r/lasik

29/M here living in Thane, Maharashtra, India. Thought I'd share my journey because I spent way too much time doomscrolling this sub before finally getting LASIK.

The beginning

Disclaimer: Personally I don't condone one hospital over the other. The difference in their opinion got me the best results hence I've specified their names. Mods let me know if it's acceptable.

Back in 2019, I went for a LASIK screening at Ramkrishna Netralaya and was told my corneas were too thin for standard LASIK. They asked me instead to go for ICL. My refractive error is high but not that high. I was skeptical and ICL was gonna cost 2.5x regular femto lasik, and was gonna be paid out completely out of pocket cause it was 'cosmetic' so I decided against it at the time.

Fast forward to May 2026, I decided to try again and went to Isha Netralaya for another evaluation.

To my surprise, my corneas measured:

Right: ~510 µm

Left: ~516 µm

So... apparently I had been carrying around unnecessary emotional baggage for seven years. 😂

My prescription

Right eye

-6.0 SPH

-2.5 to -2.75 CYL

Left eye

-6.25 SPH

-1.5 to -1.75 CYL

The right eye was the troublemaker. The high astigmatism meant I ended up spending almost a month collecting scans, getting second and third opinions, and generally becoming an honorary ophthalmology resident.

The great "What surgery should I get?" saga

Depending on who I asked, I was advised:

Contoura PRK

ASA

Femto-LASIK

WaveLight planning estimated:

PTA: ~41–43% (R), ~39–42% (L)

Residual stromal bed: ~287–300 µm (R), ~294–311 µm (L)

At one point, my surgeon even suggested intentionally leaving -0.5 D in my right eye to preserve tissue.

A week later, after repeating the WaveLight measurements...

Plot twist.

She looked at the new scans and went:

> "Nope, we're correcting both eyes fully."

What?! Why did you put me under the emotional turmoil for the last couple of weeks? Aaarrggghhh!

Surgery day

Right eye:

Docked.

Laser.

Done.

Around 3 minutes.

Left eye decided it wanted to be the main character.

Docking/clamp needed two attempts. One of the blood vessels also ruptured which freaked me out when I saw the blood on that swab thingy but apparently it's quite normal to happen in such procedures (my sister told me, she's been thru lasik).

Laser itself went smoothly.

The first bandage contact lens refused to cooperate and had to be replaced.

Total time: ~6.5 minutes.

As a bonus, the left side of my face hurt afterward, probably thanks to all the pressure from docking/speculum. Thankfully, that settled.

Recovery (Day 7)

Honestly...

It's been surprisingly smooth.

Measured 6/4 vision at my first follow-up.

Can read car number plates from my second-floor apartment.

Both eyes fluctuate together throughout the day, albeit it's pretty minor fluctuations.

Biggest annoyance is dryness and tearing while using screens. Pain is nearly minimal or non existent. Since I've had migraine issues, head feels heavy/achy in parts, but that's about it.

Despite the left eye's dramatic performance during surgery, it feels no different from the right. Right eye even before the surgery was never 100% clear, and even now still feels like I kept my old prescription where it's 95% clear but I can immediately notice the difference between the two eyes.

Final thoughts

If you're someone with a prescription around -6 D, significant astigmatism, and you've been told different things by different surgeons...

Get multiple opinions.

Technology and planning have improved a lot, and one consultation doesn't necessarily tell the whole story.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to continue reaching for glasses that no longer exist. 😅

Ps. Chatgpt helped me frame this a bit better. Thanks gpt!

Had PRK done on Jan 2 2025. this sub was invaluable to me as i learned what to expect and thought i’d pay it forward.

Cost - $5k total, including prescriptions and all follow ups.

One of the best decisions of my life. It is still crazy to me that I swiped my credit card for $5k and somebody gave me perfect eyesight. I am amazed by it every day.

More details:
- I am pretty outdoorsy, including a lot of surfing. My vision was pretty bad (avg of -5.25 with astigmatism in one eye) and so i carried spare contacts in my wetsuit. on more than one occasion i have changed contacts while sitting on a surfboard. My eye with the astimagtism was also kinda getting to the point of perpetually uncomfortable with contacts and I frequently used drops in it. I also broke my nose a long time ago in such a way that glasses sit right on the break and can be very uncomfortable. Lastly, and I know i could’ve changed this- i was a perpetual sleep in my contacts person. I was at the point where i felt like my contact behavior needed to change or i was going to get an eye infection. All of these things combined to make me decide the risk of any laser eye surgery was worth it for me. I ended up getting prk due to corneal thickness.

