Hi,
I am 25 years old and had lasik operation three months ago. I have been experiencing haloes and starbursts since and hope someone can comment on what my doctor has told me regarding this. He has given me the following explanation:

Since my pupils are large they would have to cut of tissue over a large area/diameter. This would leave the cornea very/too thin. So in my case he decided to leave some of the tissue and hence creating night time problems.

On the recovery process he said two things: The eyes are still in healing, and I should wait a year to see if the night time problems disappear as the eye grows. If they are not any better by then, I'm stuck with it, but the night time problems will go away as I get older and the pupils get smaller. This will happen in 10-20 years time (!!!).

I would be grateful if anyone can comment on what my doctor has said about the procedure, and the healing process. I do not trust what he tells me, especially since he gave me no information about this before the procedure and is very defencive when I ask about it now.

Best regards,
Sigrid

Sigred....

I had PRK as well. During my very first appointment with the doctor, he took one look at my large pupils and said, "You will probably need a thin pair of glasses to drive at night." And it's true. I don't really need to wear glasses at night, but it certainly helps to improve the starbursts and halos off of the streetlights.

It's certainly worth it to me, though. My vision went from -7.0 in both eyes to 20/15 in one and 20/30 in the other. My vision is weaker in the evenings, but its still usable. I'll pick up some new glasses eventually, but it's not urgent. I'm just happy to not have to deal with contact lenses or thick glasses.

It's a shame your doctor didn't give you a warning on this. It was worth it to me, but it would have been nice if you had had a choice.

Take care....

Steve

Dear Steve
What are these thin glasses you use in the night time which make your haloes better. I would like some information as night time vision for me post lasik is extremely extremely poor.

I think the way thin glasses help night vision is they overcorrect you and make you accomodate which constricts your pupils. Thin glasses also compenstate for some of the myopic zone beyond your dilated pupils. Its worth a try, any improvement is good. I wish you were warned more about your huge pupils then youd have the option of not getting lasik as big pupils made you a poor candidate.

I am sorry your doctor didn't warn you about this. Like Steve, I have large pupils and was told that I might have glare at night. Since I experienced this somewhat with contacts anyways, it was a risk I was willing to take and overall I have been very happy with my results (I am 2 mos. post-op and see 20/25 in both eyes). I can drive at night even with the starbursting, however, I learned of an eye drop called Alphagan P from this site and asked my doctor for a sample. I tried it the other night and it does reduce the starbursting quite a bit. It stings a bit when you first put it in but did not impact my vision in any way. I personally would only use it if I was going to be doing a lot of night driving but you might want to try it. Your doctor can probably give you a free sample to try.

Good luck!

Julie, Did you have custom cornea wavefrony Lasik or traditional Lasik? How big were your pupils?

Hi,

I had custom wavefront and my pupils were 8 mm. I had this done early march and still have the starbursts but not so bad that I feel uncomfortable driving. I have only used the eye drop a couple of times to see what it would do and it did help a lot with little side effects - just some stinging when I first put it in. Overall, I am still glad I did it because my vision has improved even within the last couple of weeks.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Julie