AFTER LASIK
Providing all information you need to know before and after LASIK
A website dedicated to all ex-lasik/post lasik patients.
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My StorySuffering from Complications After LASIK since 2001On 9th March 2001, I underwent a standard LASIK surgery at one the LASIK centres in Malaysia. I had quite a high prescription before the surgery. My pre-operative eyesight was –11.0 diopter (left eye) and -9.5 diopter (right eye). After two days of the surgery, when my corneal flap is healing and my vision started to become clearer, I started to see some ghosting/double vision effects on my left eye (no, it is not normal Astigmatism). I am actually experiencing this not only during the night, but during daytime as well. When I’m in a dark area for more than 5 minutes, both of my eyes will see glares, haloes, starbursts and not to mention the ghosting effect. It is true that I almost had 20/20 vision without optical aids, but having these other LASIK complications is really disturbing. Since then, I have been complaining about this and made very frequent visits back to the LASIK centre to seek consultation. During the visits I have been told again and again that these glares, ghosting effects will be reduced as the time goes by. Now, four years have passed, not only my vision does not improve, but instead has become worse. I started wearing glasses again on December 2003. For the past few years, I have sought advice from a few eye specialists and ophthalmologists from Penang and also from Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital. But to no avail, nobody can give me a satisfying answer on what is happening to my eyes and how to solve these problems. Some even suggested that I should go seek for psychiatrists help. Helpful? Sure is. On November 2004, I visited the LASIK centre again and found out that my surgeon (I will call him Dr.X) has resigned from the centre. I was introduced to another 2 doctors (Dr.Y and Dr.Z) whom I have never seen before. They have made an assumption that I am having irregular astigmatism due to higher order aberrations. The reason of seeing halo, starburst, ghosting at night is because of the dilation of my pupils has exceeded the treatment area (Optical Zone). Dr.Y has suggested that I could go for an enhancement surgery with LASEK instead of LASIK because my cornea tissue is too thin. The data that they obtained from the latest abberometer was sent to Singapore’s Bausch & Lomb for further studies. Sometime later on that month, coincidentally, I met Dr.X (my LASIK surgeon) when I did my eye check up. He told me to go to his private clinic to have my eyes checked using the abberometer there. But when I call up the clinic, a lady picked up the phone and told me to get a RM4000.00 (about $1060.00 USD) bank cheque from my LASIK centre if I want the enhancement surgery to be done at Dr.X's private clinic. I can’t see the logic in it, all I want is just to get my eyes checked using the abberometer in his clinic. Now, please tell me what to do if you are in my shoes. I went for a check up again on 30th June 2005 by one optometrist near my area. Below is the prescription: Left eye: -0.50, -0.75 I was told that with such a low prescription, wearing glasses is not necessary. But the fact is, I really cannot see clearly without the glasses, and not even with the glasses on. I repeat, I cannot see clearly even with my glasses ON! Because of the ghosting, double vision or triple vision effects, whatever you want to call it, my vision becomes very hazy and sometimes blurry even with my glasses on. I can’t seem to focus on near objects. My eyes feel very tired and dry all the time. The ghosting/double vision effect is so bad that I cannot drive at night. My dry eyes problem is becoming more and more serious day after day. My eyes feel extremely dry as I am typing this letter. Dr.Y has given me some Refresh Tears eyedrops. Unfortunately, it only lasts for a few seconds. After that, my eyes become dry again. A picture is worth a thousand words, below are some of the images (courtesy of www.visionsimulations.com) that I see even with my spectacles on: Starburst
Picture B: Picture on the left, without glare. Picture on the right, with glare and this is what I see usually.
Halo
Dry Eyes
Picture D(1): This is what I will see if I keep blinking my eyes.
Ghosting/ Double Vision (Most disturbing, even daytime especially my left eye)
Picture E(1): Someone's pet dog. Picture E(2): This is how the dog would look from my point of view.
Picture F(1): This is what normal people see. Picture F(2): This is what I see.
Picture G(1): This is what I meant by double vision. I have been suffering from this problem right after the surgery. And it is getting worse day by day. It is very disturbing and I cannot live with it. I am totally depressed and frustrated.
I have also tried Pilocarpine eyedrops given by Dr.Y. I was told that the drug is for constricting the size of the pupils so that the starburst and glare will be reduced. Whenever I put on the drops, my eyes will become red, and I will feel dizzy. But the worst is, my vision will become totally blurred for almost "two hours"!. After the two hours of suffering, vision will become clear, starburst, glare and halo will be reduced but there’s still a little bit of ghosting effect on my left eye. Two hours of blurry vision everyday is crazy and I am very concern that this drug will result to other side effects later on.
