51 years old, astigmatism has monovision ilasik

I went back to the doctor yesterday to have them peek at the White top of my eye under my upper eyelid. I expected bruising but there was none. I have pain in the top of my right eye like someone poked me in the eye. Everyday I wake up hoping it will be gone but I still have it:(

They gave me a sample box of Xiidra in case this is dry eye. If they injured a nerve during the surgery with the suction device it can feel this way for 4-6 weeks. It’s driving me nuts. I have been taking Tylenol and using a warm rice bag to treat. I don’t think it’s dry eye. I am using the medicine but it does not seem to help.

Gel eye drops are the best!

As far as the monovision goes, when I am at the eye doctor I can read the card they give you and I see 20/30 on the eyechart but in real life it’s different.

I have no peripheral vision in my right eye (the one that is bothering me and is corrected for reading) so it feels like something or someone is standing right next to me, like a presence. My dominant left eye is doing a good job but I can really tell the difference between the eyes. They say it can take 4 months for your brain to adjust to monovision.

I wake up, I can see but it isn’t the same as wearing contacts or glasses because I am completely aware that my field of vision is limited on the right side.

I really don’t want to wear reading glasses so I will give it the four months to decide if monovision works for me.

I absolutely had to drive at night last night and a stupid teenager wearing dark colors crossed in front of me jogging on a dark bridge where there is no pedestrian crossing. I could see him and didn’t hit him because he crossed from my left side. I don’t know that I would have been able to hit the brakes in time if he had started on my right side.

I am going to get night driving glasses. I don’t feel ripped off by having to get glasses for night after having lasik, I would rather be safe and not hurt myself or anyone else.

Overall I’m glad I had Lasik but the jury is still out on monovision and I wish I would not have had a nerve injury during the procedure.

At 2:30 I took a .5 milligram Xanax and took a shower. I felt awful not wearing most jeer or any hair products but the doctor wanted my to avoid. My check in was at 3:30 and I arrived in Jammie's and a leopard robe which totally cracked the staff up. After LASIK you are supposed to go right to bed so why wear something you're gong to have to change out of?

I also brought the staff a September the 7th cake. They were going to give me my eyesight, I gave them the most delicious cake ever. You cannot believe how happy the staff was. I think they deal with a lot of crabby, nervous people.

So as soon as I handed off the cake I was given a gown, cap and a Valium. Since the only give you a low dose of vallium, I had called my regular GP and gotten the go ahead to take a Xanax and hour prior as I mentioned above. I have a very high tolerance for medicine and even with both the Xanax and the Valium I was not loopy at all, just slightly relaxed.

My doctor, Dr Haines, provides a chair massage by a professional masseuse while you wait your turn. When it was my turn a nurse took me back, gave me a warmed blanket and they set me into the chair. The nurse numbed my eyes and used a pen to mark the astigmatism on my eye, which I didn't feel.
When Dr Haines came in,I asked if I could pray with him and he immeadiatedly took my hand. After my short prayer, they stared the procedure.

Cutting the flap wasn't uncomfortable at all. You have numbing drops in. It is very quick. Dr Haines spine gently all the way through the procedure explaining what would happen next. Then the laser corrected each eye. The laser is loud and makes cracking noises. Also there is the faint smell of burning flesh which I did not enjoy but disappated after a few seconds.

All that stress about the procedure and it is over in seconds. They put clear lenses on at act as a bandGe. They felt very uncomfortable. You hear people complain about pain or itchiness Fter the procedure and I am wondering how many people are really reacting to the contact not the procedure. After a couple of minutes, I had my blood pressure checked again and went home.

I was given pulls to make me go to sleep.i climbed i climbed in bed and pass out for about four hours. When I woke up, my right eye was sore and the lenses were bothering my. I put in drops, had a bite to eat, took another Xanax and went back to sleep in my stylish googles the dr had given me.

Today I had my follow up at noon. Thankfully the removed the protective lenses. My body has adjusted to the mono vision right away. I could read close up immediately. My distance vision is blurry. I can look around just fine and see across the room just fine but I could not read the second line on the reading chart. It was a little less that 24 hours, the temporary contacts were uncomfortable and I could see well enough to drive.

My next appointment is in three weeks. I think my ryes will co to us to improve. I a, most worried that my right eye is sore which I am treating with Tylenol and a warm rice bag. M left eye is ,y dominate eye and it is the one corrected for distance. It's weird the the eye that is sore is seeing more quickly.

I had read on the Internet to stay in a dark room for three days, no screens, no ,ale up or mosturizer or showers for a week after surgery. Dr Haines said, 24 hours no screens, no pools/Yoruba/mascara/eyeliner for one week, the rest is internet hysteria.

