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Bladeless Lasik One Week Later


Gary1911A1

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I had no blade lasik done about a year ago. It was scary for the first month or more because I was so light sensitive. Now I'm fine and my eye's work great. I have a little dryness sometimes but no more than I had before. It was definitely worth it but I was seriously questioning my decision for the first month or two. I'm glad I took the leap. I didn't go to one of these fly by night places. I paid extra to get a well educated doctor affiliated with a dedicated eye hospital. I also ride a motorcycle so it's paying off in all my hobbies. In the end I think I made the right choice.

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Thinking the path I should go is mono-vision with dominate eye set to handgun front sight and the other for distance. My shooting glasses are set up that way and it worked till my prescription changed.

Hank - you might consider getting your prescription updated first, and try functioning through your day (driving, working, etc) with that prescription on. If you don't get disoriented or anything, monovision is an option - but if it causes you to get headaches, or dizziness or anything, you might want to avoid it. Some folks brains just can't get wrapped around monovision for extended periods of time.... a lot of folks have no issues... FWIW :)

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Thinking the path I should go is mono-vision with dominate eye set to handgun front sight and the other for distance. My shooting glasses are set up that way and it worked till my prescription changed.

Hank - you might consider getting your prescription updated first, and try functioning through your day (driving, working, etc) with that prescription on. If you don't get disoriented or anything, monovision is an option - but if it causes you to get headaches, or dizziness or anything, you might want to avoid it. Some folks brains just can't get wrapped around monovision for extended periods of time.... a lot of folks have no issues... FWIW :)

Regarding monovision. I too have struggled with less than ideal eyes. I'm predominantly far sighted although now I need glasses for far and close! Getting time for bifocals maybe.

I use +3.00 for my left eye (dominant) and +3.50 for my right eye. This helped my far vision very well but I need more for good vision for up close. When I tried using a contact in my left eye to correct the close vision at the Dr's office it was just horrible (can't remember strength). Didn't feel good at all.

Now I recently tried using +3.50 in both eyes. It takes a little to get used to but it certainly is better for shooting. Right eye is good for long distance and left eye is much better for seeing the sight. I may set up an appointment with the Dr to experiement more with this monovision stuff.

Bottom line: I wouldn't get monovision Lasik until you are 100% sure it will work for you!!

Edited by lugnut
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Thanks for the replies. It's helping me make an informed decision. Keep them coming.

If I recall correctly my uncorrected vision is 20/200 right and 20/300 on the left. With progressive trifocals and a bit of work we can get it down to 20/20 or 20/25.

Got the name of a doc in town that comes highly recommended. Xre could you PM me with contact info for Dr. Dell and the other doc in Austin.

The cost thing isn't an issue. Figure in the cost of progressive trifocal glasses, shooting glasses, contacts for skydiving, and mask with lens bonded in for scuba diving and I'm looking at well over a grand just to change prescriptions. I'm prepared to spend whatever it costs.

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You guys are so lucky to have this option. I am a +6.00 in both eyes with an astigmatism (spelling) in my left eye. My eye doctor says that is a little too high to have the Lasic procedure done. I tried contact lenses for awhile but frankly I could not see as well through them as I could me regular glasses. I may try contacts again as I'm told there have been some advances in recent years.

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PatD: Talk to your doc again. It's too high to correct you to the point where glasses aren't necessary but they can correct your vision significantly. I believe +/- 3.0 is the outer limit for complete correction (or was last time I checked a couple years ago). I'm in a similar boat. Would still need glasses but the correction would get me back to about where I was in my early 20's. In other words, functional without glasses just not reading fine print comfortably. That in and of itself would make it worth it to me.

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I had my blade-less lasik done one year ago this week, I am currently 20/15 in both eyes. I was the first person to "try" the blade-less flap-maker so I was fortunate enough to get that part of my surgery for free :) I tell everyone that is considering lasik to stop considering and just do it! it is the greatest deal and the best money I have EVER spent.

Isaac

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Looks like a couple of road trips to Austin may be in my future.

