PRK Experience: My Journal

Part 4- day 5

Well, I didn’t post about my day 10 follow-up because it was quite short and I was told that I was healing nicely and my combined vision was about 20/25.

Today I had my 6th follow-up visit and I’m happy to report that I’m seeing 20/20!

It was another short visit, which is good. That means my eyes are healing great. I haven’t been using the eyedrops quite as much, as my eyes don’t feel as dry and I’m able to produce tears normally.

All in all, great news. My next visit is in about 6 weeks, and I imagine it to be much of the same. From here until my 1 year visit, I don’t think I’m going to post anymore about my PRK experience unless something drastic happens. At this rate, I don’t believe it will.

So, in conclusion, I’m very happy with my Lasik surgery and my experience has been more positive than I expected. LasikPlus has been wonderful and I highly recommend them if you choose to take that big step into better vision.

Tags: PRK Experience

My vision isn’t perfect yet, but it’s still far better that it originally was. I’m keeping in mind that the eye doesn’t fully reshape itself for several months, which is why I’m not thinking “jeez, it’s been a week…why can’t I see perfectly yet?!”. I’m reasonable and more than happy with the gift of sight I’ve so far received.

So, since I don’t start work until I feel comfortable enough to return (I’m banking on the first week in July if all goes well), what have I been doing with my little vacation?

The answer is…nothing really. Nothing aside from video games, that is.

Tags: PRK Experience

PRK Experience: My Journal
Part 3- day 2 and 3

Well, yesterday I got the contact taken out. Today my eyes feel much better. They still hurt a little, but not as much since the lenses are out. Tuesday’s appointment was quick, but positive. My eyes are healing quite nicely, that’s great news. Even better is that I’m seeing approximately 20/40. Just over 5 days ago I was seeing 20/1000, so this is fantastic!

A few more weeks before I’ll feel comfortable to drive though. I don’t want to do so until I’m about 20/20, just a personal choice. I’m healing quite fast, I was expecting this to go much slower and not be able to see quite as well as I can. It’s really quite amazing.

My mother came with me to this visit and got a bit of an exam done for herself to see if she’s a candidate for Lasik. So far they said that she is, but she goes back on Thursday for the full exam.

My next appointment is about 10 days away, so we’ll see how that goes!

Today I got a card from LasikPlus that I have to keep in my wallet that says that I’ve had Laser Eye Surgery so my license isn’t lying when it says I need corrective lenses. Which means I need to get to the DMV at some point and change my license. Joy.

They also gave me 4 refferal cards that offer $100 off a LasikPlus procedure for anyone else. This is great, but I doubt my mom will be able to use it since it expires in December. Oh well, maybe somebody else I know could benefit…doubtful though.

Still, it’s a nice gesture.

Tags: PRK Experience

PRK Experience: My Journal
Part 2- Post-surgery

First off, I expect these entries to get smaller since all the important medical hooplah is out of the way. So, hoorah! Next, i want to say that I did notice a HUGE difference right after I got out of surgery. My eyes are quite blurry still, but I can actually see what is on t.v. from farther than 2 inches away. Which is what it was when I had glasses, I’m not exaggerating, my eyes were just that bad.

Okay, Day 2. We had a follow-up appointment at 8:30, so that sucked having to wake up for that. However, the appointment took all of 15 minutes and consisted of me attempting to read an eye chart and seeing a doctor who made sure my eye was healing as planned and the contact looks good. Everything’s good. My vision went from about 20/1000 to 20/80 in a day. That’s not the endpoint, as I’m not expected to reach 20/20 or stabilize for months. But that’s pretty damn good. I can’t remember the last time I was 20/80, I suspect it was in elementary school.

Nothing else to report for the rest of the day. I haven’t been straining my eyes that much, but have spent a lot of time watching t.v. and on the computer (what else is new?). Apparently, I’m experiencing haze. Which means everything kind of has a halo around it. Which makes reading on the computer somewhat hard.

So now it’s day 3 and I’m finding my vision begin to worsen a bit. They told me to expect this, so no big deal. I’m following the medication instructions, 4 times a day during breakfast, lunch, dinner and before bed. I’m also using the artificial tears religiously. Tear production is very important, so I’m glad that I can produce tears naturally as well, some people have a hard time doing so right after surgery.

