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 Midget Lover
     
Location: Kentucky | Tatum2 - 2014-12-19 1:17 PM Did anyone have pain during the actual procedure? You are awake for it correct? How do they go about it
No pain whatsoever during the procedure. You are awake for it. They gave me a valium beforehand to relax me, and I'm sure they numbed my eyes with drops. You don't feel anything. |
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 I Sell Dreams
Posts: 1654
Location: Freestone TX | I was just about legally blind and had it done. I ended up 20/40. Still a huge improvement. That was 14 years ago. It did blow away my closeup vision, and they warned me ahead of time that could happen. I switched from using glasses for far away vision to glasses for close up vision. I considered it a reasonable tradeoff.
My eyes deteriorated to 20/60 so last year I went for a touchup. They can't do another lasik after that much time (or so I was told) so did the PRK instead. It didn't work. All that money and absolutely no improvement at all. |
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Veteran
Posts: 197
| I had mine done about 6 years ago. Although mine was given to me as a gift, it was still the best $$$$ ever spent on me. I woke up after post surgery 'nap' at home and could read the clock. It had been 20+ years since I could read the clock beside my bed!
I had no pain. Took the valium to relax me and I was good to go.
I have not had a single issue since my surgery.
I had mine done with 6 teacher friends (they did all the dr research) and they all used their health care savings plan and had the surgery during Christmas break. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Tatum2 - 2014-12-19 8:49 AM
I've been debating on getting lasik as well because no matter what contacts I am in they give me an awful headache and feel like my eyes are working harder than they should (right Rx since my glasses don't bother me) I hate wearing glasses but now I have to. This just started with my eyes when I wear contacts a few months ago. I used to live in contacts now I can't even stand wearing them for a day
That's exactly what happens to me except I'm the opposite. Contacts are good, glasses are painful. |
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Veteran
Posts: 227
Location: Heart of Texas | I just did my eyes about a month ago. LOVE IT! Went to TLC. Great doctors. I had Lasik. I had astigmatism and my contacts were -1.5/-1.75. So horrible vision. You have to wear glasses for about 6 weeks prior to surgery so they can get an exact measurement on your eye. That part sucked. But they gave me a Valium. Didn't do much. The surgery was a little un-nerving. But you can't see or feel anything. You're eyes are totally numbed. I could see immediatly after the surgery, it was a little fuzzy but I could see. I went home, slept and then I could see perfect! It was beautiful! They gave me antibiotic eye drops and anti-inflammatory eye drops. You do that for about a week then you're good to go. I still put eye drops to keep them moist but it's amazing. Best money ever spent. NO PAIN! They warn about dry eye and irritation but I swear I had none of that. Oh and you can't wear makeup, workout, or ride for a week. Well no eye makeup. And you can't rub, scratch, blah blah your eye. Go get a few consultations but soooo worth it and easy. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 338
Location: Michigan | I couldn't see far away, but have good close up vision. I had PRK in one eye so I can see far away with that eye and close up with the other. PRK is cheaper than Lasik as it uses only one laser instead of 2. My cost about $1550. PRK is not an instance fix and I knew that from the consultation. It'll take up to 6 months before I have "perfect" vision again. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Best $1500 I ever spent. I can see things far away (like the 3rd barrel) again. My brain is still adjusting to using one eye for close up and one eye for far away vision.
Before I had the PRK, I used contacts as a trial version of extreme monovision. That's where one eye is corrected for distance and one is corrected for near. I couldn't stand the extreme correction of the near hence I didn't get my near eye corrected. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 685
Location: Arkansas | So glad someone posted about this!! I've been wanting to get LASIK done for a long time. I'm -5.00/-5.50 and have worn glasses/ contacts since the 3rd grade. Isn't there a certain age you have to be before they'll do the surgery? I'm 22 but would love to have this done in the next few years!!
Also, did it not freak y'all out during the procedure when you couldn't see?? I feel like it would really freak me out! |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | I have a buddy up in Idaho that went up to Canada to have it done. This was about 2002. He is/was a professional pool player and had been wearing pop-bottle glasses for years. We all had a bit of fun for almost two weeks after he got back because he had to adjust to his new eyes. Some of us could actually beat him one in five games.. until he figured out how to see again... then it went back to the same old thing... lucky to win one out of twenty.. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Thanks for all your responses! I'm really encouraged to go and get a consultation at some point. |
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 Ace Ventura Pet Detective
Posts: 2411
Location: Wisconsin | I had it done over 15 yrs ago. Still remember the day i decided. I was at the NBHA show in Georgia and it was colder outside..I ran in with glasses and they immediately steamed up!! I seriously couldnt see my way to the first barrel, thank god for my automatic horse. Anyway my first time i had it done (in canada as it was cheaper) i only got the 20/40 vision also, but was better than needing glasses to go to the bathroom in the dark!! I had it done again by an excellent Eye Dr. He did however have to slice my eye by hand, as you develop scar tissue after you have it and they cant do it with the machine twice. Now at 56 i need the cheaters most of the time. I would do it again in a minute!! and Im a chicken with any procedure!! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | I had mine done 10 years ago and it was by far the best money I had ever spent. I was -3.75 with astigmatism on both eyes and couldn't see a thing without glasses or contacts. I went in and had it done and am SO HAPPY I did it.
