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I have 6 friends and coworkers that have had Lasik. They all raved about how great it was. They have me the whole spiel about waking up after the nap and everything being perfectly crispy clear. That has not been my situation at all. I did several consults in different states over three years. I finally had the money to do it and found a doctor I trusted. I researched the practice well. Five star reviews. No malpractice claims. Cornea specialist. Didn’t push a sale. Surgeon was kind and answered my questions. He told me I had a mild astigmatism and the surgery would be fairly simple for my prescription. One complication is that I take two salt based medications and live in Denver where it’s dry. He told me to be mindful about drinking water and drops drops drops.
I had Lasik on may 10th. The surgery went well. Afterwards I had pain set in. It wasn’t unbearable but it gave me a mild headache. I couldn’t open my eyes at all due to light sensitivity and tearing. So I just went to bed. The next day I had no pain but my vision was not the crystal clear I heard from everyone over several years. It was blurry like swimmers eye. At my post op that day the doctor said it was normal and measured me at 20/20 even though my vision was blurry.
It didn’t seem to improve that first week. My vision up close is relatively clear but when I look up and off to the distance it’s blurry as if I still have astigmatism except I don’t if things close are clear. On Saturday at my one week follow up I started crying because I was disappointed, concerned, and had no one to relate to. I told the doctor I still feel like I need to put glasses on to see. Told him my roommate that went to lasikplus in January has not had any of my experiences. The doctor was distant and just said my eye pressure is normal and he doesn’t see any complications. My vision is “technically” better than with glasses even though blurry. Said it’s only been a week and we need to be patient and see how things go. Said if things aren’t better by 3rd month after healing that we can talk about it. He told me to stop taking the steroid and antibiotic drops. He told me my eyes were dry and to keep using preservative free drops.
Well after I stopped taking the steroid and antibiotic my eyes did clear up some. I started to feel more patient. However I’ve become annoyed this week because it’s not clear how it should be and it gets worse as the day goes on and my computer work strains my eyes and makes them blurrier. I’m getting more pissed off as time goes by just because I can’t find ANYONE online or in person that relates to this and can comfort me that it’s normal. People either had a perfect outcome or a disastrous one. There’s no one in the middle that can say well surgery wasn’t ideal but it did improve. Be patient.
Maybe there’s not even anyone here who can relate to my situation but I’m hoping there might be. At this point I’m thinking about going to another doctor for a second opinion just to try to get some answer since my doctor can’t give me more than “be patient.” He cant tell me why I’m not having the traditional experience and I just want someone to tell me why. Like I could be wrong but I’m not convinced that time and dry we are those full cause of this. I have hourly alarms on my phone to put in eye drops and I put three drops in both eyes. Sometimes I kick myself and say I should have just gone to LasikPlus. I tried to avoid them. I tried to find a reputable surgeon that was in private practice. Idk what’s wrong. The only good thing I can say is I can “function” without glasses and unlike the 6 people I know, I actually don’t have starbursts, halos, and glare. So that’s a success at least.
Please tell me if you had a similar experience and what the outcome was. Or if you had a non traditional outcome as well. Or even if you’re like that sounds weird. I just need to vent.
I chose PRK over LASIK and ten years on, I can only sing its praises. I had a VERY high correction done - 8.25 and 7.50, to very nearly 20/20 vision (with a need for readers).
My opthalmic surgeon at the time refused to do LASIK, considering it second-rate compared to PRK, with its only "advantage" being a quick recovery time. I spent about two days with poor vision, a few more days getting clear enough vision to drive, and then three or four months of increasingly sharp vision. That LASIK speeds up this passage is its only advantage, and it has lasting issues.
I'm sorry you had such a poor experience. AFAIK, there is very little that can be done about it except give your eye and tear system time to adapt. I believe there's a procedure to block the tear duct so that more moisture remains on the eyeball - that may be a long-term solution. (The tear duct at the corner of your eye wicks away excess moisture - it's not where tears come from. Blocking it with a tiny silicone bead can fix certain kinds of dry-eye.)
I'm so sorry this happened. I don't have any experience of it myself. I have one friend who had the surgery done and as far as I know she has seen much better than before it. It was several years ago.
