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I had LASIK done in Edmonton @ LASIK MD on April 2nd 2009.
I did not plan it, I was walking by the store, and decided to go in and ask if they had an available consultation, which they did. I went through the consultation where they do a bunch of tests (they MIGHT dialate your pupils, but only in the case of strong prescriptions - they didn't do mine). After the consultation, they give you the price if the surgery, financing options, etc.
The way it works (at least with LASIK MD) is, the stronger your prescription, the more expensive it is. The $490-550/eye you see quoted in the newspaper is for a person who has a basic prescription of -1.00 in both eyes, with no astigmatisms, or any other issues. In the consultation they said I had larger than average pupils (large pupils cause halos) and thinner than average corneas (if they are too thin, they will won't be able to make a flap). But they were apparantly well with in the acceptable range.
My eyes were:
L=-2.5
R=-2.0 but with an astigmatism, so total power = -2.50
LASIK MD offers two types of basic treatment, the standard LASIK and something called Custom Wavefront, which is supposedly newer and better. The difference as I understood it, was that standard the standard LASIK laser cuts away your cornea in 0.2mm dots, where as the Custom Wavefront does it in 0.1mm dots, so it is supposed to be more accurate, and then they can blend the shaping better.
As any smart business person does, they try to sell you insurance as well, which gives free touch-ups if certain things happen etc... I read all the fine print, and like a lot of optional insurance, its just a good way for them to make money.
So for the basic LASIK (With no insurance) the total cost before tax was around $1800, and the Custom Wavefront (the custom wavefront includes all the insurance, and you cant get rid of it - so basically they will re-do it for free for your lifetime if you dont have 20/20, but again, lots of legal mumbo-jumbo) was quoted at $3300.
I went for the custom wavefront, solely for the improved laser. Obviously they were selling a more expensive service to me, but it was supposed to decrease the chance of halos, and improve the chance of perfect vision at the end of it all.
So I went in and had the surgery, I am sure they make a killing of this, as every 15 minutes they do somebody. Your time with the surgeon is basically "Hi, Im Dr. XXXX, how are you feeling? Good? Great! Any Questions? No? Ok then, lets go". The procedure is quick, and it is not painful, although it is certainly not comfortable, as I'm sure you can see in the videos on youtube. The worst part is, you can smell the laser burning your cornea. Nothing like the smell of burnt cornea to wake you up! After the procedure, everything is slightly blurry and they make you sit down in a dark room for an hour and wait, so they can check and see that everything is ok. In this time the numbing eye drops they put in for the surgery wear off, and your eyes start to really hurt. For me it felt like I had sand in my eye and was blinking, only I wasn't blinking. My eyes felt very scratchy. Afterwards they check your flap, and your vision, put in some more numbing drops and tell you to go home and sleep if you can. You have to go and buy some eye drops (~$60) and wear the provided sunglasses for two days. However, here was when I was really happy, I walked home (only 5 mins) but walking down the street I could see so crisp and clear down the street, it was incredible. Things I couldn't see sharply with my glasses were in perfect focus. When you get home no TV, Reading, Computer, nothing, nothing that causes strain on the eye for at least 24-48 hours. I went home and lay on the couch, and tried to sleep - I could not. That evening wasn't very nice - my eyes were sore, and my gf had to do everything for me, and my eyes were sore. At night you have to tape covers on your eyes so that you dont rub them while sleeping.
The day after you have to go back for a 24 hour appointment, and they just check you up again and send you on your way. I spent the next three days doing nothing, lying down, talking on the phone in a dark room with sunglasses on and taking my eye drops every hour. This was above and beyond the recommended procedure, but i wanted to make sure my eyes were rested. However, the few times I did look out the window, the farthest buildings were in perfect focus. So from day 1, my eyes have been for the most part perfect.
When looking outside at night in the first few days, I could definatly see halos - big ones, however every day they got better and better, and I would say after the first week were largely gone, or at least to the point that I couldn't notice it. Since the surgery my eye sight has been perfect (as far as I can tell) every day except for two or three when I let my eyes get too dry (more on that later). The only time I have trouble with my vision is in low contrast lighting. For example, once the sun has gone down, and everything is dim, but the street lights aren't on yet, and I am driving, if a car with bi-xenons approaches, I can't even see what kind of car is coming. Also, I have noticed in general, that when outdoors, my eyesight is much better than when in indoors. Not a lot, but noticeably so.
The only side effect that I have really noticed is dryness. For the first 3 weeks, every day I woke up, and my eyes have been terribly dry, to the point where it hurts to open them. The first thing I do when i get up, is instead of reaching over for my glasses, I reach over for lubricating eye drops and do my eyes. For the first week, it was really bad, I had to put drops in every 15-30 minutes. However i attribute most of this to living in Edmonton in April - Very Very dry. For Easter a week later, I went to Victoria, and the problem got way better, I was down to 4 drops a day, instead of twice an hour. I went back to Edmonton, and it got worse again, back to every hour or so. Now I am in Abu Dhabi, and in an Air conditioned office every day, and I would say I put drops in every 2 hours. I have had two friends who also had LASIK, and they both had this problem for 4 months, at which point it went away. I have been noticing an improvement, and at the moment it doesnt bother me too much, as when i used to wear contacts, i would get very very dry eyes anyway. If the problem is not gone by 3-5 months, I will be annoyed.
Overall I have been very happy with the procedure. The dryness will hopefully go away, and my vision is excellent. I am also only 1.5 months post-surgery, and they said that it will take 3-4 months for your eyes to fully heal, and what your vision is at 3-4 months, is the way it will stay, so I still have a ~2 months to go.
If you have any more questions, I will be happy to answer.
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