<p>After several years of talking about it, D has it scheduled this Friday. I was not able to attend the consultation appt. she had over Thanksgiving, so H went. The only real information they mentioned about the hours right after surgery is that it’s best to sleep, so that your eyelids are closed. I know they will give more specific post-op instructions that day, but can anyone who’s had this done, tell me what I might expect to need to be done for her that first evening, and perhaps the next day as she recovers? She does have a post-op appt. on Saturday.</p>
<p>Almost everyone I’ve talked to said they didn’t even use the painkillers prescribed to them, so how do you ‘induce’ sleep? Her surgery is scheduled for 3:30PM. I heard something about valium along the way, but I don’t know if that’s given via pill form, or IV, or if enough is given so that she’ll want to sleep when she gets home.</p>
<p>Will she be in the mood to watch TV when she’s awake? Meaning, should I tell her to request some movies to rent so that I can download them to our TV ahead of time? I know that everyone probably recuperates a little differently, but I’m just trying to get an idea of some of the possibilities.</p>
<p>I had mine several years ago. Valium was given in the form of a pill. They gave me those big old cover-half-your-head sunglasses to wear home. I went home and napped for a few hours, woke up to put in the drops they gave me as I was supposed to. One eye felt a bit scratchy (like a contact with a little something on it), the other didn’t really feel like anything had happened. After 4-5 hours of napping I was up and about, slept as usual that night. Stopped to shop for countertops on the way to my follow up appointment the next day. No complications for me, 20-20 vision the next day. Just follow the instructions they give you about showering, etc. No big deal… the whole thing was easier and less painful than getting my teeth cleaned (but much more expensive ).</p>
<p>You could download a movie or two, although podcasts or a book on CD might also be a good idea (can shut your eyes for those).</p>
<p>intparent’s experience was about the same as mine. I will point out that scrupulously following the postop instructions is essential to avoid infections. I did have two minor infections over the year after surgery, but I love having good vision!</p>
<p>Agreed, I was super meticulous about the post-op care. I didn’t want to risk any infection. FYI, they gave me the Valium pill shortly before the surgery (maybe 20-30 minutes before?). At one point during the surgery I told the surgeon that maybe he hadn’t given me enough, as I was a little freaked out by one of the steps. He was very soothing, calmed me down (but didn’t give me any more Valium!), and the rest went fine.</p>
<p>One thing that was very cool was that the surgery room was all blurry when I went in (no glasses or contacts). And when I sat up after the surgery - - I could see it all perfectly! I do remember the laser being very loud (really loud thumping sound), and the nurse and doctors shouting to be heard over it. But I have talked to others who don’t recall much noise from the laser.</p>
<p>DH and S1 have both had Lasik. S1 had his two years ago when he was 20 yrs. old.
DH had his about 9 years ago. DH went to bed immendiately upon arriving at home after the surgery and and slept the rest of the afternoon and all night long.</p>
<p>DH accompanied S for the pre-op and actual surgery. They stopped on the way home to grab S1 a hamburger. Then S1 came home and went to bed. He slept for about four or five hours. He got up and came downstairs and watched TV with us for awhile, got a snack and went back to bed. The next day my extended family came in for our Christmas get-together. S1 was up, eating like a horse,visiting with family all day long. He was fine. </p>
<p>A 24 yr. old who works with me just had Lasik ten days ago. She was out driving the next night after surgery. She’s had no problems.</p>
<p>Just be sure to stay on track with the eye drops.</p>
<p>My experiences were very similar to others that replied. Also wanted to mention that my eyes were very dry for about 2 weeks following the surgery. I was vigilant about using the moisturizing eye drops, and the dryness cleared right up.</p>
<p>I love LASIK! Had it done 12 years ago and have never regretted it for a moment!</p>
<p>intparent - you know, this whole valium thing prior to procedures has me baffled. If you’re going to give it, especially orally, you need to give it far enough in advance so they actually feel the effects of the medication. This was one of my complaints about having wisdom teeth out… they say to take it an hour before the procedure - well it doesn’t really kick in fully until they’re ready to start, and then that’s when they give the IV sedation. The anxiety for people having procedures is often worse the couple of hours prior to, so why not have them take it two hours prior to the surgery?</p>
<p>I’ve already filled her eye drop prescription, and purchased the preservative-free eye drops. They also provided two packets of eye lid scrub that I had to send to her as the first application has to be done the night before (she’s flying in the night before and if, by some chance, her flight is delayed, rescheduled, etc., she’ll have the scrubs with her; at least with the procedure being later in the day, if there are any problems with her flight, she still has all morning/early afternoon to get another flight and make it in time). She was kind of looking forward to sleeping in on Friday before the procedure since it’s later in the day, but I might encourage her to get up so she really wants to sleep when she gets home.</p>
<p>Don’t know if you ladies were also instructed, no eye make-up two days prior and a week after surgery. And she’s been back in her glasses since last Friday.</p>
<p>Important safety tip: don’t take the bus to your surgery. My mom was convinced that she could handle it herself, and tried taking the bus to her Lasik procedure. This was during the days before my brother and I were old enough to drive, and it was scheduled to be when my dad was out of town.</p>
<p>It ended poorly. </p>
