The wife is almost at 20/20. She still misses the D's and the O's. On the bright side, she can make out a few of the letters on the 20/15 line as well. However, those letters are a little blurry still. She still has halos but it's not that bad. She has stopped using the artificial tears awhile back because she just doesn't feel the need. The doctor recommends that she keep using. She said she would but somehow I doubt it very much. It's human nature. She's basically living like a normal person with good vision without being tethered to the glasses, contacts, or tear drops.
I'm actually disappointed that she hasn't hit hit her 20/20 benchmark yet. Then again, conventional wisdom say that it may take up to a year for recovery. Is almost 20/20 at 6 weeks with a -5.25 prescription good or bad? Who knows. Plus everyone heal at a different rate. We'll just have to wait for the 3 month post-op to find out.
I may be disappointed, but she's ecstatic. Being able to see the clock at night and not having to shuffle for glasses is liberating for her. Plus, not having to deal with contacts, losing a contact, and then having one stuck in the eye (which happens regularly for some reason) is another plus. Yes, she would definitely have this procedure again.
We have another surprise: she's pregnant. Of course, most LASIK doctors don't recommend getting pregnant for at least 6 months after LASIK. There goes conventional wisdom.
Thank you so much for this blog, is has provided so much useful information. I have my custom bladeless Lasik surgery scheduled with Dr. Furlong on March 23rd and have started getting cold feet. My biggest fear is the possibility of long term effects such as ectiasia and painful chronic dry eyes (I do not have dry eyes now).
ReplyDeleteMy pre op appointment will be on Tues March 20th. Could you share some of the key questions you had for Dr. Furlong that you think where most helpful. Did the Dr. Measure and discuss your wife’s pupil size, and tell you what her corneal thickness would be remaining after surgery? I’d love to see a more detailed blog on what happens during the pre-op appointment (wavescan)at Dr. Furlong's but I know that was awhile back . What types of information did they share with you ? (Corneal thickness? The presences of HOA? Pupil size? The Ablation zone? Did they tell you how much they plan to remove and how much would be left after surgery? ) Or are these all things I will need to remember to ask them myself?
Thanks again for the abundance of information. I have also started to consider PRK instead, thinking it may be worth the added recovery to keep as much of my cornea as possible.
It looks like you already know the questions. I suggest you go back through this blog and read it by clicking on the archive. The doctors should share everything with you if you ask.
ReplyDeleteWhen you get the wavescan, look at the results and ask questions. You can ask to keep the copy as well. Most patients do not properly research beforehand and thus do not ask these questions. The doctor will not tell you anything if you don't ask. He doesn't know what your concerns will be.
Based on what you wrote, here are things you should be asking at the minimum:
1. What is your cornea thickness measurement?
2. How many microns of your cornea will be ablated? You will have a pretty good idea of this already. Look at your prescription currently. If it's a low number (-2 or below), not much, but if it's high, you'll definitely lose more cornea tissue.
3. What is the level of your HOA? The chart should have that info but ask the doctor to explain that to you.
4. What is your pupil size (normal and dilated). You should already know this if you go to your regular eye doctor. Dr. Furlong will send you back to your regular doctor for the measurement anyway so you may as well go early and get this done.
If you don't currently have thin cornea and/or dry eyes, I don't think you'd be susceptible to those issues (ecstasia and dry eyes). If you do have these issues, your doctor will address it with you.
If there is a potential problem, I don't think these LASIK doctors would go through with your surgery; it would be better to turn you away rather than risk their reputation (and business) on a botched surgery. With the Internet and blogging, an unhappy customer could turn into a real PR disaster. That's why you want to select a reputable doctor--their reputation is worth more than however much they charge you for the surgery.
My wife had discomfort for a full day after LASIK. PRK is almost always much worse and lasts much longer. If you opt for PRK, just remember that recovery will be way worse than the surgery itself.
Finally, if you're not comfortable with the surgery then you should cancel and wait until you're comfortable. Don't rush into surgery because you can only make this decision once. Good luck!
Hi KD,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to stop by and say thanks again for taking time to put this blog together and for answering my questions so quickly. I printed out the questions and brought them with me to my pre-op exam and that helped me get the answers I needed to feel comfortable with surgery.
I thought I would quickly share my experience for others that stop by. So far my experience has been similar to what you described for your wife. I had custom Lasik in both eyes, my prescription was -6.00 in both eyes with a very slight astigmatism in the right eye. Dr. Furlong said they would be removing about 75-80 microns. The Laser /ophthalmic tech named Will was awesome he answered a lot of my questions and quickly replied to my emails and also kept the mood light on surgery day which I really appreciated.
The Procedure:
During the procedure everything happened pretty much as you described except my right eye didn’t go completely black when they applied the pressure it was more of a grey. Also to avoid the burning smell that people described I made sure to breathe through my mouth when I heard the clicking of the laser. This worked well. The only part of the surgery that was uncomfortable was the bright light that was on for a few seconds before the laser started.
After Surgery:
After surgery my eyes were very light sensitive, they stung and kept tearing. I could barely open them for the drops. The numbing drops they proved helped but only lasted a few min. After using them 3 or 4 times I gave up and decided to try and sleep, which was hard to do. Having the windows covered help with the sleep and light sensitivity. My surgery was around 3:30 pm; I went straight home, straight to bed and tried to sleep as long as I could. After finally falling asleep I woke up around 9pm and my eyes felt much better. The stinging/tearing was gone, but still sensitive to light. I Ate some dinner and went back to sleep.
1 day post
Woke up around 8am eyes felt drastically better. Sensitive to light, right eye felt scratchy and it was a bit hard to focus, but vision was clear and functional. At the post op exam they said I was seeing 20/20 but I still saw halo and rainbows around bright lights. I didn’t feel ready to drive but I was able to watch TV look at my phone and go out for dinner but required lots of eye resting in between.
Today is 4 days post-lasik and I’m back at work, I’m still using antibiotics and steroid drops every 4 hours and sleeping with eye shields (which I thought would be uncomfortable but really aren’t bad). Right eye has felt scratchy ever since surgery, haven’t had much trouble with dry eyes but it’s a bit worse today being in the air conditioning at work. Left eye feels normal and I’m using the lubricating drops every hour as directed. I drove a little bit today but its gloomy/raining out so people have their headlight on which means halos and rainbows for my eye which are still a bit light sensitive. Hopefully this gets better as my eyes heal.
Two other things I would mention are my eyes tend to lose focus often and I have the strange urge to take out my contacts.
Thanks Again and Congrats!!!
Congrats! I will write my reply as a post.
ReplyDelete