As some of you might remember, I first had laser eye surgery in December 2011. My left eye, the reading eye, was perfect, and yesterday I had another checkup that reveals the left eye is still seeing as wonderfully as it did soon after the surgery.
The right eye was not so lucky. The first time around, I had SBK laser surgery, which is similar to LASIK but uses a laser to make the incision rather than an instrument. I was one of the unlucky few who experience regression. Twenty-four hours post-SBK, I could see distance what they call “20/20 minus.” That is to say the 20/20 line was a little fuzzy, and I missed a couple.
As the months progressed, my right eye regressed to the point where it was reading 20/50, which means that what a normal person can see at 50 feet, I could only see at 20 feet. Which meant I had to get glasses for driving and any time I wanted to see distance clearly (like going to the movies or attending a writer’s conference). The glasses brought my left reading eye up to speed. However, my distance right eye could not be made to see 20/20 even WITH glasses, which caused me some concern. I went for several post-op checkups before coming to the decision that I did not want my left eye to be doing all the work—reading without glasses and seeing distance with glasses. The right eye was just slacking off! So, even though I knew there were risks involved and I might wind up with worse vision than ever, I decided to go for touch-up surgery in my right eye. This occurred right before my birthday in January of this year.
The clinic intended to “lift” the flap created the first time around with a surgical instrument and then do the laser touch-up. During the surgery, it was discovered that because over a year had passed my flap was resistant to lifting. In some people, their flap can be lifted after a year. Not moi!
This was quite disconcerting, because I had been informed during surgical prep a few days before that if they could not lift the flap, I would be sent home and then brought back another day for PRK surgery, where they sweep off your epithelium layer (after freezing your eyeball) and then they would do the surgery. Thank God the surgeon, in trying to lift my flap, determined that the eye had suffered enough trauma and not to send me home, but to continue on with the PRK. Man, was I nervous, switching surgeries in mid-stream. This meant that I would not get the immediate effects of SBK or LASIK and it would take up to 6 months to achieve potential 20/20 vision.
That six months just elapsed.
I knew before I went in to the clinic yesterday that I didn’t have 20/20 because, if I do put on my glasses, which I haven’t worn in ages, I could see better through the left eye than the right. I suspected that I had just a touch of astigmatism remaining, and it turns out I was right. I have no idea if this touch of astigmatism will improve over the next several months or not, but I don’t care! I have accomplished my goal. I can once more see distance “20/20 minus,” again to say that I could read some but not all letters on the 20/20 line, exactly where I was 24 hours post-SBK in December 2011.
Apparently, I have never been able to see 20/20 out of my right eye, even with lenses, but before I went with monovision this was hard for me to determine. The strange thing is that my right eye is my dominant eye, which was why they didn’t make the left eye the distance eye. However, yesterday in the clinic, the doctor wrote a new prescription for my right eye for my driving glasses and I will be able to see 20/20 out of them (I don’t have them yet). So that’s a blessing! The only time I feel the need to wear glasses is while driving at night. I’m okay in twilight and in rain. In heavy rain, I feel a little better, safer on the road, wearing glasses, because then my left eye is up to speed.
I am so glad my touch-up worked! Whatever happens in the next five years with my eyes, right now I am enjoying the full benefits of monovision, and I don’t require glasses for reading, for the computer OR for distance. The only time the monovision bothers me is in that weird middle distance where the right eye doesn’t quite make up for the left. And this only bothers me when watching a particular TV that could stand to have a touch of a larger screen. 🙂
Phew, what a relief. Some people don’t have successful touch-ups, and I am so thankful that I did!
My eyes are still quite dry, especially the right, after having two laser surgeries in fourteen months. I still can’t spend as much time on the desktop as I used to be able to, and I compensate by wearing yellow-tinted computer specs (no Rx, just the tinting to cut down on blue glare) and also working on my netbook and my iPad when I can. Plus, I still douse my eyes with lots of drops and have it down to a fine routine. I need some right now.
Overall, I am incredibly happy to be where I am with my eyes compared to November 2011, before the surgery.
“See” ya!
