laser Eye Surgery -Second time around

Trust me to be one of the five percent who need a repeat of the laser. Ater seven years of crytal clear vision, I knew there was some deterioration in my vision, which incidently happened around the same time I lost my job. Going round places, and to see a film in particular, the colours and vibrancy were simply not there. So I caught the deterioration fairly early on, and it had levelled out at minus one point two. To a lot of people this would have been incidental, and not worth the effort to do something about it. But for me if I could do something about the symptoms of FA for example, I would get them done in a shot whether I had to beg, borrow or steal.

At the time I started wearing the glasses again for distance, I chose the cheapest ugliest granny glases around, which I soon updated to a more modern pair, but ultimately for me it came down to a quality of life decision.I initially thought I would'nt be wearing the glasse for long anyway, that I would get them done in Newbridge, but in retrospect they were not too keen to take me on. As someone with a number of extra medical problems( diabetes and FA) I feel in retrospect they tried to fob me off. Initially they told me to wait a year for the eyesight to stabalize, and then they said that my over usage of the laptop was to blame. I stupidly had it on full glare, and when i was at home staring into it day and night, they told me in Newbridge that this could well be the source of the problem, and what would be the point of getting the laser again, if the potential was there for my eyes to deteriorate again soon and to be back at square one with a hefty dint in my bank balance .

It was certainly not just a question of vanity. It was pitiful looking at me putting on the glases sometime lo lobsided, and constantly dropping them and picking them up badly. It is a wonder that they survived at all.(even though they were chipped I needed visited to Optical Express for repair and cleaning) The only way I woul;d describe it to anyone else was that for seven years I was used to perfect 3D viion , but with the glasse it was like the world was o drab 2D. Almost as if all the colours had been dimmed. Nothing was blurrey or double visioned , it was just that the lustre had gone, and at thirtyfive , this was not acceptable.

After over a year of time wasting, the laser centre in Newbridge told me that they would not perform the surgery. They had quoted €2700, unless I had a note from GP ok'ing tyhe procedure. This was almost like a get out of jail card for them, as my GP felt that they were just trying to pas the buck onto him, and if anything less than perfect results happened , that he would get the blame. Eventually though my GP did sign the consent letter,informed me that they were not willing to perform the procedure on me and it was their recommendation to go go back to Blackrock.

By this time Mr.Browne had long retired, but my files (by this stage 9 year old files)had been still kept, and I was told that a Mr.Power was now doing the aftercare, for Mr.Brownes old patients. The reason I had wanted it done in Newbridge was largely out of convenience. At this stage i can no longer drive , and what i do and where I go is curtailed and somewhat of a juggling act. I managed to schedule an appointment with Mr.Power drring my pa's hours and with the help of Tomtom we made it up to Blackrock. It was €100 for the consultation. It was worth the money alone to be told that it was not the laptops fault , and that my eyes had naturally deteriorated.I remember i queried this and said that looking into alaptop on full glar must been almost as bad as looking into the sun. But i was told this was not the case, as it is the ultraviolet rays of the sun causes damage to the eyes , but this is not present in the laptop. This was the fifth of June and to my surprise they said that they would have an opening on the 24th of June. I had not expected it to be so soon , but i was very excited at the thoughts of being able to see Janet Jackson in her Dublin concert, in perfect vision( it was a let down as it turned out).

The Blacrock Clinic is a very classy place, and you get the feeling you are getting the best treatment money can buy. Initially at my consultation meeting, Dr.Power took one look at me in the wheelchair, and expresed his reservations about the logitics of doing the procedure on me. Nine years ago it wa a totally different story, I had much better balance and strength, and could transfer to a stool, to have the surgery done. This time around they put you on a reclining chair, but Dr.Power said there would be a few people to help. I knew that getting onto a stool would just not be possible at thi stage, o a dental chair was certainly manageable.

The day of the operation came and I had booked the Tara Towers Hotel, which is just down the road from the clinic. I had an assistant with me, as there was no way I was going to trust myself to put in the eye drops after the surgery, which is so critical. I think now that the aftercare is every bit as important than the procedure itself . It was strange to be back in the same room as nine years ago. After some x-rays I was good to go. I did take the above picture just miniutes before I went in for the surgery. My assistant thought he would have plenty of time to go upstairs for a cup of tea, but as it turned out , by the time I came back I was waiting outside with my night shields on.

