|
Home > Archive > Lasik Eyes Surgery > November 2004 > Wavefront Lasik - Healing at 3 months?
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
Wavefront Lasik - Healing at 3 months?
|
|
| Nelson 2004-11-14, 11:09 am |
| My wife had Wavefront lasik about 3 months ago. Although she is seeing
20/15 in both eyes, she is really stuggling (mentally and physically) with
recurrent eye pain/strain and possibly bad dry eyes. She (of course)
thought it would be a month or two months of healing and she would be back
to normal. This is really thrown her mentally for a loop and she is
convinced she has somehow damaged her eyes for good. Everything according
to the doctor says everything is healing normally and I am worried at her
next appt. in a week, even if they tell her she is still healing that won't
satisfy her. I personally think she is healing well, since I can take a
step back and see she is improving (abeit slow) over the 3 month period.
The question is...is this normal? I keep reading about the _normal_ 3 to 6
month healing period. Has anyone else experienced the same healing rate?
Her eyes are fairly good through most of the day but at night she really
freaks when they start to ache and she can't do anything but sit there. It
is also hard for her to read for more than a small amount of time. With her
eye ache, might her eyes be a bit over-corrected? What can be done here?
Can anyone share similiar experiences? I am sure her hearing other people
have been in the same boat will ease her frustrations. Thank You.
| |
|
| G'Day Nelson,
"Nelson" <reply2nelson@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:87d854b8.0411140816.5ab9047c@posting.google.com...
> My wife had Wavefront lasik about 3 months ago. Although she is seeing
> 20/15 in both eyes, she is really stuggling (mentally and physically) with
> recurrent eye pain/strain and possibly bad dry eyes. She (of course)
> thought it would be a month or two months of healing and she would be back
> to normal. This is really thrown her mentally for a loop and she is
> convinced she has somehow damaged her eyes for good. Everything according
> to the doctor says everything is healing normally and I am worried at her
> next appt. in a week, even if they tell her she is still healing that
won't
> satisfy her. I personally think she is healing well, since I can take a
> step back and see she is improving (abeit slow) over the 3 month period.
> The question is...is this normal? I keep reading about the _normal_ 3 to
6
> month healing period. Has anyone else experienced the same healing rate?
> Her eyes are fairly good through most of the day but at night she really
> freaks when they start to ache and she can't do anything but sit there.
It
> is also hard for her to read for more than a small amount of time. With
her
> eye ache, might her eyes be a bit over-corrected? What can be done here?
> Can anyone share similiar experiences? I am sure her hearing other people
> have been in the same boat will ease her frustrations. Thank You.
Sorry to hear your wife is in pain.
If it is very bad I think she should get a second opinion.
My experience was quite a lot of eye strain for the first month or so. I
also had bad dry eye for about 5 months till I stopped using drops
altogether. Strange as they then felt ok. The eye strain I had was worse
using the computer for long periods, reading etc. It sort of felt like the
strain you would get by wearing someone elses glasses for a long time. I
don't think it should be going on for 3 months though so I'd get a second
opinion.
Regards
Wal
| |
| Rebecca 2004-11-14, 10:06 pm |
| reply2nelson@yahoo.com (Nelson) wrote in message news:<87d854b8.0411140816.5ab9047c@posting.google.com>...
> My wife had Wavefront lasik about 3 months ago. Although she is seeing
> 20/15 in both eyes, she is really stuggling (mentally and physically) with
> recurrent eye pain/strain and possibly bad dry eyes. She (of course)
> thought it would be a month or two months of healing and she would be back
> to normal. This is really thrown her mentally for a loop and she is
> convinced she has somehow damaged her eyes for good. Everything according
> to the doctor says everything is healing normally and I am worried at her
> next appt. in a week, even if they tell her she is still healing that won't
> satisfy her. I personally think she is healing well, since I can take a
> step back and see she is improving (abeit slow) over the 3 month period.
> The question is...is this normal? I keep reading about the _normal_ 3 to 6
> month healing period. Has anyone else experienced the same healing rate?
> Her eyes are fairly good through most of the day but at night she really
> freaks when they start to ache and she can't do anything but sit there. It
> is also hard for her to read for more than a small amount of time. With her
> eye ache, might her eyes be a bit over-corrected? What can be done here?
> Can anyone share similiar experiences? I am sure her hearing other people
> have been in the same boat will ease her frustrations. Thank You.
No, it's not normal.
Yes, others have experienced it.
Suggestions:
1) When your wife goes for her exam, she should make sure they do
wavefront aberrometry. She should also ask for a colour printout to
take home. If possible she should ask for a contrast acuity exam as
well. What you need to realise is that optical problems which can have
a significant impact on one's visual experience aren't necessarily
caused by something visible in a standard examination. Higher order
aberations for example certainly aren't.
