Lasik

webguy

webguy

UPH Owner/Founder
Staff member
Hey guys. Thought I would give you an update on my Lasik eye surgery for those who didn't know or even care. Thought I might share since it's quite interesting. I was hoping I wouldn't go blind with the surgery and had to sell Ultimate Pheasant Hunting to the highest bidder (ha ha... ya right).

I got PRK Lasik on April 10th and here's the scoop... It's been a brutal couple weeks. This PRK surgery is not like the majority of Lasik where they cut a flap on your cornea and you go home from the surgery sleep for 4 hours and when you wake up you see 20/20 and then go out and have a steak and beer after that. Nope, not at all.

PRK Lasik was basically 10 days of pure hell for me.

So as I'm in the waiting room before going into the "Laser Room" or whatever the heck you call it, I didn't have my glasses on when I was talking to the Dr. before the sugery. I couldn't even see his face being a -7 as I am.

We chatted a bit, he checked my eyes and I said lets get this over with. I went in, I layed down and I looked at a few lights and I was done in less than 10 minutes. I walked out and I could see great! Dr. came to the waiting room and I could see his face and could even read his name tag. Wow, was that just the oddest thing ever. Pretty emotional to be honest. I can remember having "the morning freak out's" waking up and not being able to find my glasses.

So on the ride home, the drugs on my eyes started to wear off and wow, the pain was pretty brutal. Supposedly I was supposed to be drugged up but in typical webguy fashion, I was working before the surgery, so I forgot to fill the damn prescription. So, whatever, I went home, slept and low and behold I woke up and could still see good and watched some baseball all night and drank a six pack of beer at the folk's house for easter weekend. On Easter Sunday, I woke up and I couldn't see crap and my eyes burned. It wasn't the beer and I was seeing crazy halo's at night in the car (i wasn't driving... I would have killed someone).

My eyes got progressively worse for 4 days before finally stopping and getting better each day for 5 days. Both my right eye and left eye healed at different rates so my headaches were pretty annoying for 10 days.

Finally on day 11 I woke up and could see like Superman. I could never even see this good with contacts! I debated about this for years but finally pulled the plug since my eyes were about -7 in both eyes and I had a major astigmatism. My Mom had the surgery 15 years ago and she's seeing great still today.

So there you go. Cheers to seeing good in 2009 and I can't wait to wake up and hunt ducks, pheasants, deer or whatever and not have to put my contacts in anymore!

:cheers:
 
Thanks for this update! I just made an appointment to see my optician to get an impartial opinion (he doesn't do laser surgery) about my suitability for this procedure. I would just LOVE to get up and go anytime, and not to have all the problems of glasses and contacts in the field... Hopefully he'll give me the all-clear and I can go ahead wiht it soon. Thanks for the heads-up about the difficult recovery period - it would be comforting if this happens to me to know that it all worked out great for you in the end. Congrats!
-Croc
 
No doubt....thanks for the update! I'm about as blind as you and I've been considering Lasik, but I'm pretty nervous about it. Sounds like I need to take a couple weeks off of work for when it's over. Sure would be nice to be able to pull over to the side of the road and sleep without having to take the contacts out with dirty hands! Contacts are a pain. I was chicken hunting a bean field one time, sitting in tall grass with ice all around. When the flock flew in, I ducked my head to hide my eyes and a blade of grass knocked my contact out and I couldn't see to shoot. You don't have to worry about a scenario like this anymore. Congrats for having what it takes to proceed with this new set of eyes!
 
Webguy, I can relate. I’ve been wearing CL’s for a lot of years and my eyes are just like yours were, -6 with astigmatism. Years ago, I decided I wouldn’t do the Lasik but I often wish I had. I think you made the right decision. As you get older, I think your eyes tend to dry out and that’s a problem if you wear CL’s. I’m older than you and I don’t know if I’m still a candidate for the surgery but I do appreciate you sharing your experience with it. Maybe I’ll look into it again. If you don’t mind my asking, why did you go with the PRK?

Quick story: Several years ago while pheasant hunting, I turned quickly to my right as a rooster flushed. As I brought my gun up while turning, my right lens popped out. I missed the bird but was more concerned about the lost lens. No point in looking for a C/L in heavy cover though, so I moved on. About a half an hour later, I noticed a bump on my gun stock. It was my lens, dried and hardened, stuck to the stock. I peeled it off, placed it in my mouth for a couple minutes, then popped it back in my eye and I was good to go. That had never happened to me before and it hasn't happened since.
 
