FYI: Cant shoot lasers out of your eyes after laser eye surgery

[Sean McEntee]

       About a year ago, the wife got me a pair of nice Oakley sunglasses.  The idea was to take them up to an Oakley dealer to get prescription lenses for them.   I went up there one day, and they told me that I couldn't get lenses for them because my prescription was too strong.

      That was probably the straw that broke the camel's back.  The Army offered refractive eye surgery for years.  I toyed with the the idea but never did it.  Deployments got in the way.  Plus I am the biggest wussy when it comes to my eyes.  My annual flight exam includes that puff-of-air glaucoma test, and it takes several attempts before we can get a good reading.  I hate that puff of air, let alone the thought of lasers and crazy stuff on my eyes.  Nowadays I figure, with all the budget cuts and such that are coming down the pipe, if I was going to do it then I had better do it now.

       I went in for the consultation.  The optomologist performed a standard eye exam, then put a series of numbing eye drops into my eyes, waited an hour, and repeated the exam.  They then compare the two results and if it is within a certain parameter, and there are no other disqualifying issues such as a irregular cornea, then you are "go".  

       The pre-op gave the run-down on the different types of surgery.  Laser -Assisted in situ Keratomileusis, better know as LASIK, is an all-laser surgery, and Photorefractive keratectomy, or PRK, involves an electric toothbrush-looking instrument that scrubs a layer off of your eye in place of the laser.  While the latter sounds pretty midievil, it has its advantages.  Because of my stronger prescription, it was recommended that I go with LASIK.


Last tuesday, the wife dropped me off at the hospital with my "goody bag" from the pharmacy: 3 Vicodin, one bottle of antibiotic eyedrops, one bottle of steroid eyedrops, a boatload of Refresh eyedrops, and a free pair of sunglasses.  About 10 minutes before the surgary, everyone in the group popped one of the vicodin and then texted our individual rides to start heading to the hospital to come pick us up.  Unfortunately for me, I was the first one and my happy pill hadn't QUITE kicked in yet (talking with the nurse the next day, she said folks at the end of the line were actually falling asleep on the table).  It was fairly uncomfortable, but the procedure took all of about 3 minutes.  They got me started on the steroids and antibiotic, put my sunglasses on, and sent me on my way after only being at the hospital for an hour.  I got home and went right to bed, still pretty high.  I woke up about 1PM wanting to die.  Tons of stinging, burning and so on.  I popped another Vicodin and fell asleep again.  Woke up again at about 6pm.  No pain, no burning, and I could see without glasses for the first time since I was five years old. A pretty brutal regiment of eye drops go along with it: Refresh drops every 2 hours for the next few months to keep everything wet and hasten the healing.  I take the antibiotic and steroid drops every 4 hours until tomorrow. I also have to wear sunglasses whenever im outside, to include PT and formations which wearing of sunglasses is otherwise verbotten.

I went to my 1-week post-op today.  I can see 20/15 in my left eye and 20/20 in my right--and my right may improve still as it heals.  The only side effect is allot of glare, halos and "starbursts" when driving at night.  As my eyes dilate beyond the diameter of the "flap" that was cut on my retina, the refracted light causes all of that, and all of that will go away as everything heals up.

Like I said, I have been wearing glasses for 25 years.  It is an incredible, and borderline annoying lifestyle change.  I don't have to do the "where's my glasses" dance every morning that I do if they got knocked off my nightstand in the night.  Ill reach up to my face to take off my glasses before putting the sunglasses on without thinking, and of course they're not there.  Same with changing clothes and just about anything else that glasses got in the way of up until now.  Its going to take quite awhile to get used to it.  I'm pretty much done for the flying season because of all this, but cant wait to see how "my new eyeballs" affect my pattern next season.

So.....if you have Myopia (short-sighted), go get the consultation and if you are a candidate for the surgery, BY ALL MEANS get it!  I can't tell you how amazing it is to be free of glasses for, pretty much, the first time ever.  

