I wish I had found this board before I had lasik. I believe I wouldn't have done it from seeing all the similar problems to mine.
I had lasik about 9 weeks ago and immediately noticed my vision was smeared much like a Monet painting. The people at the office told me not to worry, the eyes needed time to heal. Well, they don't seem to be healing. Besides constant dry eye burning despite constant drops, I can not see any fine detail and have borders on the left side of all objests. Reading street signs is impossible until I am right on top of them. Most of the problem is in my left eye. From close range I can actually see better in the left but once I get beyond 6 feet, the left eye has a border which expands the further out I go. The right eye while useless at close range, sees well enough at a distance. This drastic difference has ruined my tennis game and driving.
Night vision is horrible with florescent ballooning around all lights. Being outside at night is just about overwhelming.
This brings me to my question. My doctor has put me back on Pred Forte for the next 6 weeks. I'm also doing the Refresh Tears about every 15 minutes. I have noticed that the border expands immediately after dousing the eye with Refresh Tears. Is there a better kind of drop out there? The office seems to think that this is the only one but these drops don't seem to be helping with anything.

Nine weeks is waaay too early to make any final decisions about your outcome. LASIK is often more of a six month process than a 20-Minute Miracle.

The symptoms you describe sound like you have LASIK induced temporary dry eyes. The dry eyes may be contributing to correction that is myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted) and/or astigmatism that may explain the ability to see at close and mid-near distance, but only at edges the farther the object.

We have an article about LASIK and dry eyes at http://www.complicatedeyes.org/dry_eye_treatment.htm that may be helpful. It includes several other drops that may be better for your needs. Continue to keep your doctor informed of your vision difficulties, report any sudden changes, and reasonably expect vision to improve.

Glenn Hagele
http://www.USAEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

Thanks for the info, Glenn! Out of that group of artificial tears, the only one I tried was TheraTears. It worked better for me but for some reason, the Lasik Center here pushes RefreshTears. RefreshTears have not offered me any more than a couple of minutes relief from the burning and itching. I'll go back to TheraTears and hope for the best.

Dry eyes can certainly be a cause of your symptoms following LASIK...and dry eye can take weeks to months or even longer to resolve. The key, in my book, is the agressive treatment of dry eye
I personally find Restasis is very helpful for my patients, so ask your doctor about this medication. I also find that warm compresses and oral omega 3 fatty acid supplementation (like Flax seed oil, Theratears nutrition, or Hydroeye) can be very helpful. Using a thicker eye drop, like refresh liquigel can be helpful. Soothe, which has an oil component, is helpful. Systane preservative free can also be helpful.

Another thing to consider is punctal plugs.

Feel free to print this out and discuss the various options with your doctor. Again we can not examine your eyes, so only your doctor can know whether dry eyes are truly the underlying cause of your symptoms.

Best of luck

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

Thanks, Dr. Trattler. I do have a couple more questions for you regarding dry eye, if I may.
Can I expect to have these problems even if I'm flooding my eyes constantly? And if it's dry eye, why is the problem only in my left eye. If I close the offending eye. I can actually read from a distance. If both eyes are open while driving, the road looks like slime and all road signs are blurry. I can actually see an overlap of letters at about 50 feet. My right eye use to be dominant and before surgery both eyes were fairly close in prescription.
The left eye always feels bigger. It may be inflamation since my Doctor put me back on Pred Forte for the next 6 weeks.

John, I don't recall reading what kind of LASIK you had. Was it for nearsightedness or farsightedness?

DrG

I was nearsighted but could see perfectly with glasses. I play sports and had a problem with fogging and sweat on my lenses all the time and that is why i did Lasik. My Doctor said I was a good candidate. This morning on my way to work driving, the double vision is worse than ever and I'm at the 10 week point.

So, let me see if I understand. You have monocular diplopia in the left eye, and everything looks like a Monet painting. Artificial tears make the halos worse, and the double image never goes away. Now you are on steroids again?

DrG

I'm sorry but I don't know the correct medical terms of what I have. My doctor works in two locations so when I have called the Lasik office I talk to someone who pretty much tells me that most people go through this. I know otherwise because I know other people that can see fine after lasik. My time between appointments is 6 weeks.
The Monet painting effect has improved, especially in the right eye. I don't have near the double vison in the right. The left eye is just about useless to me beyond 100 feet as far as fine detail goes. At that distance I could not even recognise my own wife let alone read a street sign.
I can't say this condition is worse with the drops, but it certainly is no better after putting drops in and I am putting drops in as often as 15 minutes for irritation. Thicker drops give me little bit more relief.

Ok,
I was able to talk to my Doctor right after my last post and she assured me that there is nothing to worry about here and i just need to wait. I have confidence in her so that is all I can do. Thanks for the help from all!

Please make sure that you do not have late DLK or flap striae, both of which can cause some of the symptoms you are describing. Your description really is not normal, and I would consider seeing your doctor sooner just to be safe

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami,FL

What is DLK and Flap striae? I saw my Doctor about a week ago and at that time she thought what I was going through was due to remaining astigmatism and inflamation. She put me back on steroids for an additional 6 weeks at which time I have another appointment. I don't remember having this effect with or without my glasses before surgery, so it really makes me wonder. I've never seen an overlap of lettering like this before in my life.

I agree with Dr. Trattler that your situation is atypical at this point in time. I also echo his recommendation.

DLK is the acronym for diffuse lamellar keratitis, a sterile inflammation occurring at the flap interface. Straie is just a medical term for "wrinkles" in the flap.

DrG