My Experience With Lasik

Friday followup

2005-11-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

Hurrah: much clearer vision today after they took the right contact lens out! In fact, early tests show better than 20/20 vision!

Here are the details.

Ater a day of work yesterday, not much change: much clearer vision in my left eye, pretty consistently blurry vision in my right. If I needed to see something on the screen or on the whiteboard clearly, I'd just use my left eye. I told my coworkers that I was just adjusting to my post-LASIK vision, not giving them the evil eye. They joked that I'd make a good pirate. Arrrrr.

Being in a familiar environment where I needed to see medium-distance objects (like projector images and whiteboard scrawling) in detail, I could tell my left eye was much better. I could see whiteboards from across the room.

I was hopeful that the right eye blurriness was mostly due to the lens being in there, though I did have moments of doubt: why would a clear lens cause so much blurriness?

Happily, my paranoia was unwarranted. Dr. Lee took off the lens today using a pair of what he called jeweler's forceps -- though I'm sure they're of the medical variety, as they came shrink wrapped in the plastic you see other surgical gear wrapped in. He took a close look under the bright lights and declared the eye much better than the day after the surgery.

And I felt it too: as soon as the lens came off, I could see more clearly, so, um, clearly, the lens itself was causing some blurriness. :-) Dr. Lee said that was expected.

He didn't do a detailed one-eye-at-a-time check, but he did show me the parade of successively shrinking rows of letters, and based on that cursory check, I'm seeing slightly bette than 20/20. We'll see what the exact measurements are when I go for my follow-up next week. Assuming the right eye continues on its rapid healing, I'll be able to start doing my followups with Darren in Foster City again. Hurrah.

Day After

2005-11-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

On the drive up to the clinic, I could tell that my left eye was seeing much more clearly compared to before the procedure. My right eye was still more blurry.

Once at the clinic, they popped off both contact lens "band-aids" following a few obligatory eye drops (numbing, I think).Dr. Lee confirmed that my right eye was still pretty irritated following the procedure, and after a brief consultation with Dr. Faktorovich, popped the contact lens back in and told me to come back in a day.

Throughout the day, the left eye steadily improved while my right eye stayed about the same. I wasn't sure if it was because I had the lens in or it was just taking a longer time to heal. Probably both.

Month 11 Update: Follow Up Procedure

2005-11-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I went in for my follow up procedure on Tuesday. Compared to my first treatment in January, this follow up was much quicker and less uncomfortable -- though it did involve the same number (I actually lost count) of prepatory eye drops: numbing drops, antibiotic drops, anti-inflammatory drops, pupil-dilating drops, anti-allergy drops, and even more. As I said, I lost count.

The big difference this time was that they didn't need to use the Intralase machine to create a corneal flap because I already had one (well, technically two -- one for each eye). I must say it's slightly unnerving that 11 months after my first procedure, the flap is still "loose" enough to repeat the surgery. Normal, but unnerving all the same.

I arrived at around 9:30 am for my appointment and was out the door by 11 am.

The first hour involved prep work: sterilizing the area around my eyes, getting the aforementioned eye drops, and taking a Valium.

I don't remember getting one last time.
I'm not sure it had much of a difference for me me given that I'm generally a low-anxiety, high faith kind of personality.

The system makes a pretty loud turbine-like whine when it's "warming up" -- not sure whether I found that reassuring or disconcerting. :-)
This time, they didn't make a map of my eye using the wavefront device. All they needed was the standard eye chart and the gizmo optometrists use to check your prescription.
The actual procedure took probably 5 minutes, most of which was consumed by the doctor getting you into position, mounting some kind of contraption to keep your eye steady, and lifting your corneal flap. Of course, she had to do this twice.
The excimer laser that reshapes the cornea was on for less than 1 minute for each eye.
The laser system (manufactured by Alcon) actually talks, mostly I think for the benefit of the patient. You can imagine the chatter as a last-minute failsafe. Among other things, it announces:

Your name
A series of numbers which I'm guessing correspond to the correction it's about to do
It has a lock on whatever part of the eye it recognizes ("acquired")
How much time left in the procedure ("17 seconds remaining").

