This is the seventh in a series of posts describing my personal experience of having laser eye surgery in February 2012. To start at the beginning, go back to the first post in the series.
Today I went for my post-op checkup back at Moorfields. I was able to get myself there fine, although the eyesight was a bit variable. I had struggled to find chickpeas in the supermarket the previous day so was feeling a bit flat. It was encouraging to be told that my eyes were healing normally by the optician, and that I was ready to have the contact lens bandage removed from my eyes – this was done with a pair of special tweezers and didn’t hurt at all. Following this I had some small plugs fitted to my tear ducts to help keep my eyes moist during the healing process.
I then saw the man who did the procedure itself, along with two trainees who all had a good look at my eyes, and told me to be patient as the recovery can take a long time with LASEK, especially for patients who previously had a high prescription. They offered to fit me with a temporary contact lens to help me get back to work but I decided to go without.
Simon – I had the exact same procedure at Moorfields and almost the same experience ie zero pain, visibility changeable. How are you now, 3.5 weeks into the healing process? Has your vision improved? I’m on day 7, and while feeling fine my long distance vision is not there yet ie no driving and short distance alternates between poor to good depending on how moist my eyes are. I’m wondering just how long the Lasek recovery takes.
Hi Dave. I think patience is the order of the day. I guess it’s different for everyone and depends on your initial prescription (not sure what yours was?) My right eye began to focus well on day 15, and my left is still on its way (a bit of double-vision) but I’m basically able to do most stuff now. Rest up, eat well and give your eyes as much of a break as you can bear.
Thank you for writing this Simon! I too have undergone LASEK and had similar experiences: https://jagsjourney.blog/2021/03/11/lasek-laser-eye-surgery-recovery/
Really interesting they used a special pair of tweezers to remove the bandage lenses. I did this myself using my fingers!