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Yeup... This is me ABOVE, PRE Lasik (Before my eyes
were ruined by the botched Lasik procedure performed by Nick Caro/St.
George Vision out of Chicago, IL, on that horrific day of August
24th, 1999...Before the LIES started about what really happened,
before I was NOT properly pre-screened for Lasik with 9.0+mm pupil
dilations and a genetic eye disease called EBMD "Epithelial Basement
Membrane Disorder, before finding out Nick Caro had 60+ lawsuits
from other ruined lives, before I heard the FDA hired US Marshalls
with Pistols drawn to come and seize Nick Caro's Illegal "Black Box
Laser," and before I started
www.LifeAfterLasik.com to spread the word to warn others of
unethical doctors and a horrific procedure called Lasik, and before
Nick Caro tried to shut my website down by attempting to sue my
family for $2 million dollars...) Now I spend my time daily
exposing Nick Caro for what he truly is...He has sons named Dimitri
and Spiro who have started "hate sites" about my family, flat out
lying to the public because of how I have exposed their father.
They have YET to prove me wrong about my claims of their father
ruining my eyesight and lying to me. One of them is deaf I
hear. Funny how, if this had happened to Dimitri, and he had
paid someone to ruin his hearing, maybe then he would have
understood a bit more of what his father has done to myself, my
family and hundreds of others like us, all for MONEY, GREED, and his
ruined EGO that
has been proven to be his WORST ENEMY...
Tuesday: March 27th , 2007
PRK Eye Surgery
Dr. Stojanovic
6:00pm Tromso, Norway
Strategy: go over the various options with Dr. S and
get his opinion of what he thinks would be best. We compared the
Morphological approach which would have taken more tissue off at
(79microns centrally on untreated area) versus CIPTA which only took
off around 50microns; chose to minimize risk of Ectasia and went
with CIPTA approach. Dr. S felt that there really wasn’t a
noticeable difference and that it was beneficial to “save tissue”
and not risk any extra tissue. This was decided after Dr. S took
Astromax, Precisio, Pupillometry, Allegretto Wavefront, Slit Lamp,
Artemis Scans (which Dr. S liked to see, but said that it was
imperative to have and helped to determine the depth and thickness
checks of the EPI & Stroma Bed), and re-checked my present
prescription (took about 1 hour), and we spoke about the following:
Our treatment plan was agreed to go in the middle of conservative
and aggressive. We chose to have a treatment zone of 7.0mm and a
blend out zone to 9.0mm. Dr. S said that just about 98% of the
visual conditions that I will experience during my “waking hours,”
will not be over this dilation zone, so there truly isn’t a reason
to risk taking off more tissue, nor will taking off more tissue
guarantee that I would have better results. Throughout the entire
consultation, Dr. S was very helpful, showed great concern and care
for me the patient, and truly showed a sincere interest to help me
make the best choice with this custom procedure. I felt very
comfortable and at that time, I was not in the least bit worried
about having the procedure, until the phase mentioned below during
the actual procedure.
Prep:
3 rounds of drops, dry form pills for steroids to reduce swelling,
some more drops that burned for a few seconds, then Dr. S walked me
through surgical process, and Stian went over post surgery
instructions, Questions & Answers, Pro’s & Cons. There were also 4
Ophthalmology interns there watching each step of the procedure from
start to finish. There were 2 Chinese interns: Jaia and Tao as
well as 2 Russian interns: Maria and Olga. Stian, Dr. S, Jaia,
Tao, Maria, Olga, and Dean Kantis all put scrubs on. Masks on
everyone except Dean. We walked through the surgery one more time
and then it was time. I was asked if I wanted a sedative to calm
me, and I said “no” as I didn’t need it with Lasik and didn’t need
it today. I felt very calm and very confident for the surgery.
Jaia is top in her class and comes from China. She had undergone
the Ivis with Dr. S, and had spectacular results of 20/12 vision.
Tao is now ready to do it this week on Wednesday, and I wish him
luck.