I did some research on the Internet and found out a lot about post LASIK complications. I have also participated in some of the forums at www.lasermyeye.com and www.asklasikdocs.com. I have communicated with some doctors and post LASIK patients who share almost similar problems with me. I felt relief when I knew that I am not the only one with these problems. I met a girl from Canada who developed tachyphylaxis and rebound mydriasis after using a drug called Alphagan-P (which contains brimonidine tartrate) for only five months. From what I understand, both Pilocarpine and Alphagan work very similarly although they are totally different kind of drugs. I certainly would not want to take the risk of finding out until the drug is really proven safe.
Going for another enhancement surgery will be too risky, the only alternative that I think would help me is by wearing Rigid Permeable Gas Contact Lens or RGP lens. I have visited quite a few optometrists but could not find a single person who can help me until I found out about Dr. Pritam Singh. I have consulted Dr. Pritam Singh sometime in May 2005, one of the few contact lens specialists in Malaysia. Unfortunately, he refused to make a pair of RGP lens for me because they are too expensive. One piece of RGP lens alone would costs RM2000.00. Even if he agrees, I certainly could not afford that. According to him, post myopic LASIK patients like me would need a special type of RGP lens that is called ‘Reverse Geometry’ lens due to the flat cornea. Besides, he does not have much experience in fitting post LASIK patients with this type of lenses. He has more experience in helping patients with keratoconus problem. RGP lens that is use to treat keratoconus patients is different from ‘reverse geometry’ lens. I have tried a pair of trial lens at the clinic (RGP) and it was very uncomfortable. I will still have to bear with it because this is the only way out.
I did some research again on the Internet and found out about Dr. Greg Gemoules (Dr.G) from Texas, USA. He is a contact lens specialist and has a great reputation in treating patients like us. I have contacted him via e-mail. He advised me not to go for another surgery and insisted that contact lens would be the better solution. He said that only doctors/optometrists who have the experience fitting orthokeratology contact lens could help me. Well, from what I know, orthokeratology contact lens can never be found in Malaysia and even if they exist, it will cost me a lot of money (Updated : I've finally found one orthokeratology lens fitter - Here) . One of the experts that Dr.Greg recommended is Dr. Mitsui from Japan. He is well known in fitting post-LASIK patients with refractive errors and also other complications. But going to Japan is almost impossible for me. Later, Ms. Rebecca Petris, the founder of www.lasermyeye.com has suggested two contact lens specialists from Singapore. They are Dr. Koh Liang Hwee and Dr. Stan Isaacs. They are my next hope. Again, wearing contact lens will probably lead me to more issues like spectacle blur, corneal abrasion, eye diseases etc. but what other choice do I have?
One of the members of www.lasermyeye.com, Lucy who is suffering from both LASIK and Cataract Surgery share with us about the risks of cataract surgery for post LASIK patients. I understand that it will be a problem for a surgeon to calculate our IOL after LASIK. Reference -http://www.pendletoneye.com/danger.htm. Therefore, I need a backup copy of all my medical record before and after the surgery. And for you guys out there, better keep a copy of your own medical record.
My question is, why am I having astigmatism again? Why is it getting worse? I did not have astigmatism after my surgery. Is it because the shape of my cornea has changed? Is it because of regression? Will it keep on changing? What should I do in the future? Nobody ever told me that this would happen!
I have tried a lot of other alternatives like wearing pin-hole glasses, eating supplements like bilberry, flaxseed oil, using several kinds of eyedrops etc. I am trying my best to protect my eyes, I do eye exercises (Bates Method), used LCD monitor screen for my computer and never read under poor lighting. As you can see, I have gone through a lot of troubles trying to get my eyes fixed, spending a lot of time and money. And I definitely could not afford a piece of 2000 ringgit RGP lens (1100 USD per pair of contact lens? That's hell a lot of money for me). What should I do? My eyes become tired very easily and hyper sensitive to light. The ghosting, starbursts, glare and halo have stopped me from night driving. I cannot enjoy movies like I used to, I cannot see the moon and stars like everyone else. I am only 24 this year and this is the time where young adults like us will go out and enjoy nightlife. For me, I dare not go out at night because I am very afraid of what I am seeing. If only I could turn back the time, the first thing I would do is to stop myself for doing LASIK. It is like a total nightmare whenever I wake up in the morning, seeing everything with shadow and ghosting effects. I do not mind wearing glasses again at all but the problem now is even glasses cannot help.
I am very depressed, annoyed, frustrated and sad. What I really want is to get back a normal vision. I would be grateful and happy if my LASIK centre is willing to be responsible and help me to get my vision back. But what would you do if you are in my situation? What should I do? Sue them? - 21st July 2005
Thank you for reading - to read my blog and check out what's happening to me now - Click here.
Yours sincerely, KK Wong
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