Before I write about my experiences however, I thought it’d be useful to present the top five complications I was going to write my experiences on. This was my personal experience article will be a little easier to read as I won’t be explaining the complications but rather just presenting my experience with them.

So with that in mind, here’s the top five most reported lasik laser eye surgery post operative complications (try saying that fast five times).

1. Dry eyes

By far the most common side effect of lasik laser eye surgery is the experience of dry eyes. Although self explanatory symptom wise (your eyes feel itchy, duh).

Most commonly a symptom of the natural healing process of your eyes post lasik surgery, dry eyes should resolve themselves after a few months – at best after a few weeks and at worst up to six months.

If you’ve still got dry eyes after six months post surgery when not using lubrication drops, then there’s a good chance you’re stuck with the problem permanently or something might have gone wrong during the healing process or during your surgery itself.

In both cases it’s a good idea to pay a visit to your lasik surgeon and get some advice. Most places I asked info from boasted about their post op care plans so there’s a good chance this is as easy as just making a phone call to the clinic.

2. Night time vision suffering from halos, starbursts and glare

The second most commonly reported lasik surgery complication is a loss of quality in the patients night vision. This usually manifests itself in the form of halos around sources of light, starbursts from oncoming lights or glare blocking out your vision significantly, or in severe cases altogether.

The good news is again these symptoms are usually a part of the natural healing process of your eye and should resolve after a few months if they occur. The bad news is that if they persist then you might need to resort back to glasses or additional laser eye surgery procedures to remedy the problem.

3. A loss of contrast in vision

One of the most worrying complications is that of contrast reduction in a patients day to day vision. A loss of vision contrast can affect your quality of sight (even if everything is in focus) during the day, and at night hamper your ability to make out objects.

Naturally this can affect certain aspects of a patients life such as their ability to drive, read, watch television and movies comfortably and of course the mental irritation of knowing something’s just not quite right with your vision as you look at things.

4. Under correction and over correction

Despite relying on computer readouts and extensive testing, it’s still possible that your lasik surgeon might crunch the numbers wrong and either under correct or over correct your eyesight.

The problem with this complication is that because of the healing process it’s important not to jump to conclusions immediately after your lasik procedure. Your eyesight might appear to be over or under corrected but there’s no way of knowing for sure until the eye has properly healed itself and can be retested.

5. Sight regression

Ideally post lasik eye surgery operation you want your eyes to settle in for a perfect 20/20 vision or if possible, slightly better.

Unfortunately due to the often unpredictable nature of our body’s own healing mechanisms, some lasik patients can suffer eyesight regression. It’s predicted that most lasik patients will need glasses as they get approach the later stages of life but for some it can occur much earlier.

What happens with premature regression is that following a lasik surgery procedure your vision appears properly corrected but then begins to slowly deteriorate over time.

Unfortunately from patients who suffer from this complication, you have to wait until your eyesight naturally settles itself before any corrective procedures can be undertaken.

This could be a few months or even over a year depending on the individual characteristics of your eyes.


The good news is that with each of these complications, the overall percentage of patients that suffer ongoing problems with lasik eye surgery complications is quite low.

Thankfully I didn’t suffer any major complications or ongoing side affects following my lasik eye surgery procedure but I did experience varying degrees of side effects. Look out for my own personal experiences with the above side effects in an upcoming article.

On the wall were a whole bunch of accreditations with abbreviations I didn’t really know the meaning of but the surgeon definitely looked the part. I’d had the luxury of looking him up online beforehand so I was quite confident in his ability.

Still, after informing me that I was a suitable candidate for lasik surgery he then asked if I had any questions.

It was at this precise moment I realised I should have thought of some beforehand. Up until now I’d been cruising along satisfied with the information provided to me over my last few visits.

I replied no but in hindsight realised I wasted a good opportunity to glean some information from the person I’d be entrusting me eyes with. Luckily I had another consult with my surgeon before we went ahead with the surgery and after going home and thinking about it, I made sure the next time I saw him I had some questions to ask.

Here’s what I asked him and why.

1. How many laser eye surgeries have you performed?

For most reputable surgeons this should be available online, although if for whatever reason your surgeon and his or her practice doesn’t have an online presence then here’s your chance to find out. Additionally even if the numbers are available online they might be wildly out of date so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Ideally you want your surgeon to have performed more then a couple of hundred surgeries (let’s say 300+). If you’ve got a particular problem, say extreme short or long sightedness or astigmatism ask how many of those particular type of surgeries your surgeon has performed.