Surgery: The total surgery from the time I lied down
until the time I got up lasted about 5 minutes if that much. Dr. S
started with marking the horizontal axis points with pen on the
sclera. In June, Dr. S will have a new tool, machine, that will do
this automatically instead of “manually.” Either way, it is very
important to do this so there is no “cyclotorsional rotation” of the
eye with laser, so that they can create the perfect optimal shape
when the eye is in a fixed horizontal position. A protective sheet
was then put over my face only leaving a hole exposed for the
procedure at hand. Dr. S then he put the eye tool in order to hold
the eye open. Next more drops. Dr. S then put on the O-ring to
mark the eye and this stayed on during the entire treatment until
the treatment was concluded. Now here’s the uncomfortable part.
The cold drops, yes like as in “ice cold,” Dr. S said that I should
take as much as I can tolerate, so I just fought the pain and took
all that he could apply…
It felt like frozen drops freezing my eye. This was truly
uncomfortable, but very important for the healing to minimize
swelling etc…Then the laser blasts. I stared at the red light (the
laser) and also there was like a green fuzz of tv screen
superimposed outside of the red light, but or course as I was
prepped I kept looking at the red light only and this lasted for
exactly 24 seconds. At first I didn’t really feel the laser
blasts. Then about from 16 seconds to 24 seconds it began to feel
hot and almost like a sun burn along with dull eye pain, so I was
anxious to get it over which concluded at 24 seconds.
I began to get a bit nervous because I was feeling uncomfortable
with the ice cold and then heat of the blasts, kind of like going
from one extreme of weather to the other but on your eye. Stian was
great and I was very glad to see him there next to Dr. S, especially
knowing that he has worked with Dr. S for like 12 years, from
traveling, to training, to procedure after procedure, so that felt
very reassuring. He then counted the seconds and walked me through
it so I knew exactly how many seconds were left and I knew that I
could tolerate the discomfort and that gave me a “count down
timeframe” in my own mind to help me pace the last seconds as the
pain grew worse. Had it been like 35 seconds, I probably would have
had to take a break. So, yes it is uncomfortable. Next came more
of the ice cold drops that I don’t like, but did whatever it took.
Dr. S used the sponges to make sure there was no debris before and
after the treatment with the laser and he guided me through each
step of the procedure. Lastly, he put MMC drops on for exactly 12
seconds and kind of rubbed them onto the surface with a small
surface sponge.
Next, he used more drops to clean up, he put a soft contact lens on,
and that was it. I sat up after he moved the laser arm away.
During the procedure I could tell that, while the laser blasts hit
my eye, it almost seemed like the quality of my vision grew sharper
as he put more and more drops on my eye. After the procedure was
over though, it was blurred to say 20/250 vision so I definitely
could not have had both eyes done at the same time, but Dr. S said
that on “virgin eyes” they can do both eyes simultaneously, but not
on complicated eyes like mine, it takes much longer to heal. I also
smelled the burnt flesh of my cornea which reminded me of the
original Lasik Disaster from Nick Caro 8 years earlier which started
this entire mess to begin with, and wasn’t a man enough to admit
fault so I could have filed for long term disability insurance which
I had a lot of a the time this happened, and should be the one
paying for all of my expenses ongoing.
We took a bunch of pictures with everyone which I will immediately
post on the website with this entire story and how my healing
continues over the following 1,2,3 months…After that, my eye looked
blood shot when viewed in the mirror and felt like it truly just
went through a very big remodeling, which of course it did…My eye
felt heated and warmed, while still in a lot of pain for about a
good 5 hours post surgery, and at times would tear and water and
hurt. I took drops 1x/hour to help with the pain, plus I used a lot
of artificial tears to help, which it did do. But, still you know
the pain is there.
I will check in daily to get checked by Dr. S just to make sure
everything is fine and healing is “optimal.” Tuesday I had the
surgery, by Friday I am told the EPI should be fully in contact and
healed, as they informed me that it heals from the outside
periphery, in toward the center. I have already been pre warned
that I will possibly have a lot of pain, blurred vision getting
clear and then blurred again, and that really it takes about 45-60
days to see roughly the end result. Again, in re-iterating, they
felt everything went perfectly, and that I held very still and was
what they said “one of the best patients.” So, I again thanked them
for hopefully doing a great job.
Post Op Instructions: Sun glasses during the day and
out in the sun for 12 months. Oxyal artificial tears every 10
minutes, as often as would like, for first day. Spersadex drops 1
hour after surgery and right before bedtime (using until all gone,
then will switch to another prescription eye drop, Vexol which I was
given). Voltaren Optha drops 2 minutes after Oxyal drops again
using only for surgery and following day. Ocufri with Tetracaine
drops, use only once per hour, as needed for help with pain (which I
did use about 4-5 times the night of surgery). Again, maintain a
lot of Vitamin C and Omega 3’s.
