LASIK: My Experience With LASIK Eye Surgery

I’ve been meaning to write about my experience with LASIK eye surgery.  Here goes.

I was about eight when I first realized there was something wrong with my vision.  The problem was discovered during a vision test at school.  I was near-sighted, meaning I could only see things near to me.  Thus began the glasses-wearing era (pictures locked in a safe in a top secret location).  Every year we’d return to the ophthalmologist or a new pair of frames and progressively stronger lenses.  My vision was pretty bad, so I needed my glasses to function—not just to read.

My parents allowed me to switch to contacts when I was fourteen.  I used extended wear contacts, meaning I could sleep in them and only had to take them out every so often.  I absolutely loved the new freedom of life without glasses. 

My vision kept getting weaker as I got older.  I was not legally blind or anything, but I couldn’t see without glasses.  The prescription strength on my contacts was about minus six or so.  To give you a 20/20 idea, I think this means I could see at 20 feet what others could see on the surface of the moon.

My vision did stabilize, but I encountered another problem.  My extended wear contacts were starving my eyes of oxygen.  This means veins were beginning to encroach on the surface of my cornea to compensate.  My doctor told me I had to stop wearing extended wear immediately.  If veins grew onto my cornea, it could permanently damage my vision (think about it—a vein stretches across your cornea this burst—not good).

So, beginning around age twenty, I had to switch to daily wear lenses.  Better than glasses, but I didn’t like taking my lenses out every night.  It was a royal pain.

I heard about refractive surgery a few years after graduating college.  I looked into it, but there was a problem.  I wasn’t a good candidate for radial keratotomy (RK) because my vision was too weak.  But some new techniques were being used, so I decided to wait a year or two to see what medical technology would come up with. 

I learned about LASIK a year or two later.  I was referred to Dr. Michelson (who now has his own practice called Michelson Laser Vision).  I learned that LASIK could correct my vision—in fact, it could correct vision problems even more severe than mine.  I was also a good candidate because my vision had been stable for a few years.

Then came the worst part: having to wear glasses again.  Contacts, you see, slightly alter the shape of your cornea.  In order to get proper measurements, one must wear glasses for three days.  I endured wearing my thick spectacles, which made my eyes look like tiny beads. 

Dr. Michelson consulted with me, got the needed measurements, and we scheduled surgery.

We first did my left eye.  They started by putting a few drops of anesthesia in my eye, and I lay down on the operating table a few minutes later.  They placed some type of rubber sheet on my face, which forced my eye open.  Next they used some type of apparatus to open it even wider.  I could not feel any pain, but it was creepy to see all of this stuff being done to my eye.  But I was sick of corrective lenses, and I knew I could endure twenty or thirty minutes of this in exchange for a lifetime of vision. 

Another device made the small slice of cornea.  The “flap” was pulled back, and they started zapping me with the laser—still no pain.  The “flap” was eventually put back in place, and they waited for it to re-set.

The whole thing was over in less than thirty minutes. 

They put a clear plastic covering over my eye after it was all over.  I was also given some painkillers to help with the post-surgical discomfort.  It really wasn’t that bad—kind of felt like I just swam in a pool with too much chlorine.  Another very small price to pay for a lifetime of vision. 

I came back to the office the day after the surgery.  I was already seeing 20/40, and I was seeing 20/15 after a few weeks. 

I got the right eye done once I was comfortable with the progress of the left eye.  Everything went just as smoothly.  My right eye healed a little more quickly, but my left eye is a little bit stronger (I’m guessing my right eye is 20/20 or 20/25). 

I would have been satisfied with less improvement than I received.  I would have been OK with needing glasses to read or drive.  But I ended up with perfect vision.  

It's been over ten years since I've had LASIK done.  I have zero regrets--it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me.