I haven’t been experiencing any pain from the surgery but today I was reminded why I hate wearing contacts. That’s the pain I’m experiencing, felling the lenses in my eyes makes it a bit hard to keep them open and focus, but it’s only two more days before I get them taken out. I’m not worried in the least that I’m doing something wrong, as aside from the lenses being bitchy, I feel just fine. I’m following directions, so what else can I do, right?

Well, Tuesday morning can’t get here soon enough. I want these lenses out! I’m expecting my vision to get a bit worse after they’re removed and from there, the roller coaster should begin. I’m still not ready to drive, not expecting that for a few weeks, but I’m also quite happy right now.

Healing from PRK takes time, but the results should be well worth it.

Next: Day 5

Tags: PRK Experience

PRK Experience: My Journal

Part 1- Pre-surgery

Part 3 Day 2 and 3

Today is Day 3 and I’ve got a lot of haze going on which makes it hard for me to really see what I’m typing, but I want to get this up here before I forget. So I’ll try to catch all typos and grammar errors, but please forgive me if I miss some.

A little while after my previous post I went to the LasikPlus centre. Now they told us to arrive 30 minutes before the actual appointment and be prepared to stay for up to 2 hours. We left a little early and ended up staying about an hour, so that was better than expected.

After arriving at the centre, we checked in with the receptionist/surgeon assistant. I’d like to note that there wasn’t a person working in this office that didn’t have scrubs on, so they were all technicians or nurses of one kind or another. It’s actually quite comforting to see these people have dual jobs. At least, it’s comforting to me, since it feels like everyone knows what they’re talking about and has training in the Lasik field.

For those who might choose LasikPlus, they offer a great Lifetime Acuity Plan. Which means that once you sign this piece of paper, you are eligible for free enhancement surgery at any LasikPlus location. Since they’re located all over the United States, it’s a pretty good deal. At check-in I had to sign that and the 3 page patient condition paper. It basically tells you this is what you should expect, here’s your confidentiality agreement, don’t sue us because you’re an idiot and can’t follow basic directions, etc. Both of these papers must be signed at check-in because you need a witness (the nurse who checks you in). Something interesting to note, in some states you must provide a living will before they’ll perform the surgery on you. If anyone knows what states require this, please let me know. I’m quite curious.

After that and the always depressing matter of payment, we were told to take a seat. Less than 5 minutes later, another technician came by with a little black leather purse that has LasikPlus and the doctor’s name printed on white on one side. This is my “kit”. In it are two kinds of medicated eye drops, a few boxes of artificial tears, sunglasses, an instruction paper and some coupons. I also got a blue haircap, which makes perfect sense. This technician took me back to one of their exam rooms to map out my eyes once agaun and explain all of the eye drops and what to expect after surgery.

Before the day of the surgery you are required to bring in one thing and one thing only, a small bottle of Vigamox eye drops. They give you the prescription on your consultation visit and expect you to have it filled. You do have to play your usual insurance copay, but that’s it. Everything else is provided for you by LasikPlus.

So, we go in to the exam room, the technician explains everything to me. The three kinds of eye drops are as follows (and I don’t know if the names change depending on your location/surgery/whatever but this is what they are for me):

-Vigamox-The antibiotic used to fight infection
-Acular LS- The analgesic used to minimize discomfort
-Omnipred- The steroid used to control inflammation

She explained to me that I take all three eye drops 4 times a day for 5 days. After that, I just continue to take the steroid. I’ll talk about that at a later date, since it’s not important right now. Anyway, along with these medicated eyedrops I need to use the artificial tears at least 4-6 times a day but really, whenever I feel uncomfortable.

I need to wear these sunglasses whenever I go outside, as I need to protect my eyes quite a bit. Not going to argue there, for the past 6 months I haven’t been able to use sunglasses and it’s been killing me. I miss them quite a bit.

