I can see clearly now

So, as mentioned previously, I am undergoing somewhat of a metamorphosis now that I’m turning 40. The navel piercing was two weeks ago, and this week it’s the eyes.
I have worn glasses, and later contacts, since I was a teenager. I’ve never actively hated having to wear glasses, partly because half my family, including my husband, wears glasses, and I work in a college, which means that a significant number of my colleagues are bespectacled.
I have wondered about laser eye surgery for a while now, and decided about a month ago that as long as I was doing all this other stuff to my body, why not take a closer look (NPI) into the procedure. Added motivation included helping a friend choose a pair of truly lovely new frames, which, with her prescription lenses, cost her about $700, and scuba diving – you can get scuba masks with prescription lenses, for $$$, or you can get a regular mask and hope that you never lose a contact lens. They’re hard enough to find when you drop one on the bathroom floor. Imagine trying to spot one on the ocean floor, under 45 feet of water.
I went in for my free consultation last week at LASIK MD (I might as well give them the endorsement). They put my eyes through a series of tests, including one that looked like it was inspired by Dr. Evil’s time machine (and when I mentioned this the clinician squealed and thanked me, because no one else ever knows what she’s blathering about if she mentions it). The end result was that I was an “ideal” candidate for LASIK (it’s the name of the procedure as well as the company).
So yesterday morning, I went in for my final pre-op check, got the all clear (again, NPI) and had my zyoptix LASIK surgery at the hands of the lovely and talented Dr. Dagher (unlike Kit Marlowe, this was a welcome Dagher in the eye).
This morning, I went for my one-day post-op check-up and hyphen extravaganza- right now I have 20/20 vision and it can only get better as my eyes continue to heal.
My only regret is that I didn’t do this ten years and several pairs of glasses and contacts ago.
The procedure itself took about two minutes. I was concerned that I’d freak out watching a laser beam headed for my eye, but in fact it looks a lot like those red dots you have to stare at when you’re getting your eyes tested. It didn’t hurt, or sting or anything. There was some noise, but as someone who hates the dentist cacaphony, this was nothing.
I dozed for most yesterday afternoon, listening to a book I had pre-loaded onto my MP3 player (no books or computers for 24 hours). Heidi thought it was the best day ever, and is a little disappointed to discover today that I haven’t been converted to the cat way of life. I administered three different kinds of eye drops every couple of hours – that continues, every 5-6 hours now, for the rest of this week, then I’m free to ditch the meds and just continue with artificial tears as needed.
So far, my eyes are still great. I was worried that I’d feel like I had a pair of old contacts or bad allergies, since those are apparently frequently reported aftereffects, but my eyes feel fine. I suspect I am one of the ‘results may vary’ cases – no itching, no blurriness, no redness – and I can see perfectly. There were two other women at the clinic this morning who had their surgeries yesterday as well, and the one that I spoke to said her vision was still pretty blurry and she was very teary, which I think is probably the more common post-op status.
Anyway, bottom line is that I am 100% satisfied with LASIK MD, and if you too have wondered about it, I hope my story helps. Feel free to ask questions! I also found the LASIK MD website really useful, and comprehensive, so if you have technical questions, you can try there, too.

6 Replies to “I can see clearly now”

  1. Thanks for the write-up! I will admit to being pretty jealous.
    A couple questions:
    1) What was your prescription before the operation?
    2) The LASIK site says it starts at 490$ per eye. And in tiny letters it’s 1750$ per eye for zyoptix. Which end of the scale did you fall towards (or is it always 1750$ for your procedure)?

  2. Good for you!
    I was told I am too myopic for laser surgery and I was quite dissapointed. My boss had it about 10 years ago and he says he never had the slightest issue.

  3. When were you told this, and where? The clinic I went to is huge and heavily into research, so I wonder if you’d get different results with them.

  4. The Fiance and I were discussing laser surgery just yesterday, and I mentioned that you’d just had it done and that I would report back when I heard the results. So now I know. We may look into it (although my myopia is very severe, so I hope there have been developments since Chris got his diagnosis.) Now if we could just get our insurance to cover it…

  5. Vinny: my pre-op prescription was -3.0 right and -3.25 left. That’s a relatively low prescription, which meant I was a good candidate for both forms, but I elected to go for the more expensive but more reliable/effective zyoptix.
    The grand total was $3500 for both eyes, including everything – and it’s guaranteed for life, and the results were also guaranteed. That means that (a) if I wasn’t 20/20 after the procedure, they’d redo it (after a recovery period) for free, and (b) if my eyesight deteriorates at any time, even ten+ years from now, they’ll redo it for free (with the exception of presbyopia).
    I chose to finance it over 5 years, so it’s not such a huge expense, and the financing agreement has a no-penalty-for-early-payment clause so I can pay it off, or pay a larger-than-usual chunk, if I come into some cash.

  6. My optician lined me up with TLC Laser Eye Center in London, ON (www.tlcvision.com) and I had two levels of assessments at my opticians. Right before I was to go for the surgery the TLC people called and said I wasn’t a candidate. Anyway, it will have to wait for now since we are spending a wad on home repairs instead! Besides panicking about whether we will have jobs in a week!! It would have been $5,000.

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