LASIK roll call

I can't tell you how great this feels. For several months after my LASIK operation, I would wake up and get excited just about opening my eyes...

 

I just had custom LASIK done 11 days ago, actually. I'm still on some drops for dryness and some bruising remains from the procedure. I'm still pretty sensitive to light (although it's improving daily) and have a halo effect that is getting better every few days.

Overall I'm happy with it although it put me back about $3800. Normally the procedure would have cost $5100 but my insurance (Anthem) was running a promotion throughout May. I had no idea health insurance companies had promotions so this was a nice surprise.

My vision pre-surgery was -5 / -5.25. One week after surgery my vision was 20/15. I didn't find the pain to be bad at all. While I was waiting for my ride home to pick me up from the office my right eye started stinging a bit so they numbed it again and I was good to go for about an hour until I fell asleep.

I used to wear contacts every day for the past 9 years and about four years ago switched to the 30 day 30 night type that you sleep in. So I didn't have that excited feeling about waking up and being able to see. But it is nice to not worry about purchasing new contacts or worrying they might come out.

 

I'm totally geeked about it from the waking up and seeing, going to bed without having to take out my contacts standpoint.

Glasses are not an option. I absolutely loathe wearing my glasses. That's why I say I've got two weeks in purgatory.

I'm a very active/outdoors person. Heading a soccer ball or sliding head first into second playing softball with glasses is hazardous. Riding bicycles at 30 mph shoulder to shoulder with someone in a sprint or riding my motorcycle with no peripheral vision is not good. Working in the yard or garden with sweat and glasses slipping would be a major pain.

I've never ever had any real problems with my contacts. I've been in them daily for 16 years. I'm just looking forward to the lack of hassle.

 

When I got out of college, my vision was 20/20.

Six years later, it was 20/100 and I asked my doctor if staring at a computer screen for hours and hours on end do that and he said that it absolutely has an impact.

Anyone experience anything similar?

 

I've been thinking about it for a long time now, and cost is the only block.

I'm actually shocked that there are people out there (besides the ones that are blind) with worse vision than me. My contacts perscription is 7.50/8.0 and I have astigmatism. I can't wait to get this done.

 

I think computers/TVs have to have a serious impact on people's vision. Look at the number of people who require glasses/contact now as compared to previous generations. I know they weren't as readily available to everyone in 1884 but I also know the population couldn't have been walking around with eyesight as poor as mine unaided.

I just did a count. Out of 16 people in our newsroom, 15 require some kind of vision correction.

 

Had Lasik about 10 years ago. No regrets whatsoever.

 

Had it done just over four years ago. Went from 20/425 vision to 20/10 overnight. A year later, it was at 20/20 and holding steady since then. It's so great.

Didn't really have halos after the first two weeks, and even then only at night. The occasional dryness has continued; just means I keep drops on my desk at work and another bottle at home, no biggie.

I know others with horror stories, and those are definitely no joke. But I would recommend LASIK to anyone.

 

If that's the case, what is the likelihood of needing surgery again?

 

Lots of people -- most? -- have it done again some years later, all depending on the person. It's definitely not uncommon. 100 percent chance I have at least one eye done again. I stare at a 22-inch computer monitor for 9 hours a day, and I can tell.

 

I'm one who's always been nervous about this, despite seeing that it's a fairly positive experience for the mass majority of people, including several in my extended family. Still, something about messing with the eyes that freak me out. The cost has also been an issue.

And, unlike many here, I don't mind contacts and like my glasses (I wear each about half the time). I guess after more than 20 years of wearing them they are kind of a part of me. Some day someone may change my mind, but for now the thought just doesn't do it for me.