Laser Eye Surgery Experiences

[Eversor]

From what I remember the LASIK doctor telling me, PRK was a better opinion for me due to the fact that I was a 10yr+ contact lens wearer. With wearing contacts the whole time, the tissue they work on during the surgeries tend to be thinner than non-contact wearers. So with the idea of cutting a slit that rarely ever heals 100% when you are already thinner, its a safer bet to have a few days recovery rather than the risk of scratching your eye one day and retearing the slit made.

My surgery cost $3k, financed over 2yrs, no interest.

[OctavoGilgamesh]

I don't understand why people would go for LASIK if PRK is so much better.

I'm already considering PRK for myself. How much should I expect to spend, as a range?

As others have said, longer recovery (I did one eye at a time, I believe this is the standard). They wait for the first eye to heal, then do the next, that way you aren't completely blind for a period of time. The cost of my surgery was around $3500 us with a few discounts due to eye insurance. I paid for it with a flex spending deduction, so the actual cost was even less due to the money not being subject to taxes.

From what I remember the LASIK doctor telling me, PRK was a better opinion for me due to the fact that I was a 10yr+ contact lens wearer. With wearing contacts the whole time, the tissue they work on during the surgeries tend to be thinner than non-contact wearers. So with the idea of cutting a slit that rarely ever heals 100% when you are already thinner, its a safer bet to have a few days recovery rather than the risk of scratching your eye one day and retearing the slit made.

My reason for PRK over LASIK was this as well, contacts fucked my eyes. I actually had to go through three months of "rehab" to moisturize my eyes enough for the surgery to take place. Morning and nighttime eyeball greasing and constant daytime drops, in addition to having to wear glasses.

Overall the best money I have ever spent.

[EckoGecko]

I'm currently saving up for this. I plan to hopefully get it done sometime within the next two years.

Appreciating the comments/info.

[kuronosan]

Yea, I'm gonna start saving for this as well. I really need to rid myself of my glasses. -8+astigmatism sounds about right for my eyes. I'm happy to know it works.

[Obiron]

As others have said, longer recovery (I did one eye at a time, I believe this is the standard). They wait for the first eye to heal, then do the next, that way you aren't completely blind for a period of time. The cost of my surgery was around $3500 us with a few discounts due to eye insurance. I paid for it with a flex spending deduction, so the actual cost was even less due to the money not being subject to taxes.



My reason for PRK over LASIK was this as well, contacts fucked my eyes. I actually had to go through three months of "rehab" to moisturize my eyes enough for the surgery to take place. Morning and nighttime eyeball greasing and constant daytime drops, in addition to having to wear glasses.

Overall the best money I have ever spent.

^
This. The bolded piece is the best advice ever, I should have mentioned this earlier. I used flexible spending for my LASIK, so the $4k is coming out of my paychecks over the course of the year. But because it's pre-tax, it ends up being a lot less. I'm taking home about $100 less per paycheck, 27 pay periods this year, so essentially I'm only paying about $2700 for a $4000 surgery. If your employer offers flexible spending, definitely take advantage of that!

[aduidarnenye]

I went to my consultation today and am a good candidate for LASIK! I'm going to get LASIK Interlase Custom laser surgery on April 15th. It'll fix my vision and my astigmatism plus they're going to fix up any imperfections on my cornea and give me crystal clear "HD vision" (my own term cause I can't remember all the medical stuff).

I decided to do the LASIK because of the healing time compared to the PRK, plus they're not going to use a blade to cut my cornea flap, they're going to use a laser so the flap will actually be quite thinner than if it was done the old way.

I've worn contacts since I was 19 but I wear them so infrequently that my eyes are almost as healthy as someone who has never worn them.

The one thing I didn't like was a machine that's like the gloucuma machine without the puff of air that came up right against my eye and messed with my eyelashes. I cringed during that one. However, the doctor also tested the thickness of my cornea (which are just a tad thicker than the average) with a suction-like device about the width of a pencil on my eye and that didn't bother me at all. It actually made my vision ripple like throwing a rock on a pond which I thought was super cool.

One of the great things about this place I'm going to is that they have a lifetime guarantee on my eyes as long as my cornea is thick enough. If it doesn't work properly they'll fix it plus they do all the follow-up care (a lot for the first bit then yearly after that) as part of the price too.

Also, because of all these bells and whistles that I'm getting my surgery is costing a whopping CAD $4250 total (CAD $2295 an eye), which is about four times as much as I expected. However, my parents are (miraculously) paying for it so it's all okay!

