Hi Dr.Trattler,
I have a question. I had an Intralase procedure 4 months ago with Dr. Katzen in Boynton Beach, FL.
The healing period was very difficult, I couldn`t see well for several months. The vision is very much different from what I was seeing with glasses. I liked it with glasses much better. It seemed like it was not as sharp and crisp as it was with glasses. It doesn`t seem natural either. Now I still feel some pain and there`s dryness and irritation - redness in both eyes. I got a lot of anxiety from it as I was not pleased with the results and the stress of the recovery. The right eye was blurry for all this time and the pupil in this eye is bigger than in the left eye. My question is why this is happening and if the pupil size in the right eye is related to the blurriness. Could there be some swelling from the surgery and if it will go away. It seems like it is going away, but very slowly. Although they say I have 20.15 in both eyes. Also, can the surgery move the colored part of the eye slightly? What is your opinion of Dr.Katzen`s practice? Should I go for a second opinion? Before I had this done I was considering Bascom and Palmer Eye Institute - Dr.Terrence O`Brien in Palm Beach Gardens and was thinking of consultation with Dr.Lessner in Sunrise, but Dr.Lessner was somewhat far away from where I live and at Bascom and Palmer they told me that Lasik isn`t better than glasses which I thought was strange, now I agree with that 100%. And I didn`t know much about Dr.Terrence O`Brien. Also, it seemed to me that they really need a little better patient service at B&P Refractive surgery department in Palm Beach Gardens. They didn`t seem to be very organized, didn`t give me any paperwork to take home to read about the procedure or the doctor. They did give me some little piece of paper with the docto`s info but I don`t think that is enough. Probably that`s why I didn`t go with them. I just didn`t know much about the doctor.. I think they need to work on educating their potential clients better by providing more information materials for their patients. As I know now after doing some research later on my own that O`Brien is a good doctor..But how could I know it then if they didn`t tell me? As I realise now I should have done more research, talk to more people and specialists and that way find the best doctor possible. Do you think my outcome (difficult healing and blurriness) is the fault of the surgeon or the result of the peculiarity of my eyes? What are the average Lasik results in Bascom and Palmer? Just interesting to know in case I ever will need help with my eyes in the future. Who would you recommend in B&P to go to for a second opinion?
Thanks a lot,

Natalia.

Both Dr. Katzen and Dr. O'Brien are great doctors - and I would recommend them both. You would not have had a different outcome going to one or the other. They are both very experienced.
You may want to see if you have dry eye - which can be the cause of your problems that you are mentioning.

I hope this helps

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

I had a lasik consultation in his WPB office and his technician gave me exams. I got an orbscan, corneal measure(its 550 microns) looked into my eyes(no disease, no cateracts) and a manifast refraction. I was told I corrected to 20/20 minus with the phororapter trial lenses. Of course I disagree as I had to guess the 20/20 line, but he counted it anyway. It seems like lasik centers exaggerate on how well you see. Your 20/15 could be a blurry 20/20 in reality. How well do you feel you are seeing compared to glasses? Does it feel like 20/20 to you? 20/30? What was your pescription before lasik?

Given all the problems people are having with lasik and intralase, I already decided im sticking with glasses till something safer comes out or till the bugs get worked out in lasik. I will countinue to research lasik and any possible alternatives.

Ace,

You guessed 5 of of 5 letters on both eyes? That's good luck.

Hi Dr.Trattler,

Thanks for the answer. But my question remains - why do I have blurriness in my right eye and a bigger pupil? It`s very slight and it seems like it`s going away but still.. Also, is it true with LASIK procedures that vision after it is different from what you see with glasses and I guess people need to get used to it? It`s not easy.. Thank you.

Dear Friend

I too had Lasik performed but on one eye only. I was acutely farsighted in my right eye. The eye that I had Lasik performed on now now seems to have a disparity in pupil size between itself and the undone eye. The pupil in my right eye which was the eye done with Lasik, at times, depending on the lighting environment, seems to be out of sink with the left (untouched) eye. It becomes larger when this occurs. I absolutely believe this to be a direct result of Lasik. The pupil positioning in my right iris (colored part of the eye) seems to have also been affected. At times, the pupil seems slightly displaced inside the iris. I know this is not normal and I didn't have this problem prior to having Lasik surgery performed. I have no trouble with the pupil or iris in the untouched eye.

Unfortunately, Lasik surgeons don't seem to want to admit to the truth that Lasik is the most dangerous thing that anyone can have done to their eyes. And why would they? It's their livelihood. It's like everything else in the medical field these days; everything is monetarily and politcally driven.

Although I can see better up close, I've had other issues that made having Lasik a bad decision and not worth the tradeoff.

Nobody wants to come clean on this subject. In all the articles I've seen, Lasik surgeons just "tap dance" around the truth and provide people with a lot of non-sensical garble. I'm absolutely convinced of this. They do this because (they absolutely know) Lasik is only so effective and quite dangerous. In reality, it's not worth it. I urge anyone reading this to run as far away from Lasik as you can. Don't let anyone EVER talk you into having Lasik. If I could go back to reading glasses and have the right eye that I used to have, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, once you have Lasik performed, there's no going back. Before you consider ever having Lasik performed, do a search on Google for "The Dangers Of Lasik" or "Lasik Disasters". After reading any number of those articles, I'm sure you'll never come within 100 miles of a Lasik surgeon.

In support, follow this link:
https://www.herbdoc.com/store/Scripts/prodList.asp (Don't worry about the flashing warning page. Just Click on "I Agree" and enter)
where you'll find an herbal treatment for the eyes that helped improve my post Lasik vision greatly. The herbal ingredients are 100 percent pure, natural and organic. The ingredients are known to help improve ocular blood flow and improve visual clarity. It worked for me. I would not be without it.

The other thing you can do is to look for a natural vision enhancement program. I found one called "Perfect Eyes" that has also helped to improve my vision. You can also follow this link for more information on natural vision enhancement:
http://www.mercola.com/forms/seminars/teleclinic/vision/indexdl.htm

Lastly, diet can greatly affect your eyesight. Use the same link to Mercola.com to find information about diet improvements.

Good luck to you!

Kevin
New Jersey

I had regular lasik 5 weeks ago and so far I am a success story. I had some swelling for about a month that was never really explained to me, but so far my eye site has stayed stable at 20/15 and I feel that I see perfectly and my eyes finally are starting to feel normal again. I developed some minor DLK in the same eye that had the swelling, which has since vanished. I don't quite understand why this happened when so many other people I know who had lasik had NO complications - guess i'm just 'lucky'

Now that I have gone through this process I have to agree that Lasik can be a very dangerous thing to do to your eyes. I am one of the lucky ones who came out of it with perfect eyesight, and for that I am happy to have gone through the procedure. It's definitely not something to do with little thought or research. If I had to do it again I would.

My pupils are also different sizes after the surgery. I have not been able to figure out why this is. This has been the least of my worries with regards to complications, but it is still somewhat embarrasing. This is a dangerous surgery and I still believe it should not be performed.