LASIK - just got it done this morning...WOO HOO! (how it went for those that asked)
 

I can say without a doubt that was one of the creepiest feeling I have ever felt happening to my body

So, I lay down on the "laser lable" and they put those clockwork orange clamps on my eyes and drop all kinds of numbing drop in......then they place this metal device that looks to be something like a minature kitchen meat slicer over my eye. They say "suction on" and it sucks my eye up and I hear this "zzzzzzzz" and I go blind for about 8 seconds while the wierdest feeling I have ever felt happens...almost like your eye being pulled out of it's socket and sliced at the same time

they pull that minature kitchen slicer off and he wets my eye again, and takes little tweezers and pulls the outer layer of my eye and pulls it back, exposing the under part of my eye, this is when I go from being able to see normally without my glasses to completely blind...well, I can see, but everyting is a total blur, worse than when I take my glasses off

he then says "stare at the red light" and this loud ass clicking sound happens, which is the laser

then he comes back and pulls that flap of my eye back to where it belongs, makes sures there are no bubbles in it and pulls the clamps off, and I am done

then he does the exact same to my second eye and I am done...he gives me a presciption for a bottle of valium and sends me on my way

I get my valium, take 3 5mg of them on the way home, and pass out when I get home

I just woke up and I have near 20/20 vision, which they say will be 20/25 vision by tomorrow morning...better than perfect vision

right now everything has barely a haze around it, but I can see perfect....and for those that knew what my vision was before this, this is a huge thing.....my contact prescription was -5.50 and -6.00...which is basically legally blind

anyone thinking of doing this...DO IT...OMFG it is worth it

the best part, I paid an extra $300 per eye to have lifetime enhancements, so basically, if my vision ever starts getting worse or I need a enhancement on either eye, they do it as part of my plan....no charge

anyway, for those asking, that is how it was

Amazing what they can do now..I hear nothing but positives from people who have it done

From what I understand they have new procedures that do not involve cutting the eye at all and recovery times are instantaneous, so no valium. How long will it take to recover with yours? Do you have to wear those big black glasses to avoid sun lol.

They say by tomorrow morning the stinging that I have will be gone and I will have perfect vision...I have to use drops for a week and wear sunglasses and wet my eyes for the next 3 months

they do have the procedure without the cutting, and they had that machine there, but I was not elegible for that, I think that is for people with less sever eye trouble than I have

the coolest thing was that everything I described above took approx 3 minutes total...I was in that operating room for a total of 10 minutes

Nice, I've thought about having this done, but lasers + my eyes just still doesn't seem appealing.

How much did it run ya if you don't mind the question... oh and did insurance cover any of it?

It was $3195, and that includes any enhancements that I will ever need for life...so, if later if I am 40 and my eyes start declining I just go in again and they fix em up for me, no charge again

I also got a killer 18 month no interest, no down payment plan from them

from the time I told my wife I wanted done it took me 5 months to finally muster up the courage to get in there and make the appointment

when they laid me down on the table to start I was shaking so bad...LOL...i don't care how brave you are or how much of man ytou think you are, the thought of someone about to slice your eye open is just NOT an appealing thought

When you said it felt like it was "tearing your eyeball out of the socket" was the pain really severe? Can you pls rate it 1-10

Ans pls rate 1-10 the pain of the stinging.

I'm super sensitive and basically EVERYTHING hurts to me, getting an IV in my arm and getting blood drawn is already painful to me, I wonder what the pain threshold is for Lasik.

Freaky, but cool. I plan to check into it eventually; my eyes aren't that bad now but I can't see little details like stars very well.

Wow. I've been really thinking hard about getting Lasik but it scares me shitless. My eyesight is -6.50 in one eye and -7.00 in the other. Did they let someone come back there with you to hold your hand?

Pain=0

uncomfortable=5

there was NO pain whatsoever....they put SO many numbing drops in my eye that the only thing I felt was pressure, not one bit of pain

they would have if I asked, but they gave me two little stress balls to squeeze, which didn't really do much except keep me from hurting my hands from squeezing them too much...haha

it was more uncomfortable than anything, they actually had to tell me to quit squirming at one point....

oh, and the stinging I felt was on the ride home, and it was basically when air hit my eyes.....I had to aim the AC away from my face, and when I was walking in to the drug store to get my valium walking through the AC building stung a little

ever had too much chlorine in your eyes from a swimming pool? that is EXACTLY as bad as it got

I'm sensitive, I don't think I like the feeling of chlorine hitting my eyes.

