My prescription for glass in 1999 was:
OD -575 -150 160
OS -625 -150 005

In 2001 it was:
OD -625 -175 160
OS -675 -125 005
Should Lasik not have been performed on me because
of irregular astigmatism? I ended up with severe epithelial ingrowth on my left eye and had to go to a second opinion doctor who amputated my whole flap on July 31, 2002. I now have multiple images in my left eye. My right eye has always been fine since Lasik. How long does it take for the epithelium to grow back fully, is it possible that a few months down the line the multiple images will go away? My life is so sad because of this. Please let me know if you do know. Thank you.

Your prescription does not show irregular astigmatism. Did you have irregular astigmatism on topography prior to LASIK?

Why did the flap have to be amputated? Couldn't the epi ingrowth been removed without removing the flap?

Please let me know the answers

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

On the sixth day from the original date of lasik my left eye started to regress and I had double vision. I developed epithelial ingrowth according to my doctor and when he did the first cleaning which was 8 weeks post lasik he was extremely agressive, I was in so much pain I could barely tolerate it - I imagine he was just trying to eliminate all the cells. Well the next day my vision was worse than it ever was my whole life.
So a few days later he did a second cleaning, which might of improved my vision about %25 but that is in perspective to seeing nothing. Then my vision started getting worse again and at this point he had to refer me to a higher level surgeon who told me my left cornea was very damaged and the flap had a good portion missing.
I was in shock when he showed me the topograpy because my previous dr. never showed it to me.
1/4 of my cornea did not show up on the topography and I also had cornea melting. The new dr. therefore had to amputate the whole flap. Now it is 24 days later - my epithelium is supposedly fully grown back but I have multiple images that interfere with my life tremendously because I have work for the same company as a secretary for 14 years. So secretary work obviously consists of lots of typing and filing but I would have to work with a patch on my left eye all day, and when I do as I am now I get twitches on the sides of my eyes and my right eye which is fine gets strained and I develop a minor headache. I am happy that the new doctor removed the diseased part of my eye, afterall it was mess and I would rather have a clean healthy epithelium with multiple images than an eye that was rotting away.
Now the new dr. will wait a few months to decide if my cornea is too thin to try to fix it with another procedure. Otherwise I guess I will have muliple images for the rest of my life. I have a gut feeling that my left eye had a high risk of the flap not laying on the eye bed because of my astigmatism and therefore the ablation should not have occurred. Thank you for any opinions.

Dee
First - I am sorry that you have gone through such a rough situation. Flap melting can occur with epithelial ingrowth and with DLK. The key is to get things stabalized, and then determine what can be done. Obviously you also had a flap amputation, so that you need to let your cornea heal.
Once things stabalize, hopefully your surgeon will be able to help by either smoothing out the cornea with surface laser, or perhaps a lamellar transplant is required (where a new flap is taken from a donor and placed on your eye.
I would love to be able to answer your question as to whether you were a good candidate for surgery - but i would need to see your preop topography to see whether you had irregular astigmatism. The prescription you typed in is pretty standard for a person consdidering LASIK, and is not too high a prescription).
Please let me know how I can help further.

Best regards

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

P.S. I do know a very nice person who also had a flap melt in 2001. I would be happy to let you talk, since you are in a similar situation. Feel free to email me, and I will pass on the email to him

Best regards

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL