iwannadie;1582814 said:
I had mine done like 4 years ago, I was really bad off with an astigmatism but never wore glasses. Post surgery I was 20/15 or something insane. The downside for me however is with an astigmatism my eyes are slowly getting worse and I am going to have to go back for touch ups. They told me this prior to committing to surgery. They offered a 'lifetime' adjustment program for a little more money(that my work discount made up the cost of). I am going to go back at some point. The slight deterioration isn't major but noticeable going from eagle eyes it is something I noticed. I can't read street signs a country mile away now lol.
The actual surgery was a breeze, it's all mental. My surgeon came in and had to mark my eye with what I call a medical sharpie. He was ok hold still, and dotted my eye, no big deal. Then out came the scalpel! Again, don't move and he cut the flap in my eye right there. He said he was impressed and that most people freak out and he has to distract them and keep the sharpie and scalpel hidden from them as best he could. I was just fascinated by the whole process.
The metal hooks that hold your eyes open were what had me freaked out going in. Once laying on the table and relaxing that the surgery was going to happen and the results would be awesome I relaxed about the eye hooks. Those hooks are not comfortable but you don't see them, just feel an odd pressure. The actual laser process is wild too. He told me to stare at this bright red dot and [stern voice]Don't Move. I then saw the most amazing fireworks show ever for literally a few seconds and one eye was done, then the next. After that your eye's stop working momentarily which was freaky to be blind suddenly. After that it feels like you are walking in fog or steam for a few hours, then its perfect eyes!
The healing process wasn't bad, I was back to work loading trucks at UPS in a few days. I just had to wear eye protection at work and while sleeping. I also am now addicted to eye drops(fake tear type), my eyes used to get really dry for the first year or so. Now I use them when I wake up and before bed only typically.
If you have some steady nerves or can just find your happy place while they are touching your eyes then you'll be fine.
How long ago did you have yours done? I'm glad I waited for laser to become mainstream!
Anyway, my Lasik Zioptix proceedure was similair in theory, different in application. The surgoen controlled a HUGE laser machine that boiled away the inner layer of my cornea, then after the surgeon carefully inspected the job, he flipped the flaps over and the laser did the treatment on the exposed surface... then it was flipped back down. I just had to stare at a pair of dots. The discofort of the jig used to keep my eyes open wasn't a big deal and the burning hair smell (I had been warned about) didn't even phase me. Well, really, it would have taken ALOT more than what was there to even make me uncomfortable... I was so excited to never wear glasses again, I was pumped to do whatever it took.
Anyway, my proceedure didn't involve any metal objects coming close to my eye (other than standard observation tools that optomitrists normally use, of course). It was all done with lasers and fancy pants equipment. All out of pocket with no coverage, it cost me $3450 CAD to have it done. The next day was rough, but the day after I was pretty much back to normal, save serious light sensitivity.
The proceedure I had, zioptics, is specially designed for people who have enormous pupil dialation. That's presumably why I was very light sensitive for over a week after the proceedure... the sun was literally blinding. However, the haloing effect around light sources was substantially worse for me for about 10 months after the proceedure. Now (18 months), things are back to normal... I've always had haloing around light sources for as long as I can remember, but thankfully the proceedure didn't make it worse. My night vision is also just as good as it was before, which was excellent.
The newest proceedures don't use any scaples or anything gross like that, which is why I had it done. I wore glasses since I was 5, up until 23, and I was around -8.75 in both eyes. Best money I ever spent. I cannot stress enough how much better it is than glasses.
A few tips for anyone reading this that wants to get it: don't listen to anyone who seems to have a financial interest in you doing the laser surgery. If you've had the same optomitrist for the last 23 years (like I did), then I'd listen to what he has to say. Avoid laser surgery specialists with murals of Jesus, holding the surgeon's hand, in the waiting room (Not joking, happened to me... ran away, fast.). And go with what other people had great success with, even if you have to travel. You only get one pair of eyes, do NOT fuck with them... let only the best of the best even contemplate touching them.
Failure rates are astronomically low, but I was quoted a 98% chance of success from Lasik MD, and they were confident I was a good candidate. That too goes back to the first thing I said about vested interests... watch what the outfit says and make sure that they're willing to turn away potential patients that aren't a good fit for their proceedure. Health first, profit second. If you ask them straight up they'll always give you their sound bite answer so read between the lines. Have them go over every single detail of your file and understand every aspect of what makes your case different. They won't be able to tell you how you'll fare after the proceedure (rejection, night blindness, infections, ect), but they should have an answer for everything that happens before it (astigmatisms, weird shit you have, ect).
Lasik MD had me skeptical because they quote $250/eye on the sides of buses... and mine was $3450. The Zioptix proceedure for my huge pupils tripled the price though... it simply treats alot more area of the eye than a standard proceedure; a standard run of lasik would have only treated some ~75% of the cornea I can actually see through, but more than enough for a regular person. Zioptix treated a larger area so that I wouldn't see haze bands in dark conditions. In days gone by, I wouldn't have been able to get surgery.
And Theresa, you won't regret having it done, that's for sure. However, if your eyes are getting worse, no decent surgery place should touch you. Here, they won't have anything to do with you unless your eyes haven't changed in 3 years... and they want all your optomitrist's files too.
