# Bad outcomes with LASIK surgery



## Miss Vickie (May 3, 2008)

You know, I've wondered about this surgery and how safe it is. Burtimus and I have discussed it since he has terrible vision and is really tired of having to wear glasses, but for one reason or another it just hasn't happened.

Now I'm glad of it, given that I'm hearing more and more problems from it.

What are your experiences with it? Good or bad? Painful? Do you really have to wear sunglasses for six months after having it done?


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## JayInBuff (May 3, 2008)

I had LASIK done about two weeks ago. It was all laser meaning the cut and the reshaping. I had horrible vision before and wore contacts. I had a corneal ulcer from my contacts and hated wearing glasses. The procedure was a little uncomfortable but not painful at all. I had to wear dark glasses for 1 day and was able to resume normal activity. The worst part was the dry eyes that I had. For about a week I had to put drops in my eyes every 30 minutes. For the next month I have to use them every hour. So far I am very happy that I had it done. BTW, I now see 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other.


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## Zandoz (May 3, 2008)

I have not had the procedure myself, but my wife did about 13 years ago. She was happy with the decision and outcome...up until about 4 years ago, when her eyesight got bad enough again to require wearing glasses/contacts again. This is not necessarily a permanent fix. Recently she has been talking about checking to see if she can have it done a second time, so even with it not being permanent, she is still happy with the results.


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## onetrulyshy (May 3, 2008)

I had Lasik about 2 years ago and my eyesight is now perfect. I dont know what my vision was before but I can tell you I couldnt see anything at all without my glasses. I even had to use them to get up in the middle of the night just to move around. I have no side effects such as dry eyes or halo vision at night with lights. I was informed before I will need reading glasses once I get older but that is normal for most people. I was also offered and I bought the insurance (about 400.00) that if I need the procedure again I can get it done for no extra cost. My insurance even covered a small portion of the procedure since they no longer have to cover the cost of glasses every year. It one of the best things I have ever done.


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## Waxwing (May 4, 2008)

When I had my last exam I asked my optometrist about it, because I HATE not being able to see. So the moment between contacts and glasses is even a big deal for me.

She said that one of the problems is that it doesn't always correct to 20/20. So let's say you wear corrective lenses. After Lasik you may not see as well as you did with those. So what's the point?


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## JayInBuff (May 4, 2008)

Waxwing said:


> She said that one of the problems is that it doesn't always correct to 20/20. So let's say you wear corrective lenses. After Lasik you may not see as well as you did with those. So what's the point?



They are using a laser to reshape your cornea. Since it's done be computers, I think they are pretty accurate. I'm not sure what the percentages are of those who don't get 20/20 or at least close enough to not need corrective lenses. From the research I did, the biggest side effect was dry eyes. It really is an annoyance right now but hopefully it will clear up. If not, I still think it's worth it.


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## Miss Vickie (May 5, 2008)

Thanks for the posts in this thread, folks. I was wondering what side effects make it worth it, and what didn't. Seems to me like blurriness that's not correctable would be an AWFUL thing to have and I wonder why that happens. I was also wondering if it was a permanent fix or if your eyes could deteriorate. Also I was wondering if it made you more prone to things like cataracts.

I have to confess that even though I'm a nurse, anything even remotely related to eyes makes me squiffy. Fortunately, even though I have glasses, I don't have to have them on to function; I just function better with them and for that reason, plus the fact that they provide somewhat of a barrier against fluids, I wear them at work.

Burtimus, OTOH, really can't function without his 'specs. So I was wondering somewhat on his behalf, and was also trying to get a sense of how often these negative outcomes happen.


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## Frankie (May 5, 2008)

Vickie, I've read that the corneal flap created during LASIK never heals over, so there is a chance it could become dislodged (or lost entirely) at some point down the line. The fact that it never heals means there's always an increased risk of infection.

Here's an article that talks about that:

MedicineNet.com

I don't think it's worth the risks, however small they may be. 

I have zero options due to the severe corneal ulcers I had a couple of years ago: I can never wear contacts again, and I'm not a good candidate for LASIK even if I wanted it. I like my glasses, but it would be nice to have options.  

For fun times, look up clips of LASIK being performed on youtube.


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## moore2me (May 7, 2008)

Miss Vickie said:


> Thanks for the posts in this thread, folks. I was wondering what side effects make it worth it, and what didn't. Seems to me like blurriness that's not correctable would be an AWFUL thing to have and I wonder why that happens. I was also wondering if it was a permanent fix or if your eyes could deteriorate. Also I was wondering if it made you more prone to things like cataracts.
> 
> Burtimus, OTOH, really can't function without his 'specs. So I was wondering somewhat on his behalf, and was also trying to get a sense of how often these negative outcomes happen.



Miss Vickie, I have a friend who had Lasik surgery a few years back and he had really bad results from the operation. The man (I'll call him Jeff - not his real name) had extensive surgery because his eyes were so bad and he wanted to see without glasses or contacts. 

