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Having lasers shot INTO my eyes: Considering LASIK
superhappypanda
Zug Island Sport FishingSeattleRegistered User regular
Zug Island Sport FishingSeattleRegistered User regular
So I have about 2500 in my flexible spending account that I need to use by the end of May. I've been considering either LASIK or Invisalign. LASIK is a little higher on the priority list because it doesn't look like I chew on rocks and my eyesight is pretty piss poor.
To be honest though, I am a little worried about repercussions down the line from LASIK where as Invisalign is pretty safe (and I could get false teeth if for some reason it caused them to go to hell). Functioning replacement eyes are less of an option at the moment.
So who's gotten LASIK on here, how'd it go for you? Do you love it? Were there any complications or drawbacks? What was the following days/weeks/months/years like after the change? Did you have to go back for multiple visits? Is there any pain? Do they put you under during the procedure so you're not awake?
Any info would be helpful. Last time I looked into this was about 10 or 12 years ago and I know things have advanced since then.
To be honest though, I am a little worried about repercussions down the line from LASIK where as Invisalign is pretty safe (and I could get false teeth if for some reason it caused them to go to hell). Functioning replacement eyes are less of an option at the moment.
So who's gotten LASIK on here, how'd it go for you? Do you love it? Were there any complications or drawbacks? What was the following days/weeks/months/years like after the change? Did you have to go back for multiple visits? Is there any pain? Do they put you under during the procedure so you're not awake?
Any info would be helpful. Last time I looked into this was about 10 or 12 years ago and I know things have advanced since then.
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The laser procedure itself is simple, but you should be prepared for a pretty intense self-care regimen at home. They gave me two bottles of prescription pills and 3 different eyedrops to be taken at different intervals of the day. Might not sound like much, but it's been a hassle for me to remember to take everything at the appropriate times.
She loves it, but it was kind of painful/uncomfortable. The actual procedure isn't painful, but it's pretty uncomfortable. Your eyes are numb, but they are sucked up in to this gasket to keep them from moving. It's a lot of pressure and discomfort, but it doesn't last long. They also give you an anti-anxiety med to keep you calm during the whole thing.
Post op it was pretty uncomfortable for a couple of days. She described it as having sand or sand paper in her eyes. They gave her drops for that, and it was mostly gone in a couple of days.
The procedure is pretty safe, and we have about 20 years of data on eye correction surgery with no real scary blips. I mean, you're having your eyes cut on, so buyer beware, and always choose the best doctor (completely disregard price, price does not matter when it comes to your eyes).
After that, things felt pretty normal.
Are you currently wearing contact lenses? If you're a contact wearer, the treatment will be much easier to tolerate.
That being said, the only complaint I've heard from my immediate circle is that lights at night tend to be somewhat brighter or shimmerier. It's hard to explain, but basically it makes driving at night somewhat of a nuisance. Not that driving is impossible, it's just somehow "different" in a slightly worse way after the surgery. This has only been an issue while actually driving, though, not while being a passenger or walking around, due to the difference in concentration levels (you have to stare a lot more while actively driving).
Finally, if you play a lot of video games, you will probably need to use eyedrops before and after for the same reason -- staring for a long period of time. The procedure will damage your nerves so your eyes don't generate enough natural tear fluid for a while. Once you heal up, your eyes should return to normal.
All that being said, the most important thing is to talk to a couple doctors and get evaluated by them before you commit. Read the material and ask THEM. The consultations are all free.
I hate eyedrops but I can tough it out for a couple days. What did you folks do when your eyes itch from it? I'd be terrified to have anything come remotely close to my eyes for a couple months. What about when you sleep, did you have to wear anything to keep your eyes protected?
What about having someone drive you back and forth from your visits? How much did you have to have other folks do things for you? I'm curious because I'm single and live alone, just wondering if I'd have to have a friend stay with me for a couple days to help out.
The procedure was quick. At the place I went to it took 10-15 minutes. They gave me a Valium for nerves and it started. I was put under the first machine where they put an eye clamp in to keep my eyelids open. This was the most uncomfortable part. It felt really weird but not unbearable. They put numbing drops in your eyes so you feel nothing. Then a suction cup comes down and held my eye in place and a laser makes its way around, cutting the outer layer of my eye. This was fairly uncomfortable but the suction cup puts enough pressure that actually makes your vision go black, which helped my nerves.
After that they stood me up and walked me to the second machine. I was told to lay down, then they peeled back the outer layer of my eye and told and stare at the red dot overhead. That was a laser that mapped the imperfections inside my eye for about 30 seconds, then went off again for another 30 seconds to fix them. After that they used this little brush thing to lay the outer layer of my eye back in place and brushed over it with a liquid to help it heal. That's it!
