was over 2 years ago and the technology is constantly improving.

jakem1 · 06-29-2007, 10:03 AM

It is extremely rare that your vision will be worse after the surgery.

However, "is the surgery worth it", is a different question. About 15% of the people end up with vision without glasses that is inferior to what they had with glasses prior to surgery.

If you end up one of those 15%, your vision will be better than it was but it certainly will have not been worth it to you as you will either still need glasses (albeit at a mild prescription) or will go around without glasses but seeing less (e.g. 20/25 or 20/30 or 20/40) of the world than you saw prior to surgery when you wore your glasses and corrected to 20/20.