I had really bad vision (20/400 & 20/420), but otherwise perfect eyes. Then as a thank you gift my best friend persuaded her father to evaluate my eyes and, if possible, correct my vision. Being deaf, I found the idea of letting someone mess with my eyes more than a little scary. But despite my fears decided to take the doctors opinion that I was textbook perfect for Lasik and have it done. It was recommended as a safety measure that I have Lasik done on one eye, for more "instant" vision and PRK on the other since it has less potential for complications.

My nightmare began during the Lasik procedure and I've not yet come up for air. What we should have realised, but did not during the Lasik is that the anisthetic drops did not work for me. Trust me, you do NOT want to feel the keratome doing it's thing...or feel your epithelium coming loose and tearing. One half of my brain was screaming, the other chanted "Whatever you do..DONT MOVE!" The tear, excessive bleeding, and pain were just the beginning. Try having your tear ducts cauterized...and FEELING IT! My doctor says I'm the worst set of complications he's seen in over three years. But hey, I'm making an excellent teaching case. LOVELY!

They waited a few weeks to do my second eye, it has healed very slowly. Both eyes have ghosts, and haloes, The left constantly drips tears, the right makes none at all. The epithelial cells continue to slough off. After months of corneal edema, it has receded leaving striae behind. This weekend I feel at the end of my rope. In theory my vision is "better" more like 20/60 without glasses now...but I see FOUR of everything, can rarely get both eyes to focus on the same thing, go though 3ml of tears EVERY day...for just one eye. If I could return this gift...I would.

Being Deaf, my eyes are my world. My ability to communicate, to do the things I love, I feel like my whole life has been taken away.

Virginia