I had it done in 1999. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Situation: My vision was 20/200 left and 20/220 right uncorrected before the surgery - pretty bad. I could not see the alarm clock when I woke up in the morning at a distance of a few feet.
The surgery: Painless. I went to Kremer in King of Prussia, PA which, at the time, was considered the best in the nation. Since then Im not sure who the 'leader' in the field is. The day of the surgery you show up, they give you some mild medication to calm your nerves and wheel you into a waiting room of sorts to allow the medication to take effect.
After about 45 minutes youre taken into the surgery room and laid down underneath the equiptment. You are fully conscience during the procedure. There is a surgeon and 4 nurses in the room.
The process entails a few eye drops to numb the nerves surrounding the eye and the surgery itself consists of cutting a flap in the lens of each eye and shooting a laser into it to reshape the rear of the eye.
They do one eye at a time and each eye takes about 2 minutes. A contraption is placed into your eye to keep your lid open and you are told to star at a point of light. Starring is difficult once they remove the lens flap as there is now no focusing surface, but its not difficult to keep your eye in the same position.
The 'odd' part of the surgery is when they begin to reshape the rear surface of the eye. You can actually see smoke coming out of that eye with your other eye - but again - the procedure is totally painless.
In fact, the only thing to do feel is a slight pressure on your eyeball when the flap is cut. The vibration from whatever tool they use to cut the flap is a challenge to ignore, as your first instinct is 'oh ****, someone is sawing into my eyeball - close it' but the metal contraption prevents your eyelids from closing and the eye drops dont afford you much muscle control to move your eye.
After the cut and reshaping they relay the flap and you can immediately see again. The vision is immediately sharper, but it looks as though you are underwater - there is a 'haze' over everything and detail and light decrease with distance.
Post-surgery: After the procedure, you have someone drive you home and relax for the day. I was given a pair of goggles to wear during that first day (they dont want you opening your eyes during the first 24 hours) and you end up sleeping alot because you cant do much else without eyes.
The goggles were then to be worn at night for the next two weeks. They dont want you touching the eye(s) at all during this time as the flap needs to set and heal perfectly - the risk of scratching your eye at night is avoid this way.
The day after surgery, I went back to work. My vision was still 'cloudy' but very sharp - I could see immediately that it was much improved. Driving at night is a challenge for the first 3-4 months as you get 'halo's around lights, but they diminish with time.
Today, some years later, my vision is the same as it was when I had my eyes checked after the surgery - 20/15 in both eyes - better than 'perfect.'
No complaints, no problems with tearing, no problems with night vision, no problems with sunlight sensitivity.
All said and done I wouldnt have it any other way. For those of us that wore glasses or contacts for years, this procedure is a godsend - seeing while swimming, never looking for lost contacts, no dry eyes, no cleaning, no rain drops on lenses, etc, etc, etc.
Do some research, find the right surgeon, and go for it! You wont regret it.
Any questions, PM me.
