John Sample

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LVC - Part 3

2:00 pm

Just had the surgery.
All went well.
Not much discomfort at the moment, but I do have a little light sensitivity. which makes me want to keep my eyes closed.

They offered me Xanax before the PRK.
I'm usually averse to any painkiller not made of hops and barley, but in this case I decided to take it.

I can see well, but everything is blurry.
I'm going to take a nap and update a little later.

5:00 pm

When I woke up my vision was definitely better than it was when I fell asleep.
There was a few minutes of the same feeling you have when you sleep in contacts, but then again, I am sleeping in contacts. They are called bandage contacts and just cover your eye as you heal.  They don't come out until Monday when I see Dr. Griffiths again.

The surgery was exactly what I expected. Your eyes are numb so you can't feel anything.
The only part I didn't care for was when they scrape the epithelium off.  I couldn't really feel it, but the friction kind of resonates in an odd way.
It probably wouldn't have bothered me at all if I hadn't seen a video of it beforehand. Knowing what was going on was the bad part.

I was a little panicked in the middle because I felt like my eye was moving.  The doctor and Jennifer, who was watching my eye on a TV in the other room, said it wasn't.

The doctor was great and kept me aware of what was going on the whole time. Before the laser started, one of the assistants called out how long the laser was going fire.  It was one minute for each eye, and the assistant continued counting down while the laser was zapping.  I thought that was pretty cool.

I'm not in any pain right now. I'm still sensitive to light, but no more than when you get your eyes dilated. I'm typing this with sun glasses on.
I was a little worried that after the eye numbing stuff wore off I would be less comfortable than I was at 2:00, but just the opposite is true.
My eyes don't feel dry, but I'm still putting in the drops just in case.

Back to the pain scale.
Reminder 1- 10

1 -  Fresh out of the shower
5 - Day of swimming in a chlorinated pool.
10 -  Lemon juice in your eye.

I'd say I'm at a 3, but mostly because of the light sensitivity.
Its more annoying than anything else.

I'll try to update at least once more today.

9:00 pm

Dr Griffiths just called to see how I was doing. That was pretty surprising. I don't think I've ever had a doctor call to check up on me like that..

My right eye started to get a bit uncomfrotatble, but a touch of the “comfort drops“ I was given took it right away.
It felt similar to having an eyelash in your eye, not really painful, just annoying.

The light sensitivity continues to wane. It comes and goes, definitely better than it was when I got home, which still wasn't as bad as having your eyes dilated.

So far this hasn't been nearly as painful as I was expecting.

Day 2 - 7:30 am

No pain, just a little bit of dryness this morning.  I think its mostly from sleeping in the contacts. A few of the moisturizing drops took it right away.
The light sensitivity seems to be gone.
My vision is still blurry. I can see everything, except its a little too blurry to read without a lot of effort. That includes the monitor as I type this, so forgive me for any spelling errors.
Yesterday I could hardly read text on the monitor at all so I went back and fixed some errors. It may have had something to do with the Xanax as well. ;-)

There were only two painful moments last night, and they were both caused by the same thing.
Since the comfort drops numb your eyes a bit, its easy to forget to blink, and the contacts dried out.  Anyone who has worn contacts knows what it feels like to have a really dry contact in your eye, which is what happened after I used them both times while typing on this site. I've only had to use them twice. If I need them again I'm going to make a concious effort to just keep blinking.
On the 1 to 10 scale, I'd say I'm at a 2, with the exception of the two brief moments last night I was just talking about. Those were a 6. Similar to getting soap in your eye, but it lasted only a few seconds.

Day 2 - 10:30 am

I'm occasionaly having some tough moments.It lasts for only a few minutes, but it feels like having sand blow in your face during a windy day at the beach.
A few drops of the lubricant and it goes away after keeping my eyes closed for a while.
The worst was catching a blast of wind in the face as I opened the front door. That one made me fall to my knees.
At worst its like biting your tounge, it hurts pretty bad for a few moments, than you forget about it.

My vision seems to be getting better by the hour.
Its a little frustrating not being able to read well or sit in front of the computer for more than a few moments, but so far thats been the worst of it.
Not bad for only 21 hours since the surgery.

Day 2 - 2:00 pm

My eyes were stinging pretty bad for about two hours. I didn't use the comfort drops because I'm pretty sure they were causing the light sensitivity. They also tended to make things worse when they wore off since you can't tell how dry your eyes are.
A couple of hours rest with the tylenol 3 and my eyes feel better than they have yet.
No dryness or discomfort what so ever at the moment.

I've seen people after LASIK and their eyes looked very bloodshot with burst capilaries. Oddly, my eyes look clearer than I've ever seen them.
Maybe its because they don't cut the flap with PRK?