I just wanted to give you my experience. Afterwords I had to keep my eyes closed for 6 hours. To prepare for that I stayed up the entire previous night so I could just sleep after the procedure. My girlfriend at the time (wife now) drove me home after. They gave me what were basically swimming goggles to where the entire first day. After that I was supposed to wear them when I went to bed every night for two weeks. They were pretty uncomfortable but worth it so you don't actually itch your eyes. For the first month my eyes were fairly dry so I just used a lot of eye drops. I would say it's the best thing I have ever done, medically speaking. I take it for granted now but it is pretty awesome not to have to rely on extra hardware just to see.
The only question I didn't answer was about having people do things for you. Outside of having someone drive you home the day of your surgery, you will be fine. The first day you'll have those goggles on, which are tinted, but you can still see. It will be hazy but you will be fine. Let me know if you have any other specific questions or if I have been unclear about anything.
When she got home, her eyes hurt, so she took the medication and slept in the afternoon. They were painful for the rest of the day, and she slept again overnight with the eyemask they provided. The next day, she was pretty normal during the day -- she woke up and was able to look around like normal, and it was the first day she was able to just open her eyes and see normally. The second day, she said she didn't have any pain, but was sensitive -- her eyes felt a little gritty and slimy, due to the dryness. Since I was around to help, I did the normal daily chores while she laid around and recouped. She said it was mostly just boring and painful, but on a 1-10 scale her pain was around 3.
Anyway. My experience was great (it was like 6 years ago, so details may be squirrelly). For 1, definitely have someone to drive you home, they gave me a sedative (valium i think) which knocked me on my ass. i could barely keep my eyes open post-op. the entire procedure took about 5 minutes, sitting around for 30 minutes waiting for the numbing drops to kick in was the worst part, because i was all anxious. Anyway, they bring you into the surgery room, you lay down and they hover the machine over your face. the put a cup over your eyeball to block your eyelids, and it sort of sucks your eyeball out of your head a bit. this is by far the worst part, and it is just mild discomfort. you stare at a light and keep still for about 30 seconds. you smell an acrid, burning smell (like electricity), and then that eye is done. repeat on the other eye. THIS SOUNDS WAY WORSE THAN IT IS. Post op they do some normal checkup stuff, and you go home. you get little goggle things (they sort of look like Macho Man's glasses, but they are clear. Pop those babies on and take a nap. I slept pretty much the rest of the day/night.
Next morning, my eye doctor was within walking distance, so i popped on sunglasses and hoofed it. My vision was VASTLY improved already. got my exam and everything was good to go, i was better than 20/20. he told me to take it easy, sleep with the goggles, and do the drops as prescribed. i don't like drops either, but you get used to it quick. your eyes do feel a bit dry and you kind of want to rub them (DON'T) but it's nothing worse than slight discomfort. 6 years later i have some issues with halos at night (like you are living in a star trek movie, but not that bad), and my eyes get dry sometimes. small price to pay for no glasses!
It's important to know whether you would be getting LASIK (where they cut a flap in the cornea, laser shape it, and then replace the flap) or PRK (where they just laser right into the front of the cornea.)
The recovery time for LASIK is a few days, where as for PRK is can be a few weeks. The first four hours after the LASIK is pretty miserable, the worst burning and tearing sensations ever. However, once you get past that there is barely any discomfort. You may have a little bit of dry eye stuff going on. I had my girlfriend drive me home from the appointment, but I was fine by the next day: drove myself back for the checkup / went to work.
I didn't have terrible vision, but I do a lot of sport stuff, swimming, skiing, etc, and not having to carry around prescription sun glasses or not being able to see well in the water or on the slopes is a huge plus for me.
You should schedule an appointment to see how good of a candidate you are for it and then you can sit on it for a couple months and think about it.
I didn't have any problems afterwards, and I am quite the road warrior on road trips, so for me night vision wasn't affected at all.
I had my mother come with me (was single and not dating anyone at the time, don't judge me!), and drive me home. I took the next day off from work, and after that it was business as usual, with the exception of the drops, night mask, and the follow ups (I think I had one a month later, and then a year later).
I pretty much have a solid layer of stuff moving across my vision and while I don't mind glasses, that 'd be worth it to clear those off.
edit:
Here's a thread from 2010.
Basically, there are two forms of the laser. The newer, more expensive one is a wider laser (This is how it was explained to me) that reshapes more of the cornea, so it eliminates glare and the halo effect. I am totally going for that one. They told me that the procedure takes about 15 minutes.
I can't wait to be rid of my glasses. I took to contacts really well, but ever since deciding to get lazored, I stopped buying them and have run out.
Not everyone can be qualified for LASIK procedure thou... so that's why they'll give you free consultation first and check your eyes to make sure you can undergo the procedure.
