The soft blur of myopia made it impossible to read the alarm clock. What a hassle, fumbling for my glasses on the night stand. Well now that I've had LASIK, I can read the clock -- sort of.
Who knew that vision after LASIK can be smeared and distorted by halos, starbursts and multiple images? And they call this a success simply because at first I could barely make out the distorted numbers on the clock with one eye if I was close enough.
In dim light, forget it. Everything is blurry, except now glasses don't help. My view of the world is muted and visually confusing -- one object blends into the next object -- edges are gone like a melted icecube. I sometimes describe my vision as if it were drawn on a chalk board, and then someone smudged it with an eraser.
I had to give up driving at night. I cannot detect objects on the side of the road. Pedestrians are invisible to me at night. Car headlights burst out obscuring everything in their path -- other cars, street signs, the road itself... I literally lost my independence.
I don't go to movies anymore. Who wants to be guided to their seat like a blind person, tripping on people, stubbing their toe, and then sitting there in a thick, black fog of distorted, pulsating images? The movie will eventually be out on DVD.
I don't go to dim restaurants because I can't see the floor, can't read the menu, and can't make out faces or door frames. While everyone else is relaxed and enjoying themselves, my body stiffens with anxiety. It's not worth it. I'd rather stay at home with all the lights on so I can see my food.
I was 20/20 at first -- in one eye. That's why they consider me a success. Nevermind that my eyes are so dry now that I can't tolerate wind, air-conditioning or ceiling fans, and my eyes burn constantly. Stringy goop collects in my eyes which blurs my vision and requires twice daily rinsing with saline solution. If you think it's a hassle to have to fumble for your glasses in the morning, imagine stumbling blindly into the kitchen to find your non-preserved saline solution in the refrigerator to rinse your eyes! I have recurrent corneal erosions (dry spots), which can lead to serious eye problems. I use artificial tears frequently and I sleep with an eyemask to protect my eyes from drying out. When I wear my hard contact lenses, I must use some form of protective eyewear to shield my eyes from the air. My tear ducts have been plugged and cauterized to hold what precious few tears I produce on my eyes, and I take fish oil supplements twice a day. I use commercial eyelid cleansing pads daily, which are supposed to keep oil glands open and slow down tear evaporation -- I don't know if they help or not. They call dry eyes after LASIK a 'side-effect', no big deal.
I'm not 20/20 anymore. Like a lot of LASIK patients, my vision regressed. I just wish it had regressed right back to exactly the way it was before LASIK. I no longer just see the soft blur of myopia, even though I am nearsighted again. Now my out-of-focus vision is sort of superimposed with a distorted image caused by LASIK. Glasses correct the myopia, but the distorted image remains. It's like being trapped behind someone else's contact lenses -- someone else's very dirty, scratchy contact lenses.
I see all the ads for LASIK -- "THROW AWAY YOUR GLASSES! SEE THE CLOCK IN THE MORNING!" A truthful ad would say, "THROW AWAY YOUR GLASSES BECAUSE THEY WON'T WORK AFTER LASIK! YOU WON'T WANT TO SEE THE CLOCK IN THE MORNING!"
They say LASIK is life-changing. Well, at least they were honest about that!