I've come to the conclusion that daytime TV is specifically designed to make you want to leave your house.

Day 3 - 8:00 am

The irritation continues to come and go. Last night was pretty rough. I'd put it at an 8.
My eyes are now getting bloodshot when the irritation occurs..It seems to only happen in one eye at a time, which is nice.
Sometimes my eyes feel better when they are open, and sometimes better when they are closed.
They're having no problem staying wet, I'm producing plenty of tears.

I used the comfort drops 3 times yesterday. In both eyes when I woke up. In my right around 5 pm and my left around 8.
So far today I've only needed a drop in my left eye.

Every time one of the severe irriation episodes comes and goes, my vision improves, so the healing must be coming along nicely.
They last around a half hour, and are spread apart by about an hour and a half, switching eyes each time.
Other than during those times, I'm not too uncomfortable, around a 4 on my completely unscientific scale.

Day 3 - 11:30 am

No change. Severe irritation keeps coming and going.

Day 3 - 6:30 pm

I've been all over the numbing drops today. As soon as they wear off the stinging gets bad again.With the drops its no problem.
I'm going to try and get some sleep and see what tomorrow brings.

Day 4 - 1:30 am

What a difference a day makes.
My vision is blurrier than yesterday, but I think its just the contacts, which I can't wait to have taken out.
My eyes are good enough that I'm able to help my wife with the leaves. However, I do have io wear the giant sunglassses over the goggles to tolerate the light.
Maybe just having something else to concentrate on is helping.
No pain or discomfort at the moment, just the frustration of not being able to see clearly.

Day 4 - 6:30 pm

I finally had to put some of the numbing comfort drops in. The burning wasn't any worse than before, I'm just ready to wind up the day and be comfortable until the contacts come out tomorrow.
NOTE TO SELF: Your wife is a saint, figure out a way to pay her back for putting up with and taking care of you this weekend.

Day 5 - 1:00 pm

Saw the doctor this morning. Unfortunately it looks like I'll have to wear the contacts for at least two more days. My left eye is doing better than the right. I'm almost at 20/30 with my left.
There is a little bit of haze, but she said it looks normal. The epithelium isn't quite ready, so I got a fresh pair of contacts to wear until I go back on wednesday.
The good news is that there is no discomfort or light sensitivity whatsoever.
If it stays like this for the rest of the day, I'll be able to drive to work tomorrow.

Day 6 - 5:30 pm

No discomfort or light sensitivity.
Still blurry, but it only affects me trying to read text (like on a computer monitor).
I was able to drive to work today with no issues.
Hopefully my vision clears up tomorrow.

Day 7 - 5:30 pm

The contacts were taken out this morning, which made my vision significantly blurrier than yesterday. 
My epithelium is still healing, so its kind of like looking through a shower curtain.
It has yet to smooth over. When I put eye drops in, which temporarily creates a smooth layer, I see perfectly; if only for a few seconds.
The doctor said it should clear up shortly. Hopefully it clears as fast as it was last week.
Good news: there is no corneal haze.
I have another followup next thursday (a week from tomorrow).

On a different note:
I'm going to stop updating this article and start a new one when I have some news or something significant happens, so this may be the end of the daily updates.

Day 8 - 7:30 am

I woke seeing very well this morning.
In a few hours it will be exactly one week since I walked into the laser room, so everyone is right when they say PRK results are measured in weeks and months.

I'm not sure if this is 20/20, but it must be close, the doctor will let me know next week.
My left eye is still slightly better than my right, but its catching up fast. My guess is by tonight they will be equal at this rate.
The scorecard right now:
Pain/Discomfort: None
Light Sensitivity: None
Sight: Excellent
Dry Eye: No
Halos: No
Starbursts: Sometimes, but decreasing.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5Part 6

posted on Thursday, November 04, 2004 3:18 PM

Feedback

# re: LVC - Part 3

Glad to here that everything went OK bro bro. Real quick how many fingers am I holding up. Did you say 3, because if you did then you have super human eyes that can see 200 miles away.
11/5/2004 12:03 AM | CHRISTOPHER R. SAMPLE I

# re: LVC - Part 3

Nah, I can't see through the door of your house, they didn't give me xray vision after all.
Looks like your Passat could use a car wash though...
11/5/2004 7:52 AM | John Sample

# re: LVC - Part 3

I had PRK almost six weeks ago and have ghosting and double vision - sometimes worse than others. Every now and then I have a day when there is very little of these abberations and then it comes back. Anyone else have this and does it go away - how long does it usually take.
4/5/2005 5:47 PM | Nancy

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