How LASIK set me FREE!
Feb 11 '06
The Bottom Line Though I highly recommend LASIK based on a great experience, your decision to have LASIK is ultimately up to you.
I’m a 30-something wife and mother who had LASIK performed originally in 1999. This opinion is written from the viewpoint of a VERY SATISFIED RECIPIENT of the procedure.
I started wearing corrective lenses at the age of 7, and went through about every incarnation of lens ever made until having the procedure done. I went from glasses, to hard contacts, to gas perms, to soft lenses. I hated all of them, and resented the fact that my vision was still “less than perfect” despite having the best doctor in town and being told I was an excellent patient.
Over the years, my vision deteriorated to the point I couldn’t see the “E” without correction. On top of that, I had a fairly high level of astigmatism. Combined, these two problems made achieving 20/20 vision quite a challenge even with corrective lenses. When my vision got worse, however, even high index lenses were so thick I couldn’t completely close my glasses frames. When I started wearing contact lenses, they ALWAYS had to be special ordered, and usually cost at least $200 per pair. Disposable contacts were never even close to being an option for me. The whole business of being able to see gradually became a significant thorn in my side.
If you’re reading this, you might be in the same boat I was a few years ago. Or you might be someone who has found out you need glasses for the first time in your life. Whatever the case, I hope my story will make you feel more informed that you can make that decision about whether to go through the procedure yourself. What follows is a complete account of the time leading up to, and immediately following my LASIK procedures in 1999 and 2002. I have also outlined 3 Tips that I consider to be of UTMOST importance in ensuring a successful outcome should you choose to forge ahead and have the procedure performed.
Tip #1: KNOW THE DOCTOR who’s going to do your surgery.
My eye doctor has always been very conservative in his treatment and recommendations, and over the years I have come to trust him implicitly. Aside from my family, he’s the person with whom I’ve had the longest relationship in my life. So when he told me 8 years ago about a new type of surgery that he thought I should consider, I signed up for his informational seminar that day to learn more about this LASIK surgery everyone was talking about. What I learned in the seminar, combined with my horrible vision and trust for my doctor, made the decision to go ahead with LASIK a no-brainer.
Not everyone will have this luxury of a 20+ year relationship with the doctor who is performing their surgery. However, when you’re laying on the operating table you should have seen your doctor more than 1 time before that moment. It’s your eyes, for goodness sake! The best way to find someone is by talking to people who have had the procedure performed and are willing to share their honest opinions. Don’t pick your doctor solely based on claims of how many procedures have been performed. That’s like buying from someone on ebay who has a very high feedback number without checking their positive feedback percentage.
Tip #2: LISTEN CAREFULLY to what the doctor tells you about the results you can expect, and don’t have the procedure done if you can’t live with those results.
If he tells you you’ll still need reading glasses a few years from now due to macular degeneration (old age), don’t get mad when you’re standing in line at Walgreen’s buying a pair of readers. LASIK will probably not give you perfect eyesight forever.
My prescription prior to having LASIK was in the neighborhood of -8 in each eye, with an astigmatism of over 2. My doctor explained that the vision correction was going to be a snap, but correcting the astigmatism was going to be a little more of a challenge. At that time (1999), the laser he had was not quite advanced enough to “get it all”. I knew this going in, and was accepting of the fact that I might need an “adjustment” down the road.
I have sung the praises of LASIK to no less than a hundred people since having my procedure performed. The number one response I get from people has been along the lines of, “I just can’t imagine someone cutting on my eyeballs. It must hurt”. I’ll say here what I have said to all of these doubting Thomases. I’ve had paper cuts that caused me more grief than my entire LASIK experience. In fact, I can honestly say that I never recall experiencing anything more than slight discomfort. And I’ll explain that when I tell you about the details of my procedure.
Prior to having the surgery, you’ll have to visit your doctor a few times so that he/she can take measurements of the shape of your eyes in order to set up the “menu” that will be used during surgery. In my case, this was done with the help of a mapping machine that looked like something from The Twilight Zone. My eyes had to be dilated prior to the measurements being taken so that the results would be as accurate as possible. After a few minutes of staring into the machine’s seemingly infinite rings, a virtual roadmap of your eyes will come out on a color printer. The more sharp peaks and valleys you have, the worse your vision. What LASIK does is make the surface of the eyes more even. The results from this “roadmap”, along with other data collected by your doctor, is combined to determine what settings will be needed on the machine to produce the desired results. Standard protocol is for these settings to be reviewed multiple times prior to the laser touching your eye.