The system has a single blinking red light that you're supposed to focus on throughout the procedure.

It was wild watching the light (1) move and (2) go in and out of focus as Dr. Faktorovich lifted up the corenal flap.
I'm guessing the light helps you keep your eye steady, though the doctor also uses some gizmo to keep your eye from moving around -- and has your head in a headlock during the time the laser is actually firing.
The blinking red light is surrounded by 6-8 very bright (halogen?) bulbs which presumably help the doctor see what's going on. Despite the fact that you're flat on your back during the procedure, it makes you feel a little like you're onstage. The afterimages I saw because of the light's intensity varied in color: purple, orange, red, black. Fascinating.

After the reshaping laser had finished its business, Dr. Faktorovich carefully applied two contact lens-like objects onto my eyeballs.

She didn't do this the first time.
Because this is the second time they're lifting the flap, it apparently causes the eye some irritation.
The lenses help the eye heal.
"Kind of like little Band-Aids for your eyes," they explained.

After the procedure, the attendants walked me into a dark room to rest, eyes closed, for a few minutes. They gave me a set of post-operation instructions and a few more eye drops (of course).

Recovery time -- that is, the time to non-blurry, mostly in focus vision was much speedier this time. It's only been three days, and I'm just about seeing normally with the exception of a few lapses in focus.

I could see things coming into focus in my left eye, even by late afternoon after the procedure. I could tell the left eye (which didn't have much of a correction to do) was seeing much more clearly than the right eye.

More later...

Follow Up: Later In The Day

2005-11-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Compared to my first procedure on January 5, recovery is much faster. I remember having hazy vision and dramatic halos for a few weeks after the first procedure.

This time, I still have hazy vision, especially in my right eye (which underwent a slightly larger correction than my left). But the halos are less dramatic. Also, I could actually see better at the hours went on. By late in the afternoon, I had moments of pretty clear vision in my left eye and could definitely notice that it was sharper than before the procedure.

Lunch following the procedure was interesting, because I ate it with my eyes closed. Fedora was kind enough to put everything right in front of me, and I managed to eat my fried rice and vegetables without peeking. The staff told me I could open my eyes for brief moments with no danger, but I figured I'd play the dutiful patient. Smells and tastes are definitely different when you can't see your food: there's more of an element of surprise because you're not sure what's in your spoon with each bite.

Funny moment: after lunch, I wandered into our pantry looking for a snack. I knew we had an open bag of potato chips, so I grabbed what I thought was the bag, removed the bag clip, and dug in. Turned out I got some cheese puffs that I didn't know we had.

After lunch, I slept until about 4 pm and started in on the every-two-hour regimen of drops: antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and lubricating.

When I first woke up, my vision was definitely hazy. I was so out of it I didn't remember that I was still wearing both the eye shields and the sunglasses they slapped on me on the way out of the clinic. Vision much improved after the sunglasses and eye shields came off. :-)

Month 9 Update

2005-10-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

It’s been about 6 months since my last update. I’ve been visiting the office monthly so they can check to see if my vision is stable enough for the follow-up procedure. Well, after 6 visits, they’ve finally declared me ready, and I’m all scheduled to go the second week in November. Hopefully this means I’m 4-6 weeks away from 20/20 vision!

I continue to read and use the computer just fine. I’m probably 20/30 in my left eye and 20/40 in my right eye. Interestingly, the left eye just kept on improving over the last 6 months, with both the nearsightedness and the astigmatism steadily improving. The right eye seems about the same. When I want to focus in on far away details, I close my right eye.

Aside from not being 20/20, my chief complaint is still seeing halos around bright lights. As I reported earlier, it’s the worst at night around bright point light sources like street lights, night lights, even the LED from my clock radio. They mostly like startbursts these days. I’m hoping the follow up procedure will reduce this. Both the clinic and Darren say that astigmatism can explain at least part of the phenomena.

