Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Blisters on my Eyes




The worse decision I ever made in my life was 3 years ago, when I decided that I knew better than everyone else, especially Hubs, and had the Lasik eye surgery done on both of my peepers.

The only person in favor of the surgery - well, besides me, of course - was the eye surgeon, and looking back, I should have realized that he had slightly ulterior motives. As in my pocketbook.

Anywho, he pulled out his light saber wand and performed his "magic" and all was well in my seeing world for about 2.5 years.

The last 6 months have sucked.

Excessive dry eyes. Halos at night. Blurry vision in the distance, and no vision at all up close. I am a walking wreck when it comes to the eyes.

I went and had the eyes checked this morning, and pretty much flunked every eye test they threw at me.

"Tell me what number you see in the colored dots," the eye tech asked.

"Number? There's a number in there? Is this a joke?" was my reply.

"Which is better....one? Or two?" she asked.

"Uh....neither? Is that an option?" I would answer.

So, yeah, it went like that.

After much whispering and consulting and shaking their heads, the eye tech and the eye doctor grimly gave me the diagnosis.

My eyes are SO dry, that I have blisters on them.

"Is that even possible???" you ask. Cuz I asked, too.

Apparently, yes...because I'm totally serious. I have LESIONS on my eyes from how dry they are. Ack!

Most people would get a prescription of Restasis, and call it a day. I not only get a prescription of Restasis, but I also have ANOTHER lubricant to be used four times a day, in addition to the Restasis drops, twice a day...AND, I must, must, must put hot compresses on my eyes every day for 10 minutes. To stimulate the ducts. Don't ask.

And they weren't done with the bad news.

No more over-the-counter reading glasses for me. Nope, I'm now back in prescription lenses for reading.

And - I have another appointment in a month to see if I'm making any progress.

Joy.

As I sit here, with dilated eyes that can't see a thing (it's a miracle I'm typing this - God knows what it will end up looking like, because I absolutely cannot see the keyboard), I just have to ponder...

What the hell did I pay that eye surgeon for 3 years ago???!!!??

Peace.

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4 comments:

Terri Steffes said...

Dang girl. Wait, I'll put that in bold so you can see it... . I am so sorry to hear this. You must be a great typist... no errors!

David said...

Wow, that's basically the first... what should I call it... regret? buyer's remorse?... bad review? that I've read about lasik. The only regret I've heard before yours was, "Why didn't I do it sooner?"

I can't see close up. I need readers or computer glasses for anything within about 30". And I need a lot of light. Menus in dark restaurants require not only reading glasses, but a flashlight these days. But enough about me.

I can't believe you're getting lesions on your eyes. That sounds horrible! Praying that your tear ducts kick into high gear and start lubricating your eyeballs properly. Did the lasik have anything to do with that? It would seem that tear production wouldn't be related to the surgery, but I don't know.

KCSherri said...

David - they estimate that 20% of Lasik surgery patients have "side effects" after the surgery...so, 1 in 5. That's really rather high for a surgery, if you think about it.

And yes, "dry eyes" is one of the possible side effects - as the corneal nerves that are responsible for tear production are severed when the flap is cut.

Other side effects are halos, sensitivity to light and starbursts...which I have all of these. For some people, these side effects disappear after time - but mine are permanent.

There's a great website that discusses some of the complications at www.lasikcomplications.com.

Tolentreasures said...

I have heard of people having the same problem as you...and for that reason I will just keep wearing contacts and glasses. Just plain scared!

Cathy