Update: Night Of Surgery: Still in a lot of pain, a
sore kind of pain as my eye just got hit with some serious laser
blasts, so make no mistake about it. But, somewhat tolerable, with
the meds. IF I didn’t have the meds, it would be very difficult I
believe, but again they have pre warned me of this and have informed
me that everyone has different results. Some don’t have any pain
ever, and some do. I have probably the largest dilated pupils they
have ever seen, and therefore they had to go deeper and wider then
most patients so more tissue per area has been removed. So someone
with a smaller treatment zone of like 5mm-6mm blended out to 7-8mm
would have a lot less tissue removed. I’m typing this and able to
read with my eye if I held my head about 10” from monitor, but have
my right eye carrying me for the clarity until the left eye, surgery
eye, EPI fully heals. Woke up at 2:30am, put additional drops in
eyes, took an additional dose of Vitamin C and Omega 3’s with
water. Eye feels like it is sore, and like it has a “scar,” and of
course has “dry eye” as Dr. S said it would feel for the first few
weeks. This should feel better by Friday after EPI heals. Looked
outside, damn it, no Northern Lights. UGH!!
Wed/Day Two: Woke up several times during the night
to make sure I had drops just to be safe and cautious. Ate a huge,
gourmet style breakfast which was great! Took some extra food back
to the room for later since food costs a small fortune here…Hah.
Red eye is gone, and eye feels much more comfortable. It was a long
6-10 hours of feeling warmth and pain, but seems more stabilized
now. I am feeling much better today, and will go for a walk soon.
Catching up on emails, I find that my eye all of a sudden has sharp
pains, almost like it felt when I had a dry contact lens in for a
long time, and then of course, immediately adding rewetting drops,
which seem to help. I have somewhat “double vision,” was told that
it is very common, in fact some patients have like quadruple vision,
but then they giggled and it will eventually go away (it better,
hah).
Thurs/Day Three: My vision seemed to slightly
improve. Today I am more sensitive to sunlight, and of course am
wearing sun glasses even as it snows outside (when outside) just to
make sure that my corneas don’t melt from UV rays. My tears seem to
be working perfectly, which is a relief as I was worried about
“progressing any dry eye issues.” I feel in my gut that everything
went very well. Again to date, very blurred vision, like 20/150 but
definitely better than 3 days ago. Really not much pain or
discomfort at all. I am looking forward to Day Four.
Fri/Day Four: I woke up immediately noticing a visual
improvement. Definitely, UV light and sun light, is very sensitive
to my eye. Even though it’s snowing, my eyes are much more
sensitive today, again all things they pre-warned me about so no
worries here. I will definitely will be wearing the sun glasses
today. Purchased some fresh shrimp right off of the boat, very
sweet and tasty! Tromso, Norway is such a beautiful town. Off to
see Dr. S for another check up, and he will let me know when he will
be taking the soft contact lens out. He mentioned probably over the
weekend or even on Monday. Just got back from Dr. S, and he said
that the EPI is about 85% healed from the outside periphery, coming
toward the center of the eye. Looks like the center is a small
triangle that is only left “not healed yet,” but again everything is
right on schedule and even Stian told me that it doesn’t get any
better and everything went perfectly. Dr. S said that he would
prefer to wait until Monday 12noon, to take out the soft contact
lens, so that is when my next apt will be. I am noticing even more
sensitivity to sunlight inside or outside.
I guess I spoke too soon, my eyes for the past 5 hours just water
and water and tear, and are blood shot. They warned me that this
sometimes happens, so I’ll duke it out. The challenge with this, is
my sinuses run because of all of the irritation so I can’t go out or
do anything as it is too uncomfortable to enjoy walking around or
being around people. Hopefully, this will be gone by tomorrow so I
can enjoy walking around and not have to worry. I’m using the
Allergen Ocufri drops and they kind of help. Can only use once per
hour. This was like a reoccurrence of the first night, but without
the feeling of heat, primarily uncontrollable tearing and blood shot
eye, and some sharpness of pain similar but not nearly as bad as the
first night. Eyes and eyelids appear to be somewhat swollen.
