LASIK: Kirk, 31

August 17, 1999
Web posted at: 11:44 a.m. EDT (1544 GMT)

Name: Kirk

Age: 31

Residence: Outside Houston

Procedure: LASIK

Which eyes: Both eyes

Cost: His surgery cost around $4,000 and was co-managed. His optometrist took care of his pre-care and follow-up, while the surgeon's office did the surgery care the day before and the day after.

Though he doesn't feel it worked out well, he does feel his optometrist genuinely thought he was referring him to the best possible surgeon.

When done:Kirk had LASIK in September 1998 and had enhancements in December.

Why did you do it?

He had been a high astigmatic all his life and could not wear contacts with any success. Always wearing glasses made an active life very difficult if not impossible in some cases.

He decided to have the procedure shortly after he got married. His wife was active in a lot of sporting activities, and he wanted to be able to do some of those activities with her.

Kirk thought LASIK would make him able to do things he couldn't normally do. But he was concerned about having the procedure with his astigmatism, so he went to three doctors to find out if he would be a good candidate before making his decision.

He was told LASIK probably would not be able to correct his vision to 20/20, but more likely to 20/30 or 20/40, and he would probably still need glasses at night or to read.

He weighed the pros and cons and thought that if he could go scuba diving, or go fishing with his father, it would be great, and wearing glasses part of the time would not be so bad.

Would you call it successful?

"No, not at all. I can't see at night," he said. He is able to get around but said he sees star bursts and has double vision when the light is less than full daylight. The double images he sees go in different directions and are blurred out.

Kirk said his high astigmatism has caused many of these complications, though some other things about the procedure may have also been problematic. The burn that was done in one of his eyes is not centered, so it gives him the double vision. This means that when he looks at light on dark objects or dark on light objects, he sees another object over to his left.

Looking back, he said, "The only way to have done this right (LASIK) was not to have done it."

What was your vision before the procedure?

Before the LASIK, he said, his vision "was good, except I had to have glasses." With correction he was 20/20. He was -5.75 in each eye, uncorrected.

After:

Now he is at best 20/25 during the day with full sunlight. He is approximately 20/40 at night with corrective lenses.

Did this procedure meet your expectations?

"No it did not," he said.

After his surgery he was seeing star bursts and ghosts, but he had been told it was possible he would have these complications while healing. He still heavily relied on glasses.

After three months, the problems were still present. The doctor told him more correction was necessary and an enhancement would be necessary.

The enhancement only made the ghosting worse.

Kirk now has what is called a mixed astigmatism. In bright light, he is -1.5 and +1.25 in the same eye, his right. His left eye has a bit of an astigmatism in bright light.

He always wears glasses, and in fact he never stopped wearing them.

"You may say, 'Buyer beware,' but I've been studying it (refractive surgery) for nine months now, and I'm just starting to understand it," he said.

Given his experience, Kirk believes there may be a problem with doctors performing procedures that are not necessarily in the patient's best interest. Kirk now feels that in elective surgery doctors should take more time to educate patients.

He stressed that he thinks the procedure is good for some people but no longer believes it should be done on just anyone. He mentioned that his sister has had LASIK with success.

"If it is being done well and properly, that is great; but in too many cases, I don't think it is being done properly," Kirk said.

Would you do it again?

"Given what I know now, I wouldn't do it again."

But he is faced with deciding what to do about the problems he is now having. He said if he could find a procedure that would help him address his problems, he would undergo eye surgery again. In fact, he is traveling to Bogota to see Dr. Gustavo Tamayo to see if he might be able to assist him.

He met Tamayo at the International Society of Refractive Surgeons conference. He said Tamayo is a very personable and caring surgeon who is doing research on helping correct visions problems resulting from refractive surgery, accidents, etc.

According to Kirk, Tamayo specializes in customized ablation, which means laser cuts on specific areas on the cornea in an attempt to make it smoother.

"A lot of techniques out there are trying to do the same, either with the laser or other methods," he said.

Any pain?

He said he experienced no pain during the LASIK procedure, but on the enhancements there was pain because they had to lift the flap. It was pretty sore afterward.

How would you describe the experience?

He said the day of his surgery he felt "rushed."

He was just one of many people waiting in the surgeon's office for the procedure that day. Kirk's chart was lost, and there was a wait while that was sorted out.

Eventually, he was asked to sign a waiver. He said he read it carefully and wrote a series of questions in the margin. He was a bit nervous and asked if he could speak with the doctor before the procedure. He was told that would not be a problem.

When he went into the prep room, the nurse asked for his waiver form. He explained that he had some questions and that he wanted to speak with the doctor. She told him he had messed up his form, he said, and she gave him a clean one.

He said that before he knew it, he received his preoperative drugs and was under the laser without ever speaking to the doctor or having his questions answered.

What risks were you made aware of ahead of time?

The surgeon warned him of the dangers of infection or of a flap being cut off, but Kirk said he thought of those things as "acts of God kinds of things."

He said the waiver touched on the possibility of glare, star bursts and halos but made it seem as though those things occur in only a few people. "It was presented as though they were strange, unusual things," he said.

Did you seek out the treatment, or was it suggested to you by a doctor?

Kirk had looked into RK before and decided not to do it. A couple of years ago, he learned of LASIK. At that time his doctor told him LASIK was not being done on people with his astigmatism.

Later, his doctor informed him that people with astigmatisms were receiving LASIK. Kirk contacted two other doctors who told him he was on the edge of what was being done with LASIK and he might be a good candidate for it.

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