Sara Toye
Had LASIK on weaker left eye only on March 13, 1998. Was a -16.5 in that eye and a -14 in the right. Had to fight my ophthalmologist to have only one eye done that day. The laser took 97 seconds to do its work. Doctor maintains to this day that I did not move my eye at all during this time.

Vision over the past year: double/triple vision, the Vaseline effect, and so on. It feels like there is good vision in there somewhere, but I cannot reach it. Have virtually no night vision at all. Only thing that has kept my from deep despair is the fact that my –14 eye can see 20/20 or so with a contact lens.

Great difficulty describing post-LASIK vision. Frustrated by the Snellen charts, which do not at all capture what I can and cannot see. My records were reviewed back in 98 and recently in ‘99. There has been no consensus on what went wrong, why, or how to fix it. I have even had trouble finding out what the problem is. Some say decentered ablation, some say no; some say irregular astigmatism and some say very little.


I am also frustrated because I seem to be viewed by some doctors as a success story since I can see better without correction than I could pre-LASIK. (Bear in mind that ANYTHING is better than the vision of a -16.5 eye!) The fact that I can't see anything clearly with correction seems to some doctors to be irrelevant.


Tried an RGP which helped so little that I didn't know when it came off center, which it did with great regularity. It also popped out of my eye quite often, since only my eyelids were holding it in place. I have been advised to have an enhancement or PRK. I have declined. One doctor suggested I try a soft lens, which I had been told for a year would not help me. Based on his suggestion and the experience of an individual who posted on an internet BB, I was fitted with a toric contact lens one year after LASIK. It has improved my vision considerably - the first ray of hope in a year. It has removed much of the double image. I can read 20/30 on the Snellen with much less difficulty, but the quality of the vision varies from minute to minute and is still not nearly as good as what I see with my -14 eye with its soft lens.


Unfortunately, I have trouble tolerating the soft lens, so cannot wear my lenses for many hours a day. (This inability to tolerate contact lenses after 36 years with them is the main reason I had LASIK in the first place.) When I do not wear contacts, I either go without correction at all (I can see well enough to function in a gross manner, with my -14 right eye essentially useless) or I wear a spectacle lens on the right eye with the left (LASIK'ed) eye blacked out. After 3 weeks of wearing the soft toric, it seems that the lens may be molding to my cornea, and my vision is regressing. My optometrist said we may want to try disposable torics. We will see.


With the partial success of this soft toric lens, my optometrist told me that part of my problem is regular astigmatism, which was news to me and definitely LASIK-induced. I should mention that my topographies have improved significantly from month 7 to month 12. This supposedly does not happen. I think this is one more indication of the lack of knowledge about the effects of LASIK on the eye. I was not told until very recently that my K-readings may preclude another flap-lifting, but I have also been told that flaps have been successfully lifted up to two year post-LASIK.


This past year has been a time of great frustration and some despair. I don't know if there is hope for me, and I have spent hundreds of hours researching post-LASIK experiences and developments, sitting in doctor's offices, etc. I cannot ignore the problem as I might be able to do with a similar problem elsewhere in or on my body. It is, as they say, "in my face."


I am hopeful that one of the new technologies will be able to help me. I really wish someone could tell me what went wrong and why.


Sara Toye