I have another friend who went through similar problems as yours after cataract surgery. "Everyone" says it is a breeze and they see so well afterwards -- this friend's experience was not a breeze at all. A new eye doctor told me I need cataract surgery but I am in no rush whatsoever. I do not want to risk my eyesight.
I hope some more people with some more lasik surgery will reply.
What I can say is it will take your vision about a month to stabilize, some days will be better than others. Other days will be worst than others. Healing takes time, you entered a process that will have a year of follow up exams. It's normal to be scared and concerned. Just remember less than 2% of surgeries have complications, you may or may not be in that group. I had my LASIK back in the 90s, when it was crude compared to today. Trust the doctor and not your fear.
Your eyes are healing, when you're tired the vision will blur. It's natural even when the temperature changes or you walk under an air curtain it will hurt, you may see halos when looking at light, things will get better. This might not be what you want to hear, but it is the way that healing occurs.
You don't mention if you had they did one eye for far sighted and one for reading? Bilateral something or just get rid of your astigmatism or myopia? I felt the same way when I got my cataracts lenses replaced my vision is not perfect but way better. Keep the faith.
I'm sorry this happened to you, and I can relate! I had Lasik 2 years ago and have had a very similar experience. I developed dry eye afterward, which I still deal with, though it's improved from how bad it was initially. Interesting to note that I had also had (still have...) astigmatism in my left eye. That eye was never clear after the surgery, even though my eye doctor told me it would get clear eventually (it didn't). And I eventually got glasses again because my eyes are just blurry enough that it's hard to clearly see my computer screen. I don't absolutely need them, but they help, and I find I like wearing glasses anyway, so at least there's that. Mentally my outlook has improved, as I've gotten used to the idea that my eyes are now like this, though things were depressing for a while, simply because it's such a big change.
I'm also perplexed and aggravated by all the people I've talked to who have had Lasik and who say how great it is, and how they immediately had clear vision, and apparently haven't had any problems.
Like other people are saying, it's very possible your vision will continue to stabilize. I had a "soft glow" around everything for about a year that finally went away, which was attributed to a poor quality tear film. But I still have issues with glare from headlights while driving at night. I'm thinking of getting night-driving glasses for that, which I've heard can help but I'm not entirely sure.
Get a humidifier, especially since you live in a dry climate. That will help. Also, look up "blinking exercises" and do them once an hour, especially while using a computer. These will force your eyes to make some tears.
Something you might want to look into is called autologous serum eye drops. These are eye drops made out of your own blood serum (weird, right?) and they are most beneficial right now while your corneal nerves are still healing and regenerating. If you wait longer, say a year after the procedure, you will pass your "window" so to speak. Most doctors will not even suggest these eye drops and you'll learn you need to be adamant and demand what you need. Do lots of research on those eye drops I just mentioned, and dry eye in general. Educate yourself.
There are a variety of treatments for your symptoms, many of which you can do at home. Warm compresses twice a day help, as they get your meibomian glands flowing. Preservative-free eye drops are good. I eventually weaned myself off of them because I didn't want to feel like I was becoming dependent on them. I use pure saline drops instead, maybe once a day.
I recommend checking out this website, which is a great resource for dry eye and related conditions: Forums - Dry Eye Zone Forums
Anyway, just thought I'd share, to let you know you're not the only one! Sucks that Lasik doesn't live up to the hype. It makes me angry, honestly. Everyone's recovery is different, so things could always change for you.
At this point I’m thinking about going to another doctor for a second opinion just to try to get some answer since my doctor can’t give me more than “be patient.” He cant tell me why I’m not having the traditional experience and I just want someone to tell me why. Like I could be wrong but I’m not convinced that time and dry we are those full cause of this. I have hourly alarms on my phone to put in eye drops and I put three drops in both eyes. Sometimes I kick myself and say I should have just gone to LasikPlus. I tried to avoid them. I tried to find a reputable surgeon that was in private practice. Idk what’s wrong. The only good thing I can say is I can “function” without glasses and unlike the 6 people I know, I actually don’t have starbursts, halos, and glare. So that’s a success at least.