Here’s my hypothesis: since I had a much larger/wider treatment
zone which would be as deep as 60microns of new tissue being removed
in “untreated areas,” then it took longer for the EPI to grow
towards the center and “seal.” When it finally did, I think my eye
or pressure had to go through a change and the change in the new EPI
and/or pressure definitely hurt, became sensitive to light as well
as ongoing uncontrollable tears and some blood shot.
Sat/Day Five:
Woke up with slightly swollen eyes. Vision is still “doubled” and
“blurred.” I am seriously looking forward to having the contact
lens taken out on Monday. I still feel sensitive to inside/outside
light, but better than yesterday. As the day progressed, it felt
better and less sensitive. Hopefully the EPI has healed all the way
from the periphery to the center of the eye and “sealed” so to
speak. It’s now about 4pm Norway time. Took 3 hour nap. Caught up
on some emails. It’s about 8pm now and I feel no eye pain, nor
tearing. Seems like it is fine for now (lets hope). Indoor lights
don’t bother me either.
Sun/Day Six: Woke up, with dry blurred cloudy
vision. Immediately put a ton of drops in my eyes, went outside to
get the fresh cold air wind to help make natural tears, then back in
the hotel room for a steam hot shower to help. The eye drops, cold
air, and hot shower all helped, and I was fine for the rest of the
day. My eyesight between the time of waking up until around 1:00pm
seemed to improve tremendously say going from like 20/100 blurred to
a clearer 20/60 vision, which helped to show me “healing has been
accelerated.” I definitely noticed my eyesight somewhat smoothened
out. It was like for the past 4 days having no contact in one eye
and the other eye did have a contact in, so you had that kind of
“off synch feeling.” Today it is much more evened out, but not
nearly as clear as my right eye (non surgical eye). I know in time,
with healing and time, it should be as good if not better lets
hope. I remember from the surgery a few days ago, that the
sharpness after the 24 seconds of laser, when Dr. S put the drops on
my eye, the clarity was like HDTV, high definition…so my goal is to
obtain this with the final healing of the EPI. I mean this is like
getting a “brand new windshield on one’s car” after birds, lasik
doctors, “poop” all over the windshield and charge you to do so.
Just got back from taking a walk, had a nice steak dinner and a hot
cappuccino. I again am reminded by the terrible halos and
starbursts, worse in the laser eye (it’s only been 5 days) so I am
definitely hoping that it gets better than the “right eye, untreated
eye,” which right now is way better than the “just treated left
eye.”
Mon/Day Seven-Go to Dr. S to get contact removed and
final check up at 12noon. Depart Back To Florida at 8:20pm. 4
Airplane rides to go, this is going to really suck. Hopefully when
I get to Oslo, I can change my flights and go “stand by” on an
earlier flight out to US…otherwise I have about 30+ hours of flying
and waiting. Yikes!! Okay, Monday is here, went to Dr. S at 12noon
to get the contact lens out, no problem. He confirmed the EPI is
closed and healing. It slightly hurt when removed, but no biggie.
I was told to take a bunch of drops every hour since the contact is
out, and it may cause my eyes to be more sensitive or feel dryer
than normal. Eye feels exactly like the pain when you have a RGP in
all day, and then you take it out and for the next 1-2 days, your
eye is sore from ripping the outer layer of EPI off…I then spent the
next 8 hours literally wasting time until my flight was ready to
depart at 8:45pm Monday night to leave from Tromso to Oslo. On the
2 hour flight, I felt no pain or pressure or dryness at all. I felt
comfortable.
I will say that I am a bit “bummed out and humbled” that I didn’t
get the immediate “WOW” effect as I was hoping and wishing for, so
that I could immediately do the other eye before leaving. My eye is
still blurred, maybe 20/100 vision and night vision is still poor.
My vision thus far is worse than before, so of course in the back of
my mind, I’m wondering if it will stay like this, but I know
better. It has to heal and healing takes time. Since we went wider
than most patients, it’s going to take that much longer to heal and
refine. Again, I have to be patient and wait out 60 days to get a
real idea of what I am left with. Man oh man, I am hoping that my
vision fine tunes, as I admit that I have anxiety about all of the 8
years waiting for the best shot and then going to Tromso, Norway
twice in the last 6 months, and the $30,000 I am now up to on my
eyes. I could have bought a nice used Porsche Boxter convertible to
drive around in, and maybe that would have given me more “happy
thoughts.” Who knows…I just hope that I bring some “hope” back to
the USA and other countries about my story being a success, rather
than a failure, so that others can be cured as well. Only time will
tell. I arrived in Oslo at 11pm, will wait it out here at the
airport for 5-6 hours, and see if I can catch an earlier flight
leaving at 6:30am arriving in Newark at 3:30pm, versus my scheduled
flight departing at 11:00am, and arriving at 8:00pm into Newark.
