Well, after thinking about it and doing all the research and talking to people who had the procedure done, I finally had LASIK surgery on Thursday morning. I went to one of the top guys around (and he better be for what I paid!), and accoring to the doctor everything went swimmingly. I went in the next day for a checkup, and once again the doctor told me that everything was looking good.
So here it is five days later, and while I can certainly see much better than I ever could before without glasses, things still aren’t as sharp as they were with glasses. Things still look kind of blurred, and I have difficulty particularly making out writing and details at at distance. Even closer up writing (such as this computer screen), while legible certainly isn’t as crisp as I’m used to.
I go in for another appointment on Friday and will bring it up with the doc, but I trust the Dope! Any Lasik patients care to share their experiences for the first week or two after surgery? When did your vision return completely to normal?
I had Lasik done twice (I have a particularly difficult prescription to correct). My experience was that the first time I was in agonizing pain the first day, and my vision was inconsistent for weeks. It sounds like you are getting off easy ;).
Seriously though, my doctors told me:
[ul]
[li]It takes many weeks (a couple months?) for your vision to stabilize, and you won’t be able to tell what your vision will be until it stabilizes. The surgeon deliberately compensates for the changes to your eye as it heals. When you first get it done, your eye is swollen, and as the eye heals and returns to “normal,” that slightly changes the characteristics of your vision. So it is probably good that you aren’t seeing perfectly now, otherwise, when the healing was done your vision would be overcorrected…[/li][li]The success of the operation is highly dependent on your original vision.[/li][li]If you aren’t satisfied with the results, you can have it done again for free.[/li][/ul]
Personally, I’m not too picky. As I said, I had a tough prescription to correct, and my vision is far from perfect, and worse at night, but to me, just not having to have crap on my face or my eyeballs all the time is a world of difference. I’ve heard that they have better techniques now than when I got it done, so you will probably have better vision than me.
That matches my experience. In the first few days after the procedure, I could see much better, but it wasn’t that great. Also, I seemed to have lost much of my ability to focus on close up things, like for reading. I had to buy a couple of pairs of reading glasses for different situations. After time, I regained my near-focusing ability and can now read most text without reading glasses. Of course that doesn’t include tiny fonts such as you find with pharmaceutical inserts and the like. My distance vision also improved, and while I admit it still isn’t quite as good as it was with glasses, and definitely not as good as when I used to wear hard contact lenses, it’ll definitely do.
So yeah, I think it’s too soon to be disappointed.
My mom had about a month of good distance vision and almost non-existant close vision. She healed, and had a second operation. Now she sees almost perfectly both distance and close.
My dad had his surgery as part of the FDA trials for the procedure, and he was on total bedrest for the better part of two weeks.
I say it’s definitely too early. It may just be your eyes settling, though it could be a problem. My husband and I had ours done at the same time (2001), and we both had our ups and downs in the few weeks afterwards. My vision, however, didn’t totally clear up, and at 4 months post-op I was only correcting to 20/40 so they did it again (which, btw, was a much quicker easier surgery). Hubby was fine.
Mention it to the doc, but we were told not to worry until around 3 months had passed. Like I said, hubby’s eyes cleared up to 20/15, which he always tests at now. Mine are now 20/20, but did take that second time to my left eye.
Thanks for the input. I can see now that I was utterly lacking perspective.
The problem I’ve had with getting personal testimonials and experiences regarding Lasik is that they all seem to fall into either the “I sprang from the operating table with perfect vision and could see though lead walls after a brief nap” raves, or “the laser went askew and now I have to wear a diving helmet full of saline solution all the time” nightmare scenarios. Kinda makes it tough to judge your progress when you fall somewhere in between.
According to my eye doctor, as you age the viability of the surgery decreases. I just turned 40 and my parents had told me to look into Lasik; they would pay for it. Nice parents, huh? EVEN after I told them that with my crappy eyes it would cost about $4k. I’m a lucky woman (most of the time)!
Anyway, when I went to the doc for my annual, I asked him if Lasik would be good for me now and he said that I’d be needing reading glasses shortly after anyway. I’m not gonna have someone slice my eyeball and then still have the inconvenience of needing glasses again so soon.
I love my contacts now that I have the oxygen permeable ones so I can sleep in them. 'Tis a good thing, to be able to see!
