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CK EYE CORRECTION SURGERY – ONE EYE
I am a 61-year-old male that had CK surgery to one eye. I am writing this to help others with what you may or may not experience from this surgery. After researching the Internet and other sources, I could not find this type of documentation. I left out the particulars as to where I had the procedure done and my doctor and his faculty names, because I want to share the experience only. I will say that my doctor and his staff provided me with professional and excellent care throughout this procedure.
Day 1 arrived for eye examination. Ophthalmic Assistant first did a scan to map my eyes for CK. The eye exam for both eyes was extensive and professional. Since my least dominant eye is my right eye it would have the CK surgery. I was approved for CK on my least dominant eye for the next day at 9 am. Signed all the necessary paperwork to have the surgery done. If that doesn’t give you second thoughts nothing will. The doctor gave me information on what to expect after the surgery. This surgery would give me what is called blended vision.
Note: I am left-handed and my dominant eye is the left eye. Most right-handed people have the right eye as their dominant eye and their left eye as least dominant. One question asked was, "What eye do you use when taking a photograph?" This would possibly indicate your dominant eye.
Day 2 arrived for my surgery. More testing on my least dominant eye with the doctor suggesting that eye have a +175 correction would be best for me. The choice was +175 or +225. My reading glasses were +200, but the CK machine does not do quarter corrections. The +175 gave the least blurring at distance viewing when I closed my dominant eye. The choice was mine and I decided to go with the doctor’s recommendation. The nurse prepared me for the surgery (about 1 hour) and the doctor talked to me about the surgery and answered all questions that I had. The surgery took about 5 to 10 minutes, and the doctor was very pleased with the result. I was given two eye medicines and eye drops to help with the scratchiness that occurred when I closed my right eyelid. It is best to follow all the directions given about what you should do after the surgery.
Note: After the surgery I picked up a magazine to see if I could read the text. I was pleased to see that I could, but my focus would fluctuate, between seeing the text and blurring. Fluctuating is very annoying and could last three to four weeks with final stabilization in three months or less. I went to lunch and was very happy that I could read the menu even with fluctuation.
Day 3 scratchiness was not as bad as I thought it would be. Arrived at the doctor’s office for post exam. My vision was tested and I for the first time in my life I tested 20/20 (actually better than 20/20, but not quite 20/15).
Day 4 scratchiness ended, but fluctuating made reading a book impossible for me. I could read newspapers, labels, menus, business cards and magazines even with the fluctuating that I was experiencing.
Day 5 continue with the medicine and eye drops. The evening hours were the toughest for me because my eye would be sore from daily use. Resting my eyes helped a great deal with the soreness in my right eye.
Day 6 through Day 13 experienced fluctuating text and eye soreness with the soreness decreasing.
Day 14 eye soreness at minimum and for the first time I could read pages in a book with some fluctuation.
Note: Continued with eye drops as needed. CK is a procedure that requires a fare amount of time to see its benefits, but I am very pleased even though my eye has not finalized. The fluctuating occurs from the over correctness of the surgery to the eye, so as the eye stabilizes it will be in and out of focus until it reaches its final stabilization. I noticed that bright light promoted eye soreness, so I even wore sunglasses in the house to keep the light intensity down. Reading pages in a book are my primary goal for total independence from reading glasses. The paperback book that I am reading is "The Golden Ratio", by Mario Livio. I chose this book because it would be a good test for my CK surgery results.
Day 18 slight eye soreness, but now I can read book pages with little fluctuation. My depth of field when I started was about 16 inches, now I can read as close as 12 inches approximately. Eye drops are down to one or two a day, mostly taken in the middle of the night. My right eye will get dry, so I put an eye drop in and all is well.
Day 21 eye soreness is gone, but some fluctuations still present when reading any material. Eye drops are not necessary.