Gave Frank Garcia a call. He gave me the short story of his eyesight, what the end result he wanted, and why he went to Dr. Dell after 5 other docs wouldn't touch him. Gave doc Dell a glowing recommendation. We also quickly discussed mono-vision vs. distance correction. Frank went with distance correction and he can see handgun sights as well as the targets. Reading glasses are a given. Frank, thank you for taking the time to talk to me in the middle of the Florida Open. {I'm such a dork.}

The limit for astigmatism correction is +- 3.0. But what if you had say a -5.0 of astigmatism? If you're over 3.0 most of the docs won't touch you. But what if you do one surgery to correct it to -2.0 then come back later and correct the last -2.0. One doc can do that and he's in Austin.

PatD. Give Frank Garcia a call. Better yet if someone could talk to Frank and post it here it'd save him a bunch of time repeating the same story and answers.

Ever wonder what that scratching on your eye prescription means? Here's an answer.

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Hank, if you pull the trigger on it, and need some help getting around Austin, feel free to shoot me a note ;)

Had my 1 month today. Right eye is between 20/15 and 20/10 - can't quite make out everything on the 20/10 line. The left eye is 20/25 with a mild astigmatism. This is probably due to some warpage in the cornea from surgery that hasn't quite settled out, yet. We'll be checking it again in two months (at the 3 month point). This may very well be something that self corrects with some patience. The doc also gave me a different eye drop to use at night, as the left eye has been super dry when I wake up (which could be contributing to the issue). We'll see where its at in another couple of months ;)

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Hank, if you pull the trigger on it, and need some help getting around Austin, feel free to shoot me a note ;)
Will do. The wife won't mind at all helping me get around. Might even stay an extra day to check out the music scene. Been kinda on our list of things to do.

So how many followup visits are required and at what time intervals? Wanting to give work a heads up.

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So how many followup visits are required and at what time intervals? Wanting to give work a heads up.

The schedule I'm on is 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year. It may be possible for you to arrange for Dell to do the 1 day, and then have an optometrist in your area do the others, assuming you have no issues. You may be able to get a local guy to do all the pre-screening work and all that, too. Best to find that stuff out from the surgeon, though - I'm sure he had something worked out for Frank that way, too...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've loaded and made ready.

Made the screening and eye exam appointment for March 30 with Dr. Dell in Austin. Fly in Sunday night and take a late flight home Monday. Wife will drive me around.

If the screening goes as it should it will be one more trip to Austin for the surgery. Except for the 1 day followup the rest of the followups can be done locally. Just got to find someone here. Doc Dell may have someone in his Rolodex.

Wish me luck.

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Wish me luck.

Good luck ;)

Update from my end - using a thicker eye drop at night has helped a lot in terms of keeping my left eye a little more hydrated. This has helped the left eye see quite a bit better! So, things seem to be improving... I'm looking forward to seeing what happens over the next couple of weeks...

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Ok, I'm happy that so many of you are expressing your success stories and I know the procedure is a proven one (with the right doctor, of course).

But the giant elephant in the room that no one has even acknowledged is: What does the whole operation feel and look like? Is it painful? Is there a blinding light from the laser? Is there that nasty burning flesh smell?

Those of us riding the fence on this issue are doing so mostly from that perspective (or cost). Cost has been addresses here. What about the ELEPHANT?

-Chet

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Ok, I'm happy that so many of you are expressing your success stories and I know the procedure is a proven one (with the right doctor, of course).

But the giant elephant in the room that no one has even acknowledged is: What does the whole operation feel and look like? Is it painful? Is there a blinding light from the laser? Is there that nasty burning flesh smell?

Those of us riding the fence on this issue are doing so mostly from that perspective (or cost). Cost has been addresses here. What about the ELEPHANT?

-Chet

hey chet,

i haven't chimed in yet, but since you ask. i had prk, wich is bladeless lasiks, i think. what they do is put some deaden drops in your eye. then the doctor put the little device in to hold you eyelids open. then he takes a swab and rubs your eye with it. it looks as if someone is washing a window. this is where he take the epithelial layer off of your eye. then the laser kicks in for 20-30 seconds. you may sell some tissue burning smell, not unlike the drilling a dentist does, but not much. then he puts a bandaid contact on for about 3 days.

the procedure in really not that bad. the pain comes later that day. the pain last about 2 1/2 days. you can't work. you can't see the computer etc. you are useless. the only thing i really could do was sit in the recliner and listen to tv with a wet towel over my eyes. of course healing comes quick over the 2-3 days. but after that, katie bar the door. i really could see without glasses or contacts

as everyone says, "i should have had it done years ago"

i'm 50 years old and need the readers, but the distant vision is great. i had to wear glasses since i was seven years old.

good luck,

lynn

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Great info.

