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> How did the surgery go? And what is the difference
> between LasEk and LasIk?
Well, I had LASEK last wednesday, and today is the first day that I feel
human again :-{
LASEK is a.k.a. thin-flap LASIK. It's almost a half-way house between PRK
and LASIK. My consultant said research is showing there are less
complications and regressions with PRK than with LASIK, and PRK is more
understood as it's been performed for twice as long as LASIK. PRK is far
less invasive, as there is no deep 'cut' as occurs in LASIK. It's not so
dependant on the surgeons skills as is LASIK, as there's no cutting. It's
far easier to treat any subsequent infection, and we felt was a better
option where diving was concerned. However, there is more discomfort than
LASIK.
Anyhow LASEK is where they use alcohol to remove a very thin flap off the
front of the eye (epithelial layer - hinge at top), and then carry out
normal laser surgery. The flap is then replaced and a bandage contact lens
placed on top for a few days. There is no cutting as in LASIK, but only the
use of alcohol. The advantage is that there is less trauma to the eye than
PRK (where they simply laser straight thru the surface layer), there is
supposedly less discomfort, and the recovery is quicker. LASEK was first
performed in Italy a couple of years ago. There are a couple of consultants
in the States who are now using LASEK ... not sure who tho, as well as the
teams in Italy, UK, Ireland and other places. Altho a new procedure, it's
based on the very stable and well-known PRK. The results so far have been
impressive, according to my guy, and he thinks that this will become the
normal procedure soon. The amount of LASIK he's doing is dropping quickly
and he's doing far more PRK / LASEK now.
Surgery took 10 mins. A number of eye drops, and lie back on comfortable
couch. The surgeon told me what was going to happen, and we had a 'practise'
run. Stare at a green spot for 25 secs whilst the laser did it's thing -
without actually using the laser ... just the countdown and listen to the
noises. Seemed ok. Eye clamp went on ... couldn't feel any pain, but was an
odd feeling. He put a spherical thing on the eye and squirted in the
alcohol. Left it for a few seconds, then very carefully pulled the surface
layer flap away, using a hockey-stick-shaped tool. At this point, my
eyesight went blurred. You could see the 'flap' as it was moved out of the
way ... bizarre feeling but completely painless. Once the flap was away,
things cleared up and I could see (badly) again. Then was the time for the
laser. Surgeon held my head very still, and ... zap zap zap. He counted
slowly to '25' whilst the laser worked. At first, the green spot was clear,
then it went blurred. Slight smell of burning hair. Again, completely
painless. Just odd. After 25 secs, the laser switched off, the eye was
cleaned and the flap was put back. The bandage contact lens was put on and
that was that. He checked my eye thu the usual eye check devices, seemed
everything went well. My eye was a tad red, but that was all. By the time I
got to the car, I could feel it starting to hurt. So I took some of the
painkillers, and they seemed to work. (Co-proximal). Once home, I crashed
out in a dark room. Real pain kicked in a few hours later .... outrageously
painful! Took prescribed sleeping pills, painkillers and eventually slept.
Next day, felt sick, dizzy, felt I had been kicked in the side of the head,
pain in the eye that the painkillers didn't seem to cope with. My surgeon
had warned me about this. I think I suffered from side effects of the
painkillers, and that didn't help either. So, 2 days of outrageous
discomfort..... I went back for a check up Friday. The flap had almost
re-connected. By this time, the pain had almost gone, and I could see. :-)
My eye still was trying to imitate Niagra in the amount of tears it was
generating tho. Unfortunately, the bandage contact lens came off that day,
and then the pain came back, and the vision went blurred. Saturday was
uncomfortable, but I wasn't taking the co-proximal as I didn't like the side
effects. It felt as if there was something in the eye (gritty feeling), and
the general headache was calming down. Today, Sunday, only a little
discomfort. I can open my eye. Vision is still blurred though, as expected.
I still don't like bright lights so all the curtains are still drawn. I've
got eye drops that I need to put in 4 x a day, and these will continue for a
month. My next checkup is in 2 weeks time.
I'm waiting to see how this eye turns out before thinking about the other.
If everything works out, I'll have the other one done this October, once the
diving season has finished in the UK. I've been advised no diving for 6
weeks ..... I've not organised anything for at least 12 weeks just to make
sure.......and even then, it'll be shallow stuff.
Hope this is of interest to people?
- h
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