The surgery went "south" and he ended almost blind for about a year. He was extremely sensitive to light and had to wear really dark glasses. He could not drive a car and had to hire a driver. The man was a college teacher and he lost the ability to read, which could have lost him his job. He had to hire someone to read to him. He could not read restuarant menus, technical literature, road signs, it was just awful. I felt so sorry for him. The doctors finally decided to operated on his eyes again to see if they could make them better. (They said the first doctor tried to do too much and the eyes couldn't handle all the first surgery.) 

The second surgery made his eyes a little better, but his eyes have never recovered to the condition they were before he had his Lasik surgery. After spending time watching Jeff suffer like he did thru this "elective surgery" I would never have it done and I would never let my husband have it done either. 

I have seen people come thru Lasik with no problems, but Jeff's struggle and his near blindness turned me against the operation forever.


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## Miss Vickie (May 7, 2008)

Frankie said:


> For fun times, look up clips of LASIK being performed on youtube.



Oh *HELL* no! Just 'cause I'm a nurse doesn't mean I don't have my limits. Anything remotely related to the eyes is so beyond my limits as to be in another galaxy. ::shiver::



moore2me said:


> I have seen people come thru Lasik with no problems, but Jeff's struggle and his near blindness turned me against the operation forever.



Yeah, see? This is what worries me? What an awful experience.  I wonder how "informed" the informed consent really is, you know?


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## LalaCity (May 14, 2008)

I remember, about ten years ago, one of my mother's students had the procedure and one eye was botched, essentially causing her to go blind in that eye. I don't know her eventual outcome, whether she ever recovered more vision or had to live permanently with the disability, but that story caused me to completely swear off ever having lasik -- thankfully, my eyesight is not so bad that I really have had to consider it.


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## pagan22 (May 20, 2008)

Last June I had the LASIK surgery after being in glasses since I was 6 and contacts since I was 15. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I waited so long to have the surgery because I wanted to see what the long term studies had to say about it. People who had the surgery years ago were botched really bad, which is another reason why I waited so long. 

The doctor I went to has a 20/20 guarentee on your vision providing you follow the necessary appointments. I ended up with 20/15 after being nearsighted with a stupid astigmatism in my right eye. Now I just need to have eye appointments once a year or every other year. The doctor and his entire staff has had LASIK surgery, so I was impressed from the get go that they all believed in it so much. 

Sometimes I have periods of dryness, but it's mostly because I sleep with the fan on. I keep some eyedrops handy in the medicine cabinet just in case. Otherwise I've never had any problems. I'm just so happy that I don't have to pay for glasses and contacts every year. It also cut about 15 minutes off my morning routine because I didn't have to pop in my contacts. 

This is my blog entry I did the night of my surgery. After I woke up from my Valium induced nap. http://blog.onepinkpussy.info/2007/06/10/lasik-eye-surgery.aspx

Don't mind the header. I'm working on a new one that doesn't look as bad. =)


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## JayInBuff (May 20, 2008)

CG_8 said:


> Don't mind the header. I'm working on a new one that doesn't look as bad. =)



That's the best part.


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## pagan22 (May 20, 2008)

JayInBuff said:


> That's the best part.



haha =) I'm going to make it a BBW though. It's hard to find copyright free vintage pics of fat girls.


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## LillyBBBW (May 22, 2008)

A friend of mine went to get hers done in Canada and she is rediculously happy with the results. From what I recall from her description, they use a laser to basically burn off a thin thin thin layer of your eye surface, essentially reshaping the surface so that you can see. If they take off too much that's where the issues start. 

The thing is to make sure you go to a reputable place with excellent equipment that's been in business for a while and knows exactly what they're doing. They don't like to do it on young people because the results are temporary. When they're 40 their eyes will begin to go again as time often does to people and if you try to get lasix a second time it becomes more risky. If you go to a good place they'll examine Burtimus thoroughly before they do anything. They'll turn him away if they believe he is too high a risk. The chances of him being blinded are slim.

My friend says they lay her down on a table, put a numbing agent in her eye, went over the surface of both with the laser and then asked her to sit up. When she sat up she could see!! The whole thing took less than an hour, possibly a half an hour -- it's been a long time since the conversation so some of the details are murky.


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## Miss Vickie (May 23, 2008)

Good to hear some good news, Lilly. I wonder how well it works if someone has an astigmatism. Since that involves the lens, I'm not sure they can fix that.

Poor Burtimus, he's nearly blind without his glasses and has worn them full time since he was about 13. I know he'd love to be glasses free without the hassle of contacts but I don't think he's ready to take so drastic a step. And I definitely wouldn't do it while we're still up here since we're VERY limited as to who can do the procedure. You're right -- experience counts, as does equipment.


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## revolutionman (May 23, 2008)

I'll wear my glasses. i just can't imagine a situation in which shooting lasers into your eye balls is safe.


