The Daisy Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 Well, my eyes go under the knife today. I'm very optimistic about the results of the surgery already and can't wait to ditch my glasses for a very long time. Wish me luck. Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamsappel Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 Best decision I ever made. I have a horror story though, which I'll be glad to relate after your surgery. I wouldn't want to discourage you beforehand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce B Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 I've been pondering that decision for years now. My biggest deterrent is that they say if you already have dry eyes(which I do) that chances are that condition will worsen. Also, being a pessimist, I always feel like I'll be the guy whose doctor sneezes while using the laser therefore making me blind. Good luck today and let us know how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bryan Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 GGooodd LLuuuckk, GGlennn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Daisy Posted January 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Well, I'm sitting here at the computer about 16 hours after the surgery and all is well. I do have some issues with halos surrounding most things that I look at, but I can actually read things. I'm very happy with the whole thing at this point. Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bryan Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Glad to hear it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 I do have some issues with halos surrounding most things that I look at, but I can actually read things. Hmm, edge enhancement? I'm happy to hear it worked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Zot Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Glen, those Halos will go away over the next few days. Unfortunately, your vision might getr just a little worse too as your eyes repair and settle in to the changes (plus, those eye drop steriods they give you will run out.) After I had PRK it was 2 days of total misery. Then I had about a week of 20/10 vision (that was nice!), now I have 20/20 permenantly. That 20/10 period was great, never seen so clearly in all my life. PRK was a bitch too. It's like lasik, but instead if lifting up a flap of cornea and doing the surgery, they laser the entire surface of the cornea and pull it off to get to the stuff underneath. So afterward you have to grow a new crnea (takes 2 days.) What a painful 2 days that was... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTello Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Thanks for sharing Glen, and I'm glad your OK! I'm interested in how you progress in the near future as well. I'd like to get Lasik, I'm soooo tired of glasses and contacts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamsappel Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 I've turned a few people off Lasik with this story, but they were wimps. One of the bonuses of pre-surgery is they give you a Valium. I'm happily zoning out in the waiting room when the nurse comes to get me. We go to a dark room and she makes me lie back on a reclining chair (I know where you think this is going, but sadly it's not). She puts a drop of numbing solution in my right eye (it's that same yellow stuff they put in your eye when you have a glaucoma pressure test--can you believe that thing actually touches and *presses* against your eyeball?). Then she prepares to put a drop in my left eye. For some reason, she takes much longer to do this. I've got my eye wide open, waiting, waiting. Then, just when she squeezes out the drop, I blink. I feel the drop splash against my lashes. Some got in my eye, I think. It had to. I mean, they probably use a lot stronger numbing solution than they even need to, right? Why wouldn't they? It's eye surgery after all. These are my thoughts in my Valium haze. Meanwhile, the nurse is at the office door telling me it's time for surgery. I get up and follow, mentioning nothing about the errant drop. I love drugs. Surgery ensues. They hold your eyes open with clamps right out of A Clockwork Orange and a special saw slices open your cornea (bzzt-bzzt-bzzt), which they flip back and use a laser on the interior to change its shape and how it focuses (pop-pop-pop). Right eye, fine. When they start on my left eye, I CAN FEEL THE SAW CUTTING MY EYE OPEN!! Perhaps the doctor noticed my hands clenching the armrests, so he asks me if everything is all right. Well, the saw was really fast, and my eye has already been cut, so I tell him it's fine. Proceed to laser. I CAN FEEL THE LASER BURNING INTO MY EYE! Again, it happens so quickly there's no real agonizing pain, it's just shocking that I can feel it at all. The cooling wash of the saline solution they pour over your eye during the procedure is very welcome. Flip the cornea back and surgery is done. There are no stiches involved, the internal pressure of your eye keeps the flap closed. You musn't rub your eye, even though it feels like there are grains of sand in your eyes for a day or so. I saw some very slight sparkling of bright lights at night, but no real visual aftereffects and I still measure at 20/10 vision. All in all, one of the best things I ever did. Okay, anybody cancelled their appointment yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bryan Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 That sounds like one of the horror movies that make up 85% of my DVD collection! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTello Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 I'm feeling ill! But I'd still get Lasik! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kain rising Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 So the moral of the story is "don't blink?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretvampire Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Okay, anybody cancelled their appointment yet? Should I tell the story about how I had a tooth pulled without any anesthesia when I was six? My mom could hear me screaming from the waiting room across the building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Daisy Posted January 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Well, I just got back from my post-op appointment and found that I have 20/20 vision. And it's only supposed to get better. I'm just thankful that I didn't have Adam's doctor. Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamsappel Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 Originally posted by gwhinwi@Jan 16 2004, 04:05 PM I'm just thankful that I didn't have Adam's doctor. Actually, the doctor is excellent, one of the best at the procedure. His nurse, however... :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Zot Posted January 16, 2004 Report Share Posted January 16, 2004 adam - I feel your pain. They were good about the numbing solution where I went but the operation itself was a little nerve-wracking. The difference for PRK is that it takes a little longer, no cutting of the cornea, and more lasering. I remember it going something like this: They gave me a valium that didn't seem to do much. Should have asked for two, but better than nothing. They lead me in, strap my head down (lightly) and pull the Clockwork Orange bit on my glassys. They pull the machine over and position it over the eyeball and tell me to stare right into it (oh joy!) Then it lasers the entire cornea for about 15 seconds. I figured out why you want the valium beforehand, the machine makes this huge bang!bang!bang!bang!bang! sound while it is lasering. Imagine someone hitting an alunimum baseball bat on a steel pipe right next to your ear about as fast as a motor. It was a really messed up sound (since of course you wonder does it always sound like that?) So as this is happening my vision is clouding steadily (it is burning off the front of my eye after all) and worse yet I can smell the burnt cornea. Machine wheels away and doctor comes over with a couple of tools and some drops. He basically fishes the burnt cornea skin out of the way (yuck!!!) and then it's back under the machine for the actual correction. More fishing, he pops a contact lens in there, and it's time for the other eye. Rinse and repeat. It was only say 10-15 mins in the operating room total, but that was a damn long 15 mins! And the icing on the cake was as I left they gave me a videotape of the surgery as the computer video unit saw it. What this means is it's a huge blowup of my eye held open while the laser pummels it and then the fishing skin/drops/etc. By the end of it the eye is all red and teary, then the other one. Yeah, let's just give the patients that to remember us by Man, the dentist's got nothing on those VSP doctors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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