If you have extreme short sightedness a surgeon who has performed only 200 surgeries, but 100 of which were successful operations on patients with extreme short sightedness might be better then a surgeon with more surgeries under his belt, but less experience with short sightedness.

2. How long have you been performing laser eye surgery for?

Again this should be available online for any surgeon or practice with a web presence but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

I’d be comfortable with anything over three years. If less then there should be a reason for it, ie. you’re paying less then the standard going rate or you’ve come to this doctor for another specific reason.

If so just be aware that you might be taking a risk with your eyes. Saving a bit of money over the risk to your eyesight is something some people are comfortable whereas for others it isn’t an option. Each person is unique in this respect and it’s up to you to think about it and decide if you’re comfortable with the risk (even with experienced surgeons there’s still a risk).

Anything less then 100 surgeries and I’d encourage you to at least visit one other practice if for nothing else then a second opinion.

3. What should I expect during the operation?

Whether you’re getting PRK or Lasik be aware that the surgery procedures are quite different. Familiarity is a good thing and you want a surgeon who is familiar with all aspects of the laser eye surgery procedure you are having done.

You might have already have had the surgery experience laid out to you by the nursing staff or over your own online research but ask anyway.

Any hesitation in answering this question or your surgeon palming off your query to the nursing staff should make you seriously reconsider your options.

4. How many patients have you refused surgery for?

There’s no doubt that money is probably a driving factor for most laser eye surgeons but a good one will know when it’s just not safe to operate on someone’s eyes.

For this reason it’s important to ask how many patients have been refused surgery as it gives you a sense that you’re not just a walking pay cheque to the surgeon. Any number is a good answer here but being told no patients have ever been knocked back might be cause to reconsider.

If the surgeon is willing to take risks and operate on more severe cases he or she might just be really really good at what surgery, or simply more in it for the money. You don’t want to find out the answer to this question post surgery so think carefully over this one.

Obviously the more complicated your particular circumstance, the more important the number of patients refused surgery becomes. Don’t be afraid to ask what the primary differences are between a patient who was knocked back and your particular optical conditions.

It’s important for you to gauge just how far off the ‘cut off’ line you are when weighing up your final decision to go or not to go ahead with the surgery.

5. Would you consider laser eye surgery for yourself?

I couldn’t think of anything more ridiculous then going to see a laser eye surgeon with glasses and being told he couldn’t afford the risk of having the surgery done. Luckily for me not only had my surgeon had lasik performed at the clinic he worked at but also several of the other surgeons had too.

I remember this being a great relief when I found out as I’d read of people being told their eye surgeons hadn’t had eye surgery because they needed their eyes for work.

Let’s face it, do you really want your eye surgery performed by a surgeon who doesn’t have complete faith in the operation?

There’s always going to be a risk involved with a laser eye surgery but the excuse of needing their vision for work just doesn’t cut it. It’s not like you as a patient don’t need your vision too!


Even though I knew the answers to some of these questions asking them pretty much cemented my trust in my eye surgeon. As a result I was much more comfortable proceeding with the surgery.

Remember sitting under a laser with your eyes prised open does have it’s risks so you want to be sure your surgeon knows what he or she is doing, as well as you yourself feeling completely comfortable going into the surgery.

I felt comfortable asking the five questions above and felt they were sufficient to gauge whether or not I was absolutely confident in my surgeons capabilities. If you need to ask more questions then by all means ask them but don’t waste the opportunity by not asking anything.

If something did go wrong or your surgeon doesn’t turn out to be quite what you thought, you’ll be kicking yourself you didn’t.

Fortunately though Australian’s receive a 20% rebate for net medical expenses over $1500 so you are able to recover some of your costs.

1. How the rebate works

The Medicare rebate isn’t specific to laser eye surgery and covers your net medical expenses if they are over $1500.

For example if you had an out of pocket surgery procedure done that cost $3000 as well as getting laser eye surgery that cost $2000 your net medical expenses are $5000.

When you are lodging your tax return you can claim up to 20% of the out of pocket difference over $1500.

In this case $5000 – $1500 is $3500 so you would be able to claim 20% of that net difference ($3500) entitling you to an additional $700 on your tax return.

If your laser eye surgery costs alone are over $1500 then similarly you are able to claim the 20% rebate. Make sure you have receipts from your procedures though in case you get audited by the taxation office.

2. Private health insurance

Note that the rebate applies for net out of pocket expenses only. If you have private health insurance that covers part of your procedure costs the medicare rebate applies only to what you paid after your health insurance claim.

For example my private health insurance paid out $1000 per eye and my gross lasik procedure cost was $5200. This meant that although the procedure cost $5200, I was only able to claim $3200 ($1000 per eye was paid by private health insurance) on my medicare rebate.

