POSTED UNDER LASIK Reviews
My Ups and Downs in the First Month Following Lasik - Boise, ID
UPDATED FROM deerhuntingal
2 years post
3 Years post lasik
deerhuntingalJanuary 17, 2017
$4,200
Hi all! Not much has changed since a year and a half ago. I'm currently on Restasis now for a year and it has helped me function at the computer for my job so most days I'm back to normal. My eye exam appointment last week showed no signs of dry eye damage so I take that as meaning the Restasis is working although I still use the gel at night in my right eye. It will dry to much at night and my eye lid will stick to my eyeball without it! I'm also smack in the middle of menopause as well which does not help dryness, in fact, I hear women get dry eyes after menopause so hard to say if mine will get worse later on in life or not. I do know the eye that had the most lasering done on it is the dryer eye so i know it is Lasik caused. Just don't want the dryness to get worse due to my aging.
On another note, my vision is still as good as it was a few months after Lasik. I do prefer to wear a cheap pair of glasses for night driving as the 20/30 eye and headlight glare does not make a good combination. During the day, I do not need glasses to see the computer or to drive, etc. If I want crystal clarity, I have that cheap pair of glasses and I opted to have my WileyX sunglasses fitted with prescription lenses just because it is nice to see perfectly in the outdoors.
Like I said in the past reviews, I probably would not have done it knowing the outcome was not 20/20 in both eyes and the dryness associated with it but I'm not depressed or angry or even sad as I went into it knowing mostly what I was doing could have repercussions. My Dr. tells me the Lasik scars are healed nicely and the cuts were very well done so I'm greatful I did not have any worse outcome. I'm an optimist at heart so I try an look at the good side of things and that is how I keep an upper hand on life! With Restasis and gel drops, I can function and who knows? Maybe in a few more years, I will be able stop using it but until then, I will put my sun glasses on and go enjoy the beautiful Idaho wilderness!
On another note, my vision is still as good as it was a few months after Lasik. I do prefer to wear a cheap pair of glasses for night driving as the 20/30 eye and headlight glare does not make a good combination. During the day, I do not need glasses to see the computer or to drive, etc. If I want crystal clarity, I have that cheap pair of glasses and I opted to have my WileyX sunglasses fitted with prescription lenses just because it is nice to see perfectly in the outdoors.
Like I said in the past reviews, I probably would not have done it knowing the outcome was not 20/20 in both eyes and the dryness associated with it but I'm not depressed or angry or even sad as I went into it knowing mostly what I was doing could have repercussions. My Dr. tells me the Lasik scars are healed nicely and the cuts were very well done so I'm greatful I did not have any worse outcome. I'm an optimist at heart so I try an look at the good side of things and that is how I keep an upper hand on life! With Restasis and gel drops, I can function and who knows? Maybe in a few more years, I will be able stop using it but until then, I will put my sun glasses on and go enjoy the beautiful Idaho wilderness!
UPDATED FROM deerhuntingal
1 year post
1 1/2 YEARS POST OP LASIK
deerhuntingalJuly 28, 2015
About a month ago I became a little dryer in my right eye to the point that at night my eyelid sticks to
my eyeball as the nighttime is the worst time for dry eye sufferers. I was disappointed that started happening as I was hoping to go the other direction and heal more! Still, 5 years to regrow the nerves to 80% of what they were, plus my age of 49 is all a factor. I was also told that Idaho sells the most artificial tears than any state!? Very dry here I guess!
I can only use Systane Ultra and a gel type drop for night due to extreme sensitivity to the other
drops out there and store brand is not the same! Learned that the hard way!
I'm 20/25 and 20/30 give or take at the end of the day but way better in the morning before work
and all that computer stuff starts. Work is the worst with 8-9 hours on the computer so I'm considering moving on to something different to be able to live more normally.
Weekends are pretty good and I can function but that is only 2 days out of the week!
Anyway, I can go without glasses most of the time but I wear sunglasses outside that block the wind and I have a pair that have my prescription for crisp vision if I want them.