It cost me $4500 CAD (I'm Canadian) and it qualified for a tax rebate so I got most of it back which was nice. The only thing I had was that my eyes were really light sensitive for a couple weeks. They were before but it was amplified afterwards so I just wore sunglasses. The other thing was that the entire day of my surgery it felt like I had very tired eyes so I just put my drops in the fridge and that helped a lot.
It wasn't painful there is minor discomfort but its short lived. You are awake for the procedure but the whole thing from start to finish is about an hour. That's from when they first freeze your eyes with drops till you leave. The actual eye procedure is about a minute long each eye the rest is just the prep and wait time.
If you have it done you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner. |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Brrelhorse - 2014-12-19 3:05 PM I couldn't see far away, but have good close up vision. I had PRK in one eye so I can see far away with that eye and close up with the other. PRK is cheaper than Lasik as it uses only one laser instead of 2. My cost about $1550. PRK is not an instance fix and I knew that from the consultation. It'll take up to 6 months before I have "perfect" vision again. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Best $1500 I ever spent. I can see things far away (like the 3rd barrel) again. My brain is still adjusting to using one eye for close up and one eye for far away vision. Before I had the PRK, I used contacts as a trial version of extreme monovision. That's where one eye is corrected for distance and one is corrected for near. I couldn't stand the extreme correction of the near hence I didn't get my near eye corrected.
No offense.....but that's seriously weird. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why anyone would do this... |
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Member
Posts: 42
Location: SE Oklahoma | Best money I've ever spent. It's been 6 years but my vision has changed with my last pregnancy so I have to go back in for a touch up. Mine was quite scary, your eyes are held open, you can see fine, then all of a sudden you can't see anything. That's teally scary. But after a minute when it was done I could see again. I went home, went to sleep, woke up with perfect vision. Only side effect is my eyes are more sensitive to sunlight now, so I always have to wear sunglasses |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 777
Location: South Texas | Had it done 14 years ago. Greatest thing ever!! No pain, and I could see within an hour!  |
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 Ms. Elvis
Posts: 9606
Location: Running barrels or watching nascar | Had it done going on 5 years ago. Best thing I ever did for myself. I did have an astigmatism and lived on contacts, which I had to give up wearing prior to the procedure. My eyes do get dry now and I keep eye drops everywhere but I think it's worth it! |
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 Hot Dispatcher
Posts: 10185
Location: Utah | I had mine done in January 2010 and it was the best money I have ever spent on myself. If you were told you could not have the surgery years ago I would go back and get a second opinion now. My husband is a surgical tech that does eye surgery and they have come a long way with what they can do. I had no pain, just make sure you keep up on all of the eye drops they give you afterword it can help have a better outcome. |
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Ms. Elvis
Posts: 9606
Location: Running barrels or watching nascar | mervyn11 - 2014-12-19 11:04 AM
I had mine done about 6 years ago. Although mine was given to me as a gift, it was still the best $$$$ ever spent on me. I woke up after post surgery 'nap' at home and could read the clock. It had been 20+ years since I could read the clock beside my bed!
I had no pain. Took the valium to relax me and I was good to go.
I have not had a single issue since my surgery.
I had mine done with 6 teacher friends (they did all the dr research) and they all used their health care savings plan and had the surgery during Christmas break.
I woke up in the hotel room the morning after my procedure and I was amazed that I could finally read the bottom crawl on the TV! I had no pain during the surgery but my eyes are sensitive anyway so I was a bit 'tricky' to deal w/ during the whole thing. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 316
| puglady - 2014-12-22 7:19 PM
Best money I've ever spent. It's been 6 years but my vision has changed with my last pregnancy so I have to go back in for a touch up. Mine was quite scary, your eyes are held open, you can see fine, then all of a sudden you can't see anything. That's teally scary. But after a minute when it was done I could see again. I went home, went to sleep, woke up with perfect vision. Only side effect is my eyes are more sensitive to sunlight now, so I always have to wear sunglasses
My goodness that sounds terrifying! That is was I am scared of the most as I panic about anything and I have a weird phobia of not being able to see. Having anxiety I don't know if this would be too much for me to handle or not. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | OP: Have you talked to your eye doctor? That's the first step. You'll need an evaluation for LASIK to make sure you are a good candidate. Your prescription should have been stable for the last couple years. You don't want to do LASIK if your prescription changes from year-to-year. Also make sure you have a good back-up pair of glasses to wear because (depending on what type of contact you wear) you will need to NOT wear your contacts for at least 2 weeks before the evaluation and before the surgery. You don't want the contact creating an artificial curve in your cornea.
