Lasik Eye Surgery

[Beei]

SBJ - Standing Board Jump

[Beei]

Err.. If the video very disturbing, then i ask the mods to remove it..

But i think this video can let people who is considering to have a idea on how a typical lasik surgery works..

[Beei]

Totally painless and feelingless.. But the bad thing is, you can see what is happening..

[Beei]

I had the same thought as you..

 

Now can see chiobu everywhere also.. Esp in swimming pool clearly..

[Gantan88]

Seeing it happening is horrible. Undergoing surgery while you are wide awake.

 

Can anyone answer my questions? I am really curious how those ppl who have undergone Lasik actually convince themselves to do so.

 

1. Lasik surgery is performed under local anesthesia. After the anesthesia wear off, is the eyes painful?

 

2. They cut a flap of the cornea, is that going to heal completely after the surgery? I read somewhere that the cornea is already weakened after the cut, even after healed, is not as strong as original condition. Is it ok to go swimming, diving?

 

3. When they cut away a portion of the cornea, does yr vision blurred or you lose the eyesight completely?

 

Thanks!

[Beei]

If according to the video i post,

 

1) No.. not painful.. But you will get a burning feeling which is the same or slightly better you feel than when you wear contact lenses too long or eye too dry.. And your vision will be a bit blurred and cloudy immdiately after the surgery.. After you wake up from sleep, can see quite clearly liao..

 

2) How to know whether your flap has healed?? When at night you see a single light source and you can see it clearly instead of halos or starburst. Take a few month. And yes it is weakened after it is cut. But there is a minimum thickness of the cornea they must remain..

 

Ok to swimming, diving, fly.. Just don't rub your eye for at least the first dunno how many months..

 

3) The first few second after they cut, you will experience blindness.. Don't worry, at most 5-10 sec only, then you can see very blurry.. Like in another world.. I guess it is because the eye nerves cannot send signal to the brain..

 

How do i convince myself?? I watch the video, does not bother me, and like what Guyver said lor..

[Gantan88]

Exactly what i am thinking... you experience blindness after they cut. Scary feeling albeit 5-10 seconds.

 

Also when i say the cornea is weakened, i dun mean the thickness but instead, i am referring to the wound of the cut. Is everything going to 'fuse' together nicely? In future if u rub yr eyes, is the cornea going to 'tear off' easily?

 

[Beei]

I had been rubbing my eye when i wake up, wash my face for the past 6 months, and i still can see clearly.. I guess it is still intact ba..

[Gantan88]

That sounds good. But if i am you, i will always remind myself that i have a wound in my eyes and i shouldnt rub my eyes or rub it too hard. Inconvenience in life.

 

[Beei]

Just don't rub eye for first 6 month and i think it should be fine.. But for other activities like sports or any water activities, dun have to worry that the flap will just come out.. The suction pressure in the eye will prevent the flap from even moving around..

[Gantan88]

Didnt know the suction pressure is so strong. In anyway, i will not do it. Spent few thousands to cut my cornea?

Hell NO!

 

But the video seems to show an older technology of Lasik where the cornea is cut manually using some handheld device and there is blood!

 

I heard now is cut by laser. From cutting the cornea to putting it back is like less than 20 secs?

[Beei]

Yeah, it is strong enough for normal activity not to dislocate it, but may not be able to say the same for abnormal activity..

 

Mine is done by the conventional microkeratome blade which you see in the video..

Advantage is minimum or no pain, vision normal in 1 day, no inflammation, fasting healing.. but risk of infection, dislocation of the flap..

 

For laser cutting like PRK and lasek, what i heard is vision take up 3-5 days to normalize, prone to inflammation, longer recovery time and is painful.. But less chance of infection, or dislocation of flap..

 

I heard that they even developed a evolved PRK lasik which there is no physical touching of any part of your eye.. Only laser.. But should be very expensive ba.. and not really tested..

[Driven]

am getting consultation and opinion from Dr Cordelia from SNEC. Will carefuly and seriously weight all the pros and cons. More importantly my pyschological mindset.

Thanks for your sharing.

[Turbonetics]

Totally painless and feelingless.. But the bad thing is, you can see what is happening..

 

i got a friend who just did about 2 weeks ago.

she said its quite painful(maybe she is a girl?).

she also said when they removed her cornea,she totally black out(can't see).

however,she told me that there are 3 type of lasik.

maybe hers is different from yours?

Edited October 10, 2008 by Turbonetics

[Beei]

the black out part is true for maybe 5 sec.. after that can see the doctor operating liao..

 

if she is the PRK lasik, then maybe will have pain.. Mine is the older type..

Edited October 10, 2008 by Beei

[Gantan88]

i rather wait for new technology that does not need to cut the cornea one...

 

If the cutting is by using the blade manually, how to guage how deep to cut the cornea in order to get the flap out without hurting the eyeball? Solely depends on the skill and the 'feel' of the surgeon? Thats risky!

[W2wwong]

the technology that does not require the cornea to be cut is already available when i did mine >10 years ago. can't remember what's the name of this technology.

 

in my case, the cornea was 'burnt' off, during the correction procedure. that's why you need at least 1 month to regain/recover your eyesight. and during this time, i had to wear an eye patch, and also took me quite a while to get used to seeing thing using 1 eye.

 

moreover, the 3 days after the procedure was pure torture. i practically couldn't open my eyes without feeling pain. and i had to be on pain killers almost every 8 hrs. the only things i cld do was eat and sleep.

 

then the new technology (cutting the cornea) was available when i was about to do my 2nd eye. i asked my doctor if i was suitable. his reply was that it was not worth the risk. cuz if your cornea gets disloged during the recovery phase, that's it. you'd need to wait for a cornea transplant.

[Beei]

Wow.. it seems like the cutting to create a flap (in my case) was much better, No pain, and my eye sight recovered to 85-90% after I wake up..

Bad thing was the risk of disloged of the cornea and the flap will be forever there..

 

But now they use laser to create the flap instead of the blade.. Supposed to have some pain, and longer recovery time, but i think will not be as bad as yours..