What are your ages. I am approaching 58, I am not too sure if I am too old for it or not. Any advice would be appreciated.

37

But the giant elephant in the room that no one has even acknowledged is: What does the whole operation feel and look like? Is it painful? Is there a blinding light from the laser? Is there that nasty burning flesh smell?

Those of us riding the fence on this issue are doing so mostly from that perspective (or cost). Cost has been addresses here. What about the ELEPHANT?

The elephant is big, grey, and wrinkly! :lol:

My experience w/ "bladeless" (ie, IntraLASIK) LASIK was like this.... I was at the office for right at 2 hours. Most of that time was waiting around. They tell you to show up early, and I think they pad the schedule a bit, as well, cause most show up late. Anyhow, no biggie - bring something to read. They handed me a kit when I came in containing most of the meds (all but the antibiotic, which I'd gotten via prescription from my eye doc before the surgery). It also had the eye shields, a copy of the after care instructions, some wetting drops, a pair of surgical booties and a surgical cap. I was told to put those on, and then got to sit around with them on the whole time ;)

At some point, they took my wife and I back to a waiting room. My normal eye doctor joined us shortly after that, and we chatted while awaiting the surgeon. He came in for a brief visit - namely to revisit the case, offer time for questions, etc. They handed me a Valium and a naproxen to take, which I did. We sat around for half an hour to let the drugs get into my system. In the meantime, an assistant came in w/ the betadine to clean up around my eyes. Luckily, Beth did not take pictures of that action ;) Then into the surgical booth.

I was in the booth for maybe 10 minutes at most. You can do some easy research on how the procedures work, so I'll cover my experience. They start with a set of drops - not exactly sure what all of them were, but one set is the anesthetic (stings). They wait a moment for those to take effect. Then they set about creating the flap. In Intralase, they align a ring on the eye that guides the laser that makes the flap, and then hold it in place via suction. For some people, that can be slightly uncomfortable, and you may lose vision in that eye while the suction is on. The opposite eye has a guard taped over it, so you can basically see nothing at that point, if you do lose vision temporarily. No worries. My vision got a little darker, but no big deal. I couldn't see anything about what was going on - it was all too close for me to focus on at all. They tell you to look at a red dot and keep your eye on it while they align the ring. Pretty easy, there.

The laser that makes the flap actually presses the cornea flat - they guide it down over the ring, and it presses down onto your eye. That's a little uncomfortable - about like closing your eye, placing the heel of your palm on it, and pressing pretty firmly. It takes around 30 seconds. You have to fight the urge to close your eye - the more tension on your eye muscles, the less precise the flap. Its not likely to be a problem, but you want to try to relax and deal. This was probably the worst part of the whole thing - uncomfortable, yes. I'd go do it again if I needed to - it wasn't that bad. You mainly feel pressure, no real pain, per se. As an idea of how firmly its pressing down, though, I had brusing on the whites of my eye for about a month after the surgery, which is a normal side effect. It hides under your eyelids, so in general, people don't notice it.

IIRC, they follow up with a couple of drops, and then move the eye guard, and do the other eye. Rinse, repeat.

Move the guard back to the first eye. Now the actual correction takes place. Because of my prescription, which was mild-ish (-2.00 diopters in both), the surgeon opted to do normal LASIK, not "custom" or "wave front guided" LASIK - if anything, they like to err on the side of undercorrection for myopia (easier to correct later by a large margin), and he felt that I'd quite possibly be overcorrected in a wave front guided surgery. He's the boss in that regard, I'm just along for the ride.