Normlly people who are getting a second laser get PRK. As much as I detested glasses, I am not very good with pain, and the thought of being on painkillers wa making me think twice. However when Dr.Power examined me, he said that the original flap formed from my original lasik nine years ago could be found and reopened, so I could have the lasik instead of the PRK, which I was quite happy about.

The whole procedure takes fifteen minutes. It just sounds a whole lot more gruesome than it is. Yes, you can see them lift the top of the cornea off, yes you do the machine gun noise and smell the burning, but it is over so fast that you never really succumb to any fear. He talks to you all the way through, which is the best thing, but I have to say what is meant by the expression " being rigid with fear" . You are told to go back to the hotel , have a rest, not to shower till the following early morning appointment. I extended the one night hotel stay to two nights. The first two days are critical with the antibiotics going in every two hours. So the first two day will revolve totally around eye drops. But for me the lovely colours came back immediately.

The next morning I made my way down to Blackrock for the post op checkup. The one thing I will say is to remember to have your questions written down. Its not because he won't answer them, its just because the surgery practice is so busy. Otherwise you are in and out. He told me that nine years ago it was almost like an instantenous miracle ,to go from minus eight to perfect vision overnight. I did tell him that I saw Mr.Browne the next morning, and then never again. He said that he wanted to see me on the twentryseventh of July, and after that I am on my own. He also warned me to be patient, that the recovery period would take longer ( not an easy thing for a person with ZERO patience to hea). Because this is my second operation, it was tantamount to fine tuning.

Every word of what he said certainly ha come true, and i am now over three weeks post surgery. The eye are still settling down, and a recently as this Wednesday I phone the clinic tvery upset to say that my reading vision is still wonkey. It comes and goes,but I have to say it is frightenming. Even when i was really blind I could still read perfectly and it is doing my head in not being able to blog or read a bopok or magazine. My journalism course has been put on the long finger too. I know I have never had patience, but it would have been better if they had given me a time frame awsell as what am i meant to do if , I cant just close my eyes and night. My days revolve around putting in drops. The eyes are still healing. Sometimes the distance is very good , but to the dtriment of shortterm vision, or vice versa, the short term vision can be quite good, and distance can become a bit blurry, ahich is what I found yesterday going to see the Harry Potter film. The lustre and vibrancy of colours certainly is not back.

Perhaps I was expecting too much, but I still remain a firm advocate of laser. Its disappointing thet when you browse the web there are so few personal page about it. There are only glorified adverts, or scare mongering propaganda.One of my tips is not to use Optrex. I went for that product because I thought it would be an easier alternative to the artificial tears eye drop. I am terrified of anything getting in too close to my eyes, but the chemist assured me that it was exact same product as the artificial tears. I strongly doubt this. I used it on three separate occasions, and my sight was noticeably blurrier after this,so there must be some rogue ingredient in it.

All this is very time consuming, if I did have a job, I dont know how I'd cope. There would be no other option than to go on unpaid leave. I feel a bit stuck at the moment, not angry. The secretary told me its early days yeat and a lot of people have similar problems, but I wish theese eyes would calm down. Yes I do want it all. I want my perfection distance and reading vision back, but maybe I have to resign myself to certainly never getting the vision that I had over seven years ago. Would I do it again? I'm not sure. I am without glasses and its great. I would estimate that my distance vision is ninty percent, and my short term is thirty to fifty, and I hope this will improve. I have to go back to him in two weeks so I will continue to keep up the eye drops till then . I will keep you informed.

WednEsday 20/7/11: This is FRIGHTENING! Exscuse any spelling mitakes, as I really can't see the ssreen. I don't know if I would have had this done if I had have known that my short vision would be so impai1red. I have to meeg the surgeon next week, but surely the benefits bshould be fully experienced by now. Even my distance vision is beginning tyo wane. Ha it all been an exspensive mistake? Well I am not weaing gl;asses...............yet, but I can see their returnn.

