Thursday, July 24, 2008

LASIK - results so far

If you have been reading my blog, you by now know that I have had LASIK surgery done on both my eyes (my LASIK posts).

Its been a really long while since I last posted about my post surgery results - almost four months. Right after my surgery I was having dry eyes and it was reducing. But over the last 3 months - I have had chronic dry eyes and my eye-sight hadn't yet reached 20/20. After waiting for 3 months to pass after my LASIK surgery, the doctor decided to put in some "Punctal" plugs - which block the lower eye lid tear ducts. This was in the hope of reducing the dry eyes that I was experiencing.

Your eye doctor can insert punctal plugs into your tear ducts, to keep eye moisture from draining too fast.

SNAG-0001

I have had the punctal plugs in my eyes for about 2 weeks now. The dry eyes are still there, but my eye-sight is improving.... (in my last check up - I had gotten close to 20/15).

At this point this is what I can recommend to you:

If you are following my LASIK experience to decide if you should also get LASIK done - then wait a little while longer - to see if my dry eyes syndrome gets any better. I work for 8 to 10 hours a day on the computer and on some days when the dry eyes are bad, I really wish that I hadn't gotten the surgery done.

At this point - I am hoping that with time the dry eyes will get better and my eyes will stabilize at 20/20. Until then I will be praying and hoping and waiting.

As shown here, dry eyes can become red and irritated.The biggest take away for you - would be, these posts are my experiences with LASIK. Yours might be vastly different depending on your eyes and possibly the LASIK machine that you use (I used ICON LASIK, which uses NIDEK machines and I wonder sometimes, if I had used VISX customVue, if my results would have been different).

At the end - LASIK is a surgery, an irreversible one and comes with risks that you have to weigh before undertaking the surgery.

 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

How are you doing now? Any better?

I found your blog while looking for people to review Lasik for our consumer site (see link if interested).

I'm considering the procedure myself so any information you share is much appreciated!

I hope you're doing well.

Unknown said...

Hello Raj,

We share a very similar situation, I am also a Software Engineer in Denver considering Lasik from Icon or Hines-Sight. I was wondering if you could give me some advice on choosing and if you would go through it again.

Hope to hear from you!

-Chris Meyer

Raj Rao said...

Its been 2 years since I got my lasik procedure. I havent checked my eye-sight in the last year, but I suspect that its still 20/20.
The one issue that I did have was dry eyes after the procedure. I tried many different things to fix it. I currently have punctal pugs. It took about a year and a half for the dry eyes to stabilize. In the beginning they were uncomfortable (dry eyes), but now with the plugs and my eyes also adjusting (i think they make more tears), it feels a lot better.
In conclusion, was I happy with Icon Lasik - yes. But sometimes I wonder if I went to 20/20 institute, if I wouldnt have had the dry eye issue. Its hard to say one way or the other (as I might have been prone to dry eyes).
Overall - its great to not have to wear specs any more.
(My wife had hers done when we lived in Montana and it was a more expensive wave front laser. 5 years later she still has 20/20 vision, and never once suffered from dry eyes).
Hope this info helps...

Brooke Davis said...

Wow! This is crazy! I am, now, scared more then ever to get LASIK surgery. Was it that painful and has it been a long ride for you? I have been having eye trouble for a year now and hate the idea of wearing glasses. I have pondered the idea of surgical vision, but the idea of surgery scares me. My friend just had surgery on her eyes and used all laser lasik. With this type of surgery, it can be tricky. The surgeon needs to create a corneal flap. And this can be accomplished using a mechanical instrument called a microkeratome, or a femtosecond laser. I heard that it is thought that there may be more precision in some patients using the femtosecond laser as to the thickness of the flap and to the universal form contour. I personally, have to find the right doctor to get the job done. Hope this helps many out. Thank you again. I loved the reading. Have a great day