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Pok

I just had laser eye surgery (Thursday September 18th) and it is fantastic . If anyone has glasses and is over the age of 25 I highly recommend it. I did not say "Less yapping, more zapping" a la Homer (I was thinking about it... A lot).

The type I had (What I considered to be the best):
Custom Lasik with interlase

What it is:
Interlase is a way of making a corneal flap with a laser (as oppose to microkeratome which uses a blade), the process is significantly better for flap making that microkeratome (the flap is more uniform, sits better, harder to screw up and can be remade if there is a problem unlike microkeratome).

Lasik is the procedure I'd recommend too (over PRK, PKR?) Lasik = corneal flap zap underneath, PRK = laser sculps cornea. I'll get to comparing them later.

Custom is a procedure that uses a computer to zap exactly where it needs to (instead of just correcting for bad vision, it'll work with the shape of your eye), if you have an astigimatism it apparently can help correct this while correcting your vision.

Pre-op:
Had to go to my optometrist in town, cyclodilation test and corneal thickness test were the two main parts (How big the pupil goes and how thick the cornea is, they also had to do the pressure test with the puff of air in the eye), I didn't have to do this in town but I would be unable to have the cyclodilation and the surgery on the same day so I did. I was also told I couldn't wear contacts for x amount of weeks prior to the cyclodilation test / surgery, wasn't a problem for me I stopped wearing them ages ago.

At the center the did vision tests, corneal thickness testing (this time without touching my eye with a pen with a gel madoogle on the end), orb scan (To get the topography of my eye, this showed up like a topographic map with high and low in different colours, my astigmastism showed up kind of like figure 8's), and a couple more tests (one was to iris scan me 3 times on each eye so that there was no way the computer would do the wrong procedure on me).

Operation:
I was given Adavan (sp?) a very small pill that goes under the tongue and dissolves (it is a tranquilizer) I didn't really feel anything from it (maybe after the surgery was done it helped me stay laying down?). Afterwards I was sent to a relaxation room for a bit (my surgery was 2 hours late, they lost a receptionist and one of the people broke their hand a few days before) then I put on a blue hair net thing (and blue booty things) and toddled off to the operation room.

I was put on a table (with a headrest) inbetween two machines ), given soft squeezy ball things (They looked like footballs, but small and made of foam or something. If they gave me pool balls I swear I would have crushed them), and numbing drops were added in my eyes.

Almost immediately after the drops were added in they put tape on my top and lower eyelid and put a speculum in (This was going to happen whether I wanted it or not, the doctor was very... Confident in doing this) and my table was swung to the left under the Interlase machine. There was significant pressure on my left eye as the machine did its job (One of the technichians counted down how many seconds were left, I think both eyes were under 30 seconds for this part) I saw some small lights flicker (maybe not lights, it was white-ish could have been the gap forming) and I could vaguely feel a small stinging as the flap was made on my left eye, when that was done my table was quickly pushed off to the right and the flap was pulled off to the side (my vision blurred a lot). I was set under the other machine (the one that vaporizes the tissue) and could see a ring of white and an orange pulsing dot in the middle, a large fan was turned on and the laser started working (my vision started to fade a bit here, I saw black around the outsides and the orange flashing dot became really big). When the laser was running it sounded like a fully automatic bug zapper (crack crack crack crack crack crack crack, quite fast), I could smell my vaporized tissue a bit. After that was over the doctor used a lot of some liquid solution (it felt really nice comparitively) and pushed the flap back in place and smoothed it out and ensured any bubbles were out. Soon after, the speculum was removed from my left eye and the tape was taken off, my eye immediately shut and was shut until I exited the operation room. The procedure was then repeated on my right eye.

Post-op:
Immediately after:
I could see, but not for very long, the drops used to numb my eyes wore off very quickly and my eyes shut and were very hard to open.

That night
My surgery took place at about 5pm and that night was hell. My eyes stung, I couldn't really open them, and I spent most of my time in a dark room at a cousins place listening to crappy country music (Do I need to have crappy in there? Or is all country music considered crappy) and hearing their 2 year old kid be less than quiet. My parents (Part of the reason I chose that location for the surgery) were also there (They live about a 2 hour drive away) and would come in almost constantly to add one drop or another to each of my eyes. I 'slept' on my back with eye shields taped to my face (and a piece of tape around the back... Thanks mom, that was fun to take off the next day.)

