My vision used to be so bad that I couldn’t find my glasses or contacts if I misplaced them. I was extremely nearsighted with -7.5 or more in both eyes. Everything needed to be about 18 inches away for me to see it clearly. My contact supply was running low and my prescription for my glasses was about 4 years old. I’m on summer break and had the time to explore the option to get Lasik done. I went to the doctor and discussed it and had my free exam. I did some research online about the doctor I’d chosen and read about the procedure. Three weeks later I was on my back with a laser shooting into my eyes for less than minute total.
For the next hour I had my eyes closed while trying to get to sleep. About 45 minutes after my surgery I started to feel pain. It felt like someone had scratched a 1cm square on my eyeballs by running a needle back and forth. This probably isn’t much different than what actually happened. Around this point I fell asleep and woke up 4 hours later. Strangely the cuts on my eye have healed by now, no pain. The best way I can describe the next 3 days is feeling like you slept with your contacts in. The eye drops help but it doesn’t go away much until the end of the first week.
The next day I woke up and went in for a checkup and my vision clocked in at 25/20 vision, better than what I had with contacts. The vision wasn’t perfect right away stuff really close and far away would be somewhat blurry. Each eye takes turns going up and down throughout the day. Its not bad at all, I had to move my screen to the back of my desk and sit farther away from the TV. The only annoying part is that I would instinctively try to readjust the way the non-existent contact was sitting on my eye. Just a habit from 10+ years of wearing contacts.
Its currently been 6 days. Every day my vision gets better. The worst side effects that I experienced with Lasik is the sensitivity to brightness which lasts for about 3 days. Its like you are semi dilated the entire week so you have to wear sunglasses to use the computer or go outside. I currently still have halos at night. I expect to have them for a while as its supposed to take a long time for them to go away. I’m not to worried though because I can already see the halos disappearing on dim lights.
Medication wise I’m currently taking eye drops of Restasis, Pred Forte, Zymar and rewetting solution called Systane from the same company that makes my old contact lens solution. The Restasis gives you red eyes for about 15 minutes and burns a little, if you leave it in the fridge it removes the burning and most of the redness. The Pred Forte makes you have a white haze over your eye for about a minute. Zymar somehow goes from your eye to dripping down the back of your mouth and has a bitter aftertaste, its the worst one. If you place your fingers on your tear ducts and apply little to no pressure it prevents the medication from producing an after taste in your mouth.
The Good
- Near perfect vision
- Best vision I’ve ever had
- No contacts or glasses
The Bad
- Halos at night
- Slight dry eye
Right now I’m extremely happy with my new vision. Every day I wake up and I’m amazed how far I can see. I’m constantly testing myself to see what I can see. I believe it is one of the best investments I’ve ever made and even if all the problems I currently have never go away I think it will still be worth it.
Some information about the procedure which involved 2 lasers. I had an IntraLase cut the corneal flap. The laser that did the correction was called the VISX Excimer Laser with CustomVue wavefront mapping. I would also like to note that if you are making a decision soley based off this blog post I think you are insane.