After subtracting the $1500 threshold from $3200 I was left with a claimable amount of $1700. 20% of $1700 is $340 which isn’t much when you consider the total cost of surgery was $5200 but nonetheless it’s still money that’s in my pocket rather then somebody elses.


Just a final note which I’m sure is going to cross everybody’s mind who makes a medicare claim on their eye surgery, I would advise against trying to claim the total amount of the surgery on your claim if you made a private health insurance claim.

I did think about putting the whole surgery amount on my tax return as it brought the claimable amount up to about $700 but decided against it at the end. I figured given the tax office have access to my medicare and private health insurance records it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to pick it up and audit me.

Etax has it written in bold that you can only claim the net difference after ‘any private health insurance claims‘ so I didn’t like my chances of pulling the ‘oh but I didn’t understand’ routine to get out of it if I was audited.

By covering my other eye I’d noticed things like my computer monitor and had become easier to read. When I got home from the surgery I remember covering my eye and looking at my answering machine and clearly seeing double when I focused on the ‘number of messages’ number. That effect had now completely disappeared.

The other visible side effect was the red on my eye which I’d taken a photo of shortly after the surgery on my previous post. I’m happy to say that it’s practically cleared up now. It did take longer then a few days but finally my eye is virtually free of any excess red marks. Below you can see the original photo of my eye from the day of the surgery on the left and what it looks like today on the right.

I was quite happy with the progress of my eyes over the last week but the proof itself was in the numbers from the eye test.

At the one week mark post surgery I went back for an eye checkup and we ran through the standard eye test. On the day after checkup I’d just had a brief reading of the eye chart to see where I was at vision wise so it was good to be given some hard numbers this time.

Over the last week my eye had improved and I was now able to read a line further down then I had the Saturday the week before. After the prescription check I forgot to ask what the numbers were and it wasn’t until I was halfway home I realised.

Riding back (I was able to ride my bike easily 2 days after surgery) I asked the nurse who told me it was 7.5 over 6 from looking at my file. I’m used to the -x.xx numbers from my contact prescription but at the time didn’t think to ask what 7.5 over 6 was in that measurement.

I’ve had a poke around on google but haven’t turned anything up. If you divide 7.5 into 6 though you get +1.25 which confirms that I’m slightly long sighted but I’m not sure if that’s the correct prescription. I’m running off the assumption that 6/6 is 0 or otherwise 20/20 vision.

I have another checkup this Friday before having surgery on the other eye so I’ll find out then what the deal is with the numbers and if it’s changed again. Hopefully it has, I mean I’m sitting here reading my computer monitor fine with a patch over my left eye so I’m relying solely on the lasered eye and it’s crystal clear.

Either way being slightly long sighted isn’t such a big deal to me, I can get around find and read things so it’s not even really noticeable as far as I’m concerned. Given my eyes dropped closer to 20/20 last week hopefully after the test this week they’ll be closer again.

The left eye is being operated on this Friday and is less of a prescription jump being only -4.25 vs. my right eye’s -5.00. Hopefully it goes as smoothly as my right eye has been. I’m left eye dominant so it’s kind of important that the operation goes smoothly!

That feeling that reminds you something exciting was happening today.

I spent the morning relaxing and writing an article which is a rare luxury I get to do in the AM what with fulltime work getting in the way and all. My surgery wasn’t until 2:45pm so I decided to go and do all my shopping and weekend errands on the off chance I’d be useless after the surgery and unable to do anything.

40km’s of cycling later and I met my dad back at my place and we drove off into the city. As I stood outside the building I took one last look around and took in the view of the street.

“Remember Oz, this might be the last time you see anything through two eyes ever again so make the most of it” I thought to myself.

After looking around just long enough so that my did didn’t wonder what on earth I was doing, I turned around and entered the building.

For better or worse, I was ready to have my life changed forever.

I checked myself in and took a seat. Normally I’d been seen within ten minutes but the clinic was a lot busier today then it had been on my consult days. Consequently I spent this time running over the worst case scenarios in my head.

It was something I found I couldn’t avoid doing although I think that’s what happens before any surgery. These thoughts were broken up by people leaving with black sunglasses on and the plastic covers over their eye. They’d obviously just had their procedures done and it was interesting to see what I’d look like post-op.

After about twenty minutes or so I was called up to the desk and we settled the payment. There was a slight hiccup in that Laser Sight didn’t have a swipey thing for health insurance but that just meant we had to take the bill there ourselves.

Be aware though, this means you have to cough up the full amount including the deduction before the surgery.