I may check back in here at sometime in the future if anything changes just to update this but
I still believe if they would have warned me about my age being a factor in the dry eye and computer use as well as the climate, I would have not done it.
my eyeball as the nighttime is the worst time for dry eye sufferers. I was disappointed that started happening as I was hoping to go the other direction and heal more! Still, 5 years to regrow the nerves to 80% of what they were, plus my age of 49 is all a factor. I was also told that Idaho sells the most artificial tears than any state!? Very dry here I guess!
I can only use Systane Ultra and a gel type drop for night due to extreme sensitivity to the other
drops out there and store brand is not the same! Learned that the hard way!
I'm 20/25 and 20/30 give or take at the end of the day but way better in the morning before work
and all that computer stuff starts. Work is the worst with 8-9 hours on the computer so I'm considering moving on to something different to be able to live more normally.
Weekends are pretty good and I can function but that is only 2 days out of the week!
Anyway, I can go without glasses most of the time but I wear sunglasses outside that block the wind and I have a pair that have my prescription for crisp vision if I want them.
I may check back in here at sometime in the future if anything changes just to update this but
I still believe if they would have warned me about my age being a factor in the dry eye and computer use as well as the climate, I would have not done it.
Replies (1)
January 15, 2017
Please tell me your eyes have improved? I'm so utterly depressed. I'm nearly one year post op and hate myself right now for doing this to myself.
January 17, 2017
It is not so much the fact that they have improved but the fact that I have settled into what works for me to be able to live life fully. Restasis and the gel drops at night are my routine and to tell the truth, I'm scared to stop using them! I can function almost normally now with their help but I work at a computer 8 hours a day 5 days a week in a room where the air is blowing on us all day long from the vents overhead. Dry environment to say the least. My age is also a factor with menopause coming on.
If dryness is your main concern, find what works for you. You have to focus on the positive no matter what as you know, the depression can take hold fast if you let it. Get a good eye Dr. That is key as there are options for treatment. It could be that the artificial tears you are using are irritating your eyes. Certain brands I cannot use so I found Systane Ultra was my only tear product that would work without causing discomfort. Get free samples from the Dr. They have a lot and will gladly hand them out. I wish you the best of luck to get to a place where you can cope as I know it is not easy but keep trying as something out there is bound to work for you and make life a little better.
If dryness is your main concern, find what works for you. You have to focus on the positive no matter what as you know, the depression can take hold fast if you let it. Get a good eye Dr. That is key as there are options for treatment. It could be that the artificial tears you are using are irritating your eyes. Certain brands I cannot use so I found Systane Ultra was my only tear product that would work without causing discomfort. Get free samples from the Dr. They have a lot and will gladly hand them out. I wish you the best of luck to get to a place where you can cope as I know it is not easy but keep trying as something out there is bound to work for you and make life a little better.
UPDATED FROM deerhuntingal
1 year post
1 Year 3 months Post op
deerhuntingalMay 1, 2015
Just a quick update! As the title states, I'm 15 months post op on my Lasik procedure now and my few observances are this:
The slight dryness is still there and it fluctuates with the humidity, computer use, allergens in the air or my overall health. At night I use artificial tears before bed but it does not really last until morning. I find myself waking at 3-4 am and one eye feels stuck in place so I have to add a drop and go back to sleep. I'm heading off to an Optometrist tomorrow for a second opinion and answers that my surgeon would never come out and say. I also may try Restasis or perm. plugs but my case is so mild that I believe I will just have to continue on with artificial tears until 5 years goes by and I will then know if it is permanent. Yes, 5 years folks is the time needed to regrow the nerves back in your eye after Lasik. They told me up to a year but the extensive research I have done, it is believed to be 5 years and that it never gets to pre op quality. You may get 80% back and they may not be as strong as before.
I can say that when I'm not on the computer for work, it is much better. I also need to drink more water probably but hate to unless I'm really thirsty as I'm not a big fan.