Also... if they are offering you the pill before the procedure... take it. I did it without taking the pill....
Anyway, I had PRK (twice), so I'll copy/paste the writeup I dropped last time someone asked this.
Devoutly Apathetic is correct in that my surgeon prescribed valium (along with two other tranquilizers). The purpose of these is both to numb the pain (for which purpose local anaesthetic is also used) and to help calm the patient so that they can look directly into the laser during the entire procedure--wiggling your eyes is, obviously, to be avoided.
Due to a communication error between the surgeon and myself I ended up not taking any of these medications and was fully aware during the surgery. It was really not that bad. First you'll lie back on the table and the surgeon will prop your eye open with a plastic tool before applying anaesthetic. A technician will wash your eye periodically with saline so you needn't worry about it drying out (or even worry about blinking--I was encouraged to try to blink whenever I felt the need; it's futile anyway). This bit was actually really uncomfortable because the saline solution was cold as hell; no idea if there's a reason for that or if most people just don't notice. The surgeon will then attach a little machine with a suction cup to the surface of your eye* (I'm guessing this part is consistent between PRK and lasik--or at least those types of lasik using a physical keratome to create the flap; newer procedures can accomplish this with another laser). That thing hurt like a bitch--moreso than anything else, in fact. To get a good seal the surgeon will apply a lot of pressure to your eye; the pressure was sufficient in my case to interrupt the blood flow to my retina, causing my vision to temporarily fail in that eye. There may be some temporary cosmetic damage (I had a mild subconjunctival hemorrhage in my left eye) as a result. The suction-cup machine has a little blade on the end of it that spins around your eye, cutting through the epithelium and then removing it. The actual "cutting" bit is completely painless--there are few (if any) nerves of the right type to perceive pain in that part of your eye and the surgeon has by this time used a local anaesthetic anyway.
After that, the surgeon swung the laser arm into place and I was instructed to stare unwaveringly at the small light in the center of the laser apparatus. The ablation took a little under 40 seconds. It was more difficult than I expected to avoid any movements during this period (I think I was getting a little nervous), but nothing too tough. This part is probably much easier with the tranquilizers, and I'm told that the laser itself will automatically shut off if you move your eye past some threshold. As the laser clicks away you'll notice an awful smell--it's a very intense "burning hair" type of odor. That's your cornea vaporizing. Neat!
The healing processes for PRK and Lasik are quite different, so I won't go into that in any real detail unless someone wants to hear it. Overall I'd say the surgery itself was pretty simple and easy. It was actually very cool to be alert for the whole thing and to see my vision change as layers were removed or ablated, and to be able to ask the surgeon any questions that popped into my mind. I did keep thinking back to that scene in St:TNG where Picard is assimilated--you know the one. As a kid I found that scene frightening, but it no longer bothers me.
*This is for the mechanical epithelium removal version of PRK. Because the surgeon was unable to get a seal on one of my eyes with the little suction cup armature I ended up having the old-fashioned version (in which an alcohol solution is used to degrade the epithelium, which is subsequently removed with forceps) on one eye and the above-described procedure on the other. They differ only in the method used to remove the epithelium.
anyway the procedure was very easy and fast, I personally didn't have discomfort but I don't really mind touching my eyeballs or anything. I could see a person feeling weird with the suction but it doesn't cause any pain.
the healing process was easy, slept after I got home and after waking up I felt perfectly fine. No problems with night vision.
I went from 20/-850 vision (can't see any letters even if the chart is just one giant letter) to about 20/15. Honestly the best thing I've probably ever decided to do.
Anyway, regarding the surgery - I went with a local surgeon who was very highly credentialed and had literally hundreds of recommendations (in addition to using the more recent technology). She was definitely more expensive than the others, but not prohibitively so (I ended up spending about $3,500 total for both eyes).
You can definitely find cheaper, but this is one of those areas where you pay for what you get. In all honesty the difference between $2,500 and $3,500 is minimal when it comes to something like this (I liken it to the difference between a $5 and a $10 meal - yeah, it's comparatively a large difference, but in the grand scheme of things it's really not, especially if it's just one meal). I've seen advertising for as cheap as $1,000 for both eyes, and whenever I investigated those doctors or their associated eye chop shops, the number of horror stories was always inordinately bad (as opposed to my doctor, whose low ratings were nearly all related to payment disputes). This isn't a car, where as long as it gets you where you need to go it's considered useful - a bad doctor can literally screw up your eyes permanently.
The surgery itself was relatively painless, but I handle pain well. Plus, I got some Xanax beforehand. :P It can be a little stressful, since these giant things will be shoved into your eyes. And you will be told to stare at specific spots for long periods of time, worried that if you deviate then you will ruin your eyesight forever. If you don't think you can handle that, then you probably don't want to go through the surgery. Plus, you can smell the burning. Of your eyes.
