Henry
How could I be so stupid!

My story begins with a trip to the doctor for a "free" evaluation to see if I was a "candidate" for the LASIK procedure. After a quick (25 minute) eye chart and topography test, I was told that indeed I was an "excellent candidate" for the procedure. I was ecstatic, and couldn’t wait to have the surgery.

Prior to the surgery, I had +5 diopters of astigmatism in both eyes correctable to 20/20 with glasses. My occupation as a quality control manager for a large corporation demanded I have excellent vision and I distinctly told my doctor this during our brief meeting prior to the procedure and he told me "Don’t worry, we’re going to fix you up". Yeah, he really fixed me up!

On the day of the surgery I eagerly anticipated what I thought was going to be a new beginning for me. I had worn glasses since I was 7 years old and I couldn’t wait to be free of this vise. I had researched this procedure and I was confident there would be no complications.

It was quick and I was in and out of his office in an hour and a half. I was driven home in excruciating pain. That following morning I woke up with severe blurred vision in my left eye and moderate blurriness in the right. I immediate called the doctor who was very unsympathetic.

Two weeks after the surgery I continued to complain to my doctor of blurred & double vision, as well as loss of depth perception. I mean I could not even recognize a familiar face at a distance of more than 15 feet! He told me "maybe I’ll do a mini RK", mini RK…(Huh)? Then the following week it changed from a mini RK to a "PRK". I thought to myself mini RK, PRK, does this guy know what he is doing?

Four weeks after the initial procedure I was back at his office having another topography test and while complaining to his assistant about my situation, she said "your just undercorrected, the doctor can fix that". Then, the very same day, the doctor himself told me that I was overcorrected…(Huh)? Am I over or under I asked him? "Don’t worry he says, you worry too much, you’re so pessimistic". Well all I know is that I can’t see straight, I now have constant headaches, trouble functioning at work because I am now visually challenged and I’m being told two different stories but I’m not supposed to be "worried".

At this point I had had enough and decided to seek another opinion. So off I go and what I found out was very disturbing. During the second opinion I found out that I had irregular astigmatism in both eyes and that the left was the worst, all brought on from the surgery. There was residual astigmatism in both eyes (+1.50 left +1.00 in the right). In addition, there was debris and fibers under the flap that was adding to the problem. Wow, this blew me away, especially when this doctor told me "If you were a relative or family member I would tell you not to have another procedure because it will make it worse". You see, because of the irregular astigmatism and enhancement will not correct the problem. The doctor told me I should wait for new technology to come along which may be able to correct the concern. "Topography guided ablation", he told me, is what is needed. This procedure uses the topography image to guide the laser and ablate or vaporize the corneal tissue to make it smooth again and restore the sharp vision.

So here I am three and a half months after the surgery and I am still suffering from blurred vision. Recognizing people indoors is difficult, if not impossible, at more than a few feet away. Nighttime driving is, pardon the pun, a nightmare but at least the headaches are less frequent. My vision cannot be correct with glasses because of the irregular astigmatism so I went to an optometrist and we are working with different hard gas permeable lens to help correct the vision but it hasn’t been a picnic. That’s why I had the procedure done in the first place because I could not tolerate hard lenses.

Sometimes I think to myself, how could I have been so stupid as to jeopardize something as precious as my vision. For those of you who are considering this procedure I would say ask yourself this question, am I ready accept the possible risk of serious complications? Nothing is a given in life and certainly not regarding this surgery. There are plenty of statistics, problem is the doctors only want to present the positive ones and the negatives get filed at the landfill.

Anyway, regardless of all the problems that I have had to endure, I still have a lot of faith and I haven’t given up. Those of you who are in the same situation as I should not lose the faith either. We will prevail, it just might take a while but I look forward to the day I can look up to the sky on a clear night and count the stars above. Hang in everyone, we’ll get there!