<p>So, do not rely on public transportation for before and after vision surgery. Just a helpful tip from aibarr.</p>
<p>Paying for Lasik three years ago was the best money I ever spent. I followed the instructions scrupulously, and had no problems. Of course, I had the dry eyes for a couple of months (moisturizing drops worked fine) and visual distortions – extreme halos at night for a while as I was warned. However, other than continuing to see mild halos at night (was warned about this, and they aren’t a problem. I saw the same halos while using my glasses), my vision is wonderful. </p>
<p>Best of all… I no longer almost hit people while backing up in parking lots. Before – due to lack of peripheral vision while wearing glasses, I kept almost hitting people when backing up. In fact, this was the main reason I decided to get Lasik: I didn’t want to accidentally kill someone. My driving overall has improved, too, because I have better depth perception. </p>
<p>As I was warned, I had one hour after surgery of feeling like broken glass was in my eyes. I went to sleep after that, and had no more extreme discomfort.</p>
<p>I despise using meds like Valium – which makes me feel woozy and gives me visual hallucinations. I’m fairly sure that I had that kind of med only for the surgery. Afterward, I think I took something like Tylenol3, which worked fine.</p>
<p>In fact, when I woke up after the broken-glass-in-eyes period, I got onto the computer and surfed the Net. I suspect that my CC addition is what has allowed me – to my doctors’ surprise – to be able to continue to read without using reading glasses even though before surgery, I had presbyopia, and the surgery isn’t supposed to fix that. </p>
<p>My vision is 20/20 in one eye, and 20/15 in the other. :)</p>
<p>It took a good 36 hours for the blur to go away for me, so don’t plan any driving the next day either.</p>
<p>I don’t spend a lot of money on myself - I need braces but never had them, never get manicures, hate to get my hair done…looking back, I can’t believe that I actually spent the time and money on LASIK but I’m so glad I did.</p>
<p>Oh also, don’t plan on getting the family portrait done for the next week. I had one or two fairly large red spots on the whites of my eyes. I couldn’t feel them but I didn’t look all that great.</p>
<p>Hate to get down to brass tacks, but DH has been talking about this for years and I’m just wondering what the procedure typically costs these days. (And how you selected your doctors?)</p>
<p>For both eyes, the total was $5 k. I got a referral from my opthamologist who told me about several doctors, including the cheapest in our area --$600 an eye. When I asked my opthamologist whom he would pick if he were having the surgury and why he would pick that man, my opthamologist cited experience, results, # of surgeries a day, what follow-up care was like, and I decided on that man.</p>
<p>After my surgery, I lay down with my ipod and a very long playlist and rested for the prescribed time. I was fine after that with no complications except maybe a little eye tiredness for a few days. </p>
<p>BTW, a cheaper place to get these advanced procedures is Canada. I had my eyes done in Montreal because a) the procedure had been approved there years earlier so the clinic had 10,000 operations done (and here it was only a few months old) and b) it cost 1/2 as much, including the drive up and hotels and meals. I don’t know if the price difference is the same or not these days since this was 5 years or so ago when the advanced forms of the operation were just being approved here. My total cost was about $2500 US, plus $500 to my local doctor for before and after care. Note that my doctor here knew and recommended the clinic in Montreal so I wasn’t going in “blind.”</p>
<p>I paid full price ($4,000 at the time). I found my doctor by (1) asking my opthamologist for suggestions, and (2) talking to an attorney I knew who represents eye doctors and practices He warned me off from someone who advertises heavily in our area (and I had been to a preliminary screening already with him). When I asked him who I should go to instead, he said, “Well, I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you who I sent my wife to…”. And it was the same person my opthamologist suggested.</p>
<p>I wanted the surgeon who had done 10,000 of 'em, and this guy fit that description. I consider it worth every single penny. No complications, and I was confident that they did a very good job of evaluating whether I was a good candidate ahead of time. Best money I ever spent. If I can afford it when I am done with tuition, I hope to offer both Ds the option of having the surgery as a college graduation present. It would have been great to have in my early 20s instead of waiting until I was 40!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on cost/selection strategies. Another concern I have is that the procedure is still <relatively> new and it’s your eyes for crying out loud. Fortunately I don’t have to think about it but I haven’t particularly encouraged DH to go ahead because I wonder if there are any long-term consequences. I mean, any negative effects when we’re all 75?</relatively></p>
<p>For anyone who hasn’t researched this, there are two levels of this procedure. The first, older level which has been approved in the US for many years involves reshaping the entire cornea. The newer method, which has a number of brand names, uses a more elaborate method in which light is bounced off the retina and a computer then analyzes the reflection pattern to determine the cornea’s imperfections. The computer then calculates how the cornea needs to be shaped, spot by spot, to eliminate the imperfections. You should (I think) get a picture beforehand that shows the scatter reflected back through your eye and then one after in followup. The more advanced lasers do smaller and smaller spots for more exactness but that’s the basic method. This process not only corrects for near-sightedness but also small corneal imperfections that distort your vision in ways you don’t realize until they’re gone.</p>
<p>As I noted above, I had mine done in Canada because the advanced form had only recently been approved in the US. That was several years ago.</p>
).</p>