I had lasik surgery just over three years ago. I started out nearsighted at -5.5 in my left eye and -6.5 in my right. Astigmatism ranged from .75 to 1.25. I was corrected to 20/20 in my left and 20/30 in my right. They set me up for an enhancement six months later. For the whole six months I experienced slight starbursts at night. I was told after the enhancement they would most likely go away. They didn't so I was given eye drops. They helped some, but made my eyes feel so heavy I would fall asleep soon after using them, my eyes felt so weak. Today I still see 20/20 but at night the starbursts are much worse. I avoid driving at night. I avoid using the drops, at this point they don't help much and make me feel too sleepy. I just moved to a city and was a total nervous wreck from struggling with a drive back home one night. The craziest thing is if it is raining, it is easier to see at night. When I went in for my enhancement they told me that was the last time I could have laser surgery on that eye because it was now too thin. So now what... do I not ever drive at night again? Is there any other eye surgeries that can be done regardless of the thickness of my cornea? What do I do now, just not see or drive at night? I am even having trouble watching TV in the dark, or going to the movies or a dim restaurant. The past couple of weeks I have noticed during the day a distortion with my vision in my right eye. I can see things clearly or not fuzzy, it just seems squished together. Different from astigmatism, different from simple near or farsightedness. I need a specialist. I live in Louisville and feel desperate to find someone who can help me. Anyone who can share any info related to what I have described please share with me.

What was the purpose of the drops that improved your vision but made you drowsy? Were they to reduce the size of your pupils? What was the name of the drops?

It is now possible to have the laser remove tissue in the LASIK flap. This can allow surgery for those whose corneas are otherwise too thin, however it is not clear that additional surgery is appropriate.

Have you tried contact lenses? Have you tried rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses?

Have your doctors completed a wavefront diagnosis to help identify the aberrations that are causing your vision problems?

Glenn Hagele
http://www.USAEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

The eye drops are the Alphagan P that every one seems to be using. The strength is .15%. They just make my eyes feel so heavy. Upon examination I am told everything looks great and they can't see anything that would cause my problems. When I had my right eye enhanced they used the wavefront, and told me that should take care of the starburst, it didn't and if anything made it worse. What scares me is when I went for my initial procedure, I was 2nd in a line of patients. After the first patient I had already been numbed and preped for surgery, I waited over an hour because they were having trouble with the calabrations of the machine, I got in there and the feeling had came back in my left eye and the tech started with the clamps used to hold my eye open and my eye started watering and I kept trying to tell her and she kept on, the doctor walked by and saw what was happening and stopped her, he took over at that point and renumbed both eyes and continued on with the procedure. To this day I regret who my regular eye doctor refered me to, and that I didn't reschedule it, it just felt wrong after all the waiting and problems they seemed to have that morning. I am in a new town and trying to find a specialist that has experience with complications due to LASIK surgery. I'm not having much luck. I didn't find one in the directory on this web site of anyone close to me. I'm sure I can find someone, but any ideas or questions you know that I should ask will be of great help when I do find a new doctor.

For you own peace of mind, you may want to ask for a copy of your medical records and have them evaluated by your new local doctor. This would be normal anyway, but you could ask for an evaluation of the original surgery treatment plan.

Laser calibrations are performed very often and are a part of the normal daily routine. It may be that nothing was awry when you had surgery. Then again, it would be nice to know if something was.

You may be having an allergic reaction to Alphagan P. It is rare, but possible. You could ask the doctor if pilocarpine would be appropriate. This is a more aggressive drug for pupil size reduction, but can be what you need. You may also want to ask the doctor if a more diluted solution of Alphagan P would be viable.

I highly recommend you consider contact lenses. Soft contacts may do the trick, but rigid gas permeable (RGP) contacts often resolve the night vision problems you describe.

Glenn Hagele
http://www.USAEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

The most common cause of residual night time vision problems after LASIK is residual refractive error. Some patients also have a combination of residual refractive error plus large pupils. With current technology (wavefront) , most patients will have improvement if their symptoms with an enhancement.
As Glenn mentioned - we can also use wavefront directly on the flap - called advanced surface ablation.
I speak regularly to one specialist in Louisville. I have never worked with him, but he appears to be very knowledgeable. His name is Dr. Eiferman, and here is his contact information:

Richard A. Eiferman, MD
Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology
University of Louisville

I hope this helps

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

Thank you SO much for the contact information. I will get my records and contact Dr. Eiferman.

I think just having someone understand what I am experiencing helps ease my mind. I will obtain my records. I don't want to give the impression that I am totally unhappy with my vision post LASIK. During the day I am still to this day amazed that after all the years I wore contacts and had to put on my glasses in the morning to see the alarm clock, next to me, that I see everything so sharp. It's just the night vision. The key is finding a doctor that can help me see well enough to feel comfortable driving at night.

Teresa, the reason why the rain helps you out is that the extra light reflecting off the surface constricts your pupils. I've noticed this as well.