Tip #3: FOLLOW YOUR DOCTOR’S (and Nurse’s) DIRECTIONS.
From the moment you decide to go forward with the LASIK procedure, you should make sure you understand both the pre-op and post-op requirements and FOLLOW THEM TO A “T”! The doctor does not tell you all these things just to listen to him/herself talk!
If you wear contact lenses, you will have to switch to glasses full-time for several weeks prior to your surgery. Put your vanity aside and do exactly as you’re told. Contacts press on your eyeball, and it is that change in shape that helps produce vision correction. Not wearing your contacts allows your eyes to rest and gradually attain their “natural” shape. If you cheat by wearing your contacts when you’re not supposed to, you run the risk of negatively affecting your LASIK results. I can’t say for sure how much of an effect it could have, but is it really worth it for you to find out?
Though I went for my LASIK consult while I was pregnant, my doctor recommended I wait until at least 6 months after childbirth to have the procedure performed. Reason being, the eyes are yet another part of the woman’s body that change shape during pregnancy, and they don’t settle back to “normal” until a few months after the baby is born. Bearing this in mind, you gals may want to consider putting off LASIK until after you’ve had all the kids you want, unless you don’t mind going back for an adjustment if warranted.
The Surgery (or, All the Stuff You Really Want To Know)
I chose a surgery appointment late in the day, as to miss as little work as possible. I spent about 30 minutes with both the nurse and my doctor prior to surgery, taking care of administrative-type things. They reviewed measurements and went through the paperwork once again and collected my consent forms. Numbing drops were put into my eyes. As the drops started to work but while I was still clear of head, the nurse explained how I would take care of my eyes post-op. I had already picked up my prescription drops, so I would be able to go straight home after the procedure. The nurse assembled my drops and other items into a kit for me to take home while explaining to me and my husband how each item should be used.
At that point, I was outfitted with shoe covers and my hair was tucked into a bonnet. I was led into the LASIK room and guided onto the chair. There were 2 or 3 other people in the room already, prepping the machine and instruments used during surgery. The doctor reviewed details about what sounds I would hear and what sensations I would feel, and he did this again at each step during the procedure.
My chair was reclined to a horizontal position, and then we began. The first step of the procedure was for the doctor to stabilize my eye to eliminate any chance of movement during surgery. My eyeball was already numb, but the eyelids had to be immobilized as well. This was done with a speculum (Ladies: this is a miniature version of what your GYN uses during your yearly exam, Men: it’s like a little clamp, but it it’s locked in the “open” position instead of “closed”). I’ll admit that this was the most uncomfortable part for me, both mentally and physically. The ends of the speculum are inserted in between the eyelids and eyeball, then tightened to hold the eyelids open. I did feel some pressure from a part of the speculum that was resting near my eye socket, but honestly that was the worst sensation of the whole procedure. I say that because until you are in a position where you can’t blink, you don’t realize how significant that defense mechanism really is.
Once my eye was immobilized, the doctor applied some kind of suction device onto my eyeball. I’ll admit I don’t really understand what that was all about, and it was a little bizarre. For a brief moment, my vision went completely black, then came right back to normal after the suction was removed. Next, the doctor made the cut on my eyeball needed to produce a flap that could be lifted prior to the application of the laser. The cut was made very quickly, then the doctor lifted the flap up and out of the way. Yet another freaky sensation, as my vision went from blurry to completely watery. The laser was turned on, then the doctor told me he was ready to begin. Because my starting vision was so bad, my total laser time was right at a minute. During that time, I had been instructed to focus on a red light that was in front of my eye. The doctor had warned me that the laser made loud “clicking noises” as it ran, but I really felt it was more like a “Clank”—and it came just about every second for that entire minute.
After the laser stopped, the doctor used an instrument to guide the corneal flap back down onto my eyeball, then used a tiny brush to smooth it back into place. That was really strange to see the brush moving over my eye, yet not be able to feel it. Then the speculum was removed and I was allowed to relax and blink for a few moments as drops were put into my eye for lubrication. Then he moved on to the other eye where the same steps were performed again. I was helped out of the chair and, for the first time since I was in pre-school, I could see without the use of corrective lenses. It was utterly amazing. I went back to where my husband was waiting and was given a light sedative pill and some juice. Within moments, we were in the car and on the way home. I had been instructed to go home and sleep for at least 2 hours, which I was more than happy to oblige. The whole procedure, from when I sat in the chair until the moment I got up, was less than 10 minutes. Probably even closer to five minutes. And when you’re in there, time goes at warp speed.