Nothing wrong with wanting LASIK but do realize there are options for glasses out there, in terms of digital customization lenses. We can get a lot more exact with prescriptions and measurements than we used to with "regular" basic lenses. Sometimes trying a better lens will take care of the headaches and discomfort.
I myself had LASIK about 9 years ago when I was 20. Best decision ever! So nice not to fight the dust and dirt when working with the horses, and so nice to see across the room. I was close to a -6.00 when I had mine done. My only "side effect" is some dryness and some glare at night time, but I am happy to deal with it. Right after the surgery, I had a mild "headache" feeling in my eyes but that's about it. Felt perfect the next day and I could see 20/20. It was amazing.
Cost is going to vary on the surgeon. A good rough estimate would probably be in the $4,000 range, which should include your pre-operative appointment (evaluation) and all your post-operative care.
As far as pain goes, it is going to depend on which exact procedure you have. If you have the "normal" LASIK, the pain should be very minimal to non-existant. If you have PRK .... well I've had the ladies tell me it was equivelant to childbirth. The way they remove your cornea is the same between LASIK and PRK, but the different is how they make the flap to get to it. In LASIK, the flap is created with the laser (used to be done with a blade. No one uses the blade anymore) but in PRK they literally burn off the epithelium of your cornea and then apply a bandage contact lens while your cornea re-grows over the next week. Sounds horrible and that's what makes it painful, but there are actually a few less complications with PRK than the regular LASIK and a few advantages to doing it. Your surgeon will make the call on which one is the best option for you. Recovery time is longer with PRK, but the visual end result is the same.
Murphy: You probably had PRK done. (Hence the pain)
HammerTime: Sometimes PRK is a better way to go for the individual's cornea and their prescription. There isn't any solid in the literature yet, but there are some possible complications you can get with a flap that are eliminated when you don't need to make a flap. Plus, you arn't cutting corneal nerves in PRK whereas in flap LASIK you are.
During the actual procedure, you are often given a "relaxor" of some sort (lot of the docs use Valium) and your eye is numbed, numbed, numbed. You don't feel any pain, but you can feel the pressure of the speculum that holds your eyelids open and prevents you from blinking during the procedure.
Typically, most surgeons are going to want you to be at least 21 before doing the surgery, but it will vary by the surgeon and it will vary on your individual record. One of the surgeons we work with did his own daughter's surgery when she was only 18. Of course, he knew her RX top-to-bottom and knew she was stable and "safe" to do it so young.
Barrelracengirl: I would think you would be okay at age 22, provided your RX hasn't changed.
For those who are having dryness with contact lenses ... talk to your eye doctor. We have so many options now with daily disposable contacts that we can usually find a comfortable fit for anyone.
If you are over 40 (or when you get to 40), LASIK will NOT correct your near vision. It is a separate process that happens and if you have LASIK done, you will need reading glasses in order to read (over age 40). The only exception to this is if you have monovision correction done with the LASIK where one eye is corrected for distance and one eye is corrected for near. We always try this in a contact first to make sure you brain is going to handle it. 50/50 it does and 50/50 it doesn't. Just have to try.
Total side note --> You are NOT legally blind if your vision is correctable (with glasses or contacts or LASIK) to better than 20/200. You are only considered legally blind if your vision cannot be corrected. Just a little pet peeve of mine when people say "I'm legally blind without my glasses!" (Because that's not the definition.)
As far as the Tiger Woods comment by longlyvabarrecer, his eyes were around -11.00 when he had the procedure done. Thankfully, he had a good outcome. With what we know now, no doctor today would touch a -11.00. Way beyond the comfortable limit for a good outcome even with wavefront LASIK (and any surgeon that tells you they can do it ... I'd walk away). Not sayin' Tiger Wood's doc is a bad doc, but technology is always changing and advancing. We used to think RK surgery was a good idea, for goodness sake! (Basically just random butchering of the cornea.....)
Anyway, a public forum is great to hear experiences from other people, but your best bet is to chat with your eye doctor. 