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Good to hear you are getting better all the time. Now I wonder will this new better eyesight make you a better shot or worse. Keep us posted on that one will you please.---Bob
 
Congrats, Webguy! Glad it's working for you. But I will warn you about a future problem as you get older. In all likelyhood you will still be able to see distances just fine. What you may need help with is reading and close up work. But it's a small price to pay.

I've never needed glasses and have always had great distance vision. However, as I got older my arms were no longer long enough and now I have to have some "readers" around all the time for anything close up. My wife had RK surgery done about 10 years ago. Prior to the surgery she couldn't read the clock on the night stand. Afterward she could watch TV in bed without glasses. But now she needs glasses nearly all the time for reading, computer work, etc. In fact she now has tri-focals. But she would do it all over again. She'd prefer this to needing glasses/contacts just to see.

Good luck!
 
Webguy, great to here the surgery was overall success. Sounds worth it in end.

Kinda like when I got my nose reemed out and put me on my back for a week. Now I can breath though so it was worth it.

Must be kind of freaky like you said being able to see better than ever.

Unfortunately now there are now no excuses for missing birds (ha-ha-ha) and the website development should improve too (ha-ha-ha).

Maybe I'll need this surgery someday and it is nice to know a success story. I'm 46 and blessed to not need glasses but I think my right eye is starting to go. Don't like driving at night anymore either as lights get very blurry.

Congrats!!
 
UGUIDE said:
Webguy, great to here the surgery was overall success. Sounds worth it in end.

Kinda like when I got my nose reemed out and put me on my back for a week. Now I can breath though so it was worth it.

Must be kind of freaky like you said being able to see better than ever.

Unfortunately now there are now no excuses for missing birds (ha-ha-ha) and the website development should improve too (ha-ha-ha).

Maybe I'll need this surgery someday and it is nice to know a success story. I'm 46 and blessed to not need glasses but I think my right eye is starting to go. Don't like driving at night anymore either as lights get very blurry.

Congrats!!
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Yes, I will be worth it and I tell you... wow, wow, wow. Very scary for me being the computer guy. What if I messed up a killer UGUIDE South Dakota Pheasant Hunting website or something? What if I messed up my killer shot with my Benelli? Ya right.

You got your nose fixed? Wow. My pop got that fixed twice. From the looks & sounds of it... not fun. I don't envy you.

Let's be honest. Will the web development improve or the shooting. 1 answer. NO. But the beer drinking will!

:cheers: :cheers:
 
Well Ryan, how do we know you did not mess up that killer shot with Benelli? When are you going to the gun club and shoot some clays? We would like to have some scores to make sure the killer is still among us.---Bob
 
webguy said:
Let's be honest. Will the web development improve or the shooting. 1 answer. NO. But the beer drinking will!

:cheers: :cheers:
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So what you are really saying is......Daddy's got a new pair of beer googles on!

I actually got nose fixed twice too. 2nd time after landing on it after falling of roof at deer shack. I landed on this deer and kilt it....

DCP_0924.jpg
 
That's Super!

Amazing what they can do these days

Chuck
 
a1als said:
Ryan when you were out at our place last fall, i wasnt sure if you were lying about being a computer nerd. I don't think i saw you miss any of those clays.
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Didn't you know that they were special Nerd Clay pigeons, they broke at the sound of the shotgun :D.......................just kidding Ryan :cheers:
 
I wonder if Uguide realy got hurt falling or if he got the scope in the face sighting in his gun for that hunt?:D
I thought I might have to come along and be your shooter for your hunts Ryan:D, but glad your doing fine
 
Glad it worked out for you.

So far it's been a giant waste of money for me. Badly nearsighted, the surgery improved that but not nearly to the point where I could go without contacts or glasses. And it has gotten worse--not better. At first one benefit was I could see to read with no correction at all--and pretty well too. Now that is going to pot as well.

They claim I will probably need another correction, for more money. With no guarantees, and worse yet--with the chance it may leave me unable to ever wear contact lenses again (something I was NOT told about ahead of time). I hate hunting and fishing in glasses with a passion.

Didn't want to drag things down, but thought a dose of reality might help those considering the procedure. Do your homework, ask LOTS of questions, and consider whether a bad result is worth a few thousand (or more) bucks.
 
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