Lasik is a huge money-making industry, and doctors will avoid saying anything bad about it. I've had the same experience, where eye doctors either downplay the symptoms I'm telling them about or flat out lie to me! Makes me so mad.
I would recommend looking for a cornea specialist, or even a dry-eye specialist if you can find one. Someone who doesn't have a vested interest in Lasik.
I remember they were trying to sell me on a procedure called LipiFlow while I was doing my free consultation. Like they knew in advance I was going to have issues with dry eye after the procedure. It's all about making money.
So sorry this happened. I know people at the two extremes and never considered getting it done. I would get a second opinion.
Thank you I was really disgruntled yesterday. This morning I decided I should wait a bit longer to see how things go before getting a second opinion. Everything says online the avg fully healed time is 3 months. I have a follow up appt June 19th and he said I will have several more over the first year. I may give it more time and at least see his thoughts at my next appt. I guess it is still early. The only reason I’m concerned at all is because none of my friends seemed to have these effects. Of course I’m not in their brain and can’t see through eyes but it makes me feel like my situation doesn’t sound right. We will see I guess.
I chose PRK over LASIK and ten years on, I can only sing its praises. I had a VERY high correction done - 8.25 and 7.50, to very nearly 20/20 vision (with a need for readers).
My opthalmic surgeon at the time refused to do LASIK, considering it second-rate compared to PRK, with its only "advantage" being a quick recovery time. I spent about two days with poor vision, a few more days getting clear enough vision to drive, and then three or four months of increasingly sharp vision. That LASIK speeds up this passage is its only advantage, and it has lasting issues.
I'm sorry you had such a poor experience. AFAIK, there is very little that can be done about it except give your eye and tear system time to adapt. I believe there's a procedure to block the tear duct so that more moisture remains on the eyeball - that may be a long-term solution. (The tear duct at the corner of your eye wicks away excess moisture - it's not where tears come from. Blocking it with a tiny silicone bead can fix certain kinds of dry-eye.)
My doctor did mention the tube that could be place to keep tears in the eye but said he wanted to give it time first. I asked him about PRK because I was considering both. He told me with my small prescription he didn’t recommend the infection risk and longer healing of PRK. I can’t remember what mine were but he said just under a 2 (maybe 1.75) astigmatism. I can’t remember positive or negative. Tbh I don’t know what the signs or numbers mean. My roommate that had the procedure with -11 and eye pressure is seeing crystal clear. It baffles me. Maybe he took less cornea in case I needed future surgery
What I can say is it will take your vision about a month to stabilize, some days will be better than others. Other days will be worst than others. Healing takes time, you entered a process that will have a year of follow up exams. It's normal to be scared and concerned. Just remember less than 2% of surgeries have complications, you may or may not be in that group. I had my LASIK back in the 90s, when it was crude compared to today. Trust the doctor and not your fear.
Your eyes are healing, when you're tired the vision will blur. It's natural even when the temperature changes or you walk under an air curtain it will hurt, you may see halos when looking at light, things will get better. This might not be what you want to hear, but it is the way that healing occurs.
You don't mention if you had they did one eye for far sighted and one for reading? Bilateral something or just get rid of your astigmatism or myopia? I felt the same way when I got my cataracts lenses replaced my vision is not perfect but way better. Keep the faith.
Yes I will give more time. I was just disgruntled yesterday. The main thing making me unhappy is that everyone else seemed to be where they would be the next day. That’s the main benefit of Lasik over PRK.
I just did both eyes for astigmatism. I’m 26 so doctor said no reason to do mono-vision when I’m so far out from bifocals.
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I was really disgruntled yesterday. This morning I decided I should wait a bit longer to see how things go before getting a second opinion. Everything says online the avg fully healed time is 3 months. I have a follow up appt June 19th and he said I will have several more over the first year. I may give it more time and at least see his thoughts at my next appt. I guess it is still early. The only reason I’m concerned at all is because none of my friends seemed to have these effects. Of course I’m not in their brain and can’t see through eyes but it makes me feel like my situation doesn’t sound right. We will see I guess.
