Laser eye surgery - your experience?

[CyForPresident]

Don't sweat it. Its over before you know it.

Hope you're right. With my luck, I'll be blind and fired from my job by Thursday night.

[PhillipJCY]

I had mine done at LasikPlus in West Des Moines about a month ago. It's not a painful experience, but it is very surreal. Afterwards was a little painful for me because I had a headache right above my left eye, but I slept it off for 4 hours. I could see great after the nap. I was 20/15 in one eye and 20/20 in the other for my next day check up. I was a -8.0 and a -7.0 beforehand. This was definitely one of the best decisions I have made.

[CLONECONES]

I did it for astigmatism in both eyes when I was a freshman at ISU... the whole process took about 25-30 minutes (roughly I guess.. had a valium beforehand) and recovery was a day and a half.

Changed my life! highly recommend!

[JP4CY]

Going to Wolfe Eye Clinc on Thursday for it and I'm kinda freaking out, but **** it. I'm doing it.

With the blizzard, it will one bright mofo out there. Keep the eyes closed on the car ride home!

[Bu4ISU]

Blind Uncle Si - YouTube

What is this Star Wars?

[AdamJGray]

Try and sleep afterwards. It makes it a lot better. Otherwise you will be uncomfortable for a good 2 hours. Not painful, but discomfort.

[Cyclophile1]

I had mine done at noon on a Friday and went home and took a nap (long one). I got up to have pizza and movie night and felt well enough (aside from a slight headache) to watch a Pixar movie with the kids by 6pm or so. I woke up the next morning and drove to get a donut from the gas station and felt like a fighter pilot driving around in the minivan seeing at 20/15.

It took me about two or three weeks to get used to the new vision, seeing SO well was a little disorienting. I had halos around streetlights at night for about 8-9 months that gradually reduced over that time to almost no halos today. It was a wonderful thing and probably the best use of a couple thousand bucks I have ever spent. It's been seven years and I still see excellent, better than 20/20 when my eyes are fresh and about 20/20 after a full day of working on the computer all day.

Cheers

[Muzzy]

I had mine done at Wolfe Eye Clinic in WDM about 4 years ago. After wearing glasses or contacts for 20 years it was liberating. Don't know if its been said already or if they still offer it, but if you join your county Farm Bureau, Wolfe Eye Clinic discounts the procedure $ 800.00. A membership only costs $40 a year I believe.

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

I got mine done last March. They talked me into the monovision. (one eye reading, one eye far) and I absolutely hated it and had that reversed 3 months later. As someone that had worn glasses for 45 years it is great.

[MeanDean]

Had mine done in 1999 at Wolfe Clinic. Agree with those who said best decision I ever made. I equated the pain/discomfort to the average tooth cleaning. Not that the sensations are anything alike - just the level of unnaturalness and discomfort you'll experience. I had some serious dryness with my eyes afterwards and kind of overdosed on the drops afterwards. My eye doctor said I basically chapped my eyes by putting so much moisture in there. I had to lay off for a few days. Just closed my eyes and rested for a minute or two whenever it got uncomfortable and pretty soon things were okay. I developed my own monovision by closing one eye when I work on the computer. I got glasses about 3 years ago for night driving just because I have, and always have had, a bit of trouble seeing at night. For some reason right at and after dusk is the worst. I don't use them always, but like having them when driving in rain or in an unfamiliar location. I also started using reading glasses about 3 years ago. That was forewarned to me, but I didn't care. The only other thing that's different from glasses for me is the dryness. The glasses sort of shielded my eyes from the direct affect of dry hot air. I cannot stand to be in the front seat of a car with the defroster on for very long. It will dry out my eyes in about 2 minutes so that I'm uncomfortable.

[mtowncyclone13]

My eyes twitch and roll due to severe dryness. I sit at a comp all day and it has made my vision worse every year. How long does the procedure last and do they hold open your eyes? My worry is because if i dont move my eyes every second or so it gets painful.

[bugs4cy]

Had the surgery two years ago. Would do it over again in a heartbeat. Your eyes are numbed and held open with powerful clamps. Felt very weird. Moving is not an option, even if you wanted to. And, the Valium helps immensely.

But, I'd talk to your doc because dryness can be a side affect of the surgery, at least for awhile. Doesn't sound lie you'd want the situation made worse.

[SpokaneCY]

20/15 for nearly 13 years. I'm aging (48) so I'm now back in glasses. Tough to read, tough to see far. Talked to my doc about a touch-up and he said I'm in the sweet-spot and anything he could do would necessarily sacrifice reading or distance vision.

Best thing I ever did though...

I did lose night vision ability, and I did "gain" halos which lasted for many years. Trade-off was worth it though...

[mcblogerson]

I highly recommend the surgery. I went from 20/80 in one eye to 20/25 and 20/40 to 20/15 in the other. I did get an infection in an eye after the surgery but it was taken care of with antibiotic drops. I paid about 4k a couple years ago and went with a well reviewed doctor who has been doing these for about 20 years.

the surgery itself only lasted about 5 minutes and your eyes are dry and irritated for a few weeks. You can smell your eyes burning but theres no pain involved.

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

My eyes twitch and roll due to severe dryness. I sit at a comp all day and it has made my vision worse every year. How long does the procedure last and do they hold open your eyes? My worry is because if i dont move my eyes every second or so it gets painful.

Your eyes are clamped open and they put a kind of suction ring around your eyeball to hold it steady while they do the actual surgery which is in 2 parts. The first is to cut the flap and the second is to flip the flap over and reshape the eye. Both parts take only about 5 - 20 seconds depending on your prescription.

How are your eyes away from the computer? Do you wear glasses for nearsightedness ? If so has that prescription changed or remained steady?

People tend to think that Lasik "fixes" your eyes when all it does is replace the need for glasses. So for someone like me that wore glasses or contacts from the moment I awoke to the moment I went to bed it is great. For someone that wears glasses 20% of the time and no glasses the rest of the time what you are doing is reshaping your eyes for that 20% so now you have messed up you vision for the remaining 80%.

The need for reading glasses as we age is another story. That has more to do with the lens losing flexibility so your eyes have trouble refocusing on something close as opposed to not properly refracting the light on the retina.

I am 54 and started wearing glasses when I was 8. I was at the point where I was using contact lenses and at times needing reading glasses while wearing the contacts. I just wanted to take the contact lenses out of the equation. As long as I have decent light I still can read normal things without reading glasses though reading a book would be tedious without them. All said I am very happy with the lasik.