She explained next what I should expect after surgery and what is happening to my eyes as they heal. I honestly can’t remember everything that she said, and certainly not the medical terms, but basically it’s this:

My eyeball shape is going to change over several weeks. At the time of surgery, it was quite oblong, as that is what happens when you have myopia (near-sightedness), So I can expect drastic fluctuations in vision. From day to day or even morning to night, my vision is going to get better, then worse, then better again. For the next 5 days, my vision will be hazy, but there will be improvement immediately (because of my horrible prescription, this improvement was major). Because the eyes are creating new cells, I need to keep my eyes wet using the artificial tears. This will prevent those new cells from flaking off and help me heal faster. Here’s a pretty good diagram of what the cells healing looks like:

Because I have PRK and not Lasik surgery, I don’t need to worry about sleeping with eye-cups or being very gentle with my eyes. There isn’t a flap that may wrinkle or get nudged, so in that sense my healing will be much easier than Lasik patients.

After that, she had me look into a machine with a bright red shape that goes in and out of focus as she mapped my eye. I don’t know exactly how it works but we had to do it multiple times for each eye, just to get everything perfect. Once that was over, it was back to the waiting room for me.

We sat there for about 10 minutes, watching the surgery room get prepped. The room itself is surrounded by glass, so anyone from the waiting room can look in and watch the surgeries take place. There isn’t any privacy, but that shouldn’t be an issue because you’re in surgery. You’re not supposed to look fabulous.

I met the doctor who will be performing my surgery. He took me into another exam room, made sure my eyes are looking good (nothing like one more check!) and then into the operating room we went.

I’ll quickly summarize what goes on in PRK surgery, but here’s a video of someone elses surgery that might be more helpful. This is not my surgery, and I don’t know what doctor/office they used, so I can’t say it’s exactly the same, but pretty damn close.:

1. They apply numbing drops to my eye.
2. After a few minutes of the drop setting in, they tape back my eyelids so my eyelashes don’t get in the way and put in the speculum.
3, The doctor begins to scrape off the top layer of cells using a very sharp, and very small, knife.
4. He brushes off the eye, clearing it of all debris, uses a crosshair to line up the laser.
5. The laser begins its work. You can see a pattern being displayed across the eye, the only thing that I could see, however, is a blinking red light with a ring of bright white around it. The red light is what I focus on throughout the entire surgery. The laser was on both of my eyes for 1 minute each, but it differs depending on how bad your vision is. Also, it smells like burning hair. Just an FYI

Here’s where it differs from the video
6. They apply a medicated sponge to my eye for one minute. To me, it looks like frosted blue glass, but really it’s a porous yellow sponge.
7. The sponge is taken off, my eye is drenched in a saline solution.
8. The bandage contact lens is applied.
9. end!

After both eyes were done, I was led into the waiting room and sat for a bit with my eyes closed. After that, the doctor took me back into the exam room to make sure everything looked good. I’m to wear these bandages contact lenses for 5 days sraight, I get them taken out on Tuesday. If one or both happen to fall out, my doctor gave me two emergency ones and told me to just put the fresh one in. If I keep up with the artificial tears, though, I shouldn’t have any fall out.

He also gave me a prescription for Percoset, which is to be filled if I experience quite a bit of pain. I don’t see myself getting it, since I really didn’t feel any pain that day. In fact, right after surgery my eyelids where hurting, because of the tape.

We thanked him immensely and left to go home, where I would take a bit of a nap and use the medicated eyedrops every 4 hours. Thus ends the day of surgery.

Tags: PRK Experience

Well, I’m back home. Today I’m finally get PRK (Lasik) eye surgery. I’m quite excited and plan to stay out of work for the next month or so.

I don’t know what else to say. I’m just quite excited about getting new eyes in a few hours!
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PRK Experience: My Journal
I hope to report on the healing time itself to help educate those that want more personal experience stories.

I’ve wanted Lasik surgery for many years now, ever since my dad got his eyes fixed back in 2000. My vision has quickly worsened from 1st grade on and at that moment, at 21 years of age, I’m legally blind. To measure my vision on a 20/20 scale is fairly useless, it would end up being something like 20/1000 or so, you don’t really count that when you’re eyes get that bad.

I’ve tried contacts, both gas permeable and soft lenses, but really didn’t like wearing them, so I’ve been consistent with glasses.

