My one week checkup after Lasik eye surgery
After my day after checkup following my lasik eye surgery procedure, I was keen to see if anything had changed eyesight wise over the first week.
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!
July 1st, 2009 at 1:48 pm CaptainDan(Quote)
I am no optometrist but I do know that a vision of 6/5 means that you can see at 6 metres what “normal” people see at 5 metres, 6/6 is self explanatory, therefore I would assume 7.5/6 means that you see at 6 metres what a baseline eye sees at 7.5 metres.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:02 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
That sounds plausible although I wonder what it translates to in perscription numbers. 1.5 metres of vision deficiency sounds like a lot.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 am Cuteface(Quote)
You still have a bit of a red mark. Is that going to disappear?
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:39 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Apparently. I noted I didn’t have the red line near my pupil when I got out of surgery so I might ask them about it tommorow. I have noted though that the original red blotch that was on the outer white bit has moved inwards so I assume it’s some sort of eye healing process.
Either that or maybe it’s some kind of red alien worm slowly eating it’s way to my pupil and then one day it will hatch and thousands of little alien babies will burst out of my eyeball.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Well the operation went well. I was a lot more nervous this time around for some reason.
I think it’s because I had to wait around an hour any maybe the Xanax was starting to wear off. They also used the blade machine to cut the flap this time which was a bit unnerving as it’s very loud. I’m pretty sure they used the laser to cut the flap last time. On the plus side I don’t have any red blothces this time.
My right eye was measured again and is apparently 20/20. The numbers I got from last week translated into +1.25, this week it was +0.5 so at this stage I’d call the right eye a success!
I asked about the redness on the eye and they said it was normal for it to move closer to the iris and then dissapear.
The left eye is a lot more scratchy then the right eye. It’s not too bad with the eye drops though. Hopefully there’s no long term discomfort but I am a little worried, I couldn’t feel any dryness with the right eye initially (and still can’t).
July 5th, 2009 at 11:27 am Cuteface(Quote)
Congrat… now you have two perfect eyes…
September 24th, 2010 at 11:05 am Trish(Quote)
I had laser surgery on one eye in 1997. I am back to wearing glasses now which is disappointing.
I remember the doctor, a top Sydney surgeon, said at the after op appointment “well that should see you right for a few years” HUH?
I wouldn’t have it again that’s for sure, after experiencing a strange dry eye pain which would wake me from sleep. This pain continued till I got new glasses then it thankfully stopped.
I hope you have better luck than me, I only wish the results would have lasted longer for me, I didn’t even get ten years clear vision and I was in the optimum group for results. Cheers, like your blog!
September 24th, 2010 at 2:26 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Gday Trish,
One of the main things that put me off getting laser eye surgery earlier was the infancy of the procedure.
When I finally got it done last year I felt the technology had been around long enough to be relatively stable. This was despite my eyes being stable perscription wise for 4-5 years prior.
Back in ’97 the procedure might very well have been seen as temporary in a lot of cases whereas now with advances in technology the results are a lot more permanent. Thus far my own procedure has gone flawlessly and I’ve still got 20/20 or better vision.
I’m aware that later on in life I’ll need glasses but I’d need them anyway (or contacts) if I didn’t get the surgery so might as well get a few decades of freedom while I can.
Hopefully by the time I do need glasses again further advances in the field will mean I won’t have to.
September 25th, 2010 at 11:23 pm Andrea(Quote)
Thanks for the post about the red lines….I just noticed some on my eye today, had surgery 7 days ago, and most of the doctor based websites dont mention the red outline marks around the iris or anything about blood in the eye.
I am so happy to have read this and the picture is great because it is identical to what I have in my right eye on top…I will be able to sleep now. Thanks again!
September 27th, 2010 at 4:38 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
No worries Andrea – they should be gone in a week tops!