Once payment was settled I was given a Xanax tablet and returned to my seat. I’d never taken Xanax before so wasn’t sure what to expect. I found after about ten minutes or so I was smiling uncontrollably like an idiot and figured well at least I wasn’t thinking about the worst case scenarios anymore.

About ten minutes after taking the Xanax I was called in to one of the prep rooms in which an optometrist gave me a detailed run down of exactly what was going to happen as well as asking if I had any final questions.

He also put two sets of drops into my eye, I think one was antibacterial and the other one was an antiseptic of some kind.

We let this sit for about five minutes and then headed over to the operating theatre. I had to wear a blue gown thing and a headcap. My dad was allowed in and also had to wear the same.

Looking like an extra from a medical series I then took a seat in a massage chair couch whilst another round of drops were applied to my eyes, one of which I believe was the anesthesthetic.

Following this I had to shut my eyes and a paste was applied to my general eye area. I was told this was so that the surgeon could touch around my eyes if he needed to during the procedure.

I had to keep my eyes closed after this and sat there for about ten minutes or so. Whilst I had my eyes closed I started to hear windy noises and thought they were coming from the operating theatre. I asked my dad and he told me it was him playing with his massage chair settings.

I kind of regretted not playing around with mine before I had to keep my eyes closed. I wasn’t game enough to pickup the remote and start playing with it blind.

Once the theatre was ready one of the nurses came and got me and led me in. I didn’t get a good look at the theatre but from what I remember there was a big huge white thing in the centre and then a bench for me to lie on.

My dad sat nearby and got to watch the entire thing on a television link up which was kind of cool.

You lay down on the bench and there’s a sort of hammock bit for your head. You’re angled slightly downwards (think dentists chair fully reclined) and the two nurses and surgeon do their thing. One of the nurses handed me two stress balls to squeeze whilst I was lying down.

Dr. Bambery was pretty detailed in explaining to me what was going on. I don’t know if it was the Xanax or my own nerves but I was a little more relaxed then I felt comfortable with considering all I could see was a flurry of activity whilst the procedure was carried out.

There’s a red flashing dot you are required to stare at pretty much the entire time. I found this easy enough to do. Despite Dr. Bambery assuring me that the laser would shut off if I moved the knowledge of a laser going into my eye and cutting things up was enough motivation to ensure I kept my eyeball deathly still.

Firstly a suction clamp thing is placed over your eye, this is what stops you blinking and keeps the eye under pressure so that the flap is lifted and placed back down properly.

You feel it going on other then a bit of skull pressure however my vision did dim and then disappear momentarily whilst it was applied. I’d read (and was told by the optometrist) about this so I wasn’t worried, although it was a pretty weird sensation visually to have your vision just disappear like that.

Following this because I have long eye lashes Dr. Bambery decided to use some extra clamps to pin them back. This bit hurt like holy hell (I imagine because my eyelids weren’t under anaesthetic).

It was only for a fraction of a second as he applied the eyelash clamps but it felt like someone was jabbing a sharp needle into my eyelids. This was the only pain I felt during the procedure and was also the only time I squeezed on the stress balls.

Once the surgeon was happy with the operating area we then proceeded with the laser. I stared at the blinking red dot whilst the flap was cut and then watched him lift it up and over my eye. It kind of looked like someone turning a page of a book really, really close to your eye.

Then the big moment, the laser reshaping. It was only for a few seconds if not a minute or so but it does feel slightly longer whilst it’s happening. You can’t really see anything so you just focus on the red dot while it does it’s thing.

The only weird sensation is the burning smell (think the barbecue smell you get when a moth flies into one of those electric blue light traps) and then before you know it, it’s over.

The flap is then reapplied and then squeegeed over. The squeegee thing feels like a soothing cool gel being run across your eyeball. Whilst this is being done you get your first glimpse of vague eyesight through your new vision.

It’s truly amazing.

You’re good to walk after the procedure so you’re led back to the consulting room where a quick check is done through the microscope to make sure everything looks ok. If it is a clear lens (think crotch cup but for your eye) is then applied over your face with some tape and the optometrist runs over your pre-op care routine. After that you’re good to go home.

Upon leaving your given a little carry back with a bunch of lubricant drops, two bottles of eyedrops (Flarex and Ciloxan) as well as a few panadols and two Temazepam tablets to help you sleep.

The drive home was one of the most exciting things I can ever remember. I’ve worn glasses or contact since about the age of 7 or 8 and it was simply indescribable to be able to cover my left eye (the one that had the contact lens in it) and see what I could read with the lasik eye.

