Lasek Post Treatment Results

tbeans

Hello,

I'm 12 days post treatment - lasek- back at work this week and finding being on the computer difficult as my eyes are a little blurry and tire quite easily.

So I was wondering from your experience with Lasek - how soon did your eyes recover?

I know it's different for everyone but interested to hear your experience

Thanks

LindseyErin

I had LASIK done here in the states. My recovery was a little difficult because I had extreme astigmatism and had to have it corrected. The pain during the operation was nothing, just very claustrophobic, my post-op pain, however, was SEVERE. I had to be sedated. I have heard this is very very rare. However, a few weeks later I can see 20/15, I only had mild dryness. I got my LASIK done through LASIKplus. They offer free LASIK for life, only if you go to your follow up appointments.

Best decision of my life.

marieky21

It took me between eight and twelve weeks to gain complete 20:20 vision in both my eyes. At the beginning they will tire easily especially if you work with computers. But you will notice every day there will be improvements in the sight but it did take me up to 12 weeks. My consultant did tell me that at the time of surgery. I had it done in Feb 2011 (lasek) in the mater private with Professor o O'Keeffe

Mousewar

Keep us up to date with your progress tbeans.

marcus2000

I had my lasek done one eye at a time, with a week between each session. Id say it took about 10days for each eye to recover, so maybe about 2.5wks from start to finish before i had perfect vision. Never really had any dry eye or problems since....though i was apprehensive about touching them for a long long time (just incase).

hope it goes well.

tbeans

Mousewar wrote: »

Keep us up to date with your progress tbeans.

So I’m 2.5 weeks post treatment - lasek - and I had an appointment with the clinic yesterday evening. Both eyes are completely healed and look excellent – doesn’t even look like I had the treatment done. In terms of my sight, it’s been over corrected so now I’m +0.5. The only negative is the slight blur I mentioned previously is still there and that will take another few weeks to sharpen. They still feel tired after a day at the computer but are getting stronger each day. It was difficult last week but this week is a different story.

All is looking good and everything is on track. They did warn me that it would take 3 months before I’m 100% so I’m very optimistic that I’ll get there. The clinic where I got it done have been excellent and I really felt like I was in good hands.

Also back to being able to get water in my eyes, going to the gym, can play sport, wear make-up etc etc

So far so good I guess

Mousewar

I'd love to hear from someone who had this done about 15 years ago - see if their eyes have melted.

Charisteas

My primary concern with getting laser eye surgery myself is in regards to what are the long-term effects that nobody knows about yet? I'm talking about in 30,40,50 years time.

As far as i'm aware, laser eye surgery came around about 15-20 years ago, but has really taken off in the last 10 years with seemingly millions around the world getting it done after 2002, but not knowing what the long-term risks could be.

In all seriousness, is it possible that in 30+ years time, millions of laser eye surgery patients could end up as blind as a bat, or is there some bullet-proof guarantee against that possibility?

Blindness may be an extreme and rare side-effect. But another query I would have, which may not be possible to know an answer in this moment of time, is how long will laser eye surgery last for?

Does it last forever, or can we expect to have to get surgery every 15/20/25 years until we die?

Mousewar

With regard to how long it lasts, the effects are permanent but consider this.
Eyesight can continue to decline throughout life or it can remain stable. If you currently have a -2 prescription and don't have laser surgery, it may be that ten years from now your eyesight will regress further and you will have a -3 prescription. Now, in this scenario, were you have had laser surgery when at -2, ten years later your eyesight will have regressed at the same rate so therefore you would now have a -1 prescription. The infraction error has been corrected but it can't prevent your eyes from regressing as they may have done even if you hadn't had surgery.

With regard to long term effects - no, nobody knows. However, I think every medical practitioner would tend to conclude that if a procedure hasn't produced any inherent defects in 20 years time there's little reason to think that it will in 30 years time or 50 years time etc. Who knows though...

Charisteas

Excellent points once again Mousewar.

Mousewar

Of course we should probably be asking ourselves what causes the regression. I don't think we can blame genetics for something that affects nearly 50% of the population. No other genetic flaw reproduces itself in such numbers. Clearly, modern environmental factors play their part. Reading no doubt being the main culprit I would imagine.

Leopardi

Mousewar wrote: »

Clearly, modern environmental factors play their part. Reading no doubt being the main culprit I would imagine.

Do you know of any significant research that supports this suspicion? This is a genuine question from a voracious reader, not an implicit criticism!

I had a consultation with Ultralase last week. Despite my high prescription (L -9.50, R -9.75), it seems I could be suitable for Lasek Ultra Plus. While awaiting confirmation of suitability I am considering many issues surrounding the possible procedure. I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who had a similar prescription and went ahead with surgery.

Mousewar

Not offhand.
I did speak with an optometrist recently who worked in a laser surgery clinic for many years. He mentioned that there had been a study recently that showed that children's eyesight is often directly related to how much time they spend playing outdoors. I took him at his word rather than looking it up.
It makes sense. Our world is a lot closer now than it used to be. We simply don't use our eyes for distance in the same way our ancestors would have done.
But other than that, I'm just talking from my backside.

tbeans

Leopardi wrote: »

I had a consultation with Ultralase last week. Despite my high prescription (L -9.50, R -9.75), it seems I could be suitable for Lasek Ultra Plus. While awaiting confirmation of suitability I am considering many issues surrounding the possible procedure. I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who had a similar prescription and went ahead with surgery.