Brad has expressed some interest in getting the surgery. But a lot of people are still on the sidelines. Overall, I’m happy with the results to date, and I’ll have more to report in a month or so. I guess there is still the worry about the downsides. I wonder how many personal injury lawsuits have been filed by overanxious lawyers for failed LASIK surgery patients? (And I wonder how sensitive Google AdSense is to words in text? Will I have to saw "personal injury lawyer" more than once to trigger a relevant ad?)

Month 3 Update

2005-04-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

Doh, I had just finished my description of what happened at my 3 month follow-up with Pacific Vision Institute when Blogspot crashed, throwing off 500 errors. It looks like it's back up now.

Anyway, my son Colin came with me for my 3-month followup appointment on Friday. It was absolutely pouring, so he loved it.

The checkup itself was very brief -- probably about 10 minutes. A new doctor's assistant ran me through the normal eye chart exam. My right eye is still noticeably worse than my left eye at resolving detail. I guess I'm still seeing around 20/35 or 20/40 depending on the eye. I don't notice the difference between my eyes much in normal activity.

Dr. Faktorovich dropped by to take a quick look. First, she clucked at what a "big correction" I had. She repeated some of the eye chart exams and took a look at the eyeballs through one of those scopes with a bright, thin beam of light.

She concluded that I would benefit from a follow up procedure sometime over the next 3 months. The second procedure, she said, is much easier than the first -- less pressure on the eyeballs, and much faster recovery time. That's good news.

I mentioned something Darren had said to me, which is that it's harder to correct for astigmatism compared to near-sightedness. She said that most of astigmatism is gone, and yes, it would be easy to correct for the mild near-sightedness. If accurate (and I'm not sure how it could have been given the brief exam), that would be a change from last month.

They'll check me monthly until my vision stabilizes, then it's back to the zapper. I'm going to try and have the checkups done with Darren so I don't have to drive all the way up to the city this time. On a bad day (like last Friday), it can take 45-50 minutes.

Week 5 Update

2005-02-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

I had my 1-month followup appointment last Saturday. Darren says my corneas as healing nicely. I'm still seeing roughly 20/35 or 20/40 depending on the eye -- the right eye is noticeably worse than my left, which corresponds to my everyday observation too.

This mostly translates into needing to be closer to the screen or whiteboard at work. I have a hard time making out the smaller fonts on PowerPoint presentations or product demos.

I'll consider getting glasses to hold me over until they do the followup procedure, but it's probably about 2 months away -- so might not be worth the hassle.

I did learn that some of the halos I'm (still) seeing are a result of some astigamatism that the surgery has yet to take care of. Darren showed me a light spot both with and without a lens correcting for astigmastism -- and the "without" light had a noticeable halo surrounding it.

Darren moved into a new space one building east from where he was. It's a much more pleasant, well lit space, so I'm sure he and his partner will be happy there. When I went this weekend, they were just installing their custom cabinetry. Darren examined me in a makeshift exam room one room down from where they'll actually be when everything gets set up.

Week 3 Update

2005-01-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

I got answers from Darren (my optometrist) as well as the Dr. Lee at the PVI about the strange blurring effect I described earlier. Dr. Lee said that he experienced the same thing as well, interestingly. He speculated that it might have to do with my eye muscles pulling on the eye and changing the focus.

And here's what Darren said:

Hi Frank,

I spoke to Dr. F yesterday and also spoke to another
refractive surgeon the night before. They both had a
very similar answer, basically, "I don't know what
that could be, I've never heard of that happening."
Dr. F reassured me that this is not reason for
concern.

-D

The blurring doesn't really impair my everyday vision -- it's not like I go around with one eye closed witn my neck a-swivelin' very often. So I'm not going to worry about it.

Things haven't changed very much since my last update: still basically seeing like a slightly near-sighted person, which I expect will get resolved with my follow-up procedure 2 months or so from now.

