hi - i had standard lasik about 6 years ago in the uk. i was 23 years old and about -3.25 in my left eye and -5 in my right eye. i had no astigmatism or other visual problems.

the nurse was concerned about dry eyes as i have a low tear break, but the surgeon dismissed it.

the surgery went perfectly and for 6 years i've had no real problems apart from minor regression. now, over the last few months, i have the following:

1 painful eyes with slightly swollen lids and tearducts
2 ghosting on my right eye only has become quite severe double vision on lights or neon signs or anything with a high contrast
3 i have terrible afterimages - this has been going on for about 3 years
4 i have headaches which i have never ever suffered from before
5 i have nausea and dizziness
6 i have floaters, which i never had before
7 the worst, and the most confusing, is a sort of visual snow effect - anything plain, like a wall or a carpet, or the sky, is simply a swirling mess of sparkling dots to me. it looks as if the wall is "raining" or if the television is out of focus and is all swirly. the lighter and brighter the surface, the worse the effect.
8 my eyesight has deteriorated, in that i am now
-1.5 and -1.25.

this is making me ill with worry, i had an eye test recently where he looked at my retina and optic nerve and said it was all fine. but he didn't do any cornea tests or anything like that. i am absolutely terrified i am going to go blind. i have an appointment with a new optician on thu, in the hope he will refer me elsewhere, but can anyone think of anything helpful in the meantime?

i will also go for neurological tests if the optician tells me to, but i KNOW this is my eyes, i can feel it and i can(t) see it.

thanks v much!

sounds like the same problems i was having after about a year from my lasik. At first they told me it was just because of my dry eyes then about a yr later they told me that I had a form of a condition called keratoconus which means that the cornea starts to form into a cone shape. I have gone through quite a bit even a corneal transplant but a new type of rigid gas lens have helped me and given me my vision back. they have a soft lens outside and a hard lens in the middle and they are really comfortable

rhonda, sorry to see you had so many problems, but glad you have now found a resolution.

after numerous tests, the doctor is convinced my problem is neurological, maybe i'll insist on a proper cornea check up as well. how did they find out with you, if you don't mind my asking, was it an ophtalmologist?

thanks!

They finally did a corneal tomography or something like that, to see what was happening because nothing they were trying was helping and my vision was getting worse, so it showed the coning of the cornea.

thanks again. i hope it all works out for you.