Then, I have to catch a 3 hour flight down to Fort Lauderdale to
complete this long 9 day trip.
Tues/Day Eight-After 36 hours of 4 connecting flights,
delays, and more delays I have finally arrived back into Fort
Lauderdale at 12midnight. I had no problems on the plane, nor in
the airport where I spent the night on several various “benches.”
No eye pressure, no pain, no discomfort. I just used the Spersadex
4x a day, and the Oxyal Artifical Tear drops 8x a day. No
problems. No improvement as of yet on my vision, which worries me,
but in the back of my mind I know I have to wait 2 months to really
get an idea of how my vision will be. EPI is still sore, but not
enough to bother me or constantly be a challenge.
Wed/Day Nine-Same thing. No problems. No change in
vision either. EPI is still sore, so I guess it is still refining,
healing, and remolding.
Thurs/Day Ten: I noticed a more clearer vision both
“near and far.” I have been wearing my
www.IzonLenses.com
and the vision is slightly better with my glasses on and helps to
balance both eyes out. The vision is definitely improving, very
slowly though.
Fri/Day Eleven: Same thing…
Sat/Day Twelve:
I’m off to get the new eye drops: Velox eye drops to use from here
on out and discontinue the Sparadex Eye drops. Will start at
3x/day, then 21 days later, 2x/day, then 21 days later, 1x/day for
21 days. Slightly clearer. Again, ever so slightly…barely
noticeable.
Sun/Day Thirteen: No change.
Mon/Day Fourteen: No change.
Tues/Day Fifteen: No change.
Wed/Day Fifteen: Slightly clearer.
Thurs/Day 16: No Change.
Fri/Day 17: Went in for checkup. Vision is a blurry 20/80.
Sat/Day18: No Change. As I have been told upfront, the biggest
changes are in the first 30 days, and then slowly over the next 45
days the EPI refines and refines. A very slow process, probably
even slower for a “complicated eye” patient like us…
Day 19-30: I don’t feel sore anymore. Pretty much like a wound
has healed. I feel that the EPI layers have gone through layers of
healing, and still more to come. I am now down (from 3x/day) to 2
drops per day of the Velox. My eye pressure rose to 20, higher than
the other non treated eye which is at 15, so we will continue to
monitor this. Of course this is within the scope of “temporary
normal,” since I’m only on drops momentarily…The last 3 weeks I will
cut them down to about 1 drop per day, and this too shall hopefully
decrease the pressure. Then off of them completely from there. I
don’t like to use a lot of re-wetting drops as I began to feel that
my body’s ability to manufacture natural tears seemed to diminish
and get worse the more I used them. This was also the same feeling
I had experienced when I tried Restasis. Anyway, I feel better
about not using them, and I would rather “NOT” be dependent on them
as it seems to make me feel. I seem to do fine without them, it is
dry, but while sleeping can get very, very dry if I am constantly
putting rewetting drops in there…I will be checking my eye pressure
from here about every 14 days just to be on the safe side as I have
heard that if it goes to 21, then that can accelerate glaucoma, and
we don’t want that. I now am seeing the Snellen Chart at an
improved 20/50, but a blurry one indeed. So far, I am not yet back
to before I left, but slowly getting there. I will continue to
write. If this keeps up, over the next 6 weeks, I should be
refining more and more, ever so slowly, and then hopefully
surpassing what I had pre-PRK. Stay tuned.
Day 31-60: It’s May 7th, 2007, and I went in to have
my vision checked by Dr. Ken Maller. He immediately said, “wow,
your vision has improved to 20/30-, up from 20/50+ 2 weeks ago...A
major improvement.” So, little by little, I’m gaining both clarity
and best uncorrected acuity, while slowly losing the halos and
starbursts and aberrations…” AGAIN, VERY, VERY SLOWLY GETTING
BETTER. A noticeable difference about every 2 weeks now. I was
also told by Dr. S that it may indeed take another 4-6 weeks to get
a couple of more lines and clarity back, and it is not surprising to
have some refinements all the way up to 12 months from the date of
the PRK surgery. Stay tuned.
