John's Lasek experience in the Mater.

joconnell

Heya Folks,

Just thought I'd pop this in as it might be handy for anyone considering getting Lasek.

So First of all my eyesight isn't hugely bad, it was rated around -2.5 / -2.7 by the consultant I had so you can gauge things to yourself by that. I decided to go for the mater hospital purely as they'd been doing it the longest, and the difference in price had dropped a lot so that the mater is now €1535 per eye, and for the sake of my eyesight I'd rather spend the extra money over a place that'd do both eyes for €1000 or whatever.

I went for the assessment which only took two weeks to get and costs €100. You drop in a give your name to the secretaries and then pop into the waiting room for a bit. After a few minutes a rather fab looking doctor called Andrea Ryan gave me a shout and brought me into a room to check the strength of my eyes - It pretty much involves sticking your chin on a pad and looking into a lens with one eye and the machine then calibrates itself to see how far out of focus your eyes are - nothing bonkers there. Next another nurse will put some drops into your eyes to dilate your pupils so they can get a better scan inside your eye. They make you wait a few minutes for that to kick in and once that's done, another nurse will call you into a room to do an actual scan of your eye. It's the exact same thing as the previous measure resting your chin on a pad and looking at a red light except this time they turn the lights off and use a series of lights to actually scan the shape of your eye so they know how deep the surfaces of it are and whether it's nicely rounded and so on. They also do a quick "tearing" test to see how much your eye waters to see if you'd suffer from dry eye or not. This pretty much just involves putting a small strip of paper between your lower eye lid and your eye, just by the tear duct, and they can measure how wet the strip of paper gets. That's the geometry test done. The last thing is similar to the first, they again just get you to rest your chin on a pad and focus into a lens with a picture in it and then get you to look up, down, left and right to take a few other measurements and then that's the lot. The test does three things, measures how bad your eye sight is to start (mine isn't hugely bad), measures how thick the surface of your eye is and lastly whether you'll suffer from dry eye or not.

The thickness of your eye is important as it'll determine if you're suitable for the surface shaping treatment (lasek which I went for) or that the surface is too thin and you're only able to get the incision based lasik instead. The "tearing" test just determines if you'd have to use eye drops for a while after to keep your eye moist. I was suitable for both and after a little bit of thought I decided to go for Lasek (Quote "EK" as the type) which was largely down to one thing. LasIK involves cutting a small flap in your cornea and lasering inside the eye, and then placing the flap back. You recover within 24 hours and have your full vision with little or no pain apparently. However it's not recommended to do contact sports such as rugby / martial arts after (although those on here have done with no effect) and also they can only make adjustments to the surgery for about a year after the initial surgery as by that stage the flap would have healed too much and they'd have to use LasEK instead to make changes.

LasEK itself is a slightly more sore process apparently, will take a bit longer to get to your full 100% sharp vision (you'll get good vision back within a few days, it'll just take longer to be up to your final level of sharpness) and you'll have to go in for a few more checkups than LasIK - it's far less convenient in that regard but it gives you more options after and asking the doctors themselves which they'd do, they'd choose LasEK given the option.

So Now to the surgery itself which was 11.30 am friday the 10th just passed. I checked in as normal and popped into the waiting room. A nurse came along in a few minutes with some valium and a glass of water to relax me. As an aside I don't think it worked that well, I was expecting to be dancing on tables and what not. It just made me a bit sleepy. This takes maybe an hour to kick in apparently and after that I was called for surgery. For that they bring you into another examination room, you choose an eye to get done on the day if having both done, and they give you a set of glasses with exchangeable lenses to get the correct prescription for your eyesight focus, and also red / green colour separation so they know how much they'll need to laser your eye. This is a simple case of looking at an eye chart and swapping in some different lenses to get the best measure. After that you're brought out into a waiting area and given a few eye drops, one to dilate your eye and another to numb it. You wait maybe 5 or 10 minutes and then pop in for surgery. I got mine done by Professor O'Keefe who's done more procedures in the country than anyone else and also actively studies and teaches the science of it so he's as trustworthy as you could get. The actual surgery itself is pretty quick. You lie back on a bed with a groove for your head which is moved in under the laser. They put a patch over your other eye so it's not touched, and they put a small fixture in your eye to hold it open and tape it in place. They then start to swab and clean the surface of the eye being treated.. By this stage it's totally numb - you can see everything happening but not feel a thing. They rub a small amount of chemicals on to the surface of your cornea which loosens it a tiny bit to allow the laser to reshape it and once that's done they position the laser to get a lock on your iris. They'll fire a few bursts at your eye while Prof O'Keefe will adjust the position of your head by tiny amounts, each lasts a few seconds, you'll see some very clear patterns of red and green "splatters" in front of your eye which is just the patter of the light. You'll also smell some burning but this is the burning of the gases used in the lasers. Then you're done! They'll dowse your eye with cold water and that's it. You'll be taken into another room for some more eye drops and also a contact lens to be placed over the treated eye which will protect it as it heals for about 3 days. They'll let you sit for another few minutes, and then bring you back in to another room to give you various drops and tablets to use over the new few days and that's the lot. As I was leaving my eye sight in my treated eye was perfect, it was maybe a tiny bit misty but still clear enough, I wasn't walking around like Mr. Magoo and was able to walk along quite happily with my shades on to get a lift home. I got out at roughly 2pm but they were understaffed for this one day of the years since 2 of the normal docs were at weddings.