[Steve Helmick]

Congratulations! You did it the scary way. I just waited until old age kicked in and I'm now at 20/30. Wore glasses for 55 years. It's really a joy to be able to go without, tho I usually wear some sort of safety glasses (Carhartts are my fav) or tinted. I think that it'll be a long time before that joy goes away!  Steve

PS: I met you at VSC ('07?). Again, still, and always, thank you for your service. 

[Phil Krankowski]

How is your night vision for driving?  

A decade ago when I looked into this there were some serious concerns with halos from the surgery which could take quite some time to resolve.  Since the technology was improving incredibly quickly at the time I opted to wait.  Partly this was the advice of my ophthalmologist as he stated that the equipment had a 6-12 month lifespan - due to the technology changing so fast the equipment could not be upgraded!  

...and then I ended up on different insurance that did not cover much of anything.  I need to follow up again with the eye doc and my current insurance.

Phil

[Dan McEntee]

  When I have time to type it, I'll tell the story of how you lost your first pair of glasses within 24 hours of getting them!!!!!
    Remember, like the song says,"All the things that you do will come back to you!"
   Glad it's working out for you,
    Dad

[George Hostler]

10 years ago they told me I'd see 20-20 after having Lasik. That didn't happen, I see 20-100 in both eyes. Prior my glasses were 12 diopters in one and 13 diopters in the other. I still require glasses, although they are not the coke bottle bottoms that I had before. In a way I regret it, because my corrected vision is not as clear as it was when I didn't have Lasik.

When I moved away, I saw a regular optometrist who gave me a slightly stronger prescription glasses, correcting me to 20-25, which was the best he could do. The previous eye clinc that treated me with Lasik corrected my vision to 20-40, which I don't fully understand.

I was concerned I'd never be able to fly RC, because of my degraded vision. With the newer pair of glasses, I successfully flew RC last year, the first time in about 20 years. I thought I wouldn't be able to see the airplane as well as I used to. Lasik isn't cut out to all that they say it is, and I would have appreciated it if they were up front with me letting me know the best they could do was 20-100 for me.

So, for someone who was extremely myopic, I would have been better off without surgery.

[Howard Rush]

About 10 minutes before the surgary, everyone in the group popped one of the vicodin and then texted our individual rides to start heading to the hospital to come pick us up.

I thought you meant you, the surgeon, the nurse, etc., but then I read farther. 

[John Stiles]

.......About 10 minutes before the surgery, everyone in the group popped one of the vicodin and then texted our individual rides to start heading to the hospital to come pick us up.  Unfortunately for me, I was the first one and my happy pill hadn't QUITE kicked in yet (talking with the nurse the next day, she said folks at the end of the line were actually falling asleep on the table)......
        

And the reason I'm laughing so hard is that I go every 6 weeks and get eyes examined, tested for glaucoma, and injections in my right eye. There's always like 8 or 10 of us in line. It's starting to be more fun than miserable!

[Will Hinton]

I was fortunate enough to have RK as one of the earliest to do so, even before the advent of LASIK.  I was 20-200 in my left and 20-400 in my right befor the RK, went to 20-25 in both and went without glasses for 5 years.  Like you, Sean, it was quite an adjustment!  Then, with the aging process, the haloes and night glare started to get me and I had to go back to glasses, but they are so much lighter than the coke bottle bottoms I used to wear.  I can still drive without glasses and that's a real blessing at times.  Now, at 74, the old cataract thing is trying to snatch me up, but there's a cure for that, too.  It's called surgery, I think.
So, expect some differences to creep in as you go along, but rejoice in what you've accomplished with this. And praise to the military for providing this for you.
And...like others, THANK YOU for your service!

[frank williams]

I had it done in my middle 50's.  I had worn glasses all my life and they had become thicker and thicker.  It was the best thing I ever did.  The old age problem (now 70) was taken care of by mono-vision.  The right eye is 20-20 the left eye slightly less.  This allows great distance vision, but no need for reading glasses to read the menu.  I wasn't keen on the thought of mono to begin with, but it has worked out very well.  The brain sorts it all out.  I do have "sparklers" at night with headlights but its a small price to pay to get rid of the glasses.