[Ghostsix.Midgard]

I got the Lasik surgery when I was 20 years old after wearing glasses since I was 6 years old. I had very very bad eyesight (I don't remember exact numbers) and I was worried about still having to wear glasses after surgery. After the surgery I had 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other. Needless to say my results were outstanding. The doctor said that out of the thousands of procedures he has done, I've had some of the best results.

I think a lot of it has to do with your age. Younger people seem to have better results and less complications. The only side effect I had was for the first 4-6 months after the surgery where my eyes would have trouble focusing after a long day. Lots of time on the computer, reading, or very little sleep the night before made it worse. Eventually it went away.

As for the surgery itself.... I'm not going to lie, it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've ever had. The key is to not watch the surgery process beforehand. The place I went to had a monitor outside the operating room that focused on your eye balls during surgery so people outside could watch. While there is no actual pain involved in the surgery it's really creepy to go through. You actually have to sit there and watch the doc take a scalpel and cut your eye. After they cut your eye and they proceed to peel back the flap to reveal your cornea, you temporarily go blind. That was the worse part for me, even though they warned me it would happen. You can't feel the laser cutting and shaping your cornea but you can definitely smell it. While it wasn't scary or painful, it was extremely uncomfortable to sit through.

Bottom line, am I glad I got the surgery? Fuck yeah. Best $4k I've ever spent. Would I do it over again later in life if need be? Ehhh...probably not.

Holy shit thanks for this post.
I was on the fence, but I'm a bitch when it comes to my eyes. FUCK THAT

[Miraun]

Two questions:

1) I've heard that your eyes are still developing and stabilizing until you're about 25 years old, at which point it plateaus off, and you end up with however bad your eyes are going to get. Yet I'm seeing people getting the surgery relatively young at 20. Is my doctor just making me paranoid? I've still had eyesight degradation post 20. Of course, working all day on a computer, and then going home and playing FFXI/WOW on a computer probably doesn't help my vision... at all... Which leads me to my next question:

2) Any more insight into what not to do during the recovery process for PRK versus LASIK? What kind of things did you do in order to reduce eye stress? Could you not go to the gym? Not play video games? Not go for walks due to pollen? What did people do as alternatives for how long?

Followup super special bonus question: That process sounds terrible... any way they can knock me the fuck out before cutting my eyes apart?

[*Shinzon*]

See I read all these stories about successful surgeries and people who like what has happened after the surgery. Then I hear about an article posted in the American Journal of Optometry that states the average person 5 years after having the procedure has some side-effects including blurred vision and all kinds of other stuff.

I would love to have the surgery but I'd kill myself if something happened after.

[Neosutra]

Best money I've ever spent. No problems after several years. Amazing how beautiful the world is when you can actually see it.

[ikethegreat]

Two questions:

1) I've heard that your eyes are still developing and stabilizing until you're about 25 years old, at which point it plateaus off, and you end up with however bad your eyes are going to get. Yet I'm seeing people getting the surgery relatively young at 20. Is my doctor just making me paranoid? I've still had eyesight degradation post 20. Of course, working all day on a computer, and then going home and playing FFXI/WOW on a computer probably doesn't help my vision... at all... Which leads me to my next question:

2) Any more insight into what not to do during the recovery process for PRK versus LASIK? What kind of things did you do in order to reduce eye stress? Could you not go to the gym? Not play video games? Not go for walks due to pollen? What did people do as alternatives for how long?

Followup super special bonus question: That process sounds terrible... any way they can knock me the fuck out before cutting my eyes apart?

1. I originally went for a consultation when I turned 18. They told me to wait until I was 20-21 before getting the surgery and that's what I did.

2. For my lasik recovery I just slept mostly for the first two days. They give you sunglasses to wear 24/7 for the first week since your eyes are really sensitive to light. I took a week of vacation when I got mine done. I just sat around and watched a little tv, napped, and just relaxed. At the time I worked in a very dusty environment (steel worker) so I had to wear a pair of safety goggles for the first month I returned back to work. It was no big deal.

Oh and if you are a pot smoker, don't expect to smoke for a good long while after the surgery. It's not good for your eye recovery at all.

Best money I've ever spent. No problems after several years. Amazing how beautiful the world is when you can actually see it.

I agree completely.

[Baolin]

See I read all these stories about successful surgeries and people who like what has happened after the surgery. Then I hear about an article posted in the American Journal of Optometry that states the average person 5 years after having the procedure has some side-effects including blurred vision and all kinds of other stuff.

I would love to have the surgery but I'd kill myself if something happened after.