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | r_beau - 2014-12-23 5:11 PM
OP: Have you talked to your eye doctor? That's the first step. You'll need an evaluation for LASIK to make sure you are a good candidate. Your prescription should have been stable for the last couple years. You don't want to do LASIK if your prescription changes from year-to-year. Also make sure you have a good back-up pair of glasses to wear because (depending on what type of contact you wear) you will need to NOT wear your contacts for at least 2 weeks before the evaluation and before the surgery. You don't want the contact creating an artificial curve in your cornea.
Nothing wrong with wanting LASIK but do realize there are options for glasses out there, in terms of digital customization lenses. We can get a lot more exact with prescriptions and measurements than we used to with "regular" basic lenses. Sometimes trying a better lens will take care of the headaches and discomfort.
I myself had LASIK about 9 years ago when I was 20. Best decision ever! So nice not to fight the dust and dirt when working with the horses, and so nice to see across the room. I was close to a -6.00 when I had mine done. My only "side effect" is some dryness and some glare at night time, but I am happy to deal with it. Right after the surgery, I had a mild "headache" feeling in my eyes but that's about it. Felt perfect the next day and I could see 20/20. It was amazing.
Cost is going to vary on the surgeon. A good rough estimate would probably be in the $4,000 range, which should include your pre-operative appointment (evaluation) and all your post-operative care.
As far as pain goes, it is going to depend on which exact procedure you have. If you have the "normal" LASIK, the pain should be very minimal to non-existant. If you have PRK .... well I've had the ladies tell me it was equivelant to childbirth. The way they remove your cornea is the same between LASIK and PRK, but the different is how they make the flap to get to it. In LASIK, the flap is created with the laser (used to be done with a blade. No one uses the blade anymore) but in PRK they literally burn off the epithelium of your cornea and then apply a bandage contact lens while your cornea re-grows over the next week. Sounds horrible and that's what makes it painful, but there are actually a few less complications with PRK than the regular LASIK and a few advantages to doing it. Your surgeon will make the call on which one is the best option for you. Recovery time is longer with PRK, but the visual end result is the same.
Murphy: You probably had PRK done. (Hence the pain)
HammerTime: Sometimes PRK is a better way to go for the individual's cornea and their prescription. There isn't any solid in the literature yet, but there are some possible complications you can get with a flap that are eliminated when you don't need to make a flap. Plus, you arn't cutting corneal nerves in PRK whereas in flap LASIK you are.
During the actual procedure, you are often given a "relaxor" of some sort (lot of the docs use Valium) and your eye is numbed, numbed, numbed. You don't feel any pain, but you can feel the pressure of the speculum that holds your eyelids open and prevents you from blinking during the procedure.
Typically, most surgeons are going to want you to be at least 21 before doing the surgery, but it will vary by the surgeon and it will vary on your individual record. One of the surgeons we work with did his own daughter's surgery when she was only 18. Of course, he knew her RX top-to-bottom and knew she was stable and "safe" to do it so young.
Barrelracengirl: I would think you would be okay at age 22, provided your RX hasn't changed.
For those who are having dryness with contact lenses ... talk to your eye doctor. We have so many options now with daily disposable contacts that we can usually find a comfortable fit for anyone.
If you are over 40 (or when you get to 40), LASIK will NOT correct your near vision. It is a separate process that happens and if you have LASIK done, you will need reading glasses in order to read (over age 40). The only exception to this is if you have monovision correction done with the LASIK where one eye is corrected for distance and one eye is corrected for near. We always try this in a contact first to make sure you brain is going to handle it. 50/50 it does and 50/50 it doesn't. Just have to try.
Total side note --> You are NOT legally blind if your vision is correctable (with glasses or contacts or LASIK) to better than 20/200. You are only considered legally blind if your vision cannot be corrected. Just a little pet peeve of mine when people say "I'm legally blind without my glasses!" (Because that's not the definition.)
As far as the Tiger Woods comment by longlyvabarrecer, his eyes were around -11.00 when he had the procedure done. Thankfully, he had a good outcome. With what we know now, no doctor today would touch a -11.00. Way beyond the comfortable limit for a good outcome even with wavefront LASIK (and any surgeon that tells you they can do it ... I'd walk away). Not sayin' Tiger Wood's doc is a bad doc, but technology is always changing and advancing. We used to think RK surgery was a good idea, for goodness sake! (Basically just random butchering of the cornea.....)
Anyway, a public forum is great to hear experiences from other people, but your best bet is to chat with your eye doctor.
Wow lots of info! But yeah, about the glasses. Every pair of glasses, every prescription, every eye doctor it's the same. My eyes feel tired /stained constantly. Also just the feeling of having something on my face drives me nuts. I have a small face and glasses just don't get along with it. |
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