I have bad eyesight too I'm -2.50. I wear those new contacts that you can wear straight for a whole month without taking them out once, so it's almost the same as Lasik but not quite. Ugh, I'm too much of a pussy for Lasik, I don't want to feel any pressure or discomfort in my eye. Mabey if the would sedate me or put me under...

I saw the procedure actually on Newlyweds when Jessica Simpson had it done. It looked really bad.

The procedure is a fucking nigthmare...

The worse is it didn't went well in my case.... :(

Glad to know all is well with you tho

-2.50 isn't really that bad bro....mine are twice that...most of the people in there were like -6.00 and higher

and they don't sedate for it, they can't....you have to be alert for it...they wouldn't even give me a sedative before hand because when you are on sedatives your eyes are prone to sudden shaking and movements

The numbing drops are definitely a trip. I get them all the time when I get my lazers done. But its a totally different type of lazer much more painful.
When I got my actual eye surgeries they had to stitch the top layer back on. Now that was a trip to know that i had stitces in my eyeballs

Why didn't your Lasik go well?

bump, im sorry to hear it but curious as well

on the one hand, i'd love to have great vision without glasses.

on the other hand, the idea of someone slicing my eyes makes me FAR more than just nervous.

on the other OTHER hand, my ex father in law had another kind of eye surgery. the doctor used the wrong material on the stitches which caused a lot of problems like separation, infection and worse vision. this went on for two YEARS with eyedrops of 3 different kinds being instilled several times per day and a virtual inability to read.

it was after watching him go through all this from a mistake anyone could make that i decided glasses weren't so bad ;)

Gonna do mine in the Philippines for $650 per eye!

thats crazy awesome

"tearing your eyeball out of the socket"

Where do I sign?

That involve complete removal? :1orglaugh

Can you please explain what happend ? and what went wrong, i'm still weighing up weather to get this done myself.

Matt

You mentioned a procedure without cutting. By cutting, do you mean the removal of the lens?

What is the latest is best techonology these days for eye correction? I want to eventually get this done myself, but i don't want my lens removed. You would think they would have figure out a way by now to do laser correction without having to remove the lens from your eye. Then again, maybe there's no way around it...I have no idea.

I just want to walk in, get some eye drops, look at a laser, get zapped, and walk out....LOL.... (ie, no clockwork orange clamps, no peeling off my lens, etc etc)

.....science fiction still??

Lasik rules, it totally changed my life

http://www.braillenovelts.com/images/giphone.gif

i even got a dog after it

mine is 20/15 now the doc told me that my surgery was one of the most successful he's done. this was 4 years ago +.

just wait till like a year from now man. go to gnc and pick up a thing of vitamin e caps. take em for like the next 3 months. its like polishing the surgery. it will make your eyes heal better and you wont see any spots. you will see some blurriness and spots for the next 3 months or so intermittently, its normal and goes away after about that period. i can't believe how good my eyes are now, i can literally spot the back of an earring across the room on the carpet. its nuts.

They NEVER remove the lens in LASIK. The laser basically removes a tiny portion of the tissue on the lens, basically changing the focus so the image on your retina is sharp. The only procedure where they actually remove the lens is in cataract surgery where the lens is clouded and they replace it with a synthetic (plastic) one.

However... I agree with Basschick... personally, even though I know there are few, rare complications, I can't imagine allowing someone to cut into my healthy eyes, just too big a risk of something going wrong.

Nice!!!

And I hear ya on the creepy part.

I had PRK, which was the pre-lasik procedure. (Much more painful)

Nothing like the smell of burning eyeball as your lids are pried open.

And lifetime enhancements is a nice piece of security!

My husband is just as happy that he did it. Now his site beats mine and he can see things and find things that I don't!

I thought it was expensive here, but now it makes more sense that there were more Americans getting the procedure done at the clinic here than there were Canadians.

no no no....they never remove the lens in lasik

the cutting is where they slice a very small flap into the front of your eye, peel it back and shoot the laser down in there

Gotta love technology :) congrats on your surgery :)

glad it went well , I would rather wear glasses personally lol

i got mine done a few years back and loving it

Lets test those new eyes of yours :)
http://shawnfrench.homeip.net:8080/_...s/Eye_Test.jpg

bump for Rui

Wow, I would like to have it done myself. However, I would opt for the no cutting of the eye if I qualify, which I probably would as your description of it just freaked me right out! And congrats!