I agree with others that the aftercare is probably the worst part. You have to be very careful not to rub your eyes, because any pressure or rubbing could ruin everything. You will get goggles of some kind to help prevent that from happening early on - I actually wore mine way longer than I needed to, because I was worried about accidentally rubbing my eyes. In addition, there are about a bajillion eye drops you have to use constantly for several weeks after the procedure is done). And (as with my friend) there's no guarantee that you will actually be able to see well immediately after the surgery, perhaps for several weeks or months. Personally, I had blurry vision immediately after the surgery, but by the time I got home and slept off my first batch of painkillers, I actually saw perfectly fine from that point forward. Lastly, there will be discomfort for a while as well - your doctor should be giving you painkillers to take as-needed.
If you do decide to go through with it, make sure you do a lot of research regarding the doctor who will be performing the surgery and the facility where he/she will be performing it (there are noted cases where the doctor you sign up for is not actually the one doing the procedure, and people only find out when they get there). In addition, don't be afraid to ask for references or a lot of detailed questions about the procedure and the care you will be receiving afterwards. You should have several follow-up appointments over the course of a year, and they should all be covered under the total surgery cost. The one thing that eased my mind the most was that I was able to ask a lot of questions, my doctor was always very patient, and perhaps most importantly, the pre-op work was very thorough. I must've gone through four different machines, and the doctor took her time in asking me detailed questions and looking at my eyes to make sure that I was a good candidate. You should feel like the doctor is making sure your eyes can actually handle the procedure, instead of just looking to make a quick buck off of you. That seems to be the biggest unknown - whether or not your eyes will heal properly afterwards. I had two friends go through the surgery at roughly the same time I did, and one of them had blurry vision problems for a good 6 months before his eyes finally settled down. He doesn't have many problems now, but it was definitely a scary period for him.
With all that being said, contact technology seems to be moving forward at a breakneck speed. My last optician loved to "talk shop", and she told me about how the holy grail for contact lens manufacturers is the all-day, every-day contact, and they have been pouring all their resources towards that goal precisely because of the growing prevalence of laser eye surgeries. The reasoning is pretty simple - why would someone want to undergo a surgical procedure when they could just put in a contact lens that they almost never have to take out? Given how often a newer, better contact lens comes out, I wouldn't be surprised if they actually came close to that goal sometime in the next decade or so.
Most satisfying medical procedure I've ever had done. Except for the first week of recovery, that was absolute shit. If you do LASIK the recovery is a lot easier.
Also, I used to wear contacts when I was in junior high but stopped wearing them after having one pop out and not having my back up glasses or contacts on me and had to go through the whole day with one good eye and one where I couldn't see anything.
One thing I hadn't mentioned yet is that I have photophobia. So anytime the doc shines a bright light in my eyes, they tear up horribly and I have an immensely hard time looking directly at the light. Is this something that anyone else here has had going into LASIK/PRK and it being an issue for them? I'll definitely bring it up to the doc once I talk to them.
/ahem
Plan on paying out of pocket. Many doctors will do payment plans. Mine did. In fact, she staggered my payments so that I got the most benefit from my health care account.
Re: contacts - The new contacts are nothing like the old ones. I'd highly recommend trying them out with an optician. Just make sure you aren't getting screwed with "fitting fees". I have Kaiser Permanente, so my fittings were essentially all free, and I was able to keep going back until we found something that worked for me. Some will charge you a one-time fee until you're satisfied, others will charge you for each visit, etc. etc. etc.
Re: photophobia - IANAD, but in my experience there is a ton of bright light going every which way during the procedure. I assume because the doctor wants to see what's going on while lasers are burninating your eyes... They usually do give you a relaxant though, so maybe that will alleviate your phobia symptoms during the procedure.
The machines are designed to follow your eye perfectly so even if your eye issue made you spaz out and look around it would be unlikely to cause an issue. I heard it just pauses if you look around too much. Its really some amazing technology and I can't think of a single reason why you shouldn't do it. It will change your life - seriously.
Supposedly, I've now got 20/16 vision (better than 20/20 I guess?) and though my vision is slightly less crisp than it was when I wore glasses, I'd still do it again for the same result.
Regarding photophobia, I'm not certain but I'd wager that the anaesthetic eyedrops would do a number on cutting that out, as the single-dose they gave me if the recovery pain got too bad stopped my eyes from tearing up for a few hours.
Basically, it's the best.
If you are really worried though, get night time hard contacts, aka orthokeratology. I know 2 friends with them, who swear by them. Basically, you put in hard contacts right before bed, take them out in the morning, and you'll have perfect vision all day.
Personally, I don't know why orthokeratology isn't the default for contacts. I know that if I had them, I may not have done lasik.