Laser eye surgery

[Greg Muller]

I had the mono vision laser option done in 1997 (not LASIK which was just getting started then, I had PRK instead).

I was used to it in a few hours, shouldn't take several weeks.

Dick,
you were used to it in a few HOURS? Really? How bad was your vision pre-op? Like I posted earlier, I tried the single contact trial for week and didn't get fully used to it.
Did they give you a valium before the surgery started? I told her that I wouldn't need it since I've had over 20 surgeries in my life (Vertebral, orth, etc...) and I usually refuse general pain meds, I doubt that I would have any trouble holding still or getting panicky, but the nurse told me they offer them to everyone and that I should just take it. I'm doubtful on it, but still considering...

Greg

[Dick Rowe]

Dick,
you were used to it in a few HOURS? Really? How bad was your vision pre-op? Like I posted earlier, I tried the single contact trial for week and didn't get fully used to it.
Did they give you a valium before the surgery started?
Greg

Greg,

I'm sure that I was comfortable with the mono vision in less than a day.

I was pretty near-sighted since I was a kid, and had an astigmatism as well. I had worn glasses for 35 years, and it was really an experience I will never forget when I sat up and could see things around the room clearly without glasses. I recall that the actual laser burn to do the correction was something like 35 seconds for my 'distance' eye (right), and 11 seconds for the 'reading' eye.

As far as the valium, I had it, but the PRK process was significantly different than LASIK. With LASIK I believe they peel back a little flap on the outer sheath of your eye, shoot the laser through the flap opening, then put the flap back. People that I have talked to said they had virtually no discomfort after the procedure.

With PRK the first step was to actually burn off the entire eye sheath with the laser. They then did the laser on the exposed eye. After that they put a full eye clear contact 'bandage' on the eye, and it had to stay on for a couple days until the eye sheath grew back. I was glad I took the valium because I was a little nervous about that first 'sheath' burn.

During the initial recovery period (a day or so) I had some minor discomfort, kind of felt like a small headache or fever in the eye, but even with that, I had adjusted quickly to the mono-vision, and aspirin easily controlled the discomfort.

I should also mention that back in those days they didn't like to do both eyes at once 'just in case', so I had my distance eye done first and about a month later went back and had the reading eye done.

[Chris Padilla]

I have a colleague who had the reading/far distance thing done. He seems pretty happy with it.

I'm too young to need reading glasses (YET!) so I had both eyes done about 2 years ago: laser to cut the flap, laser to reshape. I was at about -3.75 diopters in both eyes and I don't miss the 13 years I wore contacts. I'm trying to convince the wife to take the plunge but for her right now, she has dry eye and her perscription is still shifting on her, and the thought of anything going near her eyes makes her sick to her stomach.

[Jim Becker]

Chris, I had/have dry eye, yet I'm still happy I did the LASIK. I only use drops now when I first wake up in the morning and on rare times, when I'm in a customer office environment that there is a lot of "nastiness" in the air from new carpet/paint/etc. I also keep my use of allergy meds to a minimum as they can exacerbate a dry eye situation.

That said, Professor Dr. SWMBO is in the same boat as your LOYL...shifting prescription and astigmatism in the higher ranges.

I do need to use reading glasses, especially in low light, but that's to be expected. But they are only 1.5-1.75 and "off the shelf" solutions.