I spent practically the entire trip doing this, despite my dad telling me to stop potentially straining my eye.

I found the discomfort minimal if at all. It kind of felt like I had mild contact lens irritation in the eye but it was gone by the time I got home. I didn’t take the Temazepam but had a nap when I got home for a few hours and then wokeup and had dinner at around 11pm before going back to bed.

Here’s a photo I took of my eye after dinner, the redness you can see is minor bleeding from the suction clamp thing they put on during the surgery. Apparently it takes a few days to clear and doesn’t do any long term damage. I can’t feel it so I’m not too fussed.

Vision wise last night I had slight blurriness in the front of my field of vision (presumably from the flap) but could see relatively clearly out of the edges of my eye.

This morning went I woke up the blurriness was gone but my eyesight isn’t 100%. I had a pre-op check this morning (the day after surgery) and the surgeon confirmed my eyesight wasn’t 20/20, he said it might have been over corrected slightly.

He didn’t mention a touch up but I’m thinking I might need one. Together my eyes work great but if I cover the contact lens eye I can make out street sights and what not but have trouble focusing on my LCD monitor anything more then a foot away (I can make out words but they are blurry, similar effect to when you cross your eyes slightly).

I have a week checkup this coming Friday and I’m hoping my eye gets better during the week. As for now I’m still solidly in the ‘best money I’ve ever spent’ camp as even if I do need a touch up the sight I have now allows me to get around and read things (besides monitor text) comfortably.

If you’ve got the money and have straight forward short sightedness and have been thinking about it go and at least have a consult, I simply can’t recommend getting laser eye surgery highly enough.

It’s unbelievable how such a short procedure has just a drastically positive life-changing effect on your life, I still can’t get my head around it.

The total loss of peripheral vision, the annoyance of lenses getting dirty, being blind in the shower, oh and has anyone tried being ‘intimate’ with glasses on?!

Jesus christ by the end of the two weeks I was ready to put my fist through a wall.

The only thing that kept me going was the thought of not having to rely on eye crutches again, well at least until I was much, much older. When I woke up on the morning of the second consult I only had one thought on my mind:

“Dammit corneas you better have expanded. Or else.”

I arrived bang on time this time at the practice. Given the first consult had only gone for an hour and a half or so all up I figured I’d get it over with and then head back to work so I booked one of the first slots available.

Like the first time the waiting time was minimal and I was called practically just as I sat down to wait.

After asking if I’d been wearing the glasses only for two weeks (presumably some people try to cheat?) we started off with another eye test on the standard ‘clearer with, or without’ machine. This was just like any other routine eye test and most probably to confirm the previous results I had.

Once that was done it was back into the room with the two stools and we repeated the process of scanning and then the focus machine. This is what it all came down to, the sole reason I had been punishing myself over the past fortnight.

Had my eyes changed enough to bring Lasik into the picture?’

‘The surgeon will speak to you about the results’ I was told. So I had to wait.

The optometrist took me back into the first room and I was told that we were going to do another test of my eyes that involved two sets of drops. The first drops that were put in I believe were some kind of anaesthetic and they stung like hell for a few seconds before my eyes got used to it.

This was needed so that the corneal pressure of my eyes could be measured. The handheld machine for this has a little flat thing that presses a bit on your eye and the anesthetic numbs your eye into not feeling this.

It still looks weird seeing something ‘hammer’ into your eye at such close range but I couldn’t feel anything so it didn’t bug me.

After this was measured (only a few minutes) a second set of drops went in which made my eyelids feel heavy and gluggy. These were to dilate my pupils and effectively stop my eyes from focusing.

What this means in practical terms is that whilst you don’t lose your focus, it’s fixed sort of like in landscape mode. I was a little freaked out at being able to hold my hand 30cm infront of my face and not be able to focus on it at all.

After both sets of drops were well and truly settled (about 2-3 mins) we did another eye test with the standard machine. The optometrist said this was because sometimes the results vary slightly when the eyes can’t manually focus.

I’m not entirely sure what the practicality of this was (I was too busy looking like a stoner holding my hands up to my face and trying to force my eyes to focus on them) but I’m sure it had some significance.

With the second prescription test done I was taken outside and given a seat on a nice comfy couch infront of a dvd. The optometrist hit play and handed me the remote. For the next 10-15 minutes or so I watched a pretty detailed dvd movie on both procedures as well as the benefits and negatives of getting laser eye surgery done.

This really impressed me as they movie spent a great deal of time on the negatives which really made me feel like the company wanted me to be informed about what I was doing. Most of the stuff I already knew from conducting my own research but it was nice to have it reaffirmed and fresh in my mind.