The next morning
The pain was gone and I could see. I had 3 different drops to do, one 4 times a day, one 8 times a day, and the other every 30 minutes. It was kind of like having contacts in (eyes didn't feel quite right) but without having to worry about taking them out at night. The only sign of the surgery I could see was some broken blood vessels in my left eye, no outline of the flap.

The 24 hour exam
Had to go back to the place for an exam (took less than 30 minutes). While waiting for the exam there was a girl there who had the PRK (PKR?) procedure done, and she was in hell. She commented on how 'chipper' I was and said that she felt like crap (part of the healing process I guess, she must have felt like I did the night before). I did a vision test (20/20 or better each eye), they looked at my eyes to ensure everything was lined up, pretty much a normal visit to the optometrist. I was given a card saying I could take the corrective lens required bit off of my drivers license. Apparently I could have driven or flown back that day.

Afterwards
I have my one week checkup today (back in my town) in about an hour. Everything is fine with my eyes (still able to see) and my drops are down to 3 different ones 4 times a day. I still wear shades almost constantly (more of a reminder to me not to touch my eyes) and wear my eye shields at night (Getting the glue from the tape off in the morning can be annoying, I've switched to scotch tape because I ran out of the other stuff and it seems significantly easier) and have been trying to sleep on my back (which I pretty much can't do). If I do have any problems I'm allowed to go back to the center (for life) and have enhancements done (same procedure pretty much unless my cornea is too thin then I'd have to do PRK / PKR). No halos / starbursts, night vision seems ok too.

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Raiyuka

I know a several people that has done that so called "bulls eye" laser surgery, but most of them got worse eyesights as the days passed by.
I never knew you had to use those drops until reading your posts, either
they were not careful with it or the computer could have made some errors
and zapped the wrong area? either way, i'd rather try hard to keep my eye healthy then get it worse and wear glasses or do eye surgery.

Thank you God, for my eyesight ^.^
and May God be with you in during drop grinding.

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Pok

Regression was mentioned as a possibility. Enhancements (free do-overs) are available if the regression is bad enough.

Gogo gadget tanget!

If a god really made people... Why would they curse some with poor eyesight? And why is the eye designed so poorly, especially in comparison to other animals (Eagle, squid).

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Xynh

That sounds like an adventure. Hope your eyes go well.

SnOwBunZz

so we people have something to pray for

would you pray to god if you are lucky, have nothing to complain for etc? i dont think so =/

anyways, if i could i wouldnt want to have such operation unless i get fully under narcose... wich they probably wont agree to since when something might happen or so

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gloomba38

Sounds like an adventure, man.
Were you nervous about taking this route beforehand or what?

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withthechris

my mom got thismany years back... she didnt like what she had to do afterwords.. wear these big *** glasses all the time.. when she left.. ya.. but now she likes it and has ever since she took off the big glasses

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QuakeStriker

Like we don't have enough things to do already.

Pok

Right... Natural disasters slaughtering thousands upon thousands of people, birth defects, amputees, crippling pain after accidents, starvation, diseases, people suffocating themselves because a doughnought gets stuck in the wrong tube because they are stupidly close together... I don't think I'm going to pray to a god that lets things like this happen to try and get attention If everything was perfect and there was someone showed up and was taking credit for it, fine, kudos and all, but no one taking credit = no kudos.

Nope, you're awake, 8 minutes of surgery and maybe a few weeks of recovery for 40 years or so of good vision is worth it to me.

Actually I wasn't really nervous or excited at all before the procedure. As soon as the doctor started man-handling my eyes with the tape I became VERY nervous. Thought it might not have been a good idea right after the surgery either (I was in a bit of pain / discomfort and couldn't open my eyes).

I don't really mind the glasses, they are kinda honking big, the eyeshields I tape to my head at night are annoying (I can't sleep on my back and they leave grooves in my noggin). I think I shouldn't have gone and had the corrective lens thing taken off my drivers licensce today though (My birthday is tommorow and the only photo ID I'll have is my passport, which I don't really want to be carrying with me since it doesn't fit in my wallet)...

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Xynh

Don't you have to do laser on your eyes again after a few years? Is it worth it? How much did it cost, if you don't mind me asking.