My friends are concerned that my left eye isn't as clear as it should be. I'm not worried at all. It takes a bit to adjust to mono vision and if it's not quite right they can adjust it. I have always been a slow healer so I think I'll wait to the follow up before I press the panic button.

I am a little dizzy today but not sure if that is me adjusting to mono vision or the Xanax I will post updates as my vision adjusts. Right now I am so glad I did it. When I look across the room, I can see like I was wearing glasses or contacts.

I have worn contacts and glasses since sixth grade. I told myself that when contacts really started to bug me I would get iLASIK. My brother and sister in law did PRK when it was first out. They were happy although 20 years later they are back in glasses. When I turned 49 I switched to daily contact lenses and at 51 years old, my eyes have begun to react to contact lens solution and my left eye hurts every time I wear a lens. When I wear contacts, I have to have strong reading glasses and when I wear glasses I have to take them off to read. The glasses on/off thing is driving me nuts so I decided it was time.

I interviewed Dr Haines ($4900) and Dr king in the Portland area. ($3900 minus a $1000 coupon you get when you sign up for his mailing list)

I selected Dr Haines for a few reasons. First, he seemed a lot less high pressure than Dr. King. He is well respected in our community and is the go to guy in our area for cataract surgery. I asked a few of my doctor friends including an eye surgeon whose office doesn't do LASIK and they all said he was the guy they would use on their own eyes.

While the cost was considerably higher with Dr Haines than Dr. King, (although since I live in Eugene I might have up to 2 hotel stays to add to the cost) I felt the quality of the experience was higher as well.

Dr. King has an aggressive marketing campaign that send you photoshopped photos of his family and feel very high pressure. IMO it was too much and eroded my trust. I wanted the best surgeon I could get for my eyes, not a new Facebook friend. They also called me everyday until I asked them to stop.

I have had several medically necessitated surgeries. Even though my bowel section was an emergency surgery I would have not gone though the surgery if the surgeon had try to market the crap out of me prior to removing a fifth of my intestines. I feel no different with LASIK. It's a surgery and I'm looking for the best surgeon.

As with any elective surgery, do your homework, pick the person that you feel confident will get you the best result. Someone with a large marketing campaign may do a lot of surgeries and be highly competent but if you feel any hesitation, take a pass. Having good eyesight is very important to me, so I went with the more expensive Doctor based on his reputation, my overall experience during the office visits and Dr. Haines experience with all types of eye surgery, which I felt would be helpful if something went wrong. He also does a lot of volunteer trips to third world nations and even though it wasn't a deciding factor I liked that he is really invested in helping people see.

I also read several reviews from independent web sites prior to making my physician selection.

I wrote a lot about that because a lot of malls have lasik centers and there is a lot of marketing being done. I just don't want anyone to do any surgery on impulse of get pushed into it.some eyes should NOT have this surgery, so just be sure.

At Dr Haines (Oregon iLasik and refractive) I went to two different exams prior to my surgery that were separate from my surgery to give me time to make an informed decision. At the second exam I recived goggles and wrap around sunglasses (oh so cool... not) and instructions. My eyes were examined for a second time and I was shown my my lens thickness and where it should be to be an appropriate candidate for iLASIK. DO NOT have any type of correction unless your eye lens meets the thickness test. This is one reason why people have bad experiences.

Two days prior to the surgery I received a text giving me my check in time and a reminder to use the eye drops 6 times the day before.I was so excited that the 48 hours seemed like forever.

I was given a choice between a morning and an afternoon appointment. I chose late afternoon. You are supposed to sleep for several hours after and Dr Haines gives to medication to help you sleep. My thought was I would sleep the three hours or so eat a little something, take a Xanax and go right back to sleep for the night. The afternoon appointment should give me the best chance of resting my eyes as much as possible right after the procedure.

I own a great pair of sunglasses but I also bought a new pair of pajamas to wear to the appointment. No sense in having to change my clothes rather than climbing right into bed when I get home. It's Eugene Oregon and I live near the University of Oregon so students wear pajamas everywhere anyway.

I also stopped wearing makeup a week ago and purchased a new tube of mascara for when I can start wearing make up again. I wash my brushes regularly but mascara wands don't get washed and are the most likely piece of eye make up to give you an infection.

Dr Haines also mentioned not to go to the hospital unless necessary after surgery and to stop by for protective contacts if I really had to go. Mersa can be a risk.

Lastly I purchase a bottle of 40 mg of lutein with zeaxanthin supplements, just to give my eye health a boost during recovery.

Surgery tomorrow at 3:30, I will let you know how it goes.