IGX

A few people asked me about my experiences with this, so here it is.

My workplace finally got a decent discount program on vision items, and we also have a Flex pre-tax medical plan that gives you a debit card with the full amount right at the beginning of the year. Those two things made it attractive enough to take the plunge.

Plus this summer I had a brief but alarming experience when I lost my glasses in a water park and realized just how blind I was without them. I have two boys to look after; fuck that.

I had it done on Jan 3. I had PRK (the older procedure, with no corneal flap) instead of Lasik because I had a whopping prescription plus "thin-average" corneas. Many many tests the day I was evaluated, then the day before surgery, and the day of. Ditto on Day 1 after, Day 4, and 7. Soon I'll have the 1-month followup.

I was in the laser room itself less than 10 min. They gave me a Valium right as I was walking to the laser; apparently this is to help ensure that you pass out and sleep afterwards.

I don't know if I could recommend it to someone who is really "squicky" about their eyes. My wife says they'd have to knock her out. They put in numbing drops so you literally cannot feel any pain at all. Each eye is done separately. They tape your eyelashes out of the way, put on a "Clockwork Orange" speculum, and then use this metal ring on a stick to hold your eyeball still.

The surgeon did something with a spatula (I think she may have been removing my corneal epithelium), and then I stared at a red dot while they did the laser re-shaping and counted off the (30-something) seconds. Then a rinse, more spatula fun, another rinse, install a "bandage contact lens," switch eyes and do it all over again. Honestly, the ice-cold saline was the most "painful" part.

My wife drove me home, I slept all evening, took the next day off. The day after that I was fine and driving. Slight fogginess, slight photophobia corrected with some Russian Mobster Sunglasses, nothing bad. A week of anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drops. The contacts came out on Day 4 after they verified that I had a complete epi again.

They warned me of pain, soreness, whatever. I never felt it. I never felt like I had dry eyes either, but I kept using artificial tears until I ran out after 10 days or so.

Since then the corneal tissue has continued to reorganize and every 3-4 days I notice that my vision is better by another notch. I haven't had my 1-month followup, so I don't have a hard number on my vision yet, but it's quite good.

I was a little surprised that it's so popular, given how "icky" the procedure seemed. I didn't mind it, but I'm the sort of person who looks into a gash in his own hand and says "Hey, a tendon! Cool!" I didn't ask how many people freak out on the laser bench. I assume some do.

The only thing I'd do different is that I'd probably do one eye at a time. That's mostly because of my job, which is very visual. It was a pain to deal with at work for the first week or so.
The other downer is that for the first few days I kept reaching up to adjust my glasses and poking myself in the eye because they weren't there.

Jack wrote:Christ, my eye started burning and watering just reading it. I had a check up recently and hated all the eye poking and shit.

If I ever need that, just knock me out colds!

WTF? I could have sworn you said you had Lasik. Must have been someone else.

Anyway, I am quite pleased with the results.

I had lasik, my intraoperative experience was about the same (except for the faint scent of burnt eyeball, perceptable only because of my times spent in the OR). The valium I was given was effectively countered by several caffeine laden beverages I had consumed at lunch before, so I was awake at home during the transition between the anesthetic wearing off and the corneal re-epithelialization (one hour of relative hell). This was the only down part of the whole procedure, and fixed with left over percocet.

The next morning I drove myself to the eye doctors without any difficulties, tested out at 20/15. Finished the eyedrops, wore a pair of lacross goggles for a month at judo, and no complications. Done in 2002.

Does this correct both near and far-sighted problems so that you don't need glasses for either?

PlainTalk wrote:Does this correct both near and far-sighted problems so that you don't need glasses for either?

It cannot fix age-related far-sightedness.

Ive wanted to do this for awhile now. I have had several pairs of glasses broken in fights at work and I am a fulltime firefighter so it would make life alot easier. One of the girls at work had it done last week, and prior to her getting it done we talked about the whole thing. Me and the girls at work came to one conclusion, that a downside of me loseing the glasses is that , glasses soften my "look" and without them ill be a better looking version of Grossburger the ax murderer....still, id like to get it done.

knuckles wrote: glasses soften my "look" and without them ill be a better looking version of Grossburger the ax murderer....still, id like to get it done.

Tell me about it. I had no idea, because I literally could not see myself in the mirror without specs, but now the term "skull-faced freak" comes to mind.

Or maybe a zombie; it's the hollow eyes, you dig?

Skinny motherfucker, huh?....or are you SKELETOR!

knuckles wrote:Skinny motherfucker, huh?....or are you SKELETOR!

Do not mock the Mighty Overhanging Brow or the Sunken Orbits of Doom!

the 20/15 orbits of Dooom! Anways ,enough tom fuckery. what that run ya an eye?

It varies quite a bit depending on what kind of laser they use. Mine was $1500 each eye after my 15% workplace discount. But, I have a really high prescription and I got the lifetime followup guarantee with the laser they used.

I heard other people with more routine scrips (at the desk- I was eavesdropping) being quoted as low as $800 per eye.

lasik rocks.
Don't go for discount lasik or prk, it's your FREAKING EYES!

My wife's getting prk next month.

KMF wrote: Don't go for discount lasik or prk, it's your FREAKING EYES!

I didn't, I asked around a lot locally and looked for recommendations online as well. The discount was an extra Eyemed insurance discount. My workplace got it just this year: 15% off on any laser surgery anywhere, plus more discounts on contacts and lenses and frames for my wife. The plan is only $10 a month (for me anyway), and I way more than made that back with the savings on the surgery alone.

As an interesting sidenote, they mentioned that there would be some haziness after complete re-epithelialization as the cells "sorted themselves out" at the center of the cornea. The funny thing is, when I was using the binocular scopes at work, I could see it.

Just like using a binocular will magnify any goo on your cornea or any scratch on your eyeglasses, it greatly accented this big "blob" of cells right in the center of each cornea. I watched it flatten out and disperse over several days; until then I just looked around it when I was using the scope. I couldn't see it any other time.

It's long gone now, of course. I'm still wondering what my new vision # is; I haven't been in for the 1-month followup yet.

If you can see thru lead... youre doin good.