I still keep on reaching for my glasses because my body is so used to adjusting my lenses. Very amusing.

Week 2 1/2 Update

2005-01-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

It's been two weeks and 3 days since the surgery. My recovery continues without complications. My vision is basically like a very slightly nearsighted person, with some difficulty with night-time vision because of the halos. It's definitely gotten easier to read and my ability to focus on close objects (say, <3 feet) has improved. In fact, there are times when I think my near-distance vision has been as clear as I can remember it, even with glasses.

I noticed an interesting phenomenon, more with my right eye than with my left. If I'm looking at a stop sign or watching TV, if I swivel my head left and right, I'll notice the thing I am looking at change focus -- as if one were adjusting an old-style camera lens. I'm going to ask Darren tomorrow whether this is just part of the normal recovery process.

Top 10 reasons it's great not to have glasses

2005-01-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

I don't have to worry that I'm going to knock my glasses off when putting on sweatshirts.
I can see the kids when they're in the jacuzzi with me.
It's harder to sneak up on me, all sneaky like.
When bending down to pick something off the floor, I don't worry about my glasses falling off.
No more "steam blindness" when opening the dishwasher or working with extremely hot water.
Folks have said I look younger -- more like Colin, even -- which at my age is starting to sound good. Especially after years of people saying that I look older than my real age.
I don't have to clean my glasses or worry about scratching off all those fancy coatings they put on them these days.
I can shop at the Sunglass Hut.
I can play with the kids without worrying they're going to mangle my glasses.
If I wake up in the middle of the night, I don't have to fumble around to find my glasses. Ah, the freedom!

Weekly checkup: some good news, and some less good news

2005-01-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

Overall, I feel that my vision has gotten better over the last two days. While my distance vision hasn't improved much, I'm finding it easier to read (mostly meaning I find it easier to focus on the text), halos are less noticeable and my vision at night seems better. I think the halos and hight vision are related: because there are so many light sources at night, halos are especially troublesome.

I also met with my optomestrist today for my 1-week post-procedure appointment (it was actually day 10). Darren had some good news and not-so-good news.

The good news: my healing continues to go well, and he noted that my eyes are not-too-dried-out. This is consistent with my subjective experience. I can get through the day with just 1 or 2 applications of the lubricating eye drops (Refresh Plus by Allergan, and available at the Costco pharmacy without prescription). In general, I found wearing contacts a more eye-drying experience than this surgery.

The not-go-good-news: it seems nearly certain I'll need the followup procedure to correct a mild nearsightedness. Darren thinks I'm seeing 20/25 or 20/30 rather than 20/20 -- which is certainly what it feels like. This is equivalent to a -1 diopter of nearsightedness. We'll probably do it in 3 months or so.

They will perform the followup procedure (which they call a "touchup") after my vision has stabilized, but before the flap has re-adhered. Darren said that the nearsightedness will likely not get better as my eyes heal, but there' s a chance it will get slightly worse. Even if it does, he believes it will be easy to correct in my followup procedure.

Given I was a -10 to begin with, this is not too surprising. And actually, I'm glad to know my blurriness is just nearsightedness and not a result of surgery.

Some people get glasses while they are waiting for the touch up, but my nearsightedness is mild enough that I'm just going to wait.

Week 1, Day 1: Halos and Blurriness

2005-01-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

I noticed today that my eyes are definitely focusing differently: I can see more clearer at greater distances out of my left eye compared to my right eye. This discrepancy is at least partly to blame for the overall blurriness I'm experiencing -- apparently part of the normal healing process.

Some Q&A on Blurriness
Here are some questions from my friend Patty:

Q: Is it the same blurriness as when you tried contacts?

Actually, my experience with contacts didn't include blurriness. I experienced more of the dryness of eye, sharp shooting pains when I didn't get them in right, and general sense of incompetence because I couldn't get them in consistently. When I finally did get the things onto my eyeballs, the resulting vision was quite clear.