In the hours after the surgery you have to put some healing drops in your eyes every hour which is fine, my aim's still rubbish though. After a while the anaesthetic wore off and my eye did start to get quite irritated. It was tearing an awful lot and a bit stingy, as if you'd gotten poke in it. I was told to stay awake for a good few hours to be able to put in the healing drops so it was just a case of lie back and listen to some audio books in a dark room. I stayed up til 10pm as asked and while it was getting less sore at this stage, I stuck in some final drops, took two of the sleeping tables they gave my and went off to bed.

Day 2: I had to go in for a checkup which was at 9.30 and there was a lot of people in the waiting queue. This is a really simple one, they just bring you in and get you to read a chart to see how sharp the vision had gotten - I could read the 20-20 line with the treated eye now. They do another quick check with your chin on a pad and get you to look left, right, up and down to see how it's healing up and that's it. At this point I had no discomfort at all but kept using the healing drops (which give you a manky taste at the back of your throat for some reason) so it was off home again. At this stage I was fine to watch tv, read or whatever with no discomfort. I was told at this stage that my eye would start to get a little blurrier as it healed. This did happen and in the evening time it also started to get a little more sensitive to bright light again so I stopped watching tv and went to bed around 10

Day 3: Sunday 12th. No pain at all, eye isn't watering as much as it was before, however it did start a little blurry. No major sensitivity to light at the minute, though I'm turning down the brightness of my monitor just to be kind. Back in tomorrow to get the protective lens removed and apparently that's when the majority of the discomfort goes away - I've personally never worn contact lenses so I wouldn't be used to the feel of them anyway.

Hope this is informative for anyone thinking about lasEK and I'll keep it updated over the next few days with more progress. The current though it I've had maybe half a day of discomfort, maybe at a mild toothache level, but that's been it so far. For what was supposed to be the sorer of the two, it's been pretty much fine!

janja

Thanks for that, very informative.;)

joconnell

Late evening of day 3 my eye started getting a tiny bit sensitive to bright light again and the contact lens was a tiny bit uncomfortable but nothing to right home about at all. Kept using the usual eye drops (and missing most of the time) and all was fine. Dozed off around 10.30

Day 4: Popped into the mater to have the contact lens removed, was able to read at very least the 20 - 20 line and if I hadn't had drops in my eyes would probably have gone further. With the lens removed there is no longer any discomfort at all, but I'll still keep using the same healing drops until this Wednesday where I'll change over to another type of drop. My treated eye is now far sharper than my non treated one and while it varies a tiny bit (there's a tiny bit of glow / haloing on right lights) over the course of the day, this is the worst it'll ever be. It can apparently take up to 3 months to repair itself fully and have your final pin-point vision but even now it's miles better than before.

So far in summary, maybe half a day of stinginess, eye watering and discomfort (which in hindsight wasn't that bad) and after that it's all plain sailing. I've another eye to do next week on Friday and after going through one eye I've no hesitation about the choice of LasEK over the "easier" LasIK.

P.s. All of the doctors in the eye laser section of the mater are terribly sexy.

joconnell

Day 5 and it's settling in nicely, the only thing sharper in my untreated eye is very close vision, anything within a metre in the treated eye has a little bit of divergence / haloing or whatever you want to call it. In for me next eye this Friday and I'll let you know when the treated eye gets it's close vision good and sharp.

Scarlet42

Congrats on getting this done John, I got both my eyes done on the same day about five years ago, I had been wearing glasses since I was 8 or 9 (in my 40s now) .. it is brilliant and I haven't looked back since! (excuse the pun!)

