Laser eye surgery

lemmno

Hi everyone,
Just wondering if maybe people could share their post Lasek/LASIK experiences here in terms of how long they were waiting for their vision to settle and how long it took for dryness or excess moisture to clear up.
Personally I'm 9 weeks post lasek now and my dry eye is still plaguing me. It'd be some comfort maybe to hear of people who have had dry eye for 3,4,5,6 months and who are now completely back to normal, as right now after waking up with red eyes and swollen eyelids yet again I need a boost, I'm finding it difficult to stay positive right now about the whole thing!!
Experiences? How long did this last for you?
It was an enhancement procedure, FYI. First procedure was 6 years ago, that one was LASIK, after which I had zero issues.

lemmno

Anyone????

lemmno

Bump

skerry

Hi,

I had LASIK over a year ago so my situation doesn't really mirror yours. I've had no issues since thankfully. Vision settled down after a few days but haloing took a couple of months to subside, I've either gotten used to what little is left or else its gone completely, hard to tell.

I know someone in a similar situation to you and she had a correction a couple of years back after originally having LASIK. Correction was LASEK and she said that she had much worse dry eye after the LASEK correcton as opposed to the LASIK she had originally. Not sure if that helps any, if I see her again soon I'll quiz her on it and get back to you.

In the meantime, try increasing the oily fish content of your diet and maybe take fish oil supplements, every little helps.

Gingko

I had Lasik done over 5 months ago.. dryness improving all the time. Was quite bad on and off for first 3 months or so. Still have some halo but doesnt bother me too much and a little light burst in left eye but nothing serious and will ease itself out in time. Over all I'm happy already and no more spectacle or contacts.

I have a friend that had Lasek done and it took him up to 8 months for dryness to completely correct itself as well as some other minor issues but now he is 100%!

lemmno

Skerry
Thanks a mill for your post. I actually had LASIK myself 6 years ago and had no issues whatsoever, that's why I'm so confused as to why the enhancement has left me like this. If you could quiz your friend that'd be great. There's lots of post LASIK reports but very little on lasek enhancements. I could talk all day about how great LASIK was but lasek is another story!!

lemmno

Ginko
Thanks so much for your post. It's reassuring to hear your friend is 100% after 8 months of issues, gives me hope that all is not lost just yet.
I just wish I could speed up the process. There's only so many litres of water and flax seed one can take! Did they have the junkie eyeballs also?!

lemmno

And just as an aside, I've been taking omega 3, flax seed oil, lots of water, vitamin C....you name it, I've tried it!

DHFrame

lemmno wrote: »

Hi everyone,
Just wondering if maybe people could share their post Lasek/LASIK experiences here in terms of how long they were waiting for their vision to settle and how long it took for dryness or excess moisture to clear up.
Personally I'm 9 weeks post lasek now and my dry eye is still plaguing me. It'd be some comfort maybe to hear of people who have had dry eye for 3,4,5,6 months and who are now completely back to normal, as right now after waking up with red eyes and swollen eyelids yet again I need a boost, I'm finding it difficult to stay positive right now about the whole thing!!
Experiences? How long did this last for you?
It was an enhancement procedure, FYI. First procedure was 6 years ago, that one was LASIK, after which I had zero issues.

I suffered from Dry eyes all my life before and after laser. Personally my experience of dry eye all my life is its caused by other things, diet, tiredness, using devices in bed, watching tv, air movement in supermarkets. I have also discovered that I can lock on to it physcologically, which makes it there all the time. Mindfullness, preventatives, and not thinking about it habitually makes it go away.

lemmno

I've started not using my phone as much and I've changed my diet. It's only day two of those methods so I'll check back in a month or so hopefully with an improvement. I'd try anything now.

lemmno

Ginkgo

7 months on and I'm no better, trying to stay positive but I'm at the end of my tether!! Any chance you know how things went for your friend? Did they need anything more than just artificial tears? I'm worried I should be demanding more from the clinic or something. They seem very blasÃ႒© about it, but the pain is pretty bad.

Gingko

lemmno wrote: »

Ginkgo

7 months on and I'm no better, trying to stay positive but I'm at the end of my tether!! Any chance you know how things went for your friend? Did they need anything more than just artificial tears? I'm worried I should be demanding more from the clinic or something. They seem very blasÃ႒© about it, but the pain is pretty bad.

He's 100% now. It was just the "Blink" tears he was using for up to 8 months. I'm now over 9 months myself and all good after many months of dryness too. I presume there will be a check up after 12 months have passed? It still may subside.

lemmno

Usually there is a 12 month check up but they're seeing me in December to fit me with punctal plugs should things still be bad.

lemmno

10 months out and still horrible unrelenting dryness. I wish I could go back to this time last year and get any thoughts of a top up out of my head.

Constant pain and regrets ever since.

Gingko

lemmno wrote: »

10 months out and still horrible unrelenting dryness. I wish I could go back to this time last year and get any thoughts of a top up out of my head.

Constant pain and regrets ever since.

Sorry to hear that Lemmno. This might be worth posting on another more medical thread too.

I don't mean to be putting in ifs and buts, however it is still winter of sorts and cold air temps outside with central heating inside make it a lot worse. Interesting to see what spring / summer brings in this regard with a more balanced temperature overall and easier for the eyes.

When you say unrelenting dryness? How much eye drops are you still using? And have you spoken to any professional on this recently?

lemmno

Gingko wrote: »

Sorry to hear that Lemmno. This might be worth posting on another more medical thread too.

