Lasik in Spokane, Wa
Greg's News
sat on the fence, not sure if I was ready to take the plunge or not.
However, after reading up on the latest technology, talking with co-workers
who have had the procedure and reading up on the web, I finally decided to
pull the trigger. I looked at a couple of places in Spokane Wa, and decided
on Restore Vision. I read the doctors history and background, and selected
Dr. Walker to do my procedure.
I decided since this was something I could not undo, I opted to spend a lot
more and get the gold standard procedure, combining iLasik, which uses a
laser instead of a blade to create the flap, and Wave Front for the actual
corneal reformation.
I went to Spokane on Wed night 10/14/09 with Marie. We stayed in a hotel
over night, and the next morning I went in for my Lasik. It was a pretty
weird experience.....
I met with my doctor, Dr. Walker. He did a final examination of my eyes, and
explained step by step what was going to happen, what I was going to see and
hear. Then he gave me a Valium to calm my nerves and some drops to dilate my
pupils and I waited for about 15 minutes for the pill to kick in. Then they
brought me into the O.R.
After getting me set on the table, they placed some numbing drops in my eyes
and told me to close them. A few minutes later after they positioned some
equipment around my head, Dr Walker told me to open my left eye. Immediately
I was looking into two rings of very bright lights. The Dr Walker told me to
focus in the middle of the smaller ring of lights.
Then he put a pressure ring over my eye. He told me it was to create a
slight vacuum to help keep my eye from moving. As they did this, everything
went dark. I couldn't see anything. The doctor told me ahead of time this
was going to happen, so I was not too worried. Then they placed this other
ring on my eye to keep my lids open so I could not blink. Finally they
started to cut the first flap.
I was getting a newer technology called iLasik, which uses a laser rather
then a blade to make the cut. The laser creates millions of microscopic
bubbles under the cornea which then peels apart to create a flap. The hinge
it at the top of the eye and the flap is pulled up towards the top of my
eye. While the flap was being made I could see a ring in the middle of the
darkness that reminded me of a pupil, and what appeared to be some red dots
in the center. I guessed that was the laser beam creating the bubble that
created the flap. Of course it could have also been my imagination.
When the flap was done, I could feel the table being swung around and
positioned under the Wave front laser. Again the doctor was telling me
everything that was happening. He told me the laser was going to work for 15
seconds to mold my cornea to the proper prescription. I heard a popping
noise, which was the laser working and after 15 seconds it stopped. The
doctor told me that eye was done, and he was going to be replacing the flap.
He removed the suction cup and within a second or so, my vision, though
totally blurred, returned. I could see him squirting saline on my eye as he
flipped the flap down in place, and gently brushed it to remove and
wrinkles.
Then it was time for the other eye. The procedure was exactly the same,
except this time the laser took 17 seconds to do it's work. Finally I was
done. Aside from some slight pressure at times, there was no pain at all. I
stood up and everything was really blurry, which the doctor told me was
completely normal at this point. He sat me down in front of a machine to
double check the flaps and make sure they were correctly smoothed down.
Then they took me to a dark room to rest for a few minutes. The doctor told
me in about 30 minutes, when the numbing drops wore off, my eyes were going
to be very angry with me. He told me they would be slight less angry if I
kept them closed. He told me they were going to be very sore and feel dry
and scratchy. He said this would last for 3-6 hrs. He suggested I take a nap
as soon as I got back to the room.
They have me a bottle of an anti-inflammatory and a bottle of antibiotics
eye drops, as well as a box of single use artificial tears. He told me to
put one drop of each medication in each eye every 4 hrs and use the tears as
often as needed but at least once an hour or so. As soon as we got back to
the hotel, Marie had to drive because I could still not see anything really
clear, I popped 3 Tylenol PM and was able to crash for about 3 hrs. I felt a
little bit of discomfort on the way back, but nothing too bad. The doctor
told me not to watch TV or do any computer work for the rest of the first
day. He said when people watch TV or work on a computer, they do not blink
as often as they should, and he wanted me to keep my eyes well hydrated.
When I woke up from my nap, I was surprised as all hell. My first reaction
was to reach for my glasses on the bedside table, and of course they were
not there. But Marie was watching TV and when I looked across the room at
it, it was CRYSTAL CLEAR! It was as if I had my glasses on, only a little
better.It was so freaken weird......
She was watching a baseball game. Not only could I see the game clear as a
bell, but I could read the little box they place in the corner of the
screen, telling you the score and current stats of the batter at the plate.
Before Lasik. I would have been lucky to be able to see the box, never mind
being able to read what was in it. We went to the hotel restaurant that
night for dinner. There was a TV on the wall on the other side of the room,
and I could clearly see everything that was happening. There was no pain, no
discomfort, nothing. Since yesterday, I have been using the medicine drops
every 4 hours and putting the artificial tears in every hour or so.
Today we went to the movies and I enjoyed being able to see the screen
without having to move my glasses round to find the right "sweet" spot to
see the movie best. Before Lasik, my uncorrected prescription was 20/70.
That means I could see from 20 feet away what a person with normal vision
could see from 70 feet. Today, I had to go back for my 1 day post operative
checkup. The "prescription" is now 20/25 and the doctor expects that to
improve to 20/20 in the near future. I actually read the 20/20 line, but
missed one letter, calling it a V when it was actually a Y. But I had no
trouble at all reading the 20/25 line. He explained my vision was still in
flux and it would take about 6 weeks for it to stabilize.
There are 2 problem areas. One is with halos around lights. It is a halo
like ring I see around lights, headlights, etc at night. The doctor said
that was normal and would go away in the next 6 weeks as the flap heals. The
other, is the loss of my near vision. Before, if I wanted to read a
newspaper I could take my gasses off and hold the paper closer to my face
and read it with no problems. I can no longer do that. The closer to my face
I hold the paper, the more blurry it gets. I have to wear reading glasses to
deal with any writing closer than the length of my arm. But I knew that
going in and it's an adjustment I will have to make.
But so far, I'm pleased with the results and outcome. I have a follow up
post operative appointment next week and will have another one in a month
than 6 months. I'll keep you posted as things progress.
Glenn - USAEyes.org
> like ring I see around lights, headlights, etc at night. The doctor said
> that was normal and would go away in the next 6 weeks as the flap heals.
Halos around light sources is a known issue during the immediate Lasik
recovery period. Although you may have experienced no pain and had
swift vision recovery, you did just have microsurgery on your eyes.
Some healing is required. You may want to read our article about
Lasik and halos at:
http://www.usaeyes.org/lasik/faq/lasik-pupil-size.htm
>The
> other, is the loss of my near vision. Before, if I wanted to read a
> newspaper I could take my gasses off and hold the paper closer to my face
> and read it with no problems. I can no longer do that. The closer to my face
> I hold the paper, the more blurry it gets. I have to wear reading glasses to
> deal with any writing closer than the length of my arm. But I knew that
> going in and it's an adjustment I will have to make.
It is important for patients at or past age 40 to understand the
effect removing myopia (nearsighted, shortsighted) vision will have on
dealing with presbyopia. A discussion regarding undercorrection and
monovision would be appropriate. See our articles on sudden need for
reading glasses after Lasik and monovision.
http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/sudden_presbyopia.htm
http://www.usaeyes.org/lasik/faq/lasik-monovision.htm
Glenn Hagele
Volunteer Executive Director
Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance
USAEyes