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.

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.

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.

 

LASIK - Week 2 and 3 Report

Nothing much to report about the last 2 weeks.

The dryness is slowly reducing and I need less and less of the artificial tears. My vision has been improving too. Overall my eyes seem to be doing great.

As for problems: Blurred vision as soon as I wake up - maybe occurred a couple of times over the last two weeks. Sometimes I do get a head-ache when I am working on the computer for extended periods (10+ hours). Night time vision still has halos around really bright lights - but it does feel like it is reducing as time goes by.

The main thing at this point is to take regular breaks - especially while I am working on the computer.

LASIK - Week 1

When I started writing about my LASIK experience - I wanted to write my daily experiences for the first week. But I didn't - because the first week was hard and I didn't want to write a post when I had some doubts about the entire procedure.

So first with the good news - its been 10 days - and I am feeling great about my repaired set of eye balls!

Monday to Friday of the first week was really the hardest set of days. As I had to work during the week - I think that viewing the computer screen for hours on end, definitely added to the strain I was putting on my eyes. 

• Mornings - it was hard to even open my eyes.
• The night before - I would have to put some funky eye shields to protect the flaps as I slept. This by far was the most irritating part of recovery. The shields went on with tape. They felt awkward while I slept. And when I woke up it was hard to take them off - as the tape really sticks to your skin!
• I had to remember to put 2 sets of medicated eye drops into my eyes every four hours.
• My eyes felt gritty and dry.
• Sometimes I almost felt like poking them out - as the dryness would get really troubling. 
• In the mornings - my computer screen felt a little blurred.
• I would get head-aches off and on - I think caused by the strain of working continuously for 9+ hours everyday.
• During night time driving - street lights and on coming head-lights would have a halo/star burst around them.
• Driving in the sun - needed sun-glasses otherwise my eyes would hurt.

That as you can see is a long list of post-operative problems that I had. And when the pain or dry-ness in my eyes would reach the highest level - many times I wondered if I really should have gone for the LASIK treatment. Also - many times - I felt as though I couldn't see as well as I could with my glasses. (Remember - to begin with I had a pretty low prescription for my eyes. I am sure if you had 1.5 or over in your eyes - you would see a change almost immediately and it would all feel worth it from day one).

Even on the day of my one week appointment - I did not feel as though I was able to see as well as I could with my glasses on pre-LASIK.

But I can drive around without my glasses - what a relief. I can buy any damn sun-glasses that I want - no more prescription based ones - that I have to be extremely careful with - least I forget them - especially on a trip. All these small things are what makes LASIK so worth-while. 

Finally yesterday I decided to go to the theatre to watch 10,000 B.C. Now before - whenever I went to watch a movie - I had to remember to take my glasses. If I forgot them - it was not going to be fun. The movie would be a blur, I would have to trouble somebody near me to read off text on the screen - which my friends hated - especially in a crucial scene in a movie. Many times, when I forgot my glasses, I would turn back home to get my glasses - again not a very popular move with my friends.

 

But this Sunday - I intentionally went to the movies without my glasses. Really had no idea of what to expect. Now, 10,000 B.C is a movie that is set in - you guessed it right - 10,000 B.C. So obviously the actors speak in some 10,000 B.C. language and hence the movie was peppered with sub-titles. Sub-titles that if I had missed - then the movie would have probably been a truly boring movie (Not that it wasn't as is - again - that's another post). I was able read each and every one of the sub-titles. No problems at all. (This after 3 glasses of Irish beer - it was St. Patty's day after all). No head-aches after the movie.... no irritated family or friends. Proof that indeed the LASIK procedure had made my life better.  

What helped through this first week were preservative free eye drops. I used them almost every hour or as soon as I felt my eyes dry up. (The times I felt like pulling out my eyes - were when I got too caught up with work and would skip the artificial tears). So here is my advice for the first week:

• Be patient - your eyes are healing - and you might not get to 20/20 right off the bat.
• If you work with a computer a lot - try and get a timer going - that reminds you to look away every 20 minutes at something at least 20 feet away.
• If possible try and get a few minutes of shut eye after 4 hours of work.
• Use preservative free tears as often as you need.
• Don't let your eyes dry out - as that hurts and probably adds to the strain on your eyes.
• Speak to your doctor - he is your best resource. Any time you feel pain in your eyes - or your eyes begin to feel strange - it probably is a good idea to talk to your doctor. And if he is not around - or doesn't take your call - then obviously you chose the wrong doc and he definitely is not from Icon Lasik of Denver.