After The Surgery
The next morning at 6:30, I was able to drive 30 minutes on the highway to work--without any corrective lenses. You should have seen the jaws hit the floor when I walked into the office that day. Even now when I tell my story, people are amazed to hear that I had literally NO downtime or pain from this procedure. That’s not to say, however, that there wasn’t a little work required to make sure everything continued to go smoothly.
For a week after surgery, I had to put various drops into my eyes every few hours. For the first couple days, I had to tape plastic guards over my eyes when I slept to prevent anything (especially fingers that are used to rubbing!) from touching them. The “no rubbing” rule was in place for many weeks, but quite frankly that was no problem for me as I was highly motivated to achieve the best results possible. Of course, I had several post-op visits so my doctor could make sure I was healing nicely and to check my results.
I had heard about dry eyes and night vision problems experienced by some LASIK patients, but I never have experienced any of that. Though there were a lot of drops involved in the days and weeks following surgery, I can honestly say I haven’t used any kind of eye drops in at least a couple years. And as far as night vision goes, mine is actually better post-LASIK than it ever was with corrective lenses. I feel like part of that is due to the fact that my overall vision was better than it ever was with lenses. And I’ll also attribute some of that to following my doctor’s instructions to the letter, thereby producing the best results possible.
I will be the first to admit that LASIK was expensive. My procedures cost $4400, and none of it was covered by insurance. However, I utilized a financing plan provided via my doctor’s office and a local bank that allowed me to pay for the procedure over the course of 3 years—at a low interest rate, I might add. But I have never regretted my decision to have the procedure done, not even for a second. I’ve said it a hundred times if once, that it was the best money I have ever spent on myself. Bar none. After struggling with the embarrassment of thick glasses, the frustration of contacts, and the overall expense of the lenses necessary for proper vision, what LASIK cost was a drop in the bucket. Seven years later, I’ll admit it has become quite easy for me to take my vision for granted.
However, that $4400 (in my case) has basically covered everything, including the “enhancement” I had in 2002. I mentioned in the beginning that the doctor had warned me of the possibility of needing the enhancement later down the road. This, in fact, was the case and was realized by me as I found myself constantly hitting curbs while driving. The doctor told me that my depth perception was off due to remaining uncorrected astigmatism, but technology advancements made it possible for him to “take care of it all” this time around.
The second procedure was even easier than the first, mainly because I knew exactly what to expect. What’s more, I only spent 10 seconds under the laser per eye the second time around. Add to that the fact that the doctor didn’t have to cut the flap again, and from the time I walked in the door it took less time than getting my teeth cleaned!
I obviously have nothing but positive things to say about my LASIK experience. However, I know there are people out there who have had less than stellar experiences and results that disappointed them. Since I cannot speak to that, I can only leave you with the preceding opinion on how to ensure your own success should you choose to have procedure done. To drive my points home, I will re-state what I believe to be the 3 most important things you need to do before, during, and after your procedure:
Tip #1: KNOW THE DOCTOR who’s going to do your procedure.
Tip #2: LISTEN CAREFULLY to what the doctor tells you about the results you can expect, and ASK QUESTIONS to ensure your understanding of what he/she tells you.
Tip #3: FOLLOW YOUR DOCTOR’S DIRECTIONS</p>
If you’ve made it this far, you must be serious about LASIK, and I hope that I have helped you make an informed decision about having the procedure done on yourself or someone you care about.
For me, the experience has come full circle. My son is 7, and he just received his first pair of glasses in November. Believe it or not, it was not until his first eye exam that I found out that myopia (near-sightedness) is a very STRONG genetic trait, so keep this in mind if you have children. We didn’t have a clue that our son was having problems seeing until the school nurse sent home a note suggesting we have his vision checked. So for at least the next decade, we’ll have to endure the agony and expense of keeping his vision corrected. But when the time comes to make a more permanent decision, I won’t hesitate to consider recommending LASIK for him based on what I achieved from the procedure.
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Epinions.com ID:
smaihlee
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Location: Spartanburg, SC
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Sucker for anything - no more!
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