It’s May 29th, 2007 and I do not notice a significant
change from the last time. Some doctors say it could take up to 4-5
months to fully heal and get an idea of what you’re left with, some
say 2-3 months. Since we went with a 7mm treatment zone and blended
out to 9mm, it may take 30-50% longer. Stay tuned.
Day 60+: June 4th: Check up with Dr. Ken
Maller
www.NoBlur.com
VAsc
OD = 20/20-
OS = 20/40+ PH 20/20
Ret OS = +0.50 - 1.50 x 045
Refraction OS +0.75 - 1.50 x 045 20/20-
SLE OS (-) NaFl staining, subtle disruption in tear film at edge
of ablation zone from 10:00 to 4:30 on nasal side.
T(A) OD = 14 mmHg, OS 14 mmHg @ 9:30 a.m.
June 18th: I feel that it is now taking
longer for refinements. Very slow now, I have just lately found
that I have refined just a little bit over the past 3-4 weeks and
“Theratears Preservative FREE Eye Drops” seem to help. Again, am
hopeful that this will continue as I feel there is “room to go.” I
am seeing 20/40 which is okay, and would like to see better at 20/20
UNCORRECTED, but this is in God’s hands and maybe will happen over
the next 8 months…maybe not. At night, the HOA’s are better than
PRE PRK, but still room to go from having 9.0+ dilated pupils at
night. GOOD NEWS: Dr. Maller feels that a Toric Soft Lens may do
the trick, will be trying this on the POST PRK eye soon in about 45
days. I want to give my eyes another 45 days to heel before making
the decision. All in all. At this point, I am not where I need to
be to feel good about the surgery fixing anything to make me better
with no prescription, but if I am made better and can tolerate soft
lenses (SUCH AS PRE LASIK), via tolerable contacts or glasses, AND
MY EYES ARE MADE MORE NORMAL OR REGULAR, so I can see somewhat
normal again, THEN THE SURGERY WAS A SUCCESS AND I WOULD RECOMMEND
TO OTHERS THAT MAY BE A CANDIDATE if DR. S says that he feels they
have a greater chance of success as he stated in my case to have
“greater chance” of success, than failure. Again, DR. S mentioned
that refinements are TO BE EXPECTED UP TO 12 MONTHS POST PRK…
NOTE:
My definition of a “success” could and will be different than
everyone else. My worst case scenario is to be able to wear a “soft
contact lens” to normalize and smoothen out my vision along with a
more normalized corneal shape and more normalized topography with a
larger 7mm treatment zone blended out to 9mm, which we did
accomplish. So, if I am able to tolerate Toric or Soft Disposable
contact lenses, then BRAVO to Dr. S, then we accomplished making me
more normalized and I can get on with my life. If I get lucky and
need nothing and this happens without any type of prescription, then
I would start crying on the spot in elation of a “miracle.” Lets
see what happens over the next 45-60 days. That will be my final
notes until notes 1 year POST PRK.
July 9, 2007, Dr. Maller: I was originally going to
get fitted for a soft Toric contact lens to see if this will “get me
by.” But, Dr. Maller warned me to NOT do this until AFTER 6 months
post op. So, the GOOD NEWS is that since last month, my vision,
best corrected has improved from 20/20 to 20/15:
+0.25 -1.50 x052 (OS, left eye, PRK eye) I am going to Lens
Crafters to see if I can get a lens made to put in my glasses and
then maybe this will get me by from here on out…stay tuned.
AUG. 20TH,
2007, Dr. Maller
Hello:
I hope all of
you are doing well, and/or as good as can be expected.
You are continuously in my prayers as I know what you are going
through (daily/weekly/monthly).
Just got back
from seeing Dr. Maller
www.NoBlur.com
and my prescription has changed from 6 weeks ago:
+.25 -1.50 x052
Today: August 20th, 2007:
+.75 -1.25 x 065
Again, the topographies are much more normal in color combination
and there is a much wider periphery of treatment area zone than
previously "Pre PRK." The good news again, is that I should be able
to get a soft toric lens for treatment. I went in today to get
refracted, and I will know next Monday about what I am working
with...stay tuned. It may take 2 more fittings, but I went right to
a Zwave Soft Toric Lens, (as wide as they make) to avoid an
discomfort issues.
