Posted on 5/25/2004, 6:17:13 AM by An American in Turkiye
I just underwent LASIK eye surgery here, and so far, everything is perfect except for halos at night. Since I value my fellow freepers opinions, please share your experiences if you've had the procedure. The only thing that went wrong is that the doctor forgot to put a second set of numbing drops in my eyes, so I felt everything, from the blade slicing in, to the laser, to the swiping of my eyes. And yes, it hurt as bad as you would think it would.
Also, I had a little problem with dryness that exacerbated the halos and starbursts. The eyedrops were not very effective, but I tried something called Liposome spray that really made a big improvement. The brand name is "Tears Again" and it is available over the counter for about 15 bucks. The way it works is to replenish the oils in the glands along your eyelashes, which allows the tears that are present to be more evenly distributed over the surface of the eye. You may have trouble finding it in the local drug store, but your LASIK provider should be able to procure it for you.
BTW, if you have problems with dryness, it will probably be worse for a period of time until the nerve endings in the cornea heal. Good luck with your procedure - my vision was 20:525, but I'm now seeing 20:15 (though my vision is slightly blurred on a rare day when my eyes are very dry).
WOWSERS! I don't think I could have handled the pain part, and I have a pertty high tolerence for pain. It took me years to get used to contacts. Why didn't you mention it to the doctor?
Hope it works out for you.
prisoner6
The doctor realized it after he started my second eye. I thought it was normal that it hurt, but when he started on my left eye it REALLy hurt, so I let out a yelp. It was too late by then. He apologized afterwards.
Thanks for the info. I will look into those drops. I agree, the eye drops they give you aren't the best.
Did you have that custom cornea procedure to correct the starbursts and halos, or did they just go away on their own?
bump fro reference. A friend is considering the surgery.
Bump for later reading.
I had lasik 2 or 3 years ago and it turned out great.
The halos seemed to go away after a while. The Doc said he did some procedure (innovative at the time) to reduce the chance of the halo effect.
Use eye drops for at least 6 to 8 weeks after the procedure; it will help keep things lubed.
The halos will fade. As to the drops...bad move!
Bump for future reference.
I had it to correct the halos and starbursts. Like someone mentioned, the custom cornea is an innovative procedure. It is designed to treat 7 or 8 higher order anomalies (conventional laser treats 2 lower order ones, IIRC), plus it also is much more effective in treating astigmatism. I decided to have additional tests to see if I would benefit from the procedure, and the test revealed that I had starbursts and halos. I've seen them all of my life, so I really wasn't aware that it was a problem.
The starbursts and halos were moderate prior to the surgery, and they were actually worse after the surgery (as the doctor warned). Like I said, it was several months before they completely disappeared. I've heard that it is fairly common for people without starburst/halo problems to suddenly have them after the procedure. If that's your case, I'd just be patient and give it some time to work itself out.
The way you use the liposome spray is strange. You close your eyes and spray one puff on each lid, then run your finger along the margins of your eyelashes to spread the oil. The eyedrops had no effect on me whatsover, but the spray worked like magic. I used it once or twice a day for the first 6 weeks or so.
Quick question: How long do you have to wait to actually touch your eyes after surgery? I don't plan on digging around in them, but if I have an itch I would like to scratch it.
This won't be a short answer and I'm far from an expert on this, but here's my understanding. Basically, the answer is that it depends. If you wear bifocals because you're reaching middle age and require help to see text, then LASIK will not solve the inability to see text. What you have is called presbyopia, and it is caused by a change in the flexibility of the lens itself as we age. If you have nearsightedness (myopia) or farsightedness (hyperopia) that is a result of your eyeball being either too long or short, then LASIK can correct that by reshaping the cornea to compensate for the improper shape of the eyeball. Reshaping the cornea allows the light entering the eye to be focused on the retina, rather than in front of or behind it.
There are some new surgical techniques that show promise of correcting presbyopia, but I think they're still pretty experimental and very expensive.
There are some other LASIK tricks, such as monovision. In monovision one eye is corrected for distance and the other for close vision. Apparently the brain makes the adjustment and uses the appropriate eye for the task at hand. It allows one to function well in normal living, but isn't optimum for situations where depth perception is important, such as sports.
LASIK correction for nearsightedness will actually hasten the day when one needs reading glasses, because the myopia compensates for the presbyopia (isn't this fun?). I've noticed that my ability to see very fine print has diminished, but that's not a problem. I had my eyes done to allow me to play sports without glasses (I was becoming unable to tolerate my contacts for lengthy periods). So I'll need reading glasses a little sooner than I otherwise would have, but that's a price I'm willing to pay.
There's all the info you can digest and then some if you do a google search on "lasik" or "refractive surgery". My best advice would be to choose your doctor wisely, especially if you have a complicating factor such as significant astigmatism. I paid a lot more than your $750.00 shops, but priority #1 is to minimize the risk when it comes to my vision.
I had the Lazik done in November 2002 and couldn't be happier. Since I am an old fart (53 and 9 months) I now have to have reading glasses which I don't mind. I did have to go back for an adjustment (free in my case) as they over corrected one eye. After the correction I was able to read print if it isn't too small. Found some great online sites to buy cute little inexpensive reading glasses. Got a pair in the living room, bedroom, computer room, kitchen and of course, the bathroom.
Nice to hear that I'm not the only one with the multiple reading glasses requirement. I bought a pair of 1.00 magnifiers for really fine print, and somehow I decided that I had to have three pairs. I'm still not sure I have enough. ha ha
My wife got it done several years ago. She'd worn contacts for a long time, and in our dusty environment they were really tearing up her eyes. She's very pleased with the surgery, although she did get one eye re-done about two years ago.
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