As I go forward - I only expect my eyesight to get better. My next appointment with the doctor is in 6 weeks.

Icon LASIK

Better Business Bureau (BBB) Denver report on Icon LASIK:

http://denver.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=33&bbb=0885&firm=23036458

BBB web page for Icon: http://www.iconlasik.justgoodbusiness.biz/

LASIK - Day 1

Visited the doctor in the morning. Was able to read the 20/20 line - but it was a little blurry. At this point it is expected. The first doctor's appointment after the LASIK procedure is to check for the health of the flap (make sure it hasn't shifted, folded, etc while sleeping).

I am able to drive around - though in the sun - my eyes hurt a bit - and I need my sun-glasses. I was able to watch TV and actually watched Michael Clayton - without any issues (Hi-Def without glasses finally looks like Hi-Def - and the movie was awesome).

Eye's feel dry - and I have to keep putting artificial tears into my eyes in addition to a couple of other eye drops (a steroid and an anti-biotic). The dryness of the eye is again an expected side-effect at this point. My wife had dry eyes after her LASIK for about 2 to 3 months after her procedure and is no longer an issue for her.

Icon Lasik

A little bit about the facility where I performed my LASIK eye surgery.

Icon is probably the cheapest LASIK facility in Denver. But that is not the reason that I chose it as the place where I would get my LASIK done (it was definitely the final nail in the coffin).

Icon has at its disposal multiple Lasik technologies - VISX Star 4 custom wavefront laser, the NIDEK EC5000 eye tracker, and the Intralase bladeless lasik system. This allows the doctor to recommend the best machine suited for your prescription instead of prescribing the only machine he might have to correct your prescription. In addition - the doctors are available to talk to you at all times. Dr. Rick Anderson is the person you will be in touch with most of the time, but if you ever needed to - you could talk to the eye surgeon who will perform the procedure - Dr. Timothy Christianson too. A doctor is available at all times and so you can talk to them about your concerns and questions up until the day that you will be performing the surgery. The staff at the facility is also very nice and hospitable.

A word about the Nidek Lasik Machine:

If you go to many of the other LASIK facilities around Denver and ask them about the Nidek machine - they immediately tell you that its not a good device and that it is often used against FDA recommendations. It is important to realize that the Nidek machine is extremely popular all over the world. It is just not the most popular machine in the U.S. And about the use of the machine against FDA recommendations - which is categorized as "Off-label" usage, all doctors do that with almost anything that is used on or in your body - even medication. It just means that the FDA hasn't verified the usage of the machine for certain prescriptions or in certain modes. Icon Lasik has performed over 60,000 procedures and its doctors know the limitations of their machines very well. The recommendation to go with a certain machine - definitely seems to come from their experience gained over these thousands of procedures.

In addition, Icon will tell you when the NIDEK is not for you and it would be better to use the VISX machine or one of the other technologies to perform the procedure. From my understanding - the VISX needs to remove less of the tissue and hence is suited better for those with thinner corneas. In addition it is good for those with high levels of astigmatism - cylinders. - warning - that was not a scientific explanation. You can ask the doctors at Icon as to why they recommended a certain machine over another - and they will be more than happy to answer your questions. (I had a similar question - wondering why I was asked to use the Nidek over the Visx machine - especially after doctors at a different facility scared me about the Nidek's results - which Dr. Rick Anderson answered and I was sure that Nidek would be great for me - saving me around $400 per eye).

Useful information:

NIDEK Clinical Study Results: http://icondenver.com/nidek-better-than-wavefront.html

Information on "Wavefront vs NIDEK" and "Intralase bladeless lasik vs Microkeratome" and "LASIK vs LASEK": http://icondenver.com/wavefront-intralase.html

Wavefront Results: http://icondenver.com/wavefront-results.html

Advantages of ICON: http://icondenver.com/advantages.html

All my posts on LASIK: http://blog.aggregatedintelligence.com/search/label/LASIK

LASIK - Day 0

So I have chosen Icon Lasik of Denver as the facility that will perform my LASIK eye surgery. The doctor recommended the NIDEK machine for my eyes. 

