The eyes have (had) it.
I’ve been wearing contact lenses since the fourth grade. My dad had horrendous vision, my mom just as bad, and both my sisters and I have greater than -5.0 vision deficiencies. (If you don’t know what -5.0 means, just know that sans contacts or glasses, your face is a pink-beige blob to me.)
Fighter pilots this family is not.
However, thanks to the miracles of modern science, my prescription has at least stopped getting worse over the past two years, and with my diabetes in awesome control right now, my eye doctor said I’m a great candidate for laser eye surgery. However, due to the fact that I have “skinny corneas,” (uhm, I think that’s the only part of my body that’s ever been consistently called “skinny,” but shoot, I’ll take what I can get…”), I can’t get the new, sexy, super-quick recovery- time LASIK surgery, but instead need to go for a safer procedure called PRK (don’t ask me what that stands for, just know it’s laser + eyeballs = better vision).
PRK is apparently the safest laser vision correction out there, but the downside is that you’re looking at a recovery time of about four days, and they say you can’t see anything at all in the first one or two days (time for an audiobook, perhaps?) Still, I’m willing to go for it. The routine of contacts going in each morning and out each night has been going on for 18 years, not to mention all the inconveniences that go along with them (ladies out there with contacts know what a mess it can be when you get mascara on a contact lens - not fun). In addition, I’ve never felt completely safe not having great vision without assistance - even with my glasses on the bedside table, I’d sleep easier knowing I could pop out of bed anytime and get moving in the event of an earthquake or other emergency. All in all, the time has come for me to take the plunge and get these baby blues fixed.
Of course, having diabetes, I knew there would be special considerations, so my first round of questions went to my CDE. He noted that I should be sure to reduce BG fluctuations as much as humanly possible the two weeks or so leading up to my surgery, because wide swings in BGs actually affect your vision, and to get an accurate amount of correction needed, my sugars need to be stable. That will mean really watching my diet and taking it easy on exercise, since working out can cause some wide swings in my glucose. Overall though, since I’ve been lucky to have healthy eyes (in terms of my diabetes) all these years, and my diabetes is in great control right now, I’m no different than any other patient out there as far as I know. Still though, I’m of course apprehensive about undergoing any procedure where my eyes will be on the laser line.
Have any of you readers with the ‘betes had PRK or LASIK? Is there anything I should know about selecting the surgeon or my d-management before, during, and after the procedure? Any risks particular to diabetes I should know about? I’d love to know any feedback you guys have.
And happy Friday, doggonit. The first week back from the holidays is always brutal. We deserve it.
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Comments
Didn’t have any trouble before/during the procedure, but had a hard time during recovery. My husband had to take my blood sugar every couple hours, change out my pump, confirm doses, etc. It was just a day and a half, but I felt pretty helpless.
It was stupid of me not to change out my pump to a fresh injection site and cartridge before I went in, but I just didn’t think of it.
I also reacted badly to the vicodin, so my blood sugars were messed up.
For all this whining, 20/20 vision for the 4 years and counting!
I had LASIK at Shiley Eye Care Center in August of 2009. I was trying to have my BG perfect and level. Woke up that morning 200+, changed infusion sets, bolused, and was plummeting by the time of the actual surgery. Perfect!
Surgery went well, but it is a very intense experience. I took one valium before the surgery which made me sleep most of the afternoon. They will offer you a second one after the surgery and my advice is to skip it.
After the surgery, I could see well enough to work my meter and pump as usual. The nurses tape these terrible eye-shields onto your face after surgery so you don’t touch your eyes. My advice would be to buy a new pair of lab goggles with the elastic strap and wear them continuously for 48 hours after surgery. I thoughlessly rubbed my eye the next day day, which really hurt, but caused no damage.
Other than that, I love not having glasses or contacts. In six months, you will completely forget that you were ever near-sighted. Diabetes is complicated enough!
DiabetesCommunity
I had LASIK surgery over 10 years ago. My vision wasn’t too bad at the time but wanted it done due to firefighting and wearing contacts/glasses. Vision is still 20/20. I think having good control going into the procedure and during the healing time is important. I dealt with a company called TLC and they were great throughout the whole process. I never felt that I was any different than other patients and they treated me in the same way.