Has anyone had Lasik eye surgery?

I had LASIK in May of last year - I'm overjoyed at the results. Quite simply one of the best decisions I ever made.

Make sure you have a trustworthy, experienced, reputable doctor. My sister-in-law had it done, and went to a doctor that was a little less expensive. She had both eyes done, and messed up one of them. She now has blurred vision in one eye, and I don't think it's correctable.

Just my 2 cents.

Had it done in 2001 and I love it I have had glasses since I was 5 I was 20 when I had it done. Just make sure you know about the doctor and his rep.

:glasses: I did have it done about 6 years ago, but my cornea's were too thin so I couldn't do regular lasik - I had to do an older procedure (PRK) where they scrape the surface instead of cutting a flap before they do the laser surgery, and with that they will only do one eye at a time. Doing that procedure was kind of a pain (took over a month per eye to heal, and somewhat painful the first few days and extremely light sensitive for several weeks)- but I would still do it again in a heartbeat. I would definitely do both eyes at the same time if that would have been an option for me. For the first year I had some dryness that bothered me mostly at night, but other than that I haven't had any problems, and it is fantastic to see the alarm clock in the morning and read my shampoo bottle, etc. etc.
Now that I'm getting older (45) - I am starting to need cheaters to read close up - but that is nothing compared to having to wear contacts or glasses all the time.
My brother was able to do regular lasik and he was out golfing within a few hours after the surgery - so for him it was a breeze.

My hubby had both his eyes done (at the same time) by LASIK. When he went he opted for the procedure called Zyoptic (or something like that) it was slightly more expensive but had better stats as far as halo's go.

My brother had it done years ago (he was in his 20s at the time) and loves it. He wore Coke bottles since 1st grade, and now has 20/20. He LOVES that he had it done. Recovery was not too bad either.

My DH also had Coke bottle glasses for years, picture Mr. Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys. He said that the entire procedure was quick and painless. He walked into the room blind as a bat, and as soon as they were done he said he could read the clock on the wall opposite him!!

He did end up with a slight infection in one eye, and had have 'touched up'. The one eye still isn't perfect, alone, but together his eyesight is amazing. He said even if he had to go through all the complications (which I think they said the odds of it even happening is 1 in 10,000) he would absolutely do it over again!

As for only doing one eye at a time... I don't know if I'd recommend it. I'm sure lots of people have done it that way, but I think it would be easier to go through the recovery all at once instead of multiple times. DH wasn't allowed to drive at all for 2 days, then no night driving for a week (I think); then for about the next week he wore sunglasses while at work (but he also had direct sunlight where he worked, so he wasn't able to give them a break). These days alls-well. He hasn't had any problems really, other than the one eye not being 100% (he is thinking about going back in and having it touched up again - and yes that's covered). He certainly doesn't regret his decision at all!

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Hi. I had it done about a year ago. It was the best thing I have ever done for myself! Such an amazing difference! No more contacts or solutions, etc.
Just make sure you also ask how they calibrate their laser. The surgeon I went to had his own office and their machine NEVER moves. He said that those places that are very cheap and offer lasik that they bring the laser machine in are very bad because they could get bumped and jarred around--causing the calibration to be off!!!!

Great decision....just make sure you trust your MD!

I had Lasik in January and I LOVE it! My husband also had his done last Sep and he had the same awesome results that I did. Now we both see 20/15, I've never had vision this great in my life.

The procedure itself is pretty quick, about 15 mins and you are done, it almost takes longer to wait for the numbing drops to work than the procedure takes itself. The only thing that I felt was pressure on my eye, which is uncomfortable and weird feeling, but tolerable. My husband said that his procedure was painful (we both had ours done at the same place), however he is not very sensitive to numbing medications, and usually requires more of it and it wears faster than most people.

The eye flap heals in about 6 hours, so it is a relatively fast healing time for a surgery. For the first hour my eyes were numb and I went home and went to sleep (which is what they suggest you do). I then woke up about 3 hours post surgery and had a lot of pain in my left eye, and a little in my right, however I took a couple tylenol and a benedryl and fell back asleep relatively quickly and when I woke up the pain was gone. My husband had more pain with his (his numbing drops wore off completely before he even got home), but they said that the procedure is often more painful for men and that it is normal for the eye that they do last to hurt more than the first.

I was able to drive myself to my follow-up appt the next day and even went to work that day. Your vision is good right away but somewhat blurry peripherally for about a week. My night vision was bad the first couple weeks, I tried not to drive at all those first couple weeks because all lights are huge and very bright and blur together if there is a lot of traffic or if you are in the city. After 2 weeks, this slowly starts to improve and driving at night is tolerable, now that I am 2 months out I can say that my night driving is just getting back to normal, so it does take a little while.

Another couple things to consider, you can't swim or do water activities for 3 months and the sun is extremely bright for several months. We went on a vacation to Central American 4 months after my husband had his done and the sun was very bright for him, he couldn't even open his eyes without sunglasses on, especially reflecting off the ocean, however he was able to do all kinds of water activities without any problems and was able to see great under water.
I work in an area with no natural light, only flourescent lighting and relatively low ceilings, and this bothered me for about a month. The lighting made things kind of blurry and hard to focus on, and it gave me a headache for awhile. I also had mine done at a bad time of year because the air is so dry in jan, feb and march (I live in the midwest) and there is a lot of dry air in my workplace, so I had problem with dryness until about a month ago.

With all this said, I would go back and have it done again in a heartbeat, because being able to see great all the time is totally worth it. I'm 3 months out now, and not having trouble with anything anymore, well worth the wait.

Good luck with your decision, willing to answer any more questions!
Melissa

Mine was the intralase, all laser procdure, the most up-to-date procedure out there. As many said before, pick a reputable MD, don't go cheap.