(no subject)

[camwyn]

On June 21st, 1999, I had laser vision correction surgery. It was LASIK performed by Dr. Theodore Pearl and it took me from 20/400 vision with a -3.5 diopter prescription to 20/15 and no prescription at all. Since then my vision's varied a bit depending on how I slept on my eyeballs and how tired my eye muscles are, but today I realized I was standing on the corner of 34th and 8th and looking up at the Empire State Building and I could make out the individual flags flying from what I assume was the observation deck on the 86th floor. Not their markings, but I could make out their color being different from the building color, and I could see them moving.

Dr. Pearl, I salute you. Thank you for everything you did for me.

Comments

[pat-trick.livejournal.com]

would you say the experience as a whole was a good one, from pre to post op?

[chn-breathmint.livejournal.com]

*makes note to see if LASIK is an option in the future*

- Mel

[the_croupier]

Wow, I had no idea. I've always been very, "Nuh uh," about getting that done, so it's good to hear how well it can go.

[camwyn]

Yes. Dr. Pearl was a good doctor with a good staff. They went out of their way to provide information and reassurance every step of the way and made sure everyone in my group of LASIK candidates knew what we would be getting into- and didn't force anyone who felt really uncomfortable knowing too much surgical specific information to attend the info sessions with diagrams and pictures. They laid out all of the possible consequences beforehand. They made sure that we knew exactly what would be happening next every step of the way, and were very reassuring about it. The procedure itself was the scariest thing I have ever done on purpose, and that includes everything I did for the Red Cross on September 11th and 12th of 2001- but they were helpful and competent the entire time, and they made sure to do proper follow-up and checkup afterwards. (And they gave me two coupons for free movie tickets so I could take my new eyes out for a spin, so to speak.)

Since then I've had great vision, although some days haven't been as good as others for varying reasons- sleeping on one side distorting the shape of that eyeball sometimes, or lower light levels than usual, things like that. But it always comes back to a really good vision state and I wouldn ot change a thing about how it all happened.

[camwyn]

If you go for it, look for a doctor with a lot of procedures under his or her belt. Dr. Pearl did something like 400 procedures a year. More importantly, before LASIK was invented, his medical specialization was corneal and refractive surgery. He repaired eye injuries and disease-caused corneal ulcers for a living before he ever picked up the microtome, so he knew eyes and everything that had to be done to get them perfect.

[camwyn]

Yep. Like I told pat_trick up there, it was the scariest thing I've ever done on purpose, and that was even though I already knew about the positive results of the Department of Defense's long-term study on Navy members who'd had the procedure. But it wound up being worth it.

[ravynstoneabbey]

... goodness. I forget how bad mine are, but I'm seriously thinking about getting that done.

[camwyn]

Dr. Pearl did the surgery on a daughter of a family friend whose prescription was at -15 or -16. She still has to wear glasses when she drives- but only when she drives. I think she went from 20/1600 to 20/35 or 20/40. She's still good today.

In the interest of fairness, a friend of mine had the procedure performed by another doctor and experienced some unpleasant side effects- dry eye, halos, etc.- and had to go back for touch-up surgery. That's why I encourage people to check their doctor out thoroughly and get someone who's very, very experienced.

[batyatoon]

That right there is a thing of win.

*salutes Dr. Pearl as well*