It took a while for mine to settle down ..maybe six months .. I was still seeing the halo on car lights, so its good to get it done just before the summer with the bright nights.

I can believe the difference it has made to my life.

Good luck with the recovery.

Sean

joconnell

Heya Sean,

I'd read a good few of your own posts on the subject before getting it done so thanks for all the information along the way! Good to know a rough time frame for the some of the bits of divergence / haloing, it's not a big issue but I do notice it on things that emit light, like for example I'd see a slight "doubling" of text while I'm reading from a monitor and so on.

Hands down though it was well worth doing. I'm not even a week past getting the first eye done and my left eye is so sharp that even if it settled at this level it'd be money well spent. Can't wait til this time next week when the second has had the same amount of healing and hopefully it'll balance nicely.

Cheers!

smallerthanyou

Lasek in the Mater is the option I'm considering (although have only done little investigation!). Just one q - was there the option to get both eyes done the same day?

joconnell

Not with lasek. With Lasik they'll quite happily do it as you'll be back to normal the next morning but with Lasek they'll only do it a week between eyes so they can be happy the first eye is healing properly and that you've got decent vision to carry you over while the second eye gets done. There might be other reasons, I'm in for my second eye today and I'll ask them.

joconnell

smallerthanyou - I asked about getting both eyes done with lasEK to confirm with the mater their reasons and they were pretty much the same. If they did both eyes, each person heals differently and they could leave you incapacitated for a week - For example yesterday I had one eye recovering and the other eye that'd been freshly treated being stingy and also streaming tears as it healed. If you had both eyes in this state you'd have a very hard time moving around your house so it'd be irresponsible of them to do it. They said that they do a special lasIK treatment where they can do on eye first thing in the morning, check it in the late afternoon and do the second eye then, but that can't be done with LasEK. There are some places that will do both eyes with lasEK (as far as I know, a girl I work with got this done in the blackrock clinic) but the Mater wouldn't recommend it and won't do it, and I personally share their opinion you wouldn't be able to function with both eyes done for a few days so it's not worth it.

Day 7 - The day the second eye was done - similar situation with that one, plenty of stinging and watery eye after the anaesthetic wore off but stayed up about 5 hours after the operation so I could put in some healing drops. Operation slightly quicker this time as last week they were down two doctors at weddings.

Day 8: Went in again this morning for a checkup and the doctors are all happy with the progress, I'm reading at better than 20 - 20 in my right eye, and at least 20 in my left eye. I said before that my close vision wasn't perfect yet in the first eye I got treated and have an explanation for this now. When you look with your treated and untreated eye, your brain is taking an average and both eyes are adjusting to the same apparent correct focus point, but since your eyes focus differently with one eye untreated and the other not, your close focus will be off in your treated eye. With the second eye done, both are now more or less in line and this problem has gone away. I now also no longer get as much "doubling" or "ghosting" when reading text close up, and as the second eye heals and falls into line, this'll get better again. Apparently I'm a quick healer so by Monday when I go in to get the contact lens removed from the second eye, I should have pretty much perfect vision, with it healing better than 20-20 over the weeks / months after.

Soap MacTavish

Thanks for all the very informative posts.

joconnell

Right so, in for my roughly two week checkup (though it's been three weeks since the first eye) and all healing very quickly. I've got better than 20 / 20 eyesight now with a few optical effects still to improve. For example the surface of my eye is still healing so I'm getting a slight "starryness" on lights which will gradually go away. Also another point is I've lost a slight bit of close focus - things that I could focus on previously now need to be about another 2/3 cm out from my face to focus on them - we're talking a total distance of 10cm away from my face after the surgery, but there aren't too many things that get that close to my face anyway (just the lucky ones :pac:). Also I find that the muscles in my eyes have to relearn their default focus. What I mean by this is that for years my eyes have learned to focus on objects maybe a few feet away by default - computer screens, people or whatever. I now find that since the focus of my eyes has changed, my muscles in my eyes are subconsciously trying to use the old focus that worked, and I have to consciously adjust. It's not a biggy and it's just muscle memory that needs to be relearned so it'll go back to normal pretty shortly. Again just for a full description of both positive and (tiny) negative I'm sticking it in here.

After this week down to using drops twice a day instead of 4 times too, back in about 2 weeks for another checkup. All in all great fun, was in holland over the weekend which is a great place to be shortly after getting sharp sight back. There's lots of impressive things to look at