Lasik Eye S72urgery

I had originally written this following piece just after my surgery in september 2001. Its been on my hard drive for years, and the writing is a little raw and giddish, but bear in mind I wrote it only 2 days after the surgery. Anyway, I hope it will help to inform someone who is reading this deciding whether to go for it or not. All this time later and my eyesight is still 20/20 and it remains by far the best money I have ever spent! Contact Michael Brown, Blackrock clinic 01-2064222

I didn't use glasses at all until 18. Almost as soon as I started a psychology course in UCD, my vision seemed to go, and I became very near sighted. Over the years, I really hated this object permanently on my face. For other reasons ( I have Friedreich's Ataxia, which put me in a wheelchair at 17) contact lenses were never a real option. I could, with difficulty and a lot of cursing, get them in, but could'nt get them out(coordination problems).

So, I sort of resigned myself to life with specs. It wasn't really until this year, when on the net reading about other peoples experiences, that I decided to see if having the laser was at all an option for me. At the end of june, I went to the blackrock clinic for an initial assessment with Mr Michael Brown. My guiding belief was that, if something is wrong and you can fix it, well then FIX IT! I explained that I was'nt the healthiest creature alive (to my surprise, he knew about FA). I had read that you were always to accept the initial assessment, you DON'T go shopping around until you get the answer you want.

When he said after the eye tests that I was a suitable candidate, I was a bit taken aback. The one thing, I did'nt like was the conveyor belt atmosphere at the clinic. The waiting room was full of people (there was some problem and everything was running late) waiting, going in, coming out, paying.............. I had the thought that maybe, I was'nt really such a suitable candidate, but maybe for £3000 I would qualify. I swear to God, I have a major trust problem, i.e I trust no one!

I did'nt make an appointment on that day, but I was told that there were only 2 windows, either have it done in september or wait until december. I knew that if I was going to have this surgery done, I was going to get both eyes done at the same time, and not have one done and go around half blind in the interim. Went back to work the next day, and phoned up the surgery in the afternoon to make a date for monday, september 3rd. This seemed like a very neat way to use my 2 week summer holidays.

My good friend was getting maried in spain, on saturday sept 1st and everything had to arrange itself around that date. So I headed to madrid on sunday 26th of august. As it turned out, it was a great decision being away and relaxed in the sun a week before the surgery. It helped that a lot of people told me that the laser surgery is very popular there. I knew that if I had been at home the week before the surgery, I probably would have talked myself out of it. I very rarely follow through with plans................ The wedding was on saturday evening. The weddings are always in the evening there on account of the sun.

During the wedding photos, I had to put in my pre surgery eye drops. 2 days before surgery you are meant to administer eye drops, which will prepare the eye. Never having taken eye drops before, even though I was very precise about putting them in 4 times a day, I must admit, as much of the stuff rolled down my cheeks, as actually went it. The eye drop was actually really nice and soothing. They had shown me how to put in the eye drops in vision express, the week before, so I knew the drill, you tilt your head back and drop it in the corner of the eye blah blah. The reception went on all night. We finally got back on sunday morning at 9am. My flight was at 7pm.

After a couple of hours "rest", I packed and boarded the flight. Of course there was only one thing on my mind. I met some nice couple from lucan and we were talking of course about the only thing I could talk about. The woman told me that her dad had had the cheaper surgery in england and was thrilled with the results. We got into dublin at 9.30pm. I was completely knackered (I'd only had 3 hours sleep) and out of my mind with worry. Was I paying £3000 to fuck up my body even more? Blind and in a wheelchair...........................lethal injection please!!!!!!!!

My uncle and aunt, who had just come back hours earlier from Lourdes picked me up. I had my hand luggage with me and wanted to get back to their house in Rush and SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking back I was in a complete zombie state. I was in short sleeves, even though it was pissing down. I spent the car journey back revising everything, the bank draft for £3000--------check, hotel reservation---------------check. When we got back, I was getting ready for bed when it struck me that apart from my hand luggage, EVERYTHING else was back at the airport. Remind me never to fly in so late again. I felt terrible as my uncle drove back to the airport to pick up my luggage (he's staff there so he could go alone).

Once I had ALL my luggage, I could finally finally go to bed. The appointment the next day was for 3pm, which meant that I could have an unrushed morning. No one in my family thought this eye surgery was a good idea, and as I was driving toward Blackrock I thought of what else I could be doing with my hard earned money! I had booked a room in the Montrose hotel which is 5 mins from the clinic. I wanted to be nearby directly after it, so I could rest. Left my bags in and got a taxi to the clinic. Once inside, I felt VERY alone and was! I did'nt know what I was letting myself in for, but it was too late to turn back.