2) If she is experiencing dry eye pain she may want to review our
pages on dry eye at:
http://www.lasermyeye.org/patients/dryeye/whatitis.html
I know a lot of people who have been through similar eye strain
problems after LASIK and believe me there are ways and means to find
out what is going on and hopefully treat it as well if it does not
resolve on its own over the coming months.
Good luck & keep us posted.
Rebecca Petris
www.lasermyeye.org
| |
|
|
| C. Gates 2004-11-15, 11:07 am |
| Nelson wrote:
> My wife had Wavefront lasik about 3 months ago. Although she is seeing
> 20/15 in both eyes, she is really stuggling (mentally and physically) with
> recurrent eye pain/strain and possibly bad dry eyes. She (of course)
> thought it would be a month or two months of healing and she would be back
> to normal. This is really thrown her mentally for a loop and she is
> convinced she has somehow damaged her eyes for good.
Others have given you some advice on how she can deal with the vision
issues. May I offer that it's also important for her to get some help
and understanding with the emotional and psychological aspects this
situation. She seems to be dealing with the belief that because she made
the decision to have the surgery, she's responsible for the outcome,
which at the moment is not meeting her expectations. This can lead to a
lot of guilt, self blame, and feelings of betrayal, which does not help.
She's probably feeling a lot of anger toward the medical people, too.
> Everything according
> to the doctor says everything is healing normally and I am worried at her
> next appt. in a week, even if they tell her she is still healing that won't
> satisfy her.
You're probably right. And I have a hunch that no matter how much
"reality" that you, her doctor, or anybody else throws at her, it's not
going to make her feel much better, emotionally. In fact, "reality" can
make matters worse if presented in a clueless way. Perhaps if you let
her know that you really hear what she's saying, that you are with her
with whatever she wants to do for her recovery, and that starting now,
she can start doing whatever she can to take control of the situation
and not remain passive and wait for some hopeful improvements. Other
posters have provided some positive things you both can do. If the
doctor does not respond as hoped for, then find a reputable place to get
a second or third opinion. Positive things can be done. Help her regain
a sense of control over her life.
Also, let her know that most people have no clue about what she's going
through, that she's not alone in dealing with this, and she has the
sympathy, companionship and support from a lot of other people (on line)
with the same, and similar, outcomes -- better and worse.
I can tell you from personal experience that the medical world is just
now learning how to deal with the small percentage of people whose
vision has been damaged by surgery. Many professionals are still
working with mental models that pre-date, for example, off-center
ablations. So you need to find somebody who is aware of, and will
acknowledge, surgical shortcomings, and come up with accurate solutions
that deal with these new causes of vision problems. Sometimes, the
patient has had to learn more than the doctor, and as much as the doctor
may resents this participation in the person's own outcome, it's
absolutely necessary. Doctors who perform the surgeries often resist
acknowledging problems.
| |
| SpokaneConsumer 2004-11-15, 7:07 pm |
| Sorry to hear about your wifes dry eyes. It seems you are getting a lot of
good advice.
I have to admit, I didn't like the "tear drops" either as one of the
posters mentioned. They are good to have when my eye is dry, but using
them a lot seems to bother my eye. The reason being is that the drops dry
up in my eye lashes and around my eye and turn to crusties, which then get
in my eye and irratates them. I try to only use them when my eye is dry.
I "carefully" try to clean the "tear drop" crusties off my eye after
everthing has been absorbed.
My lasik details if interested:
http://www.msu.edu/user/heinric6/lasik.htm
Good luck! :-)
reply2nelson@yahoo.com (Nelson) wrote in
news:87d854b8.0411140816.5ab9047c@posting.google.com:
> My wife had Wavefront lasik about 3 months ago. Although she is
> seeing 20/15 in both eyes, she is really stuggling (mentally and
> physically) with recurrent eye pain/strain and possibly bad dry eyes.
> She (of course) thought it would be a month or two months of healing
> and she would be back to normal. This is really thrown her mentally
> for a loop and she is convinced she has somehow damaged her eyes for
> good. Everything according to the doctor says everything is healing
> normally and I am worried at her next appt. in a week, even if they
> tell her she is still healing that won't satisfy her. I personally
> think she is healing well, since I can take a step back and see she is
> improving (abeit slow) over the 3 month period. The question is...is
> this normal? I keep reading about the _normal_ 3 to 6 month healing
> period. Has anyone else experienced the same healing rate? Her eyes
> are fairly good through most of the day but at night she really freaks
> when they start to ache and she can't do anything but sit there. It
> is also hard for her to read for more than a small amount of time.
> With her eye ache, might her eyes be a bit over-corrected? What can
> be done here? Can anyone share similiar experiences? I am sure her
> hearing other people have been in the same boat will ease her
> frustrations. Thank You.
>
|
| |
|
|