08-27-2007
Hello Everyone: I hope your week has started off on a good note.
Just to keep you updated, as I promised to do so, here are my final
notes from PRK surgery in Norway 5 months ago:
I went to Dr. Maller's today at 11:30am. Tried the soft toric
contact zwave lens which he explained has been made from a "lathe"
and has been specifically sculpted to hopefully "best and most
comfortably" fit the new contour of my cornea (OS/LEFT EYE/POST PRK
EYE), and hopefully provide the best possible vision without
creating Spectacle Blur as I had received previously with the Zwave
RGP (which gave me great vision, but I developed swelling etc...and
then my vision was shot for 3 days because of the Spectacle Blur
issues).
Anyway, here is my personal
opinion:
POSITIVES:
-My vision is better ONLY in terms of the fact that I can
tolerate this soft toric contact lens and get some clarity back,
(not all, but a lot). POSITIVE.
-The PRK surgery allowed me to be treated through more normal
refractive means. POSITIVE.
-The PRK surgery created a more centered, normalized shaped cornea.
POSITIVE.
-The PRK surgery created a wider treatment zone. POSITIVE.
-The PRK surgery provides a reduction of approximately 60% of most
of my halos/starbursts and is better than the non-PRK treated eye.
POSITIVE.
-The PRK surgery would probably work even better on someone who has
smaller dilated pupils than myself (who is OFF the charts at
9.5mm). POSITIVE.
-The PRK surgery hopefully allows me to be treated with a large,
weighted, soft toric contact lens. POSITIVE.
-The PRK surgery will take up to 12 months to fully heal and takes
time to really know the final results. POSITIVE. (every month - 6
weeks, I have had little areas of fine tuning and my topographies
are looking better and better...so it may get a couple of more
shades of "clarity.")
NEGATIVES:
-The PRK surgery was very risky, I went through more than I thought
in terms of post PRK discomfort etc. NEGATIVE.
-The PRK surgery completely removes Bowman's Membrane. NEGATIVE.
(No one truly knows the long term results of doing this). NEGATIVE.
-The PRK surgery takes a lot longer to heal and it could take about
12 months to tell the story of whether it was worth it or not.
NEGATIVE.
-My vision is better ONLY after I have this contact lens in and it
is about the same or a little worse than PRE PRK. (close up, at
night, during the day). NEGATIVE.
GOAL: I'M IN BETWEEN ON STILL FIGURING THIS OUT, ANY
SUGGESTIONS: Yes, there is still some tweaking to go in my
opinion so i can see better: I'm going to try to get Dr. Maller to
try to accomplish this and I'm allowed (one) more lens custom cut
from the"lathe" so hopefully this will fine tune just a little bit
more:
-The best possible vision still though, is my
www.IzonLenses.com
but I have to turn the lens about 50 degrees and if I can somehow
get this soft toric contact lens to yield this vision, have it
weighted on the bottom so it doesn't move, and then accomplish
this...I will be very very happy.
Q&A's:
"Am I glad I did
it?"
So far, yes. But ONLY if the soft contact lens works. I chose a
weighted soft toric to address the substantial Astigmatism that I am
left with which I am NOT HAPPY about. My "worst case scenario" was
to just pop on any soft contact lens and let it rotate and do
whatever. I didn't accomplish this. My "best case scenario" was to
gain somewhat normal vision back without any need for correction.
Certainly, THIS WAS NOT ATTAINED.
"Would I have
done it knowing my outcome today?"
So far, yes. But again, ONLY, if I can continue to be treated with
a soft contact lens. AFTER Lasik, my eyes will NOT tolerate any
type of HARD or RGP lens. Period, end of story. My eyes have been
made permanently worse from the razor blade cutting my nerves,
creating some dry eye issues, and from creating small decentered
flaps with off center laser treatments.
"Would I recommend this to
another hurt lasik patient?" ONLY IF DR. Stojanovic
has the opportunity to see your records, fully examine you, and then
tell you that he feels there is a GREATER chance of SUCCESS than
FAILURE and then prompts you to make the trip to Norway. I think he
is the only person that I trust knowing what I now know. I wouldn't
trust anyone yet in the states. I hear that Dr. Wang may get this
technology sometime soon (Dec. 2007) but don't quote me.