Recovery:
Incredibly predictable as per PRK.
Day 1 - pretty okay
Day 2-3: literally laid in bed with my head under the covers. i found audio books to be life saving. i mostly kept my eyes closed.
Days 4-6: continued to hang out in my bedroom with the doors closed and windows drawn until it was nighttime and then went downstairs in sunglasses. i think this was a big advantage of doing it in january.
Days 7-14: by far the most annoying, eyes were tolerable but tired. Went back to work and everything was at max magnification. Cannot recommend increasing phone font size, computer defaults etc enough.

By day 30 i was testing at 20/15 vision and cruising along.

by day 90 i only occasionallyyy felt dry.

Now - 1.5 years later I have basically no side effects. I don’t think i’ve put eye drops in in over 3 months.

This was truly the best outcome, but when asked, i tell everyone that asks me that you have to get personally comfortable with the risks. For me, it was like the most common negative side effect is dry eye, and i already do eyedrops all the time in my astigmatism eye so this feels same level of annoying. also my contact habits made me feel like i had real risk for eye infection in a way that could also have led me to lose my sight.

Notes:
- i got some outdoorsy sunglasses from sunski that were also very light from a weight perspective. i wore these every day. im really glad i got a “not fashionable” but “not ugly” pair that was helpful.
- i took 1000mg of vitamin c, fish oil, and did the goopy eye lotion every night for 3 months. i kept the vitamin c and fish oil as part of my routine and still take it now.

I found reading recovery diaries incredibly helpful before my surgery, so I thought I’d document mine in case it helps someone else.

I’m 25, had TransPRK at Moorfields in London for -6.25/-6.50 myopia with no astigmatism. I originally expected SMILE, but my surgeon recommended TransPRK as the safest option.

Rather than writing one enormous post, I’m going to put each recovery day in the comments and keep updating it over the coming weeks.

EDIT: I’ll come back and update this in a couple of weeks and over the next few months once my vision has (hopefully!) sharpened up a bit.

I have zero regrets right now, and even though my vision is still getting there, it’s miles better than what I had before. I can’t believe people just wake up everyday and see like this. I also only have good things to say about Moorfields. The care was fantastic and I’m happy to answer more questions by DM if helpful about going there.

Background: 28M active trail runner, mountain biking, scrambling / climbing, backcountry skiing. Small prescription, astigmatism was the main thing being corrected. Chose PRK over LASIK specifically because of the outdoor lifestyle and no flap even though I qualified for LASIK. Prior to the surgery I loaded up on vitamin C and started taking an Omega 3 supplement which I’m still on.
Day of Surgery (Day 0)
Surgery was faster than I expected. The actual laser was maybe 10 seconds per eye. All the prep takes way longer than the laser itself. I don’t remember the ride home from the Valium but immediately took a two hour nap. Eyes felt gritty and dry but nothing I'd describe as real pain. Stayed in a dark room but I have blackout shades which helped a lot.

Day 1
Burning started coming in waves later in the day, which caught me off guard. Felt like when you cut a really strong onion and it stings your eyes. Light sensitivity was significant and I ended up just keeping my eyes closed all day. Managed pain with ibuprofen and acetaminophen alternating but did have hydrocodone on standby. Kept up with steroid drops and lubricant drops on schedule. Dark room, lots of sleep.

Day 2
Worst day for me pain wise. The burning was more intense and more sustained than day 1. Light sensitivity peaked to the point where I had two pairs of sunglasses on in my room with blackout shades and my eyes closed. I'd tell anyone doing this to just mentally prepare for whatever your rough day is and you’ll know when it starts. Seems like a lot of people have day 2 or 3 the worst day. I ended up taking the hydrocodone which helped significantly. Lubricating drops every 20-30 minutes helped as well
Day 3

Noticeably better than day 2. Felt like I'd turned a corner. Pain was largely gone, just some residual grittiness. Dropped back to regular acetaminophen. Still blurry and very light sensitive but the burning sensation was mostly gone. Lubricating drops every 20-30 minutes.

Days 4–6
Still basically pain free, but my right eye had a lingering foreign body sensation that the left didn't. Vision was overall still blurry and light sensitive, this is where the frustration started setting in for me because I felt fine but couldn’t see super well. Went for short walks, and was able to finally watch tv / look at my phone for more than a few seconds. Lubricating drops every 20-30 minutes.