Laser Sight get top marks for patient risk awareness in my opinion.

After the infomovie I went back to sit in the foyer and waited to be called in by the surgeon, Stephen Bambery. As I walked back he was already waiting for me (I think I must have been first that morning as the practice was empty when I arrived but a few more people had arrived now) and took me into a different office.

He opened up my patient folder and started going over my charts. He noticed I’d put ‘cycling’ in as a hobby (I kinda didn’t know what else to put) on my patient form and we started chatting about that a bit. Turns out he himself was a cyclist and did regular weekend rides.

I noticed two things about Dr. Bambery immediately. One was that he had glasses on and two his right hand was wrapped in bandages. To my relief both were explained quite briefly, although I did ask about the hand initially (I couldn’t help it).

He said he wore glasses solely to read and that the rest of the time he was without them. He also was quite honest about the fact that I would most likely need reading glasses when I got older too. I appreciated this honesty, even though I already knew that to be the case it was nice to know I wasn’t just being told positive spin.

As for his hand, well he’d just recently had surgery on it and was required to keep it dry. He reassured me he was still able to do surgery with it, he just “had to be a little more careful”.

From what I understood performing laser eye surgery isn’t quite the same as doing open heart surgery so I wasn’t too worried about his hand not being 100%. That and the fact I wasn’t due till a few weeks anyway. Yes I’ll sheepishly admit I was secretly a little glad my surgery wasn’t on that very day!

Once we’d got cycling, his hand and glasses out of the way we got down to business. My corneas had grown to over 500, it was 505 microns or so from memory which placed me in the clear for Lasik.

He also mentioned though that he just wanted the optometrist to confirm some numbers (which I figured was working out if the sum of my corneal tissue thickness plus corneal thickness was enough for any future touchups that might be needed), before he 100% confirmed I’d be ok for Lasik.

I found him to be quite thorough, despite my own research and watching the info dvd he once again ran through the common side effects and gave me a brief run down of what to expect on the day itself. He was also very upfront about the cost stating that I’d be up for $5200.

If your surgeon looks anything like this, RUN!

Again I appreciated the honesty as it re-affirmed in my mind that I was actually buying a procedure from a professional vs. a used car from a dodgy salesman.

Once we run through everything (I didn’t really have any questions at this point) he left the room to go talk to the optometrist and I once again began to entertain myself trying to focus on my hand.

I think it was only about five minutes or so (I didn’t have my glasses or contacts on) before he returned and informed me that the numbers were all fine.

At this point I’d already decided on Lasik over PRK. The flap was a lifetime liability but really, if I was going to get knocked that hard in the eye at the exact spot the flap was I’d probably have a lot more damage then just a dislodged flap.

Besides, I’ve never injured my eyes in my life surving all the crazy stuff you do as a kid so what are the chances of it happening as I get older and more conservative (oh god that sounds depressing).

So it was settled, I was to get Lasik.

We went back out to the front desk and booked my dates in and that was that. I was to get one eye done late June with the following eye early July. I opted to get my non dominant right eye done first. I figured that way on the off chance something went wrong or I wasn’t satisfied at least I’d still have a fully functional dominant eye.

The icing on the cake was hearing I could put my contacts back in until 3 days before the surgery and even then I only had to remove them from one eye (I figured I’d rather wear an eye patch over one then do the glasses thing again).

One final note, it’s a really good idea to bring a pair of sunglasses. The pupil dilating drops are effective for 2-3 hours and absolutely stop your pupils from adapting to light conditions.

Walking outside from the practice was like having been in complete darkness for a few hours and then being forced to stare into a car’s high beams.

The glare hurt like holy hell and there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily I’d brought my cycling glasses along (I rode to both consults) so I was able to go home. Had I of not worn sunglasses I would have been in for a very wincingly painful ride.

I was back in my contacts and now had a surgery date. All that was left to do now was to get on life and try not to get too excited thinking about it.

You’ve also probably spent a good deal of time trying to separate market spin from actual experiences. It’s annoyingly time consuming but it’s worth it if it helps you in making a properly informed decision.

At this stage it’s time to start thinking about where to get your procedure done. I’d like to be able to say I chose my clinic based on numerous recommendations and experiences of people who had it done but the truth is I wound up booking a first consult without any input.

That’s not to say it was a whimsical decision but most places in Melbourne offer you a free consult so I figured if I didn’t like the place I could always shop around and try another until I was happy.

The practice I chose was ‘Laser Sight’ in Melbourne, primarily for the following reasons;

• Their website make me want to run away screaming.