Did they give the average age of the people getting surgery? This information could potentially be misleading depending on the age of people studied, as your eyes typically tend to start to change shape again when you get to be ~40, which is why a lot of people tend to start needing reading glasses. I'm still new to my eyes being fixed, but haven't had any problems so far and according to what the doctors told me, most problems show up right after surgery and correct themselves over 3-6 months while your eyes are still healing/adjusting.

As others have said though, it's been the best money I ever spent. The best part of it all was coming home and sleeping the rest of the day after surgery and waking up in the morning and being able to actually read the alarm clock on the other side of the room without fumbling for glasses.

[*Shinzon*]

Did they give the average age of the people getting surgery? This information could potentially be misleading depending on the age of people studied, as your eyes typically tend to start to change shape again when you get to be ~40, which is why a lot of people tend to start needing reading glasses. I'm still new to my eyes being fixed, but haven't had any problems so far and according to what the doctors told me, most problems show up right after surgery and correct themselves over 3-6 months while your eyes are still healing/adjusting.

As others have said though, it's been the best money I ever spent. The best part of it all was coming home and sleeping the rest of the day after surgery and waking up in the morning and being able to actually read the alarm clock on the other side of the room without fumbling for glasses.

I dunno, I have access to journals for free, but I'd have to search for it. I had heard it in a news report. I'll try to see if I can find the actual article. Like that would be really my only concern. If I'm going to go through and spend all that money, the last thing I would want is to have something permanent damage happen to my eyes.

[Baolin]

I wouldn't worry too much with searching for it unless someone really wants to know, and by no means am I trying to say that LASIK is a completely risk free operation. There are plenty of things that can happen ranging from eyes being more dry following surgery to infections under the flap and all kinds of other things. The doctors informed me of some of the bigger problems that could occur and also gave me several pamphlets to read concerning the risks and side effects that could occur. Before surgery, I was required to sign paperwork acknowledging that I was given/had read all material and was aware that the procedure is an elective procedure and that other less-riskful options are available.

Likewise though, the doctors said that the percentage of people having more serious complications such as flap tears or getting an infection in the week following surgery was a significantly low risk (1-2% as I was told) and really depended more on your personal care to your eyes following the surgery with not rubbing them and putting in the appropriate eyedrops than with the surgery itself.

Either way, each person is different and some people will be comfortable with the risk and others won't. I personally was worried shitless before the surgery due to my bad vision and the astigmatisms but am extremely happy with the results. Hindsight is always 20 20 though. If my results were different I'm rather sure I wouldn't be praising the procedure quite so much.

[aduidarnenye]

Whee, got my surgery done on Thursday and am allowed back on computers as of right now. 48 hours no computers, no reading, and no television was rough.

I really hated the surgery part. The cutting of the flaps wasn't so bad, but the doodads they put on eyes made the whites hemmorage blood, which has left me with really ugly red spots over my pupils and to the side of my left pupil. Not a big deal though.

The cutting bit didn't bother me as I was completely blind in the eye they were cutting while they were doing it. When they turned the laser on to do my left eye without a warning I flinched at the loud noise and the laser shut down. My legs started shaking really badly and it took a lot of concentration to keep my head still and my eye focused on the orange blinking light. The burning smell during the laser bit was not pleasant either.

All told, it only took 9-10 minutes to do the surgery. Not horrendous, but not something I'd want to go through often. Hopefully my eyes don't regress so I won't need to do it again in 6-8 months (which is covered in the plan I got).

I did take an adaven before the surgery but it had no effect. I also went in with a headache which only got worse and made me naseous, but some painkillers afterwards sorted that out and I don't think it was related to the surgery (although that probably didn't really help).

I tested yesterday with 20/20 vision in my right eye and just below 20/20 in my left (which is the most damaged post surgery). The doctor said I'll probably go better than 20/20 in my right when the swelling goes down and probably at least 20/20 in my left.

[Vacht]

I'm looking into getting some kind of laser eye surgery done, either Lasik or PRK, because I've applied to the military and they don't generally accept blind people. I've got vision at just over -5 in both eyes and astigmatism.

I'm worried that I won't get good enough results (I don't need 20/20, just the minimum of someplace in the -3 to -4 range) or that my eye will be irreparably damaged during the procedure (this scares me most since I love my computer games and books).

Does anyone on BG have any laser eye surgery experiences and how well did it go?

Great thing about lasik, is that if you are permanently blind due to the surgery the docs know you cant complain onlin ebecause you cant see shit. So everyone on here should have a good review lol. Unless its family or a friend.