Another observation is the flap is pretty secure now and I do rub my eyes in the shower to clear the water and have not caused any ill effects but a flap is never truly healed and the Dr. can lift it easily so if you are thinking about that, it is a know fact and my Dr. told me it was easy to lift and do a touch up. I opted out of it on the eye that is 20/30.
The one eye that see's 20/30 can see up close better than the other one that is 20/20. This is one reason I opted to leave it alone. I would lose that if they fixed it. I'm 49 (almost) so keeping some close vision is better for me.
Young people don't have the close vision issues like us older crowd!
I have prescription glasses to bring into focus that other eye for night driving and one good thing is...they are so thin! Never had that before! I also bought some sunglasses with a slight prescription in them for when I go on my vacation and want crystal clarity but most of the time, I don't need any glasses accept readers. I have adapted to the right one seeing great now and the other one I ignore.
Like I said in previous posts:
If you are older and considering Lasik, do you work on a computer a lot? Do you have or ever have had contact intolerance? Have you gone through menopause (women) or Peri menopause? Do you live in a dry climate? Do your eyes water in the morning excessively for a few minutes? (sign of slight dryness that you may not know you even have).
If you answered yes to any of these, you may want to reconsider as your chances of dry eye are higher than most.
I'm in Peri menopause, had the tearing every morning, live in a dry climate (Idaho), and work on a computer for my job 8 hours a day. I have tolerable dry eye syndrome. It is not all the time except at work so I'm looking forward to a new job in 3 years where I can do something else mostly for the fun factor but to alleviate the dry eye which I believe I may have permanently but in 4 more years, I may know more. I was one of the slightly lucky one's to not have a severe case of it but it would have been better if both eyes were 20/15! lol! Wishful thinking but I went in with an open-minded view of the possible outcomes and I have been able to adapt and still live a happy life. That is key!
The slight dryness is still there and it fluctuates with the humidity, computer use, allergens in the air or my overall health. At night I use artificial tears before bed but it does not really last until morning. I find myself waking at 3-4 am and one eye feels stuck in place so I have to add a drop and go back to sleep. I'm heading off to an Optometrist tomorrow for a second opinion and answers that my surgeon would never come out and say. I also may try Restasis or perm. plugs but my case is so mild that I believe I will just have to continue on with artificial tears until 5 years goes by and I will then know if it is permanent. Yes, 5 years folks is the time needed to regrow the nerves back in your eye after Lasik. They told me up to a year but the extensive research I have done, it is believed to be 5 years and that it never gets to pre op quality. You may get 80% back and they may not be as strong as before.
I can say that when I'm not on the computer for work, it is much better. I also need to drink more water probably but hate to unless I'm really thirsty as I'm not a big fan.
Another observation is the flap is pretty secure now and I do rub my eyes in the shower to clear the water and have not caused any ill effects but a flap is never truly healed and the Dr. can lift it easily so if you are thinking about that, it is a know fact and my Dr. told me it was easy to lift and do a touch up. I opted out of it on the eye that is 20/30.
The one eye that see's 20/30 can see up close better than the other one that is 20/20. This is one reason I opted to leave it alone. I would lose that if they fixed it. I'm 49 (almost) so keeping some close vision is better for me.
Young people don't have the close vision issues like us older crowd!
I have prescription glasses to bring into focus that other eye for night driving and one good thing is...they are so thin! Never had that before! I also bought some sunglasses with a slight prescription in them for when I go on my vacation and want crystal clarity but most of the time, I don't need any glasses accept readers. I have adapted to the right one seeing great now and the other one I ignore.
Like I said in previous posts:
If you are older and considering Lasik, do you work on a computer a lot? Do you have or ever have had contact intolerance? Have you gone through menopause (women) or Peri menopause? Do you live in a dry climate? Do your eyes water in the morning excessively for a few minutes? (sign of slight dryness that you may not know you even have).
If you answered yes to any of these, you may want to reconsider as your chances of dry eye are higher than most.
