Wednesday, September 13th, 2006...10:35 am by Leroy Brown
LASIK Surgery
I’m going to have LASIK surgery performed tomorrow ( September 14th ) , so I won’t be online for a few days. Although, I don’t post everyday, so many of you may not notice my absence. The doctors recommend to avoid a lot of reading or television for the days following the procedure, so I’m sure heavy computer use is out. I was hoping I would be able to catch up on my reading & writing, since I have a few days off, but no such luck. Anyway, I’m tired of the hassles involved with wearing glasses, and my prescription requires me to buy the fanciest kind around, which translates into $400-$500 every year for new glasses. The LASIK procedure will set me back about $3300, but it will pay for itself over time. For the curious out there, here’s a little overview of the procedure.
I’ll come in and be given Valium ( a sedative ) so I will mellow out and hopefully not interfere with the procedure. One at a time, the doctor will clamp my eyelids open, then shoot the first laser in and cut a flap in my outer cornea. Once the flap is cut, he’ll peel it back, and shine the second laser inside, and reshape my inner cornea ( the messed up part ) , which should fix my vision. Then he will close the flap, which apparently heals itself, and repeat on the other eye. Afterwards I’m supposed to go home and sleep for 3-4 hours. Supposedly the pain is minimal, though I’ll update you after I’m able to resume computer usage.
Anyway, I’m a little bit scared out of my mind. LASIK freaks me out, completely. I’m paying someone a lot of money to shoot lasers into my eyes - something I avoid at all costs even when I don’t have to pay. So, to my readers, I ask this - if you are religious folks, please keep me in my prayers. I don’t want to end up blind. If you’re not a religious type, then please think of me just the same.
8 Comments
September 13th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Good luck with the LASIK, Leroy. I haven’t had it done myself, but I did have something similar, RK, done a long time ago. It wasn’t that bad really, but it’s certainly intimidating. I’m sure everything will go fine for you, though. Hang in there and give us an update as soon as you can.
September 13th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Thanks for the support Ray. I’ll post as soon as I can with the good news.
September 17th, 2006 at 8:09 am
Hope your surgery is uneventful and the outcome successful.
September 18th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Annulla, thank you. So far so good, I can see well enough to drive. It should keep getting better.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
How are you now? I am scheduled to have LASIK on 10/11 and am very nervous. My vision is 20/800 right now, but corrected with contacts to 20/30 or so. Were you able to drive the next day? How about the dry eyes?
Hoping you are continuing to improve!!
April
October 10th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Hi April. a year later I’m 20/20 in my left eye, and about 20/50 or so in my right. It looks like I’ll need an enhancement for the right eye, since the difference is pretty big now. I do have dry eyes still, though not as bad as when I first had the surgery.
I was fine to drive the next day, though I didn’t dare drive at night for a few weeks. The halos and starburst effect made night driving too dangerous to consider.
But all in all I’m extremely happy that I had it done. There’s always the possibility of problems, but the chances are small. Congrats on your choice - let me know how it goes!
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I had Lasik on my left eye only about a month ago. My right have was to minor to do. I thought I might need reading glasses after the procedure. Which I didn’t before. I woke up with 20/20 vision in my right eye but it seem to get worse. I still can’t see to drive at night. I can see long distances but not up close which I could before. I now need trifocals. My doctor’s response , “Come back in three months.” I ask if that would make a difference, he didn’t respond. I guess Lasik isn’t for everyone.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
How did the surgery go ?
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