My lasik experience

Age 51. Male. Wore contacts most of my adult life.

Last prescription for eyeglasses: moderately severe myopia with some astigmatism. -9.00 right eye -6.50 left eye.

Summer 2006: Obtained three opinions and price quotes; was told I was eligible to have lasik surgery.

9/27/2006: Chose LasikPlus to perform the surgery. At the free exam, I was told that I would have an 85% chance of achieving 20/20 vision; at least 97% chance of being able to have an enhancement if needed.

1/04/2007: Lasik surgery both eyes.

1/05/2007: 1st post op exam: could see 20/20 with left eye; not so well with the right eye

1/12/2007: 2nd post op exam: could not see 20/20 with left eye; could see 20/20 with right eye

1/15/2007: Vision in right eye is still generally better than the left. Possibly still healing in my left eye. May need an enhancement. Next post op exam appointment is on 2/6/2007.

I would like to withhold my overall opinion on lasik surgery until I am three months post op. I will say that colors are more vivid post op than pre op. I like the vision I have now than what I had with contacts or glasses.

briloop,
My suggestion is that you save your opinion on the surgery for longer than 3 months. You may be one of the lucky ones that heals within 3 months but, don't be scared or shocked if you are still healing nearly 2 years later. My surgery will have been 2 years ago this Friday and, I would say that I was still healing more than 18 months later. I suffer from dry eye due to my surgery. However, it has gotten considerably better and the only real problem I have now is in the morning when I first wake up. But, for the first at least 18 months, I was still having semi-blurry moments. And, the first year was the worst time for me. Not that it was horrible. But, it was uncomfortable. I felt like I had an eyelash in either or both eyes most of the day. I had to use eye drops on an every hour or 2 basis. Due to the dryness I would be sort of blurry (at first for the first couple hours of the day and then just randomly throughout the day).

So, my best advice is to use lots of drops for the first 3 to 6 months. You may not feel like your eyes are dry but, they probably are. So, even if they feel fine, unless you need them more, I would use drops every hour or 2. It can't hurt. And, your eyes need an immense amount of moisture to heal better and quicker.

So, even if you haven't gotten to a point that you are happy within 3 months, don't be discouraged. I really feel like my fluctuations have stopped since only about 5 or so months ago. It may be less than that. I have tried to pay close attention to my improvements but, at 2 years...it has been tedious and I forget time frames as there have been so many to comment on. If you get bored, click on my board name and go back to see my old posts. That may help you as I have kept up with this board for the entire 2 years.

Take care and try to stay patient!

How was your vision before the surgery? Would you able to see 20/25 or 20/30?

I am now 5 weeks post op. Last Tuesday, the optometrist gave me a prescription for Restasis, due to dry eye. I had been using drops once an hour, on average. He said I should only have to use drops 4 -6 times a day.

Hating glasses - Thank you for your advice and encouragement. Yes, you are right. I should withhold my opinion on the surgery until well over 3 months. With the experiences I have had so far, it is very likely I will still be healing well past the 3 month mark.

toothbrush1 - My vision before surgery was not good. I had moderately severe myopia with some astigmatism. -9.00 right eye -6.50 left eye. I don't know how that would translate into 20/whatever. My vision after surgery was just as I described in my post dated 1-15-2007. However, due to dry eye, I couldn't see the eye chart during a post op exam on 2-6-2007.

By the way, Restasis is not cheap. I had the prescription filled at a local pharmacy using my health care insurance. My co-pay was $30 for a 16 day supply of the drug. Restasis is going to cost me approx. $60 a month until the dry eye goes away.

A co-worker of mine said it takes about a week to see an improvement due to Restasis. Is she right?

By the way, Restasis is not cheap. I had the prescription filled at a local pharmacy using my health care insurance. My co-pay was $30 for a 16 day supply of the drug. Restasis is going to cost me approx. $60 a month until the dry eye goes away.

A co-worker of mine said it takes about a week to see an improvement due to Restasis. Is she right?[/QUOTE]


Hi,
My eye doctor put me on Restasis about 2 weeks after my surgery. It takes a couple of weeks to notice some improvement. I had pretty much constant discomfot in my left eye the first few weeks after surgery and after using the Restasis for a couple of weeks it started to get better. I am a little over three months post op and at just about the 3 month mark my eyes starting feeling amazing for almost the whole day. I only use over the counter eye drops now about 3 times a day, and I have been using the Restasis once in the morning and once at night for about 2 and a half months.
I am lucky in that my insurance covers Restasis because it is VERY expensive otherwise. Do you have a mail order option? I was able to get a 3 month supply (180 vials) for only a $35 copay. I would look into going that route if you can. I have another post op appointment on Wednesday so we will see if the Restasis has helped with the dry eye when the eye doctor actually looks at my eyes, but I can tell you they feel awesome now for a good majority of the day and I am SOOOOOO thrilled!!! It is just amazing to not have to bother with glasses or contacts anymore! Keep us updated on your progress.

Originally Posted by briloop

toothbrush1 - My vision before surgery was not good. I had moderately severe myopia with some astigmatism. -9.00 right eye -6.50 left eye. I don't know how that would translate into 20/whatever. My vision after surgery was just as I described in my post dated 1-15-2007. However, due to dry eye, I couldn't see the eye chart during a post op exam on 2-6-2007.

