Your experience with Laser Eye Surgery?

John – what does your doctor (who did the lasik) say about this?

Curious
Roger

I had LASIK in 1998, mostly to make my outdoor sports lifestyle easier.  I had “moderate” myopia with only a tiny astigmatism. It seems as though — from my entirely unscientific survey of people I know who’ve had LASIK — that the less severe your vision problems were to begin with, the quicker/easier your healing from the surgery will be.

My surgeon said I had “fabulous” corneas. Now, nearly 20 years later, my corneas are apparently so well healed that my current Opthalmologist asked me if I was “sure” that I had LASIK. [Yes, yes, I am sure.]

The initial issues I had were:

• excessive tears, like water pouring out of my eyes, for about 4-5 hours (happened a few hours after the procedure) — gone by the next morning
• Some mild halo effect at night for the first few months
• Some mild trouble focusing (from near-to-far) for about a month.

All of these issues went away.

At the time of the surgery, my doctor told me that, in all likelihood, as I aged, I would get age-onset presbyopia. I did. While my distance vision is still ~20/20, I use “drugstore” reading glasses, which is no big deal.

My husband had monovision done in the early 2000s, and in my opinion, it gave him “so-so” vision for both distance and close-up… Now, years later, he needs glasses for both near and far.  Soon he’ll need cataract surgery, and I’m encouraging him to choose single vision this time (corrected for distance).

Would I do it again?  Yes, in a heartbeat.  SO much better to walk around being able to see the world around me.

I had a procedure similar to lasik about 10 years ago abreviated name is PRK, and although it had a longer heal time than lasik, it has the benefit of growing new lenses of the outer surface of the eye. This provides a stronger lens, than cutting a flap as is normal with lasik.  PRK also has the benefit of since you grow a new outer lens, it can lead to not needing reading glasses nearly as soon. The reason people need reading glasses is usually due to hardening of this outer lens, which Lasik alone will do nothing for. After 10 years I have retained 20/15 vision, prior to surgery had severe astigmatism, and was all but blind without glasses or contacts.  Hope this helps, and good luck.

So…something happened recently I should share.  I love my lasik, but…..scary story:

My brother had lasik done about 8-9 years ago.   As you may be aware the flap they cut never fully heals.

About a month ago, my brothers 3 year old daughter poked him in the eye.  Hard.   His flap displaced, and it required 2 surgerys to attempt to repair it.  As of now he has about 50% vision in that eye, and there’s only a small chance it will recover without a corneal transparent.   He’s only 36.

Dont let this scare you too much.  Most people have no issues with lasik.  But after seeing the hell my brother has been through, I may have opted for PRK instead if had it to do over again.  Despite the longer recovery time.

Chris,sorry to hear about your brother. At the time of my surgery, my doctor said PRK was the only laser eye surgery approved for U.S. military personel due to the structural integrity of the eye lens this type of surgery provides. So i went that route.  Ive had no abnormal dry eye or night vision. But i will say after the procedure for about a week all i wanted to do was lay in a dark room.

Physician, here.

I had PRK ten years ago, and I have often told people that it was the best thing I have ever done for myself.

I had PRK because the US military favored it at that time due to concerns about flap displacement when jumping out of airplanes, using SCUBA gear, standing a bit too close to bomb blasts, and other such unreasonable things that militaries are wont to do.  So no flap concerns, but it was pretty uncomfortable that first week or so.  I had mild dryness for a year or so and used tear drops, but it cleared up and no problems since.  A couple of years ago I had to start wearing reading glasses (I’m approaching 50 years old) but I feel that’s still worlds better than wearing glasses all the time.  I’ve never had starbursts.

Thank you all for posting here. Chris very sorry to hear about your brother’s accident, hope his vision returns 100% without any further pain. Thank you for letting me know about PRK, from what we’ve read, if we did the procedure the Ms. and I would probably opt for PRK.

I’ve heard conflicting things about whether it’s preferable to correct both eyes for distance, or one eye for distance and one eye for reading. I’d think it would be best to correct both eyes for distance and when needed, use reading glasses.