After giving some details, I was brought down to the waiting room. Another chat with a nurse, and had to fill out a form saying I understood that lasik was still an experimental procedure. The door of the operating room was open, and although we couldn't see the people, after about 5 minutes we could hear a fairly loud, almost machine gun sound. A few minutes later and the person came out with an eye shield. There was NO talking among those of us waiting, even though strange as it sounds, I was getting quite giddish and would have loved a chat. There was a big basket full of specs beside me, presumably as a testimony to all the people who were able to throw away their glasses. A gimmick, I'm sure, but it worked on me!

When it was my turn, there was Mr Brown a nurse and another english man. They were all decked out in their surgical scrubs, and to my surprise they were joking and the atmosphere was fairly calm. They helped me onto the dentists office like chair. I had read so many online lasik diaries and sort of knew what to expect. Mr Brown talked to me constantly, telling me exactly what they were doing and what to expect next. This was the BEST thing he could have done, and I was totally calm as they put sticky stuff over my eyelids to keep them open and locked my head into position to stop me moving. Its really not that squemish, sure you see them lifting off the top part of your eye, but you feel nothing so what the hell!

With all the stories that I'd read on the web, I was honestly expecting it to be much worse. I remember asking if there was any wrinkling (trying to sound like I REALLY understood this procedure) and was told that everything had gone perfectly. That was it, Mr Brown examined my eyes and put in drops. I felt very relieved as I could see him and the nurse quite well even though I had my eye shields on. Had a cup of tea, paid and ordered a taxi to take me back to the montrose. I was delighted to have a room booked in a really nice hotel nearby. No long car journey etc. From the very get go, I had no pain, discomfort or tension of any sort.

True to form, that monday had been typically irish, grey skies and thunderous rain. When I was leaving the clinic however the sky was brilliantly blue. Had a really nice taxi man, and I was quite giddy as I was studying everything, even directly looking at traffic lights . Absolutely no glare! I could tell the taxi man had red hair and a mousache, but I could'nt make out his fine features, like the colour of his eyes. I could read the signs on the road such as "left turn only" and "taxi lane" fine which was a reallly promising sign. Could it be after all this worry and anxiety, that it was all going to be as effortless as this?

Got back to my hotel roon, with the intention of staying there until midday the next day. Felt very self conscious, with those big shields on. Unfortunately for me, their internal phone service was down, so I had to go down to the lobby to order some dinner. Back in the room, I was amazed that it was less than 1 hour after the surgery and here I was looking at the pictures on the wall, and clearly reading the alarm clock. Made some phonecalls home and to my aunt letting them know everything was fine, had my 4 course meal, and went to bed. I know you are recommended to have a nap, but I could'nt manage more than ten minues at a time.

Within 2 hours definately, I was seeing better than I did with my glasses. Everything seemed to have a heightened sense of colour and vitality. Tired as I was, there was just no way I could sleep more than 20 minutes at a time. The following day was a lovely sunny day, and I could wear non prescription glasses as I drove to Raheny for my check up (the surgeon has to see you within 24 hours). I stumbled when I could read EVERY single letter on the chart. The previous day I could just about read the top line, and then everything else was a guess.

Mr Brown told me that I was in fact over corrected ,and that the additional drops that I had to take for the following 10 days would bring my eyesight up to the optimum level. Delighted I drove home, I kept noticing new things like for example before even with glasses my distance vision was never great. If I was on the motorway, I'd have to be almost on top of the exit sign in order to read it. All that was changed now. In fact I must have gotten a little too excited as I was pulled over by the garda for speeding. That slowed me down!

Even though I still had the rest of the week off, I honestly could have gone back to work at this time, and my job requires me to be staring at a pc all day. When I was home though I was on the net as usual. Perhaps I overdid it as by thursday, I felt really tired. For the next ten days my days revolved around putting my 2 sets of drops in, 4 times daily. You are told not to rub your eyes for the first month, and that is a bit tricky. I was petrified that I was going to poke myself in the eye at night or rub too hard first thing in the morning. Its a small price to pay though, and within a month you can rub as hard as you want.

In summary, the lasik was the best thing I've done in ages. I feel I've made an investment in my own body. I have'nt seen Mr Brown since the day after the surgery. Its hard to believe that it was as sinple and effortless as that. I would recommend it to anyone. If it worked for me, it will work for anyone!

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