• They claim “5 of our surgeons as well as 34 staff members, their families and more than 130 of our affiliated optometrists have successfully undergone the LASIK procedure at Laser Sight.”

  If you’re in the business of surgery your eyes are obviously important. If 5 of their surgeons have undergone the procedure that speaks volumes about the confidence they have in their procedures.

  One of the surgeons to have the procedure done is the founder and medical director, Peter Stewart so it’s not like we’re talking about some random interns having got it done whilst they worked there.

• The practice is located right next to the Victorian Eye and Ear hospital. Like a lot of clinics near hospitals I imagine the surgeons there work both privately and publicly, lending credibility to the practice. I’m not suggesting they’re bulletproof but if you’re going to work in a hospital there’s usually standards you need to meet.

Despite these reassuring facts though obviously I was still a bit nervous about the whole thing. If the internet was anything to go by laser eye surgery is a pretty lucrative business and there’s plenty of horror stories out there.

Still, I’m not one to back out of something with at least giving it a try. It’s not like they were going to do anything irreversible at a simple consultation right?

Getting an appointment was relatively easy and I had one booked within a week of calling them up.

The day arrived and I rocked up my appointment about five minutes early. I was required to fill in a standard details form you’d have to fill out at any new GP practice and then waited to be seen.

The waiting time was easily less then ten minutes when I was taken away by one of their optometrists.

Inside the appointment room the first thing she did go over the two types of laser surgery (PRK and Lasik) and made sure I understood the difference between them. After asking if I had any questions or if there was anything I wasn’t sure on we proceeded on.

We went to another room that had two machines and two stools. I took a seat on one of the stools and I placed my chin on the rest. I think this was some sort of xray machine as I had to stare at a dot whilst a light moved across my eyes. The machine then did a color printout of a whole bunch of graphs and numbers.

The second machine in the room was something I hadn’t used before. You place your chin on the rest and just stare forward. Then a image of a ice capped mountain goes in and out of focus for a bit whilst the machine measures something.

Curious I asked what it was we were doing and I was told the machines were taking various measurements to calculate the suitability of my eyes to either PRK or Lasik.

The rest of the appointment was like a normal eye checkup. Back in the first appointment room they used the same big ‘goggle’ machines to test your eyes (you know, the ‘clearer with, or without’ routine) to establish my prescription.

Then came the good and bad news.

The good: I was a suitable candidate for laser surgery. My corneal bed (the bit they reshape I believe) thickness was more then adequate.

The bad: Corneal thickness (not to be confused with corneal bed thickness) is a major player in determining your surgery options as this is where the flap is cut for Lasik.

The measurement they use is microns and in layman’s terms, if you have more then 500 microns of cornea thickness you can have lasik done but if you fall under it’s not an option. My corneas fell just short of 500.

The good: That didn’t mean I couldn’t get Lasik done, not that I had my heart set on Lasik or anything but I wanted to keep my options open at this point. Turns out when you wear contact lenses full time as I had been for a decade or so they eye adjusts to this and your corneal shape changes slightly.

The bad: The only way to establish whether your corneas would retract or expand naturally is to not wear contact lenses for at least two weeks. This means wearing glasses.

For me, being told I had to wear my glasses again was probably the second worse thing behind hearing ‘sorry but we totally stuffed up your surgery and you’re now blind’ after the procedure itself.

But only just.

I had an old pair of glasses I hadn’t bothered to update since about 1999 and since wearing contact had probably worn for less then 24 hours total.

In my preparation reading though I had read that this might have to happen (I knew I definitely would need to give my eyes  a rest a few days before the procedure anyway) so even though I was a bit gutted I sucked it up and accepted what needed to be done.

I went home and dug out the old frame from a dark drawer where nobody goes and put them on. Looking into the mirror made me want to cry, and I don’t cry easily.

The next two weeks were going to be a horrible nightmare.

All of this technical information is available from a billion sources and you are even given it when you go for a consult to a clinic. When contemplating laser eye surgery, what I really found really helpful was honest feedback and reading opinions and the experiences of people who had actually had the surgery done.

Whether it’s PRK or LASIK you’re trying to decide on, here are the best blog posts I found when doing my own research that I think anyone contemplating the surgery will definitely benefit from reading.


1. Holy Crap! I can see! (or..My experience with PRK Laser Eye Surgery)

Mick from ’2blogornot2blog’ gives a very detailed account of his PRK surgery over in the states. He had both eyes done at once.

It was a nerve-racking night before hand, but also exciting at the possibility of not having to wear glasses or contacts ever again. After another nerve-racking wait in the waiting room for an hour, I was ushered into the room.


