LASIK Destroyed My Eyes!
True story. My story.
“Imagine seeing two of “ESPN” or “CNN” in the corner of your television screen, one slightly superimposed over the other.. but definitely two!”
The discomfort of double-vision…
This is my predicament. This is my misfortune. This is my complication. This was my pain.
I was 20 years old, just a couple of years into Medical school. This was just a couple of years ago. I was already using spectacles for Myopia (fancy name for being short-sighted) for 6 years, before I took a decision to undergo LASIK. I didn't have thick glasses, but I wanted freedom. Freedom from these “windows to a clearer world” when I’m playing sports like soccer, when I wanted to wear cool shades. I never considered using contact lenses as an option. I thought they were cumbersome.
Spectacles? Contacts? LASIK? What do I go for?
My eyesight deteriorated ever so slightly and I went for a routine refractory assessment. There was a slight change from the previous reading and I needed to have my spectacles altered. That’s when the ophthalmologist offered LASIK. As a permanent solution to my short-sighted life. I would be glasses-free. I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning them, breaking them, changing them and sometimes even forgetting them, only to regret that later.
The cost was an issue. 1700 $ ! Was it worth it? Did I really need it? After a couple days of discussion with my father (an accomplished Cardiothoracic surgeon, who knows the importance of sharp eyes in his career, the career of my dreams) I decided to go ahead and get the procedure done.
Routine pre-op investigations done. Consent papers signed. Anesthetic eye-drops instilled. I was ready on the bed for the surgeon to sculpt my corneas using a powerful laser. It was a slightly uncomfortable but quick procedure. I was ready to go home in just 30 minutes. That’s all the time it took. A quick test after the surgery revealed I had 6/5 vision in both my eyes. That’s better than normal. I went home happy but in considerable amount of pain. After a few days of pain-killers, I was getting around again, with a slight blur. That is because of the dry eyes they said. So I never complained and got on with my life.
It never got better. In-fact, it got worse. Soon the blur was troubling me with near and distant vision. Soon it progressed to diplopia (another fancy term- for double vision). It was ever so slight, but remarkably distressing. I was squinting to get things in focus. I waited for an year, continually using lubricating eye drops. Then I started to panic and went back to the ophthalmologist to get it assessed.
“You have Post-LASIK Kerectasia” he said.
Long story short? My eyes were screwed!! The corneas had thinned out so much after the procedure, they started ballooning out slowly, resulting in high-astigmatism in both eyes. A TOTAL NIGHTMARE! What are my options doc? Are they going to get better? No. It’s a progressive complication which if uncontrolled can get serious enough for a corneal transplant to live and see normally. The only treatment I had in sight was something called Collagen Cross-linking Radiation therapy. The error was not correctable. Only controllable.
My left eye was worse, so it went first. After denuding the corneal covering with alcohol, special vitamin drops were instilled and my eye exposed to UV light for 20 minutes. Sounds OK. I was OK. That’s until the pain started. Raw nerves do NOT go well with alcohol in the eye. Pain-killer pills weren't helping. I was writhing in pain. So much, that I needed a skin patch of Fentanyl (Morphine’s cousin) to keep myself from a nervous breakdown. I got through it. The haze cleared over a few weeks and I got back to my academics. Wearing my spectacles of course !
What started out as a desire to get rid of my glasses, turned into an attempt to keep them from getting any worse. Please discuss all the possible risks and complications with your doctors. Be aware of all possible outcomes. Take necessary precautions if any. Things don’t always go according to plan.
It’s a simple, widely performed procedure. Why did it go wrong? Was my doctor wrong to recommend it to me? Did he screw up? Is it just my bad luck and fate? These are unanswerable questions and it’s a waste of time trying to wrap our heads around it. Complications- They are an unfortunate part of our lives. We just have to pick ourselves up, and move on.
My right eye awaits…
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