I'm So Disappointed in Lasik :(

Hi everyone. I have 20/20 vision in my right eye and HAD 20/60 in my left eye which really isn't too bad, but my eye doctor was very optimistic that he could fix that with lasik surgery. That way I could see far without prescription glasses and have that note taken off my driver's license. I had heard so many good things about lasik over the years right from when it first began, so after waiting all these years for it to be around for awhile, I figured what the heck. I won't have to wear prescription glasses any more to drive (especially at night) and even though my close vision was not too bad, I still wore reading glasses by choice, so that wouldn't be something new to me.

Anyway... I had the lasik surgery done on my left eye 2 weeks ago and since then my vision has continually gotten worse (I guess I'm that small percent it doesn't work on, sigh). I can't see far in my left eye, and I can't see near at all... not even with reading glasses. I have become increasingly disappointed about this and yesterday I set off the alarm at work (I open every morning) because I could not see the key pad to enter the security code, and I couldn't SEE to find my reading glasses to put the darn code back in to turn it off! I know that's my nearsight which wasn't what I had repaired, but my reading glasses don't even help the lasik eye at all for close vision.

When I look at something or someone at pretty close range, I get the feeling my eyes want to cross or I'm going to see double. I figured, this is the last straw. I paid almost $1,000 to not only worsen my farsightedness, but to also lose my nearsight completely. I understand with lasik it's either/or, you can't have both, but magnifiers/reading glasses don't even help me, so nearsight OR farsight don't work. I went back to the doctor today and my vision is now 20/80. I could cry. It's worse than when I went in, and my close range vision is gone. The doctor rescheduled me for tomorrow to re-do the lasik surgery to put me back to nearsight which now is more important to me. I guess I'll have to go back to wearing prescription glasses for driving like I used to. Sigh.

This is the thing.... I'm so afraid that if the doctor couldn't give me the 20/20 vision for distance like he was so optimistic he could do thru this lasik surgery, will he be able to bring me back to the 20/20 I use to have for nearsight? I'm worried that in essence, I will have paid all this money to ruin the sight in my left eye! Money that will never be reimbursed, because they cover themselves for that when you sign your life away. Sorry for the complaining, but thanks for hearing me vent. I'll try to post more after this second lasik surgery tomorrow with results.

Two weeks after your initial surgery is too soon in my opinion to "redo" the Lasik. Your eyes are still healing from the first run. How did the Dr. explain that you went from 20/60 to 20/80?? Sounds like he screwed up. You need a second opinion!

Too late for a second opinion. I screwed up having this done to begin with. I can't begin to tell you what a mistake I've made... and why would any doctor recommend lasik on someone with only 20/60, knowing full well he'd ruin the near sight in the process. I had the surgery redone and I can see near now with my left eye, but only 6 inches in front of me. I can no longer see a computer screen which is a foot to 1-1/2 feet in front of me and reading glasses don't help my left/bad eye.... they only work in the right eye. So now I have to pop the lense out of the left side of all my reading glasses. My far sight in the left eye is now worse than it was before I had any of this done, so I will now need a more powerful prescription for distance than I originally used.

Lack of research on my part... probably, but I also relied too much on word of mouth from people I know who had it done and raved about it, not to mention 3 of my favorite radio show hosts as well, who had it done when it first came out many years ago, and to this day, still rave about it. It's a number of things, and of course, trusting the eye doctor as well. I screwed up royally and now I'm screwed. It's a very very expensive lesson I learned. I paid to ruin the sight in one of my eyes. I should have just left well enough alone.

P.S. The doctor didn't really explain how I went from 20/60 to 20/80, but he seemed very concerned about getting me back in right away to re-do it, probably because he knew he messed up. Who knows. This doctor has a very good reputation in the field and my family has gone to him over the years, so that's why I went to him. Sigh

Originally Posted by Hicompression

Two weeks after your initial surgery is too soon in my opinion to "redo" the Lasik. Your eyes are still healing from the first run. How did the Dr. explain that you went from 20/60 to 20/80?? Sounds like he screwed up. You need a second opinion!

Originally Posted by CuriousPatient

Too late for a second opinion. I screwed up having this done to begin with. I can't begin to tell you what a mistake I've made... and why would any doctor recommend lasik on someone with only 20/60, knowing full well he'd ruin the near sight in the process. I had the surgery redone and I can see near now with my left eye, but only 6 inches in front of me. I can no longer see a computer screen which is a foot to 1-1/2 feet in front of me and reading glasses don't help my left/bad eye.... they only work in the right eye. So now I have to pop the lense out of the left side of all my reading glasses. My far sight in the left eye is now worse than it was before I had any of this done, so I will now need a more powerful prescription for distance than I originally used.

Lack of research on my part... probably, but I also relied too much on word of mouth from people I know who had it done and raved about it, not to mention 3 of my favorite radio show hosts as well, who had it done when it first came out many years ago, and to this day, still rave about it. It's a number of things, and of course, trusting the eye doctor as well. I screwed up royally and now I'm screwed. It's a very very expensive lesson I learned. I paid to ruin the sight in one of my eyes. I should have just left well enough alone.

P.S. The doctor didn't really explain how I went from 20/60 to 20/80, but he seemed very concerned about getting me back in right away to re-do it, probably because he knew he messed up. Who knows. This doctor has a very good reputation in the field and my family has gone to him over the years, so that's why I went to him. Sigh

It took my eyes almost 6 weeks to get to 20/40 then another 4 weeks to get to 20/20. But I had PRK done which takes longer to heal and your vision to hone in. I dont know if you had PRK done but if you did, I'd wait atleast 2 full months to see some kind of improvement and atleast 6 months to see clearly.

PS... If you get PRK done complain about the pain, keep complaining tell them you can't sleep at night, tell them you curl up like a shrimp and they will prescribe you some percocet like they did for me. And for the couple of weeks post surgery you wil have a constant smile on your face. =)

Originally Posted by daimleramg

It took my eyes almost 6 weeks to get to 20/40 then another 4 weeks to get to 20/20. But I had PRK done which takes longer to heal and your vision to hone in. I dont know if you had PRK done but if you did, I'd wait atleast 2 full months to see some kind of improvement and atleast 6 months to see clearly.

PS... If you get PRK done complain about the pain, keep complaining tell them you can't sleep at night, tell them you curl up like a shrimp and they will prescribe you some percocet like they did for me. And for the couple of weeks post surgery you wil have a constant smile on your face. =)

Could you please tell us if you had a terrible blurred and double vision for the first weeks without any change for long?

Originally Posted by Very Disappoint

Could you please tell us if you had a terrible blurred and double vision for the first weeks without any change for long?

Yes my vision was blurred and saw doubles for 7 days each eye, the kicker was my right eye blurred first then when the blurriness and double vision went away my left eye kicked in and was blurry for another week. My contact(PRK surgery) from my left eye fell off and I used the freezing liquid too much to ease the pain so my left eye took a while to heal. Just give it time and everything will work itself out, I thought I was gona have blurry vision for the rest of my life but a month later everything turned out ok for me. Now my right eye is stil 20/20 but my left is about 20/30 so I might have to go for a touch up.