I'm in Peri menopause, had the tearing every morning, live in a dry climate (Idaho), and work on a computer for my job 8 hours a day. I have tolerable dry eye syndrome. It is not all the time except at work so I'm looking forward to a new job in 3 years where I can do something else mostly for the fun factor but to alleviate the dry eye which I believe I may have permanently but in 4 more years, I may know more. I was one of the slightly lucky one's to not have a severe case of it but it would have been better if both eyes were 20/15! lol! Wishful thinking but I went in with an open-minded view of the possible outcomes and I have been able to adapt and still live a happy life. That is key!
Replies (3)
May 5, 2015
Wow! You really try to look on the bright side of things. Good for you, I guess. All in all, it sounds like you were lied to and your eyes were permanently injured by a laser at the hands of a greedy surgeon - just like everyone else who is lied to about LASIK. When is this INSANITY going to stop!? LASIK is NOT worth ANYONE'S TIME OR MONEY!! The only people that GAIN from it are the surgeons that lie to us. It is morally and ethically WRONG to hurt people this way. I'm sorry for all of your trouble you have had and are having. I'm sorry you were lied to. I'm certainly sorry that LASIK exists.
July 28, 2015
Yes, I'm optimistic to a point! I think it is not that they lie but that they do not bring up any
relevant possible outcomes based on an individual basis such as age, climate where you live, if you went/going through menopause(women) or other factors that would help us decide to do it or not. The way they treat all people the same and not on an individual basis is the crime I see committed in my case.
All I can be is the optimist in my case as that would mean depression sets in and I have my family to think of so I cope and write this story so others can decide or not to do it or just so they know they are not alone if they had a less than satisfactory outcome.
relevant possible outcomes based on an individual basis such as age, climate where you live, if you went/going through menopause(women) or other factors that would help us decide to do it or not. The way they treat all people the same and not on an individual basis is the crime I see committed in my case.
All I can be is the optimist in my case as that would mean depression sets in and I have my family to think of so I cope and write this story so others can decide or not to do it or just so they know they are not alone if they had a less than satisfactory outcome.
October 25, 2018
Relax kbear32, I had Custom Wavefront LASIK about a month ago and it's the best thing I've ever done!
October 25, 2018
I'm 42 and they were very clear with what to expect going in. Being that I am in my 40's they fully explained that I would require reading glasses and gave me the option to have a mono-vision procedure performed - where they intentionally under correct one eye (your non-dominant eye) so that you can see up close and delay the need for reading glasses by many years.The dominant eye is fully corrected for distance vision and this gives you the ability to focus at all distances in your later years. The brain figures it all about. I did not opt for mono vision (thankfully) and like yourself I ended up with one eye under corrected. Right eye is currently 20/30 and left eye is 20/15. Problem is, my right eye is my dominant eye so it's taking a little longer for my brain to figure it out and adjust. In the morning and throughout the day I can see pretty good, but later on as my eyes tire it starts bugging me more and the more I think about it, the worse it gets. Good vision but I notice some blurriness surrounding subjects I am looking at. I just had my one month appointment today and the doctor said that as time passes it should improve and this could very well end up being a very good thing. (He's a big fan of mono vision.) None the less, I told him I did not want mono vision and accepted the fact that I would require reading glasses. I agreed to wait until the 6 month mark before requesting a touch up but stated that I would likely end up doing so. Being that I am only 1 month post surgery, he decided to offer me some Pred Forte drops to take for the next couple weeks (6 times per day in my right eye only), which may improve my vision. He said that it was against his recommendation, but ultimately my choice, and that if I did want to try this, that now is the time to do it. Haven't started the drops yet, which is why I ended up on this page while doing some research on people's experiences like my own. Overall I'm impressed with my day to day vision and it's only been a month, but not having both eyes perfect does bother me at times. However, it's possible that after a couple months this may not be an issue at all and it could end up delaying the need for reading glasses by 10-15 years. What to do what to do....
Replies (1)