I started the actual process of finding a surgeon last summer, we went to three reputable offices in the DC metro area. LasikPlus offered the best price (we get a discount because of insurance)and the most thorough exam, which is why we decided to go with them. I’m not going to mention the other two places because they were both very good offices with excellent surgeons, they just weren’t right for me.

Okay, I’m a bit of different candidate for Lasik, since I have such terrible vision we didn’t know which surgery to go with exactly. For those not in the know, there are several different types of laser eye surgery that cater to each person separately. At each location I got a different answer as to which type of surgery is best for me. My father, who has done quite a bit of research, went into this process with the idea that PRK ( photorefractive keratectomy) is probably the best choice as it has been in existence the longest and is great for those with larger diopters (another way to measure vision. My eyes are around 11 diopters, which is quite bad), thick corneas, and large pupils. Which somewhat describes me.

LasikPlus is the one that said that PRK would be the safest, best, operation for me. At one office, I was told I could have Lasik done, however this doesn’t make sense as I wouldn’t have enough eye tissue left over for other operations if I deem them necessary. The other office suggested an implantable contact lense, which is a fairly brand-new technology. This would be a lovely solution, however it is far too expensive for us. So, PRK with LasikPlus it is!

LasikPlus went through a very thorough examination at consultation. They completely mapped my eyes, dilated them, checked corneal thickness, etc. This is the longest examination I received at any of the three offices, which tells me that they seriously want to make sure I’m a good candidate and not skip over anything.

So, we take this into consideration and less than a year later we go back to LasikPlus for another consultation. This time with the intention of making an appointment.

The consultation happened on Monday, nothing changed too much, except my vision got a tad worse in my left eye (awesome!), but overall this is great news because I’m still a candidate. After a bit more discussion with the surgical assistant, we decided that I would go with Custom Wavefront Laser Surgery. Which utilizes wavefront technology, the most accurate analyser available to the general public. NASA developed it for use in high-powered telescopes.

This is still PRK surgery, so I’m prepared to have a much longer healing time than most lasik patients. While the eye heals itself, my vision will go up and down, so for about 30-60 days I won’t have consistent vision. At least, this is what I am told to expect, we all know that each person heals differently. Which is why I don’t know how comfortable I’ll be driving. The good news? I can watch t.v. or be on the computer as much as I want! Video games ahoy!

Anyway, I think that’s a pretty good background for this procedure I’m about to go through. Today, my surgery day, all I have to do is show up without makeup or perfume (yeah…hard concept for me, seeing as how I rarely wear either) and the anesthetic eyedrops they prescribed for me on Monday. I might go through the entire exam process again, but since it happened on Monday, I’m not sure. I imagine most of my time will be spent sitting around waiting for the doctor to finish with other patients. Both parents are coming with me and they’ll be able to see the surgery itself. Each eye should take around 15-30 seconds to complete, so that part of it will be quite quick.

After the surgery, I’ll come home and rest for a while so I don’t think I’ll update this again. Tomorrow I’ll have my first follow-up visit, so hopefully that will go well and I may be able to update depending on my focusing ability. They did say that immediately I will notice a difference in sight, but I don’t know how much better I’ll be able to see.

So, after all of that, am I nervous? Not really. I’m not the type to squirm at blood or guts or any sort of surgical procedure. I understand all the risks that come with elective surgery but the pros for me far outweigh the cons. If I stay like this, I can only imagine how far my vision will depreciate by the time I’m 40. I understand that everyone’s vision gets worse as we age, and that I may not get 20/20 (though that’s what they’re aiming for), but if I can get a new starting point that would be great. When my vision deteriorates after the surgery, I’ll still end up with a much smaller prescription, if I don’t just need basic reading glasses. Really, that is great news.

LasikPlus offers free enhancements for life as well, so at any point if my vision get’s worse I can go back and get another surgery. Not that I hope that will happen, but if it does, by the time I get it technology will have progressed and who knows what I’ll have to choose from.

Okay, I should probably get ready to go at this point. Wish me luck!

EDIT: here’s a video that kind of is a nice introduction to Lasik and PRK:

Tags: PRK Experience