Q: Is it slightly annoying? very annoying? tolerable?

It is annoying when I'm trying to see something at medium distance (like a whiteboard from 15 feet) or looking for a street sign because I can't focus. When I'm reading or working on the computer, it's tolerable because things blur mostly after 10 feet or so.

The Types of Haloes

I also think the halos are less noticeable than they used to be. I've developed my own little classification system for the different types of haloes I see.

Snowballs. I see these soft, round balls of light around street lamps and headlights, especially in the fog (which we have gotten a lot of recently).
Starbursts. These are like snowballs, except I also see distinct lines of lights radiating from the center of the light source -- kind of like when the Millenium Falcom jumps to lightspeed.
Glowing. I see less distinct glowing across more diffuse light sources -- like a window with venetian blinds drawn or the LCD monitor I'm working on now. These halos look like what happens on your TV to bright objects if you turn the brightness up to high -- like what the photographers and videophiles call "blooming".

Week 1

2005-01-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

I flew to Seattle yesterday, a 90 minute flight each way. The plane air was dry, but I didn't notice anything extraordinary relative to my vision -- no discomfort, no worse dryness, etc.

I had a hard time seeing things on a whiteboard about 20 feet away; ditto for a projected computer image. In general, my vision feels like that of a slightly near-sighted person.

Also, while I can read with no serious difficulty, it does feel like I have a slightly harder time focusing. Maybe my eyes are healing at different rates?

I found a page on the FDA Website describing what to expect before, during, and after surgery. A chart says I should expect blurry vision for only 1 week, though it does say vision fluctuates for up to 4 weeks. My doctor told me to expect blurry vision for 2-3 weeks, maybe longer.

Also: today is the last day I need to use the antiobiotics and steroids. Hurrah. Despite the 4-times-a-day regimen of 3 different kinds of drops, I never got good at it.

Day 4

2005-01-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

No big change to my vision. Still blurry past about 5-10 feet or so.

Talked to a bunch of people at church about the procedure today. A few people might be interested in getting it done as well. I guess I'm the guinea pig.

Reading seems a little easier today. I got on the treadmill for my workout, which I restricted to a brisk walk. No problems with the eyes.

Day 3

2005-01-08T22:47:00.000-08:00

We drive down to visit my folks. They are geniunely relieved the surgery went well. They had heard some horror stories, had not read anything about LASIK, and were generally Pretty Worried.

After seeing that my eyes looked normal and I was seeing better, they declared the technology a near miracle. Which, I suppose, all things considered, it is.

I'm getting used to seeing halos and the general blurriness. I might be able to see things clearly at a greater distance (say 10-12 feet), but it's not consistent -- and it might be my imagination or my brain trying to compensate. Who knows?

No pain, though. I feel like I'm sleepier -- maybe it's my body telling me to close my eyes to hasten the healing.

I'm getting better at drops slowly. I've got three types 4 times a day to apply. I'll be glad when that's all over with (about a week). Ditto for the eye shields.

Colin says, "daddy -- you look funny, hee hee hee." Katie seems used to my no-glasses look now after giving me a few strange looks the previous days.

Day 2

2005-01-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

My vision is slightly better today, though it might just be because I'm used to seeing halos. I go back to work. Compared to my home LCD, it's harder to see the work monitor because it's an older CRT and farther away. I move it closer and things are better.

In general, I can read the computer monitor and documents ok, though I get the sense (not sure if this is the case objectively) that my eyes are mismatched. Beyond about 5 feet, things get blurry and move in and out of focus at different times during the day. Sometimes the lubricating drops help with the blurriness.

On the road, car headlights definitely have halos though not big ones. I've read accounts of people who thought driving was dangerous because the halos were blinding. Definitely not the case for me.

Day 1

2005-01-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

I take the day off today. I've heard stories of people going back to work the next day, but I'm glad that I took the day off. My vision is blurry. I had a hard time reading, and I see halos around bright light sources like windows and light bulbs.