I don't mean to be putting in ifs and buts, however it is still winter of sorts and cold air temps outside with central heating inside make it a lot worse. Interesting to see what spring / summer brings in this regard with a more balanced temperature overall and easier for the eyes.

When you say unrelenting dryness? How much eye drops are you still using? And have you spoken to any professional on this recently?

I've been for my checkups at the laser clinic, they keep saying to give it time but after 10 months of torture I'm at my wits end with giving it time.

I'm using tears a minimum of 8 times a day.

I flew to London recently to see a specialist at Moorfields and he has given me steroids to calm down the inflammation and wants to see how I am again in 8 weeks. I've been on those for a week and if anything my eyes have gotten worse.

I also saw other opticians and another opthalmologist who all gave me things to try that didn't work.

I'm truly miserable and can't see this getting better. I feel so stupid for having done the surgery. My eyes are swollen shut every morning on waking, and my eyes get redder and redder as the day goes on.

Life has changed dramatically for me, and I'm struggling every day.

Gingko

lemmno wrote: »

I've been for my checkups at the laser clinic, they keep saying to give it time but after 10 months of torture I'm at my wits end with giving it time.

I'm using tears a minimum of 8 times a day.

I flew to London recently to see a specialist at Moorfields and he has given me steroids to calm down the inflammation and wants to see how I am again in 8 weeks. I've been on those for a week and if anything my eyes have gotten worse.

I also saw other opticians and another opthalmologist who all gave me things to try that didn't work.

I'm truly miserable and can't see this getting better. I feel so stupid for having done the surgery. My eyes are swollen shut every morning on waking, and my eyes get redder and redder as the day goes on.

Life has changed dramatically for me, and I'm struggling every day.

Again sorry to hear this as sounds bad. But time will obviously tell. Keep us posted re Summer and how eye health is then. You obviously have very sensitive eyes so who knows? Maybe it just takes even more time? Mine took longer then most too but after 12 months their nearly 100% re dryness although still a little sensitive re central heating, laptop and cold air etc. But no pain or discomfort and vision is perfect. Chin up as there is still lots of time! Sending you healing energy!

lemmno

Gingko wrote: »

Again sorry to hear this as sounds bad. But time will obviously tell. Keep us posted re Summer and how eye health is then. You obviously have very sensitive eyes so who knows? Maybe it just takes even more time? Mine took longer then most too but after 12 months their nearly 100% re dryness although still a little sensitive re central heating, laptop and cold air etc. But no pain or discomfort and vision is perfect. Chin up as there is still lots of time! Sending you healing energy!

Thanks for the encouragement, I really hope you're right as im finding it all very difficult at the moment.
Unfortunately all I can think of is how summer will bring more AC, which is what bothers me most.

Fordpefect

lemmno wrote: »

Thanks for the encouragement, I really hope you're right as im finding it all very difficult at the moment.
Unfortunately all I can think of is how summer will bring more AC, which is what bothers me most.

sounds like your going through the mill mate, I was considering getting treatment but after hearing your experience I wills tick with the glasses.
Thanks for your help and hope things improve

lemmno

Fordpefect wrote: »

sounds like your going through the mill mate, I was considering getting treatment but after hearing your experience I wills tick with the glasses.
Thanks for your help and hope things improve

It's all well and good when it works but when it doesn't its devastating. Luckily it does work for the majority but I'm one of the unlucky ones. If it was a friend or family member I'd tell them to stay well away. I'll campaign for the rest of my life to make people see how bad it can be...I don't want to scare people but I wish to God someone had told me this time last year. What I'd give for glasses now.

lemmno

Update: eyes still crap, quality of life still crap.

Not only do they feel bad, they also look atrocious.

My life is a mess all because of laser eye surgery. Please think twice. I'm devastated daily that I chose to do this.

I'm 16 months post surgery.

NIMAN

I'm so sorry to hear you are in such a bad way after your surgery.

I considered getting it done in the last decade but eventually gave up on the idea once my optician told me that I'd still need reading glasses when I hit my 40s. To me it seemed a lot of money to end up curing your short sightedness but then needing reading glasses a few years later.

Now heading towards the end of my 40s, I have completely given up on the idea. I use contacts for sport, but due to my age the sport is a lot less frequent than it was 10yrs ago.

I hope you can find some relief from your issues. I think its good that you are highlighting the procedure can go wrong and isnt for everyone, as you hear so many positive stories about it.

Something that always stood out for me was watching a clip of the UKs top eye surgeons in a conference back when I was considering it. Most of them were wearing glasses themselves, and I thought "how come they haven't all had the surgery done". I asked my optician about the clip and he just said "makes you think eh?". He was also a glass wearer.

I also made enquiries about getting my eyes done separately, as I feared something going wrong, but all the places I contacted said both eyes would be done on the one visit. This was another thing that didn't sit right with me and helped me stall my decision to have it done.

Would you not be tempted to contact RTE or some other media outlet to highlight your problems, and perhaps be an example to others that the procedure can have complications.

lemmno

Maybe in time. Im not angry, I'm just sad, all the time. I know of a man who's already working on a piece for one of the newspapers here. I've made a decision to give it until March. That'll be two full years of 'healing'. If I'm not better by then maybe I'll scream it from the rooftops. I'll name the exact person who told me there was no extra risk, the same one who told me 'a bit of dry eye is like the feeling you get after reading for too long' and who never mentioned terns like mgd, hypersensitivity or neuralgia. Im not angry at the surgeon but I feel I was misled and not properly informed before I had the surgery. And that's because I was seen by an optician who is not a doctor. There's a lot being done at the moment to raise awareness and I wouldn't be surprised that if in 5 years a lot of these clinics are gone.