Wavefront Lasik; Some Residual Night Driving Problems 2 Years Later - Anchorage, AK

I paid $4,300 to have it done in Anchorage, Alaska, plus travel costs (total was close to $8,000 because I was in rural Alaska at the time). The procedure itself was painless. Recovery time was very fast, I was pain free in a couple of hours and the next day i could read and watch TV. My vision was corrected to 20/15, and it is still that sharp even 2 years later. I have some residual problems with night blindness but it is correctable with glasses worn for night driving only, and overall I would do it again.

I am not a doctor, and if you had Lasik recently talk to your doctor before trying this. I loved LASIK and having 20/15 vision. I did not love continual eyedrops and mild dry eye, or night blindness.

My ophthalmologist in Denver treated me for the night vision problems I was having. He noticed that I had a huge amount of eye makeup in my tear film. He also noticed that my Meibomian glands along the lash line were getting clogged with makeup.

Your tear film is made up of a lot of stuff, apparently, and the Meibomian glands secrete a special type of oil that floats on top of the tear film, keeping it in the eye so it doesn't evaporate. My Meibomian glands needed some help.

I got some anti-allergy Similasan homeopathic eyedrops at my ophthalmologist's suggestion. Even though I have not left the house without a full eye makeup design, I stopped wearing eye makeup for two weeks. I also did warm compresses on my closed eyes, which helps get the Meibomians unclogged and gets the oils flowing. I wet a washcloth with hot tap water, test it to make sure it isn't too hot, and then gently hold it against my closed eyes for 20 seconds. Then I refold the cloth, and repeat for another 20 seconds. I do this in the morning, and in the evening when I wash my face.

I honestly didn't notice much of an improvement by not wearing eye makeup, and I really missed wearing eye makeup. What did help my night vision was a pair of eyeglasses with an anti-glare coating. I still wear makeup but now I opt for non-sparkle cream formulas, like Laura Mercier Caviar Eye Crayons. that seems to reduce the "fallout" that winds up in my tear film.

I had significant problems with night blindness post-lasik. I also had Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. In my first review I downplayed the dryness as "mild" but it was more moderate-to-severe. My eyes were painful, dry, and felt gritty. I ended up having the surgeon place silicone punctal plugs. He billed my insurance for the punctal plugs and I didn't have to pay out of pocket.

The halos and starbursts were intense for the first 18 months after the surgery. I honestly did not expect it to take that long. At the time, I was living in a rural area in Alaska and driving in the winter was brutal. In winter, the sun didn't rise until after 10AM, and it was dark again by 4PM, so I was dealing with intense halos and starbursts almost all the time.

Even with the punctal plugs, my dry eye did not resolve. It turns out I had meibomian gland dysfunction. The meibomian glands are supposed to secrete oil that floats on top of the tear film. I think my MGD was caused by using Latisse for 2 years. There is no going back. Now I have to take fish oil and flaxseed oil, use warm compresses, and do lid scrubs. Even though I spent a TON of money out of pocket to get LASIK, now I have to wear glasses pretty much all the time. Having the lens in front of your eye helps slow evaporation of the tear film, keeping your eyes more comfortable. The anti-glare coating on my lenses also help reduce SOME of the night blindness. It is really annoying that I spent all that time and money to get LASIK and I'm still wearing glasses. It also helps that I moved to a city and now when I drive at night there are other lights, which helps reduce my night blindness.

I got bladeless Wavefront LASIK and the doctor kept saying that he was mystified as to why I had such poor results. I think they didn't measure my pupils correctly. At one visit, he said my pupils were 7.0mm and that he did the surgery to that, but at another visit he said 8.0mm. Halos and starbursts occur when the pupil dilates beyond the area of the cornea that was treated with the laser.