Dr. Timothy Christianson performed the procedure. The whole procedure of going under the machine, getting operated and then walking away from it must have taken less than 7 minutes. The steps were exactly as outlined in my previous post "In quest of 20/20 - LASIK".

I was able to see almost immediately after stepping up from the operating seat - though the vision was blurry - as is to be expected. I felt no major pain or discomfort (I was given a valium and aleve).

Once home, I taped an eye shield over my eyes and hit the sack.

(Dr. Rick Anderson - top right and Dr. Timothy Christianson - bottom right)

Icon LASIK

Dr. Rick Anderson of Denver-based Icon LASIK joined 9NEWS Saturday Morning to talk about the procedure.

http://www.9news.com/video/player.aspx?aid=44407&bw=

In quest of 20/20 - LASIK

What happens during the LASIK surgery:

These images show what happens during the LASIK eye operation.

The eyes are cleaned and a eye drop is used to numb the eyes.

An instrument is used to keep the eyes open

A suction ring is placed around the eye - which lifts the cornea - making it easier to perform the next step.

A microkeratome is used to make a small flap. (If you are using in the interlase procedure, then instead of a mechanical device, a laser is used to make the incision for the flap).

The suction ring is removed and The flap is lifted up

A laser is used to reshape the cornea - to correct for your prescription. During this time you will most probably be asked to look at a blinking light - so that your pupils remain centered. At the same time another laser tracks the position of your pupils and automatically corrects for movements in your eye. In case the laser detects that your pupils have moved by more than a threshold amount, the machine will automatically shut down and the doctor can restart from where the machine left off. The laser works by burning away portions of your cornea - so that the cornea is reshaped to compensate for your prescription.

Once the laser has completed reshaping the cornea, the doctor will fold the flap back into place.

In quest of 20/20

With the date approaching for when my Flex account expires I had to quickly figure out what to do with the cash that is sitting in it. So I have decided to go for LASIK. I have been wearing spectacles for at least 15 years, if not more. It is finally time to wish them adieu!

My wife had her LASIK surgery in 2005 while we were living in Missoula. At that time, we had to drive down to Spokane in Washington to get her surgery done. Hers was a "custom" Lasik (wave front) done on a VISX machine.

Denver on the other hand has many, many options. It is extremely hard to come by any online reviews, etc on all the facilities that offer LASIK in Denver. So I have decided to blog my experience.

I have been investigating the LASIK procedure since 2004 - at which time we were thinking of getting it done in India. Due to scheduling issues that wasn't possible and my wife got hers done in 2005. She had a higher power correction that I have and she was extremely happy with her results. To this day - she has had no problems with her eye surgery and has 20/20 vision.

For my surgery I decided to look around and I checked with TLC, 20-20 Institute and Icon Lasik. I narrowed my search down to TLC and Icon Lasik (Tiger Woods used TLC and he still is a champion - that is good and I had seen the Icon Lasik doctor in a local news piece and he seemed impressive). The main reason I stayed away from eye clinics - is that a place that specializes in LASIK surgeries alone and does 1000s of surgeries every year - should have a ton of more experience than a doctor that does many different eye surgeries. Also many eye surgeons don't own their own equipment and instead rent it for a certain period of the year. Just in case you want to know - Colorado Eye Surgeons and Levinson Eye clinic are two eye surgeons in Denver that perform Lasik.

For my LASIK surgery tomorrow - I am going to Icon Lasik. The main reason that I did not go with TLC was that I felt like they herded people through a manufacturing line. My initial measurements weren't done right and you end up speaking to many more people than just the doctor - including a sales person - who tries to make you sign up for the surgery on the spot - telling you things like prices are going up, etc. In addition - I felt as though they were always trying to push me towards the higher priced packages - such as the bladeless LASIK - for no good reason.

At Icon Lasik - I got to speak to the main doctor - Dr. Rick Anderson - and I was able to go into the office multiple times to speak to him about my concerns. Icon has multiple LASIK machines on which they can perform your surgery. This includes the NIDEK and the VISK 4 machines. Apart from the easy accessibility to the doctor, what sold me on Icon was the fact that the doctor did not recommend that I use the most expensive procedure that they have - but what he thought was most appropriate for my situation.

After having called and visited the Icon center multiple times - I feel confident that Dr. Anderson would do a good job on my eyes. He recommended that I use the NIDEK laser, which will cost me $699 per eye.