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## LillyBBBW (May 27, 2008)

Miss Vickie said:


> Good to hear some good news, Lilly. I wonder how well it works if someone has an astigmatism. Since that involves the lens, I'm not sure they can fix that.
> 
> Poor Burtimus, he's nearly blind without his glasses and has worn them full time since he was about 13. I know he'd love to be glasses free without the hassle of contacts but I don't think he's ready to take so drastic a step. And I definitely wouldn't do it while we're still up here since we're VERY limited as to who can do the procedure. You're right -- experience counts, as does equipment.



Not sure if this is true since I haven't checked myself but my friend said Lasix surgery was originated and perfected in Canada. They've been performing the procedure for years before it was approved to be performed in the states and the cost of the procedure is much cheaper there. It was less expensive for she AND her husband to drive over the border and have her procedure done paying with a credit card, they stayed in a hotel and everything. It seems she researched it to death before going forward. It was a big deal to hear she'd gone to canada because she is very ultra conservative Ra Ra Ra pro America, nothing is better than here.


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## lypeaches (May 28, 2008)

Vickie,

I went to school with the kids of the guy who started it in Canada...

Gimbel Eye Center, in Calgary, AB. If I was going to get it done, I'd go there.

Kids were a pain in the ass, but he's the top guy to go to. 

http://www.gimbeleyecentre.com/whychoosegimbel/introduction.html

Janelle


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## LillyBBBW (May 29, 2008)

missaf said:


> There are many more options than LASIK these days. I went to see my eye doctor today for my retinal exam and new glasses, and we discussed the diabetic eye, my health, and my vision. While I'm a "caution" for LASIK, he suggested LASEK, as it is better in the long run for someone of my age that can still focus to read without issues. He also suggested a collaged implant that goes in the space between the lens and the eye, offering me cutting edge vision for thirty years without worrying about lasering too much of my thin cornea, but still giving me logn lasting vision improvement. Because my visual correction needed is only 8x, that's easy. The implants help people that need up to 29x visual correction.
> 
> Hell, there's even bionic eye lenses now that focus for you, both close up and far away -- it's like your eye never got old!
> 
> There are so many more opportunities than just LASIK these days, it's important to see a professional who can explore all options with you.



I've had better than 20/20 vision my whole life. In the last 4 years or so I've needed glasses for near sightedness and the prescription changes slighty every year. I would worry that inserting a collaged implant would be obsolete long before the 30 years are up.


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## SocialbFly (May 29, 2008)

missaf said:


> There are many more options than LASIK these days. I went to see my eye doctor today for my retinal exam and new glasses, and we discussed the diabetic eye, my health, and my vision. While I'm a "caution" for LASIK, he suggested LASEK, as it is better in the long run for someone of my age that can still focus to read without issues. He also suggested a collaged implant that goes in the space between the lens and the eye, offering me cutting edge vision for thirty years without worrying about lasering too much of my thin cornea, but still giving me logn lasting vision improvement. Because my visual correction needed is only 8x, that's easy. The implants help people that need up to 29x visual correction.
> 
> Hell, there's even bionic eye lenses now that focus for you, both close up and far away -- it's like your eye never got old!
> 
> There are so many more opportunities than just LASIK these days, it's important to see a professional who can explore all options with you.




That is wayyyyy cool, thank you for sharing the info MissaF


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## Miss Vickie (May 30, 2008)

Wow, this is all interesting information. Thanks, you guys!


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## Tad (May 30, 2008)

I had a friend who had LASIK done around 8 years ago I think, and he's had zero problems and still considers it one of the best decisions he ever made. But as a nurse you know that even really risky operations have lots of people with good outcomes. I know that there are lots of people with good LASIK stories, what I don't know is how many have noticeable problems.

By the way, aside from the blurriness, I've heard some people have degraded night vision. The portion of the cornea used at night is apparently larger than used in brighter light, or something like that, so the re-shaping they do for daylight vision is not always so great for your dim-light vision, or something like that. 

And I'm another who is functionally blind without my glasses on. I mean, in the morning if I knock them off the bedside table while trying to grab them, I either have to grope around on the floor to find them, or get down on the floor and get my nose way down, because from the height of the bed there is no way that I'd ever be able to see them. (granted, I have fairly thin wire frames) I've wondered about LASIK myself, but it has certainly never made it up near the top of the priority list for things to spend our money on. Maybe if we win a small lottery or I end up with stock options paying off one day or something I'll look at it more carefully. Although by then maybe that insert MissaF was talking about will have more of a track record--one thing I like about that option is that it is entirely removable at any time. So unless they somehow mess up the incision when inserting it, it you have trouble you can go back to pretty much how you were, from what little I've heard about it.


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## JayInBuff (May 30, 2008)

edx said:


> I've wondered about LASIK myself, but it has certainly never made it up near the top of the priority list for things to spend our money on. Maybe if we win a small lottery or I end up with stock options paying off one day or something I'll look at it more carefully.



I agree that it is expensive. Mine was about $3,500 for both eyes. Luckily for me I get money for declining my health insurance and am under my wife's insurance. The money can be used for unreimbursable medical expenses and can be saved year after year. If it wasn't "free" I don't know if I could have afforded it. It's like going out to dinner, it's so much better when it's free.


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