Almost 3 weeks and still not 20/20

[lisaz]

I had my custom vue lasik on 2/18/08 and am still not seeing 20/20. My rt eye is 20/30 and my left is 20/40. At my 2-week follow-up, my DR said I still had corneal swelling and that my eyes were still healing. He also talked about dry-eyes and gave me more drops to use. He said the feelings I were having (similar to having contacts in my eyes) were dry eye. Because of the winter weather and heating systems, it increases the dryness. He was hopeful that in another month I would be seeing more clearly. Right now I feel out of whack. I can't see as good as I did with my glasses/contacts so I feel like I'm in a nightmare 1/2 the time. I'm ok driving and doing things around the house. But if I need to focus, like at work using the computer, or even going to the store and looking down aisles, I am miserable. I have days when the computer seems clearer and so do street signs. But then I'll use our eye chart at work and my eyes are worse than they were days before. Is anyone else experiencing this? I get eye strain really easy and headaches with it. I hope this all clears up soon. I'm certainly not looking forward to surgery again if my vision does not improve.

[LasikExpert]

What you are experiencing is not exactly common, but is known.

Corneal edema (swelling) will cause you to be more myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted) and make seeing objects at a distance more difficult. Edema is often irregular, which can make seeing objects at any distance more difficult.

Lasik induced dry eyes can cause or exacerbate edema and can be the source of all or some of the symptoms you describe. Please read our article about Lasik dry eye treatment.

With your eyes in a temporary compromised state, Lasik eye strain is not surprising. This can be accompanied with headaches, dizziness, and even nausea.

It is so early in your Lasik recovery that it is much too soon to come to any conclusions about your final outcome. Please read these articles.

[Mike_in_VT]

Hi Lisa, my story seems just like yours, the only difference being that I'm now about 10 weeks post Lasik (I had it done early January).

You can see my postings at: http://www.usaeyes.org/ask-lasik-expert ... php?t=1558

Another similar story can be found here: http://www.usaeyes.org/ask-lasik-expert ... php?t=1391

This person is further along than both of us, and it looks like "enhancement" surgery worked for him in the end. My guess is that's where you and I will end up also.

My own experience so far is that things don't really get better, but you do get used to it. At a minimum, the eye discomfort does decrease over time.

Good luck and hang in there!