Day 7–8
I went back to work day 7 and had to adjust my screen brightness, contrast and text sizing. Looking at a computer screen also increased my dryness and use of lubricating eye drops significantly. At my 1 week follow up which was on day 8, the bandage lenses came out after they confirmed the epithelium was closed. Activity restrictions were mostly lifted and my vision was around 20/35 at this point. Right eye was slightly blurrier than the left, Surgeon said everything looked on track and I could begin moderate outdoor activity with sunglasses as my eyes allowed. Lubricating drops every hour ish, or as needed. Legally cleared to drive on day 8 as well.

Week 2
Got back out trail running. Lots of vision fluctuating day to day / hour to our, often worse by end of day as eyes got dry and tired. Right eye persistently behind the left which was annoying. Around day 12–15 the frustration with slow progress peaked. Seems like this is pretty universal with PRK the plateau phase after the main recovery is the mentally harder part.

Week 3
Right eye still lagged but slowly improved. Good days and bad days. One thing I noticed that surprised me was even with the slightly blurry vision my eyes felt less fatigued than before surgery. At this point I was still using lubricating drops every hour and it seemed like most of the blurriness was related to my eyes being dry. Steroids were tapering, still using lubricant drops every hour.

Month 1
Finished steroid taper and eyes felt dry and tired immediately after stopping which took a few days to adjust. At my 1 month post op I discussed some lingering dryness issues and the surgeon let me know that my tear film wasn’t healing as fast so I would have some issues with that going forward, they scheduled a 2 month follow up and mentioned we could look at additional measures for the dry eyes at the next appointment if things didn’t improve. They gave me some very thick gel type drops to put in at night, and suggested I use a thicker drop during the day. So, I switched to the Systane Pro PF drops during the day. They are much thicker than the Refresh PF drops I had been using and seem to help my eyes stay moist longer. They claimed my left eye was 20/20 and my right was 20/25 but seemed like they were both closer to 20/30 in terms of which line I could actually read clearly in full on the chart.
 
Month 2
I saw significant improvement in vision clarity around week 6, I think the night drops really helped keep my eyes moist at night and the Systane Pro PF drops helped during the day. I was able to cancel the 2 month follow up given the improvement. I feel like my eyes are a clear 20/20 or better at this point and am very happy I went through the procedure. I still use drops 2-3x per day but everything is back to normal or better. I expect the dryness will continue to improve slowly over time.

For those who have had Lasik for a while (let's say 10+ years post-op), is anyone else having blurry vision upon waking up?

I would say in the past month or so, it's become consistent that my daily morning routine includes a couple re-wetting eyedrops (ex. Systane) to get my vision focused; otherwise, I have cloudy/blurry vision after waking up from overnight & naps. While the "fix" is pretty easy, wondering if any other LASIK patients who had surgery many moons ago experiences similar.

I had mine done in 2001 but quite frankly, I have been very pleased, over 25 years later. Right after LASIK, I was 20/15 but a few years ago my vision test was 20/25 (they said the threshhold for requiring corrective vision, while driving from 20/70). As warned before surgery, I do need reading glasses and have been using 1.00 of 1.25 strength (whatever I can find at Dollar [50 cents] Tree, these days).

Historical things to note, regarding my vision:
2022 - I had a torn retina in my right eye, repaired via laser treatment
2023 - Had a bout of double-vision. Opthamologist cited exphoria but believes it was a one-off event. No double-vision bouts since then have occurred.

As stated, curious if any long standing patients are getting blurry vision that can only be corrected with rewetting drops. Thank you!

Hello,
I had lasik in my 20s getting correction to about 20/25.
I’m now 53 and have worn progressive lenses for about five years. My distance Vision is still decent so I mostly wear glasses bc I am constantly reading.

The problem is terrible ghosting or haloing which occurs for both reading and distance. I think it occurs for all objects but is most noticeable with print. I think it’s getting worse over time.

I’ve had haloing around lights since getting Lasik, but the shape of the halo has changed. A street light for example now takes the shape of a stick figure. It’s really weird.

I find wearing glasses annoying and decided to try contacts again since progressive contacts are now available. Unfortunately, I think the halos/ ghosting even worse with contacts. My optometrist spent an exorbitant amount of time trying different lenses out with me, but there were no standouts and I gave up, returning to glasses.

Is there any hope for me to see normally again? Any more specialized diagnostics or lenses (either glasses or contacts) that wouldn’t be available at a regular optometrist practice? Would an ophthalmologist offer anything beyond what I’ve already tried?

Any insights would be so appreciated!