While Fedora brings Colin to preschool, I take a quick trial drive around the neighborhood. Although my vision is worse than when I had glasses, I decide I'm good to drive. You don't actually need to see that well to read street signs and notice other cars.

I drive up to the clinic for my 10:30 am appointment. Dr. Scott Lee sees me right away and examines my eyes to make sure they are healing properly. He seems satisfied after his inspection and has me do the usual of reading letters off the wall. I read letters until I can read no more, and he shakes my hand. "Congratulations," he says, "you're seeing 20/20."

My first thought is that if this is seeing 20/20, people with 20/20 must not see very well. But he reassures me that the blooming around bright objects and blurriness will go away over the next couple of weeks. He gives me a collection of artificial tears and declares me ready to go home.

Out in the lobby, Aimee schedules my three-month appointment, gives me a set of referral cards (as I said, PVI is a pro at marekting), and also hands me a card that I can use if I get pulled over by the cops that says I don't need glasses anymore because I got LASIK. I had forgotten that my driver's license says I need corrective lenses. A nice touch.

The Big Day

2005-01-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

We dropped the kids off at their grandparents and drove to the clinic for my noon appointment. Once we arrived, they slapped a nametag on me. Later that afternoon, I found out they perform between 10 and 15 procedures on a busy day, so the nametags help them keep everyone straight. (That's not what they said, but it's what I'm guessing.)

The entire procedure took 1 hour, 45 minutes with about 15 minutes of actual action. The rest of the time is spent resting and waiting between phases.

The main event unfolds in three phases:

Phase 1: Preparation. Dr. Lee puts what feels like a dozen different drops into my eyes and swabs my eye area with iodine.
Phase 2: Flap creation. Dr. Faktorovich and assistants attach a variety of devices to my right eye to keep it from moving around. She activates the laser to create the flap, which takes about two minutes. My job is to keep staring at a blinking light. She then repeats the process with my left eye. After this process, I'm led to a waiting room where I sit for about 20 minutes with my eyes closed.
Phase 3: Cornea reshaping. Finally, I'm led to the machine that will reshape my cornea. Again, my job is to stare at a blinking red light. The reshaping takes about two minutes an eye. Surprisingly, I can smell burning as the laser reshapes the cornea.

None of the process is painful in the same way a dentist is painful. But it's certainly uncomfortable as they have to clamp down and make sure your eye doesn't move around much. Dr. Faktorvich continually reminds you to look at the blinking light, which makes me feel like my eye must have been drifting even though I felt I was concentrating hard.

After the reshaping, they have me close my eyes and walk to another room. One of their staff named Aimee (who I talked to during my initial consultation) explained how to take care of my eyes after the procedure and put eye shields on. I'm supposed to wear the eye shields as I sleep for the next week.

Fedora brings the car around and helps me into the car. We pick up the kids and go home. Since I'm supposed to keep my eyes closed for 4 hours, I take a nap. I wake up at around 3 hours and continue lying in bed. I don't feel pain, but my body definitely is acting like it's been through a trauma -- which it has been. It's hitting me this is really surgery.

At 4 hours, I head back out to get some dinner. Things are very blurry, so I decide to rest my eyes rather than watch TV or otherwise use them. I sleep on and off until the next morning.

Pre-Op Meeting

2005-01-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

I went in for my pre-operation meeting today. The entire process took an hour and a half, though about 40 minutes of that was just waiting to be seen.

I met with three different people today:

One (whose name I didn't get -- I'm guessing he was a technician who specialized in using the fancy gear) took measurements or pictures of my eyes, since that's what he did: took various pictures and measurements using two fancy pieces of equipment described below.
Dr. Scott Lee, their on-staff optometrist. You can see his picture on the PVI Website. Dr. Lee performed a set of procedures similar to what my optometrist does during my annual checkups (e.g., "read the letters -- better with 1 or 2? 2 or 3?")
Dr. Ella Faktorovich, the surgeon and director of the office.

