2.5-Year Update

It's been two-and-a-half years since I had epi-LASIK vision correction surgery. Here's where my eyes have settled.

In the first year or so after the surgery, some nearsightedness returned, which is not uncommon for people like me who had high-myopia prescriptions before the surgery.

Here's a before and after comparison of my prescription for general glasses:

Before epi-LASIK
Right eye: -8.25 with -0.50 astigmatism
Left eye: -8.75

After epi-LASIK
Right eye: -2.00 with -1.25 astigmatism
Left eye: -2.25 with 0.50 astigmatism

Since the surgery, my eyes are dryer and more sensitive.

Although I could have the surgery done again to attempt to correct the remaining myopia, I decided not to go that route because I wasn't confident that a second surgery would result in a 20/20 outcome. In addition, the surgery can cause dryer eyes as a result of nerves being injured and I didn't want to risk a second less-than-perfect outcome.

Although the surgery did not fully correct my myopia, it's much better to have a small amount of myopia than a large amount. I can pick any type of frame I like because my lenses are thin. I don't have to limit myself to frames for high-myopes. So, I'm glad that I did the surgery. Although dryer and more sensitive eyes are a minor inconvenience, the trade-off, for me, has been worth it. The difference between being severely near-sighted and a little near-sighted is huge.

Day 45 (Right), Day 35 (Left)

My vision is quite good, however, it's still in flux. Some days my left eye sees more clearly than the right and some days it's the other way around. I still have some irritation in my right eye, but using drops more frequently and the gel drops do seem to help. Hopefully, the irritation will completely go away with time. My monovision eye is reading easily now. My distance eye can read, but the letters are blurry. Distance reading is fine, though. My eyes continue to be a little more light sensitive than they were before the surgery. Although my vision isn't perfect, I'm very happy that I got the surgery. It's great to be able to see well without wearing contacts or glasses. I especially like being able to see when I wake up since this is still novel to me.

If you're reading this because you're planning to get or have already had epi-LASIK (PRK),  here's a little tip: You may be able to return your unused boxes of contact lenses for a refund. I took mine to my optometrist's office to ask if I could return them and, to my surprise, the answer was "yes". I was refunded what I had paid after my vision service plan (VSP) discount.

Day 36 (Right), Day 26 (Left)

I had my one-month, follow-up appointment today. My left eye tested 20/20 and my right about 20/25, which I found a little surprising because my right eye is my distance eye and has had 10 more days to heal than my left. I would have expected my monovision eye to test under 20/20. My vision is still somewhat in flux so things will likely change more before they settle into place. The eye doctor said that my vision will fluctuate over the next few months.

I did describe the irritation I have in my right eye when I blink. The eye doctor said it was most likely due to dryness and should resolve itself. She gave me gel-based tear drops and said I should use them rather than the regular tear drops because they last longer. I'll give them a go.

I also let her know that my reading vision in my right eye is still blurry. She said that it's possible that it will remain that way in my distance-corrected eye. I hope it doesn't and that it sharpens over the next month or two.

I also showed the technician the two pairs of glasses I hung onto and asked if she could tell me what the approximate prescription was. She said that one pair is about a +1, which makes them reading glasses. The other pair is about a +0.25, which makes them computer glasses. She said that I should keep them because I might want to use them even after my vision correction surgery, so I'll hang on to these two pairs. I'm actually wearing the computer glasses now for no particular reason. They seem to make the words on the screen just a bit bigger.

My next follow-up appointment is two months from now. That's all the latest!

Day 35 (Right), Day 25 (Left)

Tomorrow I have my one-month follow-up appointment. I'll also have follow-up appointments at three months, six months, and one year, I believe.

I want to ask the surgeon if the irritating sensation I have when I blink my eyes is normal and whether it will go away. I'm noticing it primarily in my right eye at this point.

I'm also eager to know how my vision tests and whether all is on track for my one-month follow up. My vision is getting crisper, but is still in flux. I can read well with my left eye and with both eyes together now, but not with my right eye alone. I'm more light sensitive than I was before surgery.