Prescription before LASEK:

Left: -8.25 / Cyl: -1.85

Right: -8.75 / cyl: -1.50

I got my LASEK surgery done in Exeter, UK with Optical Express

Day 0: I walked in and was immediately taken through for the last tests and checkups and then straight through to surgery. Everyone in there was lovely, I was quickly walked through what to expect and every step of the surgery was counted down for me. 25 seconds in each eye to remove the cornea and 50 seconds in each eye of laser treatment. Procedure was painless but watching them fiddle around with my eyes was pretty grim. Pain started minuets after the procedure and gradually worsened throughout the night. Pain levels were very high, 9/10 and it was relentless with no painkillers easing it in the slightest.

Day 1: Pain started immediately when I opened my eyes in the morning. I spent most of the day in a dark room in and out of sleep. Getting the drops in was very challenging with such swollen eyelids and apart from the drops I did not open my eyes at all. Pain subsided to 7/10 that evening

Day 2: I was still unable to open my eyes other than to force drops in there. Pain was significantly better and felt more like irritation.

Day 3: I was finally able to open my eyes in the afternoon. They sometimes felt fine and sometimes felt gritty. They got tired easily and I was unable to keep them open for long periods. Vision was very blurry and the bandage lenses were getting notably drier and irritating.

Day 4: bandage lenses were removed and I was told to use extra hydrating drop for the day. Vision was functional, but still very blurry. Pain was completely gone but eyes started to itch infrequently throughout the day.

Days 5-7: every day I wake up to find my Vision is a little better.It fluctuates throughout the day and improves after applying drops. No pain, swelling or itchiness but I do wake up every morning with very dry eyes. Every night I think I need to remove my contact lenses before going to bed, its so surreal being able to see last thing at night!!!

Overall, first couple of days were extremely painful but I did have a very strong prescription prior to the surgery and have noticed most people don't report experiencing as much pain. However, as my sight continues to improve I am more and more excited that I've had the surgery done and would highly recommend it to anyone considering it!

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some advice regarding eye prescription measurements before vision correction surgery.

I recently had my eyes tested at two different clinics while exploring surgical options, and I received significantly different prescriptions.

The first optometrist started from zero power and gradually increased the lens strength until I could clearly read all the letters. The final prescription was actually lower than the glasses prescription I'm currently wearing.

The second optometrist started with my current prescription and then increased the power further until my vision improved. This resulted in a prescription that was about 1 diopter stronger in one eye.

For example:

First clinic: -7.00 and -7.50

Second clinic: -8.00 and -7.50

The cylinder values were also quite different:

First clinic: around -2.25 in both eyes

Second clinic: around -3.00 and -2.50

Because of these measurements, the first clinic recommended PRK, while the second recommended ICL.

What confuses me is that I understand subjective refraction tests can vary somewhat, and I wouldn't be too concerned if the difference was 0.25 or even 0.50 diopters. But a full 1.00 diopter difference seems quite large.

The first clinic took their time with the examination, carefully confirmed my responses, and gradually increased the power until I could read everything clearly. The second exam felt much quicker (around 5 minutes), the room wasn't very dark, and the vision chart even seemed closer than what I'm used to. Because of that, I currently trust the first clinic's measurements more.

However, I can't really go back to the first clinic because they were quite firm that PRK was the appropriate option and didn't recommend ICL. During my consultation at the second clinic, the doctor explained that for PRK or other laser procedures, the combined spherical and cylindrical correction should generally stay below around 9.5 diopters. Based on their measurements, I'm right at that limit or possibly beyond it.

Even if the first clinic's prescription is the correct one, it feels like PRK would be cutting things very close. My concern is that I could end up with residual prescription and need glasses again relatively soon after surgery, which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

That's why I'm currently leaning toward ICL, assuming I'm a suitable candidate. At the same time, the large difference between the two prescriptions is making me nervous because I need to order lenses soon, and I don't want to proceed based on inaccurate measurements.

Has anyone experienced such a large difference between prescriptions from two clinics? Is a 1.00 diopter difference in subjective refraction normal, or should I be seeking another opinion before moving forward with surgery?

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Okay everyone so I went for my consultation and my prescription is: -2.5 and -2.25 with astigmatism of 1 and 2.

My eyesight has been stable and I’m good to go. I’ve been trying to do more research on contoura and if I should go for it or simply lasik.

Although my vision isn’t bad, I want to eliminate nighttime blurriness as much as possible.

Any thoughts? Advice? Thank you!