2. New Eyes

Jon’s post about his LASIK procedure is worth reading solely for the post-op photo of his eyes. It gives you an idea of what to expect in the short term after LASIK.

I eventually plucked up the courage to have my eyes corrected by laser surgery.

The actual operation was a bit weird.  I was lying down an a padded bench that rotated, swinging my cushioned head from one hi-tech instrument to the next.  I was given two squishy “stress-balls” to keep my hands occupied.


3. Look mama! No glasses!

John Patrick posted a video on his experience in getting laser eye surgery done in Shanghai, China. I’ve heard of a few people in Melbourne flying over to China and other Asian countries to get the surgery done for cheaper then what it costs here, including airfares and accommodation so it was interesting to watch his video.

The China moments in the video are hilarious and I have no idea what a ‘kabayan’ discount is, but I’m thinking it’s some dodgy asian discount for being Filipino and landing a Filipino doctor. Tough luck for the rest of us!


4. Lasik: Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

Catherine Morgan has written a lengthy article on a question nearly everyone thinking about Lasik or PRK has asked themselves at least once. The comments left by readers are interesting too, especially the last one; it clearly illustrates both sides of risk coin.


5. The miracle of sight

From ‘The Fabulous Life of Mike and Lisa’ is a post detailing a Lasik procedure and also a 6 month followup. It’s interesting to read the standard side effects at the end of the initial post and then to see how they are doing at the six month mark.

My LASIK surgery was a success. For anyone who has been considering it, I definitely think it is the best money I’ve ever spent on myself. Here’s a rundown of my experience:


6. Chocolate doesn’t work

Although it doesn’t apply to my condition, I did find this experience shared by Ezzaviking to be of interest because it deals with ‘blended vision’. This is where one eye is made to see better at long distances and the other at short distances. A little bit more complicated then straight out short sightedness but interesting to read about nonetheless.

My close up vision is fine in my right eye and my distance sight is excellent in my left, but the blended vision still feels extremely strange.  My brain really isn’t filtering out the poorer image at all at any of the vision ranges.


7. I saw it coming, no pun intended, but it still struck a blow

This informative post from ‘Diary of an egotist’ showcases what is probably the biggest fear after loss of sight of people thinking about laser eye surgery; having to wear glasses again after surgery.

I knew it was going to happen though. They knew it was going to happen. We just didn’t know it would be this soon.

They thought at least a year of perfect sight and then it would hit. Not three months of okay sight and back to glasses.


8. Getting older is not *just* a state of mind

One of the big emphasis I’ve read about and also was told multiple times at my consults was that I’d still most likely wind up needing reading glasses as I got older. Lindsay Beaton has written about having to wear reading glasses six years after getting laser eye surgery.

Last week I started to get all to familiar headaches when sitting at the computer for any length of time… So I went to the optometrist.

She checks my eyes and confirms what I’d started to suspect, my left eye isn’t focussing properly – it’s very slightly long-sighted, and it’s having more trouble with the residual astigmatism.


9. What they don’t tell you about corrective eye surgery

Wille Faler has written an entire post on the strength of the ‘flap’ cut out during a Lasik procedure. If you’ve done your research you should already know it will never completely heal (I was told this at my initial consultation) but I’ve included it on this list for those that might have missed this fact.

The first response on the article is from ‘Lisa’ who’s apparently worked in the field for 11 years and is worth reading too.

I was booked in for corrective eye surgery (LASIK) on the 16th of this month, as late as early this morning I was on the phone discussing payment options with the company that was to perform the surgery.

However, having done a bit of further research on the risks and complications, I’m not going through with it.


10. My PRK experience/recovery log

Glen Daniels’ detailed log of his PRK treatment is interesting in that he had PRK in one eye first and then opted for LASIK in the other eye. Whilst Lasik is known for a minimal downtime it’s interesting to note Daniels concludes “had I a do-over, I’d have opted for straight PRK over LASEK, but you live and learn”.


Like I said at the beggining of this post there is an absolute ton of information out there regarding Lasik and PRK procedures and there’s no such thing as being too informed. Read up and read well, the decision to undergo laser eye surgery is life changing, both with negatives and positives.

My own surgery is booked for late June and once done I’ll add my own experience to this list. I’ve opted for Lasik despite the appeal of not having a flap cut out with PRK. You can read the start of my experience here.

I figure I’m almost thirty and have never had anything impact my eye or cause injury so that’s some pretty good odds against the flap dislocating later on in life. I mean it’s not like I’m going to take on more physical activities as I get older right?

Good luck with whatever final decision you might make!