Not as high as yours but I was -6.50 and I booked my treatment with Ultralase - Lasek Ultra Elite.

Found the company excellent and I'm 2 months post op - all going pretty good! I think with high prescriptions, the recovery time tends to be longer. For example I’ve only just reached 20/20 vision while my sister who was -2 recovered much faster than me.

Good to do as much research as possible to make sure that it is the correct choice for you. Talking to people who had to done I found to be the best research.

Leopardi

tbeans wrote: »

Not as high as yours but I was -6.50 and I booked my treatment with Ultralase - Lasek Ultra Elite.

Found the company excellent and I'm 2 months post op - all going pretty good! I think with high prescriptions, the recovery time tends to be longer. For example I’ve only just reached 20/20 vision while my sister who was -2 recovered much faster than me.

Good to do as much research as possible to make sure that it is the correct choice for you. Talking to people who had to done I found to be the best research.

Your experience is certainly encouraging. I was told in no uncertain terms about the discomfort I would face in the first couple of days after treatment. Did you opt for same-day surgery for both eyes? I am considering the pros and cons of having each eye treated on separate occasions.

tbeans

The pain and the discomfort really is awful! Worse I’ve ever than to endure! I got mine done on the same day. It was a Saturday and I had planned to go back to work on the Tuesday but I really did need the whole week off.


Day 1 is the worse. I requested valium which helped and when I got home, I just tried to sleep the whole day. I’d recommend someone staying with you as I needed help with the drops as I couldn’t even open my eyes as they kept watering & were painful. I had to wear lenses for the first 3 days and it was difficult to see and quite uncomfortable. Once they came out it got much better but the first week was a write off for me.


The idea to get 2 eyes done in one day was just to get it out of the way because I was very panicky about the whole thing and just wanted to get it over with but I now can see the advantage of getting it done on two separate days.


The pain and discomfort memory quickly fades tho and for me, it was very worthwhile to do and anyone I’ve talked to has said that same thing

Leopardi

tbeans wrote: »

The pain and the discomfort really is awful! Worse I’ve ever than to endure! I got mine done on the same day. It was a Saturday and I had planned to go back to work on the Tuesday but I really did need the whole week off.


Day 1 is the worse. I requested valium which helped and when I got home, I just tried to sleep the whole day. I’d recommend someone staying with you as I needed help with the drops as I couldn’t even open my eyes as they kept watering & were painful. I had to wear lenses for the first 3 days and it was difficult to see and quite uncomfortable. Once they came out it got much better but the first week was a write off for me.


The idea to get 2 eyes done in one day was just to get it out of the way because I was very panicky about the whole thing and just wanted to get it over with but I now can see the advantage of getting it done on two separate days.


The pain and discomfort memory quickly fades tho and for me, it was very worthwhile to do and anyone I’ve talked to has said that same thing

Your feedback is much appreciated. My family circumstances would govern my decision to have the treatment carried out on separate days - it would be impossible for me to be totally out of action even for one whole day.

tbeans

Leopardi wrote: »

Your feedback is much appreciated. My family circumstances would govern my decision to have the treatment carried out on separate days - it would be impossible for me to be totally out of action even for one whole day.

Your welcome - best of luck with everything!

murrayp4

I'm booked in to the Wellington for Aug 23rd for lasek. Only think I'm concerned about is the length of recovery time. I was all geared up to be recommended lasik and had researched it to death, but was then recommended lasek by 2 separate surgeons.
Prescription is -2.0 and I'm 32 so maybe recovery will be relatively quick? (Like 2 weeks)

tbeans

murrayp4 wrote: »

I'm booked in to the Wellington for Aug 23rd for lasek. Only think I'm concerned about is the length of recovery time. I was all geared up to be recommended lasik and had researched it to death, but was then recommended lasek by 2 separate surgeons.
Prescription is -2.0 and I'm 32 so maybe recovery will be relatively quick? (Like 2 weeks)

From my experience and talking to other Lasek ppl - it's going to be at least 3 days after surgery (when lenses come out) before you feel some form of recovery but they will be still sensitive and a bit raw/swollen so good to give yourself a week to recover and relax the eyes.

But in terms of 100% recovery then I'd realistically give yourself 2/3 months

Everyone is different tho so maybe you'll be quicker!

Best of luck for next week!

murrayp4

tbeans wrote: »

From my experience and talking to other Lasek ppl - it's going to be at least 3 days after surgery (when lenses come out) before you feel some form of recovery but they will be still sensitive and a bit raw/swollen so good to give yourself a week to recover and relax the eyes.

But in terms of 100% recovery then I'd realistically give yourself 2/3 months

Everyone is different tho so maybe you'll be quicker!

Best of luck for next week!

I'll be taking 2 weeks of work anyway. I wonder will I be able to enjoy any of my time off...:pac: