Just a quick update...
This morning I went for my final check-up of my laser eye surgery which I had done in September.
All is well!
The wrinkle he saw in my eye flap a month ago is still there obviously, but it hasn't changed and so it is fixed in place which is a good thing as that means it's healed in place. Still a wrinkle in the eye flap, but on the outskirts of the flap which means that it does not affect my vision at all.
My vision is 20/20, although even at 20/20 it is still slightly blurry due to the amblyopia (lazy eye) that it had (due to my brain not being used to using that eye since it "ignored" it b/c it was so blurry for so many years). He showed me again the HUGE letters I could barely read before the surgery and it is a humongous improvement! Like I've said though, with my perfect right eye, my vision overall is perfectly fine and I can tell things are sharper than before b/c the left eye is now serving a better function :-)
The eye gets dried out if I'm outside a lot but drops helps that and otherwise it is feeling good!
Showing posts with label lasik. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lasik. Show all posts
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
an eye wrinkle
Welll......
Logan didn't end up having an eye exam. He reacted how we kind of expected him to, where he just sits still and looks at the floor and refuses to look up. Totally quiet though. So, that's fine. The eye dr. said try again in a year, he'll only be 4.5 then, so if he does have an eye problem that's still early enough that we can work with it.
Anyways, I also had an eye check-up. And....he right aways asked me if I had rubbed my eye really hard or something. And I DID. Last week, during the night I woke up rubbing my eye like crazy, the eye that had the laser surgery. And I stopped as soon as I realized what I was doing.
But I guess it did some damage. Which surprises me b/c it's already been 6 weeks since the surgery. Anyway, I have a wrinkle on the edge of the flap that they cut in your eye when they do the surgery. It's complicated to explain, but pretty much for the laser surgery they cut off a top layer of your cornea (leaving part of it attached, like a hinge) and lift it up to do the laser underneath. And then they lay down the top layer again and it has to seal back to your eye.
Well mine has been healing really well but I guess I dislodge the outer edge on one corner. I was like, oh no, another surgery. But he said that b/c it is on the outer edge (which is above my iris, the blue part of my eye), it doesn't affect my vision. Which it doesn't...my vision is still really good. So it needs to heal over, although the wrinkle will stay there. Not that you can see it just with the human eye :-)
I need to be careful with it this next week so it'll heal down again....but he did not seem worried about it all but he had to tell me it was there. Which I'm grateful for. This eye dr. has been so honest with us and we really like that. From my internet research this all makes sense too :-)
Logan didn't end up having an eye exam. He reacted how we kind of expected him to, where he just sits still and looks at the floor and refuses to look up. Totally quiet though. So, that's fine. The eye dr. said try again in a year, he'll only be 4.5 then, so if he does have an eye problem that's still early enough that we can work with it.
Anyways, I also had an eye check-up. And....he right aways asked me if I had rubbed my eye really hard or something. And I DID. Last week, during the night I woke up rubbing my eye like crazy, the eye that had the laser surgery. And I stopped as soon as I realized what I was doing.
But I guess it did some damage. Which surprises me b/c it's already been 6 weeks since the surgery. Anyway, I have a wrinkle on the edge of the flap that they cut in your eye when they do the surgery. It's complicated to explain, but pretty much for the laser surgery they cut off a top layer of your cornea (leaving part of it attached, like a hinge) and lift it up to do the laser underneath. And then they lay down the top layer again and it has to seal back to your eye.
Well mine has been healing really well but I guess I dislodge the outer edge on one corner. I was like, oh no, another surgery. But he said that b/c it is on the outer edge (which is above my iris, the blue part of my eye), it doesn't affect my vision. Which it doesn't...my vision is still really good. So it needs to heal over, although the wrinkle will stay there. Not that you can see it just with the human eye :-)
I need to be careful with it this next week so it'll heal down again....but he did not seem worried about it all but he had to tell me it was there. Which I'm grateful for. This eye dr. has been so honest with us and we really like that. From my internet research this all makes sense too :-)
Friday, September 21, 2012
laser day 10
So after my {sorta} complaing in my last post about the laser eye surgery, I thought I should update again after today's chek-up.
{forgive my spelling mistakes that are sure to come... I think this keyboard need some cleaning as a bunch of the keys seem to not be working so well...and these pictures have nothing at all to with my surgery but I thought they may break up the text}
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| Brady and Logan. Brady is liking my gel these days. |
Anyway, when I originally went for a consultation before the surgery, the eye doctor was telling me about amblyopia and my brain, and how my eyesight would still be blury after the surgery etc and I didn't exactly understand what he was saying. Even with those things though, he felt that I should have the surgery and I also felt that I should.
Fast forward...to day 5 after I posted. I started doing a bunch more research and then I began to understand what he had been saying. Like I've said my left eye that had the surgery has always been really, really bad. Like practically useless.
And now I know that it is called "lazy eye" or techncally has "amblyopia". There are different types but mine is refractive amlyopia, which you can look up, but basically it means my eyes have always been like this - one really good and one really bad and not shaped properly. Because of that, my brained has learned over the last 30 years to basically ignore what my bad eye was seeing.
Which is why even though my eye is now shaped perfectly after the surgery, my brain is used to ignoring that eye which is why my eyesight is still blurry. As time goes on it shold get somewhat better as te brain figures out that the images are no longer so awful.
So that's the long story short.
But how is my eye now...day 10?
So much better than day 5!!
That foggy feelng I had is gone, and I think it was somewhat from healing from the surgery and likely somewhat from the eyedrops I had to use hourly. Now my drops are every 2 hour and every 4 hours. I still find it sensitive to light and often feels dry, but otherwise feeling great.
Vision wise...also getting better! Today at my check-up I could read even smaller letters than I could at last week's check-up, AND I could read 3 lines smaller letters than I could before the surgery, with the best corrective lenses in front of that eye!! Meaning that after lasik, I can see better than I would be able to even had I stuck to glasses.
I keep second-guessing how bad it was before and if it has actually improved that drastically but Dallas says "Tara....I saw you take that eye test before the surgery!! You couldn't see anything with that eye!" tis true.
It is still blurred but waaaaay better than my sight was. The doctor tells me the vision in that eye will never be the same as my good eye, b/c of he amblyopia thing, but that it should continue to improve.
So I am happy with it.
(and with both eyes open I see pefectly as my right eye is perfect...no blurriness with both eyes open. but who wants a useless eye if it doesnt have to be??)
Yeah I know this is a long speech here but believe you me, I could go on and on...
Saturday, September 15, 2012
laser day 5
Dallas is tired of hearing me update him every hour on the status of my eye, so here goes, just for you :-)
I hate to say this, but so far...I don't know if I would strongly encourage people to do lasik. I know the eye is still healing and all so in a month maybe I can tell you that it was worth it, but right now I just find the eye bothersome!
I had awful vision in my left eye and right now the vision is still blurry in that eye. It is clearer than before in terms of being able to read things, as in I can read the computer screen now with just that eye, so that is a big difference! They say that eye now has 20/20 vision. BUT it is still pretty blurry or more so foggy! I don't know if that's something that needs to heal over time or if that's the way it'll stay...but if you research blurry eye problems post lasik you get plenty of people complaining about it. But then again, you also get plenty of people saying their vision was wonderful after their surgery.
At this point I'm still glad I did it but honestly if you had both eyes done and your vision was this blurry as you healed, that'd be pretty discouraging I think. My advantage is I still have my good eye so I see just fine, now with just my left eye being dry and sensitive to light and feeling like there's a fog in front of it. If the fogginess would go away I think it would be an awesome success.
SO I'll update again next week after a few more days...
I hate to say this, but so far...I don't know if I would strongly encourage people to do lasik. I know the eye is still healing and all so in a month maybe I can tell you that it was worth it, but right now I just find the eye bothersome!
I had awful vision in my left eye and right now the vision is still blurry in that eye. It is clearer than before in terms of being able to read things, as in I can read the computer screen now with just that eye, so that is a big difference! They say that eye now has 20/20 vision. BUT it is still pretty blurry or more so foggy! I don't know if that's something that needs to heal over time or if that's the way it'll stay...but if you research blurry eye problems post lasik you get plenty of people complaining about it. But then again, you also get plenty of people saying their vision was wonderful after their surgery.
At this point I'm still glad I did it but honestly if you had both eyes done and your vision was this blurry as you healed, that'd be pretty discouraging I think. My advantage is I still have my good eye so I see just fine, now with just my left eye being dry and sensitive to light and feeling like there's a fog in front of it. If the fogginess would go away I think it would be an awesome success.
SO I'll update again next week after a few more days...
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
laser day 2
I am so excited!!! I had a check-up this morning and he did some tests on my eye and I now have 20/20 vision in my left eye!! I've always had perfect eyesight in my right eye and now the left....it is amazing :-) The surgeon did a super job.
Things are still blurry in that eye today but it's hard to tell with both eyes open as my right eye has always compensated for the left. But even using both eyes I can tell the difference, mostly in that i feel like my eyes are trying to adjust to the extra clarity. Like that feeling you get when you put your glasses on after not having worn them for a while. I'm told over the days or weeks that some of the blurriness will clear up.
Also though the surgeon said that since my brain has gone so many years seeing a blurry image from my left eye, it will likely continue to be slightly blurry in that eye since the brain has to also adjust to your new vision.
But at the eye check-up I could read tiny, tiny letters with my left eye, and before the surgery, I could not even read letters that were 6 inches high!
Now I have to be careful for the next several weeks that I don't rub my eye as it heals...which also means no eye make-up for a couple weeks...I need to wear an eye shield for a few nights to prevent me from rubbing it in my sleep...I have 3 kinds of eye drops to use, some for the next week, one for the next 2 months. In general my eye feels itchy right now, as if there is something in there, but not that it hurts so that is great. The eye drops help a ton.
Things are still blurry in that eye today but it's hard to tell with both eyes open as my right eye has always compensated for the left. But even using both eyes I can tell the difference, mostly in that i feel like my eyes are trying to adjust to the extra clarity. Like that feeling you get when you put your glasses on after not having worn them for a while. I'm told over the days or weeks that some of the blurriness will clear up.
Also though the surgeon said that since my brain has gone so many years seeing a blurry image from my left eye, it will likely continue to be slightly blurry in that eye since the brain has to also adjust to your new vision.
But at the eye check-up I could read tiny, tiny letters with my left eye, and before the surgery, I could not even read letters that were 6 inches high!
Now I have to be careful for the next several weeks that I don't rub my eye as it heals...which also means no eye make-up for a couple weeks...I need to wear an eye shield for a few nights to prevent me from rubbing it in my sleep...I have 3 kinds of eye drops to use, some for the next week, one for the next 2 months. In general my eye feels itchy right now, as if there is something in there, but not that it hurts so that is great. The eye drops help a ton.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
laser day 1
I'm sitting here wearing some sunglasses with a dark piece of paper taped over the left hand side :-)
The surgeon said not to sit too much in front of the tv or computer today but Dallas is gone at a meeting tonight and I have a show I want to watch so....I figured blocking off the eye that had surgery is the same as it not watching. right?!
Back to the surgery...
Dallas and I got to the hospital around 9:45 am, filled out some papers, and then he waited in the waiting room while I went up to the surgery area. I had to put on these lovely pj pants, a tie around shirt, some tie on paper booties, and a shower cap. Then I was brought to a very very cushy lazy boy chair and given a warm blanket. I thought this was rather funny in an operating area...but it really was coooooold in there. Lot of air on.
My eyes were wiped down and then I was taken into the surgery room! They laid me down on this table with my head in a little indent, covered my face with this covering so only my left eye was exposed and went to work. I had to lay really still and stare at a green light above me and honestly...I get claustrophobic and I was not liking it too much. I tend to make myself lightheaded so I was concentrating on breathing properly {being in labour comes in handy in times like this! haha}.
Anyway, the whole thing only took 5-10 minutes and then I was done! They taped a clear platic shield over my eye and sent me home. Tomorrow I go back in for a check-up. The plastic shield is to prevent dust from getting in and to prevent you from rubbing your eye, but I changed that out for some larger sunglasses that prevent me from rubbing my eye. More comfortable.
I got home and slept almost 5 hours. My eye was feeling irritated, now it's mostly just feeling dried out but every hour I have to put in drops and every 4 hours another type of drops...for the next 2 months I'll be on drops.
I think that about sums it up! I'm glad it's over...I think I'm glad I did it...hard to say, right now the vision in that eye is still pretty blurry but they say it takes some time to clear itself up, I've heard 3 days, I've heard 2 weeks...we'll see.
The surgeon said not to sit too much in front of the tv or computer today but Dallas is gone at a meeting tonight and I have a show I want to watch so....I figured blocking off the eye that had surgery is the same as it not watching. right?!
Back to the surgery...
Dallas and I got to the hospital around 9:45 am, filled out some papers, and then he waited in the waiting room while I went up to the surgery area. I had to put on these lovely pj pants, a tie around shirt, some tie on paper booties, and a shower cap. Then I was brought to a very very cushy lazy boy chair and given a warm blanket. I thought this was rather funny in an operating area...but it really was coooooold in there. Lot of air on.
My eyes were wiped down and then I was taken into the surgery room! They laid me down on this table with my head in a little indent, covered my face with this covering so only my left eye was exposed and went to work. I had to lay really still and stare at a green light above me and honestly...I get claustrophobic and I was not liking it too much. I tend to make myself lightheaded so I was concentrating on breathing properly {being in labour comes in handy in times like this! haha}.
Anyway, the whole thing only took 5-10 minutes and then I was done! They taped a clear platic shield over my eye and sent me home. Tomorrow I go back in for a check-up. The plastic shield is to prevent dust from getting in and to prevent you from rubbing your eye, but I changed that out for some larger sunglasses that prevent me from rubbing my eye. More comfortable.
I got home and slept almost 5 hours. My eye was feeling irritated, now it's mostly just feeling dried out but every hour I have to put in drops and every 4 hours another type of drops...for the next 2 months I'll be on drops.
I think that about sums it up! I'm glad it's over...I think I'm glad I did it...hard to say, right now the vision in that eye is still pretty blurry but they say it takes some time to clear itself up, I've heard 3 days, I've heard 2 weeks...we'll see.
Monday, September 10, 2012
laser eye
So just wanted to say that tomorrow morning I'm going in for my laser eye surgery!
Since this thing of going to the eye doctor again...I've been noticing how bad my eye really is. I squint and close my bad eye a lot, when I need to read things or focus on things. Dallas told me this evening that I mostly only squint my bad eye as if I'm trying to close it to only use my good eye. Anyways, I guess that's why the surgery.
I'm pretty nervous for the actual surgery and having to be careful with the eye afterwards. Really though I've had 5 surgeries already so I should be able to deal with this right... :-) It will be fine.
Apart from the nervousness, I am super excited now to see what my vision will be like afterwards, so I'll let you know how it goes!
Since this thing of going to the eye doctor again...I've been noticing how bad my eye really is. I squint and close my bad eye a lot, when I need to read things or focus on things. Dallas told me this evening that I mostly only squint my bad eye as if I'm trying to close it to only use my good eye. Anyways, I guess that's why the surgery.
I'm pretty nervous for the actual surgery and having to be careful with the eye afterwards. Really though I've had 5 surgeries already so I should be able to deal with this right... :-) It will be fine.
Apart from the nervousness, I am super excited now to see what my vision will be like afterwards, so I'll let you know how it goes!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
lasik
So as mentioned in the previous post, Dallas and I did go for our laser eye surgery consultations. We went in the morning so Brady got to tag along with us while the other 2 were in school. Deja vu...to when we only had Carter as a baby.
Anyways, while we waited for our appointment we had a nice little chat with an older man from Spain and an older woman from Guadalajara who highly recommended this surgeon to us. They had surgery with him as well as their children...so that was nice to hear as we waited...
They tested our eyes first. My right eye has always been 20/20 and it still is, no work needed on that one. My left eye on the other hand, is a whole 'nother story!! I could read nothing with it...even when the letters were 6 inches tall I was making them up.
Dallas has one eye worse than the other but in general his aren't very bad. He wanted the laser surgery though b/c he likes to wear glasses for driving at night and things like that and it would make it easier.
Well then we were sent for some eye exams and scans and they came back saying we both had a problem area in one eye. So then we were sent down to the lab for another type of exam, which is more detailed.
He ended up advising Dallas not to have the surgery, since his one eye has a problem bump behind the cornea and the risk was too high for the benefit it might give. So...Dallas will continue to wear his glasses as he feels he needs to see better.
My problem spot ended up being ok so I am having the surgery on one eye!! Funny because Dallas was the one who pushed us to go check it out and now I'm the one doing it. I have needed glasses for years but I don't like wearing them and my eye really is bad...it gives me headaches and I have to squint in order to focus on some things etc etc so I'm excited to see the difference this will make.
The surgeon described the surgery to me....oh my I was feeling sick just hearing them talking about touching my eye and what they're going to do to it and having to have my eye propped open for 5-10 minutes and having to be so careful afterwards that you don't rub it and whatnot.
So if you've had it done...reassure me :-)
2 more weeks...then I'm under the laser.
and if you want to save some big bucks...come on down to Mexico for your lasik!! We're going to a highly reviewed and certified hospital so am trusting it is all it says it is :-) I don't want my eyes messed with. The procedure is the same though as others in Canada have had done.
Anyways, while we waited for our appointment we had a nice little chat with an older man from Spain and an older woman from Guadalajara who highly recommended this surgeon to us. They had surgery with him as well as their children...so that was nice to hear as we waited...
They tested our eyes first. My right eye has always been 20/20 and it still is, no work needed on that one. My left eye on the other hand, is a whole 'nother story!! I could read nothing with it...even when the letters were 6 inches tall I was making them up.
Dallas has one eye worse than the other but in general his aren't very bad. He wanted the laser surgery though b/c he likes to wear glasses for driving at night and things like that and it would make it easier.
Well then we were sent for some eye exams and scans and they came back saying we both had a problem area in one eye. So then we were sent down to the lab for another type of exam, which is more detailed.
He ended up advising Dallas not to have the surgery, since his one eye has a problem bump behind the cornea and the risk was too high for the benefit it might give. So...Dallas will continue to wear his glasses as he feels he needs to see better.
My problem spot ended up being ok so I am having the surgery on one eye!! Funny because Dallas was the one who pushed us to go check it out and now I'm the one doing it. I have needed glasses for years but I don't like wearing them and my eye really is bad...it gives me headaches and I have to squint in order to focus on some things etc etc so I'm excited to see the difference this will make.
The surgeon described the surgery to me....oh my I was feeling sick just hearing them talking about touching my eye and what they're going to do to it and having to have my eye propped open for 5-10 minutes and having to be so careful afterwards that you don't rub it and whatnot.
So if you've had it done...reassure me :-)
2 more weeks...then I'm under the laser.
and if you want to save some big bucks...come on down to Mexico for your lasik!! We're going to a highly reviewed and certified hospital so am trusting it is all it says it is :-) I don't want my eyes messed with. The procedure is the same though as others in Canada have had done.
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