The steps that happen next are very blurry. Following flap creation, my vision was pretty blurry. The surgeon was "above" me (ie, toward the top of my head). He had me look up at him, and added a couple more drops (more anesthetic, I believe). Then he placed the eye speculum (hold open the eye), and taped my eyelashes back, and then proceeded to mark and then lift the flap. Things get super frickin' blurry - can't see anything of what's happening at all. I was aware of him moving instruments around, but couldn't feel anything in my eye. Some irrigation with saline occurred in here, too. They have you look at that same red dot target (which is now huge and fuzzy) and keep your eye on it for the surgery. You hear a snapping sort of sound and smell something similar to hair burning. You have to keep your eye on that target - which is tough, cause the Valium is starting to kick and the damn thing is so blurry, you start to just lose track. The actual length of time the laser is on depends on several factors - less than a minute. The hard part of this was keeping track of the dot, and resisting blinking. There's a lot of stuff in your eye, and your eye wants to blink. You have to fight that blink reflex. The he irrigates some more while he closes and smooths the flap, and adds some more drops, untapes the eyelashes and removes the speculum. Blink a few times, then close the eye, and he moves the guard over. Repeat on the other eye, same deal.

After that, he had my eye doc come in. The doc and my wife watched the whole thing from outside - her view was a lot creepier than mine ;) My doc added a few more drops - the surgeon was gone at this point, going to talk to the next patient. They got me up and moving - had to be a tad careful, at this point, cause they don't want you falling into the laser equipment ;) Then it was into an exam room so the doc could make sure the flaps were still laying where they should and everything was cool. Then we walked out and hit the road.

Eyes closed for the rest of the day, as much as humanly possible.

Part way home, my eyes started stinging pretty good. I'd relate it to getting grit under a contact in terms of discomfort. Nothing I'd go out of my way to do, but not the worst I've experienced. Got into the house, put the eye shields on, and crashed for an hour or so. When I woke up, my eyes didn't hurt anymore. Followed the after care religiously - a lot of drops every 2 hours for the first day. The rest of the day sucked - because I'm not the type that can sleep all day, so I had to sit around, awake, with my eyes closed. A book on tape helps a bunch - TV with no eye sight sucks ass ;)

Went to sleep, woke up the next day feeling good, and could see. Vision lacked contrast (a little foggy looking) but was decent. Went to my 1 day appt w/ the eye doc - everything checked out. Then I went and got the corrective lens restriction removed from my drivers license ;)

Had some dry eyes stuff upon waking - we seem to have gotten that corrected. My left eye has been a little inconsistent, but is getting a lot better following a switch to a different lubricating drop for night time use. I'm now seeing better than 20/15 in the right eye, and somewhere around 20/25 - possibly better now - in the left. It'll be interesting to see where I'm at during my next visit.

3 months is apparently the point where things should have totally stabilized. At this point, I'm pretty confident I'd recommend the heck out of the process, though I'm reserving final judgement for another month and a half or so ;) On the "good left eye" days, I see razor sharp - better than with contacts by far, and seemingly better than with glasses. On the bad left eye days (which are less "bad" than they were a couple weeks ago), my right eye is still super sharp, but the left eye is maybe the same as with contacts, maybe a tad worse.

That's where I'm at right now ;) I can update you in a month and a half - the 3 month point - and see where I'm at.

Just do it :lol:

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That was pretty much my experience too XRe. I'm at about a month now and see my doctor again on March 16th. I hope my left eye 20/30 has improved some and my right 20/15 gets even a little better.

FWIW - my experience so far is to give it three months... At the one month point, my left eye was still a little disappointing. At 1.5 months, now, its starting to change a lot for the better ;) We'll see what another month and a half does....

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Felt like pins and needles sticking me in the eye while my eyes watered and burned from the smoke of burning flesh and smell!!! :devil:

Actually very simple quick painless process.

My wife and i did ours 2 years ago, Jan 07. Eye sight has been perfect since day 1.

Best money we have ever spent.

I was 39 at the time and she was/is younger than me.

Edited by dstroyed
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Felt like pins and needles sticking me in the eye while my eyes watered and burned from the smoke of burning flesh and smell!!! :devil:

Ok, well, that sealed the deal for me. :unsure:

-Chet

Nice :lol::roflol:

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