The Measurements
Measurement #1 was made with a moden-looking device called the LADARWave Aberrometer.

The technicians has you stare at a blinking red light centered around a spinning black-and-white pinwheel pattern. Various flashes of light go off. I learned later that the device analyzes the reflections of those lights to make an accurate map of the cornea. The measurements will be used later to actually reshape the cornea so that it reflects that light in a way like a perfectly shaped cornea (belonging to someone with no glasses). Cool.

The technician said my pictures came out very clear and joked "not like you're going to be a model or anything." He must tell that one a lot.

Measurement #2 was made with a much bigger device that I later found out was the same one that would reshape the cornea. You lie down on it and stare at a pair of blinking red lights. I'm not sure what this device did that the other didn't, though part of what Dr. Faktorovich was very interested in (given my extreme nearsightedness) was whether I had enough cornea for the procedure. So maybe this machine made that measurement?

The Eye Tests
After these measurements, I did the a series of standard eye tests. At Pacific Vision Institute, they don't use a wall chart or project using a hand-cranked set of letters. Instead, they project a computer-generated set of letters. Fancy.

The staff was very impressed with how near-sighted I was -- worth a chuckle, but it's not exactly my goal to wow the staff. :-)

The Moment of Truth
After they completed all their tests and measurements, Dr. Factorvich glanced through the results and declared me an acceptable candidate for surgery. "Congratulations!" she said, "you have a healthy and good amount of cornea." As I mentioned, you need a lot of cornea to correct vision as near-sighted as mine. (Translation: they need to burn away a good amount of it...gulp!)

I scheduled three meetings for the first week in January: one for my "pre-op", one day for the procedure itself, and a followup meeting for the day after. Following these three meetings, I would meet with my normal optometrist one week after the procedure and then agan with PVI three months after the prcedure.

How I Decided To Get LASIK

2004-12-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

Hi. I'm using this blog to document my experience with LASIK surgery.

My background: I am extremely nearsighted (-10) and have had glasses in first grade (though I probably needed them in kindergarten).

I had tried contact lenses a few times in the last few years, but hever found a pair that I could get used to -- not sure if it was user error or my eyes being shaped differently enough from one another that matched pairs of lenses never sat right in 'em.

At any rate, I had been thinking about LASIK surgery for a few years. A few friends and coworkers have reported great results. Late 2004, three factors swung me over the fence towards having the surgery:

My optometrist Dr. Darren Lee -- who had reservations as early as 2-3 years ago when we first started talking about it-- began recommending it last year.
My optometrist's wife Joyce got the surgery.
New technology from a company called Intralase, which promised better and more predictable results.

So based on a recommendation from Darren, I trekked up to the Pacific Vision Institute in the city at One Danial Burnham Court for an initial consultation.

The nice staff met with me, answered questions, and scheduled three meetings with me in early January:

My "pre-op" for 60-90 minutes
One day for the procedure itself for 2-3 hours
A followup meeting for the day after the procedure, a 15-30 minute checkup

The Costs
Some notes about the costs of the procedure:

The procedure using the Intralase technology where a laser cuts the flap on the cornea is more expensive than the traditional procedure where the surgeon uses a fancily-named blade called a microkeratome to cut the flap.
I've heard people get quotes as low as $1,000 per eye with the older-style microkeratome approach.
I decided not to shop around with other doctors. Though I doubt PVI is a low-price leader, Dr. Faktorich is a well-published specialist, the clinic seem to have a large roster of satisfied patients, Darren recommended them, and I decided that eye surgery is not a commodity like an iPod. After all, I'm not equipped with backup eyes. :-)
PVI does a great job of marketing, and I admit I was reassured by the testimonials.
I'm covered by Vision Service Plan at work, so I got a 20% discount.
A referral from Joyce (Darren's wife) got me another $300 discount.
I was able to set aside pre-tax dollars for the procedure through a 2005 flexible spending account (also a work benefit).
Call me if you want to talk numbers in more detail.