To satisfy my curiousity, I also want to ask if the surgeon knows what causes the different color perception between my right and left eyes. (This question is unrelated to my surgery. My left eye sees with a slight red filter and my right eye sees with a slight yellow filter. My eyes have perceived color this way as long as I can remember.)

I have two pairs of reading or computer glasses from before my epi-LASIK surgery. I don't recall whether they're reading glasses or computer glasses or both. I want to find out what the correction is in the lenses and if the glasses may be of use to me in the future (or even now after surgery).

I'll post an update after my appointment tomorrow!

Day 30 (Right), Day 20 (Left)

It's been a month since I had surgery in my right eye. I still experience a persistent "foreign body sensation" in my eyes when I blink. Surprisingly, it's more noticeable in my right eye than my left even though the surgery in my left eye was more recent. The feeling is similar to wearing a contact lens with a very small nick in it. I'm hoping that the sensation will clear up with time. The wetting drops seem to help.

My distance vision in my right eye is very clear. My near vision (reading vision) in my right eye is getting clearer, but still a little blurry. The double vision I experienced when reading has gone away. It's possible that my reading vision in my right eye will remain a little blurry. When nearsighted eyes are corrected for distance in someone over 40, the need for reading glasses can sometimes be immediate. Nearsightedness can mask the need for reading glasses and once the nearsightedness is removed, the need for reading glasses is more noticeable. Here's an article about it.

I'm just shy of three weeks post-surgery for my left eye and reading is very crisp with my left eye now. My distance vision with my left eye is blurry, but seems to get a little clearer each day.

My one-month follow-up appointment is next Wednesday and I'm very curious to have my vision tested.

Day 25 (Right), Day 15 (Left)

Today while shopping, I realized that I'd forever closed the door on any future career as a great impressionist painter. The thought crossed my mind when I eyed this dress in a store:

I had heard that Monet and other impressionist painters were nearsighted. This idea seems reasonable to me because that's pretty much how I saw the world without my glasses. Apparently, the idea has been put forward that the impressionist movement wouldn't have happened without painters with poor eyesight. (Click the link you may have overlooked in the previous sentence to learn more.)

In addition to being near sighted, Monet developed cataracts that changed his color perception. He painted in redder hues before a surgeon removed his cataracts. (Search on "remove his cataracts" on this Wikipedia page to learn more.)

While I pondered my more limited set of future careers, my mom tried on this dress, but decided against it:

It's not known for certain, but it's possible that Van Gogh's prominent use of yellow (link) was because he saw more yellow than the average person due to taking digitalis, which some have said one of his doctors prescribed to him for epilepsy.

Day 24 (Right), Day 14 (Left)

I'm two weeks out after my surgery in my left eye so stopped using the antibiotic eye drop and only need to use the wetting drops several times a day for the next couple of weeks (or longer, if my eyes are uncomfortable). My vision in my right eye is great now for distance (I'd guesstimate 20/25), but blurrier for reading than my corrected vision before surgery. That said, I'm beginning to be able to read with it even though it's my distance-corrected eye.

I'm able to read now with my left eye too, which was corrected a little over two weeks ago and corrected to hopefully result in mini-monovision (0.5 diopters undercorrected). Reading with my left eye is a little blurry, but has improved dramatically over the past two weeks since the surgery.

Both my eyes have a "foreign body sensation" in opthalmology jargon, which is to say that I feel like I have something in my eyes. I've felt this pretty regularly (although not always) since the surgery. It feels like there's a little roughness on my cornea when I blink. I feel it only when blinking. My eyelids sometimes feel like they almost want to stick closed for an instant before opening again. My eyes also feel dry and tired in the morning when I wake up. It takes them awhile to feel ready for the day.

From what I've read about epi-LASIK, these post-surgery symptoms are typical and can take awhile to resolve themselves as the corneas heal.