"Am I back to normal like PRE
LASIK?" NO, God NO. I don't think that will ever
happen because of the permanent damages from NOT properly
pre-qualifying me, botching the surgery, and because my treatment
zone will NEVER be large enough to accommodate the -7 myopia in my
periphery, and my somewhat treated area centrally. But, maybe just
maybe I'll get about 90% the way there. Right now I'm about 85%
WITH the new soft lens on, and about 65% with no corrective lenses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 28, 2007
Guys:
Maybe I spoke too soon, but I am getting mild "spectacle blur,"
cloudy, and whitish haze.
Not nearly as bad as with the excellent vision I was able to achieve
with RGP's, but they
really gave me spectacle blur and then it took 2 days for my eyes to
adjust back to normal.
So, in my opinion...
If you have
tried contacts have this same issue, then the only thing that will
help are glasses.
The best vision that I could tolerate was still with
www.IzonLenses.com
I have to get them
tweaked since my PRK surgery in Norway, but they have given me the
best vision.
I'm 50/50 on whether it
was worth it:
All in all, the PRK
procedure was worth it if I can get the glasses to be fined tuned
just a bit. If not, IT WAS NOT WORTH THE RISK...and I feel that I
am not a candidate ever again for contact lenses. I've tried all of
them and they ALL somehow make my cornea swell and then my vision is
cloudy, blurred, and it isn't worth it. If you can tolerate
contacts, maybe it's worth trying "one eye" and then measure the
response.
Hello All:
Finally after 8 years of hell, I find some improvement and hope that
this will continue and last. I will try to keep this succinct.
Please don't ask me why my prescription below, being so differently
from my previous emails to you worked, I went to a "no name"
optometrist and it worked, and it cost me a $199 and I received 12
month's supply of contact lenses for both eyes, a full examintation
in both eyes, and new glass lenses for my glass frames. Here's what
I have found.
LEFT/OS:
Acuvue Astigmatism Soft Toric Lens: -1.00 - .75 x 100, 8.7 (POST
PRK/NORWAY EYE)...made much more normal and correctible through much
more normal correctible means. This eye is definitely with
correction, much superior in terms of colors, contrast, acuity, you
name it. Soft lens is very very comfortable and I don't notice it
moving around like the RGP Zwaves. I don't notice spectacle blur
when it is out. It feels very accomdating and comfortable. This
prescription seems to blend both eyes to almost 90% working
together, which for the first time in 8 years, I feel like I am
somewhat on the same page.
RIGHT/OD:
Acuvue 2 soft lens: -.75 8.7/14.0 size lens. Very comfortable.
This soft lens seems to "smoothen things out." I don't quite have
the clarity as the OS/LEFT eye, but I am about 90% there.
Please Note: I
am in NO WAY NORMAL or back TO NORMAL. I do feel during the daytime
about 90% there. At night, about 75%. On the computer and in
reading, it's still very un-enjoyable and I hate it. I still have a
very tough time focusing on text and enjoy being outside to reduce
the dilation, as I am always inside feeling a bit "dizzy" or a bit
"clouded" so I try to minimize this. With these lenses, this is
reduced. And, this just may "get me by." Again, I am reminded that
my eyes could constantly change but at least this is a possibility
and finally something positive.
I feel any of you that send your complete medical
topographies/charts/notes/tests etc, to Dr. Stojanovic and then if
he comes back and says that he feels you would be made better, I
would try the worst eye and give it a try. I think any of you would
have even better results than I, because I am was never a candidate
for Lasik Eye Surgery or Refractive Eye Surgery having 9.5mm dilated
pupils, EBMD, and other. The main problem with myself, is exactly
this, and also dealing with "de-centered lasik," creating and
further damaging my corneas by creating "off center ablations and
treatments."
If any of you have up to say 7.5mm dilated pupils, I again, feel
that you will have much greater success than I. After today and
because of today, I would recommend Dr. Stojanovic's surgery to
anyone that Dr. Stojanovic deems to be a candidate. I would make
the trip out to Tromso, Norway and I can suggest some "tips" to make
the trip as "easy as possible" on you. My continued wishes for you
all...all the best!!
info@LifeAFTERLasik.com
www.LifeAFTERLasik.com
754.234.9993
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