Lasik - Post-Op

It's been ten days since the procedure and my vision is better than 20/20. Yesterday (day 9) my eyes were very much back to normal, and I had to remind myself to use the artificial tears. My eyes didn't seem dry at all. And it didn't hurt that I'd had a good nights sleep without goggles.

I will offer a word of caution, scented shaving creams and/or lotions are not your friend during these first weeks after the procedure. Whatever fragrance or chemical was in my shaving gel caused my eye to water and burn very uncomfortably although it never came in direct contact. Several face washings and a shower to try and wash the fragrances off of my face and my eye finally stopped burning. It was sensitive to perfumes and other fragrances in the air for a couple days after that.

All this said, I highly recommend laser eye surgery. It simply magnificent not to have to watch out for and clean and do all of the other things you do for glasses and to not have them slowing down life. But find a reliable and trustworthy facility and doctor with plenty of good references! These are your eyes and worth every penny, don't skimp on them.

And so the day of the procedure came. Obviously, any procedure that involves the eyes should make anyone a bit nervous, excited, and curious about the technology. The numbing drops are in and within minutes the doctor is using a marker to draw small dots on the eye (as a point of reference).

Then comes the laser. As an assistant standing to the side announces the steps, the doctor uses a small device to hold the eye open and in position. As you watch a small light flashing overhead, it suddenly disappears as a flap is cut in the eye. Seconds later vision reappears and right on queue with the assistants remark a clicking sound is heard as another light flashes overhead; the laser performing its task. Finally, a cool sensation washes over the eye and the procedure is complete.

Repeat the same for the other eye and in less than five minutes all is done and your headed out of the operating room. By description and time, this is the simplest part of the entire process.

Following the procedure comes a long nap, likely until the next morning. Sleep may not be quite so easy due to the goggles one must wear to prevent involuntarily rubbing the eyes while sleeping (for the duration of one week no less, but again these are our eyes so we'll do exactly as instructed). Medicated drops three times daily for the first week and artificial tears at least four times daily for four weeks and that's it. Initially there may be some periodic dryness that's easily resolved with the artificial tears any needed number of times daily.

I wouldn't say that any part of the procedure was difficult or painful. Sleeping wearing goggles is only a slight hassle and the drops are easy to remember (your eyes will typically remind you). Still it's the coolest thing that there's no pain involved.

Lasik - Pre-Op Decisions

Media and print adds make it sound quite simple, and in many aspects it is, however the patient is not without some decision in the process (at least in my case). There are multiple different laser types with different characteristics that make them applicable to certain eye types and conditions. The particular location I visited had three laser options.

As I said before the primary considerations are required prescription, thickness of the cornea, and size of the pupil. The lasers can be divided basically by age of technology and diameter, the oldest technology having a smaller maximum diameter. The newest having the largest maximum diameter and a variety of other benefits.

In my particular case, the size of my pupil was slightly larger than the middle size laser. At such, I was given two options, the middle or largest size laser. The smaller laser, the older of technologies, simply would not cover the area needed to provide full correction.

Option one, the middle sized laser, and allow the doctor to do a blending effect where the laser didn't cover. This option would still provide 20/20 or nearly 20/20 vision. The drawback to the blending method is that some lighting conditions may be more likely to cause glare or a halo effect.

Option two, was to use the largest of laser sizes. This also happens to be the newest of technologies, referred to as wavefront. In addition to being large enough to cover the full area of the pupil, if I understood correctly, this method also has the ability perform the surgery based upon the topographical data from optical scans. According to the physicians this provides the most accurate vision correction since it accounts for the unique contours and shape of the eye. With this method, 20/20 vision is all but guaranteed and the chances of glare and halo are almost eliminated.

This particular facility also offered a guarantee on their work such that any future vision corrects would be performed free and with an equivalent laser by whatever the current standard is.

Based on the information and the test results, and because these are my eyes and I am, of course, not willing to accept anything less than the best, I chose the laser using wavefront technology.

As a note, I would recommend if your employer has a flexible spending plan to use that. The tax savings allowed me to get the wavefront for what it would have cost for the mid-sized laser without the plan.

Lasik - Qualification Exam

It's about time. After years with glasses I reached the end of my patience. After talking to several people, I decided to take the step and visit a local vision center for one of their 'free comprehensive eye exams'.

Comprehensive was an appropriate term, as the various steps of the exam lasted the better part of two hours. That was ok however, as these are my eyes were talking about, so things should be done with exactness. The tests are painless and range from simple vision test (reading the letters on a chart) to electronic tests measuring pupil size and eye's topography. The end result is that the tests provide a determination as to whether or not the individual characteristics of the eye are applicable for the lasik procedure. Key factors are required prescription, thickness of the cornea, and size of the pupil.

Of course once the tests are complete and if ones eyes qualify for lasik then comes the discussion of price and setting a date. At this they were also very efficient and before you can blink your signed up to have the procedure done, the only choice is which laser to use.