What I meant to ask was how was your vision with glasses/contacts?

I am now 10 weeks post op. I had my fourth follow-up visit with my optometrist three days ago. I will have my fifth follow-up visit in two weeks, on the 29th of March.

After using Restasis for 5 weeks now, I would say that my eyes are producing more tears, but they are still somewhat dry. I am using Refresh Tears about 5-6 times a day. I use Genteal Gel Drops upon waking up in the morning and again at night before going to bed.

The best way to describe the progress with my vision is that, every few days or so, I notice tiny, tiny, tiny improvements. Because of my dry eye, my vision is still a little blurry. I see halos when driving in the darkness.

toothbrush1:

I wore gas permeable contacts from 1988 to August 2006. My vision with contacts was very good, but I could not wear these lenses 24/7. I had to take them out after about 12 hours each day. Even with gas perms, I had to use reading glasses in order to see up close. Post-lasik, I don't need reading glasses. I switched from contacts to glasses five months before the surgery in order to allow my corneas to revert to their natural shape. My vision with glasses was not as good as it was with contacts. I did not like glasses at all.

3/29/2007 - during follow-up exam, my optometrist determined that I need an enhancement done on my left eye, and possibly on my right eye. My next appointment is on 4/25/2007 for a complete exam and measurement for enhancement surgery.

ive had an awsome experience with them!
i got the surgery done two years ago when i was 18 against their wishes - however i needed it for my career
been amazing so far although i am VERY upset its taking 6 months to get follow up appointments now

During my appointment yesterday (04/25/2007), my optometrist told me that they are going to do an enhancement on my right (dominant) eye first, thus giving me monovision (one eye good for distance, the other for reading). The optometrist said that if I am not satisfied with monovision, they will enhance the left eye for distance.

I will find out next week when they will do the enhancement surgery.

I think that Lasix surgery is the greatest thing when it works.. When you read all of the paper work in it is states that approximately 1to 2 percent of the people the surgery does not work on.. Well I am one of that percentage and I wish at this point that I would never have had it done.YOUR eyes are very precious.. To begin with,.. the cutting machine that makes a flap on the cornea failed and ripped my cornea., The reason is the suction to hold my eyes open came off while it was cutting the flap... so be sure your eyes sockets are big enough to have the surgery!!!!!!. It took 3 months for that to heal and so I proceeded with the surgery on the other eye.In order to have this surgery I had to have the sides of my eyes slit so that the suction would fit on and not come off... and then had to have 2 stitches,This had to be done on both eyes... About a month after the suregery my eyelid stuck to my cornea pulling off part of the cornea.. and it does thsi quite often even now 7 years after having the surgery.. I have had lots of problems.. the visions is so different in each eye that It is hard to wear glasses..YES The thing I wanted to get away from was wearing glasses.. and now it is worse than ever getting a pair of glasses to fit correctly due to such a differenc in the vision in each eye..I have extremely dry eyes and always will... I am now fighting floaters and flashes of lights most likely caused by the surgery from the lasix I am told... My vision is blurry in one eye So would I recommend this surgery... Like I said I think it is grand just wish it would have worked for me... and I KNOW THAT it does for most people but be very sure that you are willing to take the risk in case you are one of the 1% that it does not work on..

Janice,

Sorry to hear about what happened to you.

Ask your Dr. to write the prescription for twice as much. Most insurance companies will allow a prescription for a 30 day supply. That way maybe your co-pay will only be $30 instead of $60 for a month.

05/2/2007 - The optometrist did a pre-op exam for the enhancement surgery; was told to call back in a week to find out when the surgery would be scheduled.

05/11/2007 - Called LasikPlus to find out when the enhancement would take place - was told to come in and be fitted with one contact lens in my right eye to try out the monovision.

05/14/2007 - During the appointment, the optometrist told me that my eyes had intralocular pressure. He showed me the map of my eye taken during the 5/2/2007 pre-op exam. He wrote me a prescription for Alphagan eyedrops, which is a medicine used primarily for glaucoma. He told me to use Alphagan twice a day to see if it relieves the pressure in my eyes. He told me it would take 1 to 4 weeks for Alphagan to take effect.

5/14/2007 - I started using Alphagan, and noticed a slight improvement in my vision. But as of 5/19/2007, my vision still hasn't achieved a desirable result. I will keep using Alphagan until the next follow-up appointment.

I have an appointment on 6/18/2007 for a follow-up. The optometrist told me I would not be on Alphagan longer than 8 weeks. If, after that, my vision has still not achieved a desirable result, they will do the enhancement surgery.

8/2/2007 - Enhancement surgery on my right eye. I was told by the ophthalmologist who operated on me that they do enhancements one eye at a time. They do not create a new flap; they use the original flap. Post-op, I experienced slightly more pain and discomfort than the original procedure.

8/7/2007 - Tested 20/25 vision in right eye.

8/28/2007 - Tested 20/20 vision in right eye. Whoopeeee! I now have monovision - 20/20 distance vision in my right eye; 20/50 reading vision in my left eye. The doctor advised me to wait at least six more months before deciding on whether to have my left eye enhanced.