The Everything Blog

My saga started in 1996, as a young pilot, recently out of school, I encountered medical file complications with Transport Canada. My experiences to solve the situation included a complicated soap opera of lawyers and medical professionals, and culminated in a hearing of the Civil Aviation Tribunal. The results of the Tribunal Hearings were inconclusive, and so with no other solution, I invested in laser corrective surgery.

In the fall of 1997 I went through my first Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK). In this surgery, (fully awake) my eyes were anesthetized with eye drops and a speculum was used to prevent blinking. The outermost layer of my cornea was removed with a cold argon-floride excimer laser with no mechanical instruments. (The laser is used to vaporize a very thin layer of corneal tissue, 0.2 microns at a time - about the thickness of 1 to 3 human hairs. The amount of cornea removed depends on the amount of correction needed.) The surgery took less than 2 minutes. Following the procedure, I wore special contact lenses for 5 days. Those five days were absolute hell, and any amout of light was painful, and my eyelids felt like sandpaper (they give Codiene to kill the pain). Postoperative medication in the form of eye drops are generally needed for up to 6 months.

My vision had initially corrected to 20/16, but slowly regressed. I was on Flarex (Alcon - Fluoromethalone acetate 0.1% Corticosteroid eyedrop used to reduce corneal haze and regulate healing response) along with several anti-glaucoma and anti-viral, Antibiotics and anti-inflammatorie (CILOXAN ophthalmic fluoroquinolone) suspensions. What no one knew, or could have known, was that I was dangerously allergic to the steroid suspension. This caused my intra-ocular pressures to skyrocket, and the anti-glaucoma suspension (Betoptic Ophathalmic Solution Betaxolol HCl, Alcon) wasnt strong enough to control it. After several emergency type medications (Iopidine 0.5% apraclonidine HCI ophthalmic), my pressures dropped, but not before doing considerable dammage to both my eyes.

Six months after the first surgery, in the summer of 1998, I needed additional PRK shaping to repair the damage. Again, I went through a double PRK, but this time I was treated with a post-operative steroid called TobraDex (Tobramycin and Dexamethasone Ophthalmic Suspension). This milder steroid didnt trigger as much of an allergic reaction, however, as a precaution, I had intra-ocular pressures checked weekly. The same thing happened, but with less sense of urgency. My pressures increased, damaged the repair from the previous surgery. My eyes again regressed, and I had terribly unstable vision, with floaters and halos.

Two years later, in summer of 2000, I underwent a double LASIK (Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis) This time (fully awake, but very high on Anatol) my eyes were anesthetized with eye drops. A slice was made with an instrument known as a microkeratome, to expose the inner layer of the cornea, creating a “flap.” A cold excimer laser was then used to vaporize a very thin layer of corneal tissue, 0.2 microns at a time. The corneal flap was then reflected back to restore the corneal surface. Surgery took only a few minutes. I had complications, first a piece of debris lodge underneath my right corneal flap. My two minute surgery turned into a twenty minute affair. My right eye was open three times for cleaning, which caused a microscopic tearing in the tissue of the corneal flap. I wore a protective eye shield for the first day. I was followed post-operatively with a cortico-steriod called FML (Allergan - Fluoromethalone 0.1%), an eyedrop used to reduce corneal haze and regulate healing response after LASIK. This triggered no allergic reactions, but had the typical cortizone reaction, and I gained 25 pounds.

Two months later, I had the unfortuneate news, following an extensive corneal topography that I required an additional operation of my right eye. In consequence, I underwent a fourth corneal refractive surgery (Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis).

My ophthalmologic surgeon was able to re-open the existing corneal flap without making any additional insicions. This time(fully awake, but very high on Anatol) my eye was anesthetized with eye drops. My surgeon carefully opened the existing insicion with a special instrument, to seperate the corneal flap and expose the inner layer my right cornea. A cold excimer laser was used to vaporize a very thin layer of corneal tissue, the corneal flap was then reflected back to restore the corneal surface. Surgery took less than five minutes. I remained on a cortico-steriod called TobraDex (Tobramycin and Dexamethasone Ophthalmic Suspension), an eyedrop used to reduce corneal haze and regulate healing for four days.

As this was the fourth cold laser trauma for this eye, the enitre proceedure was fraught with danger. However, I did not encounter any of the foreseen complications such as perforation of the eye, as no additional insicion had to be made. Also, The surgeon was able to displace the flap without seperating it from the connecting tissue.

Several months later, as my right eye is still considerably weakened from the surgery, complications start to arrive.

The trauma to the eye developed into a serious osteo-artritis attack. It attacked to proteins in my right iris (the colored part of the eye). The condition is called Iritis, or Uveitis. It is one of the leading causes of blindness in North America. I knew immediately that something was seriously wrong. Indeed, my suspicions correct. The pain was so great that i would have gladly plucked my eye out with a fork. My ophthalmologic surgeon confirmed that I had Iritis, and that I would be 8 weeks on cortizone to remedy the problem. Suffice to say, the urgency is doubled by the fact that my right eye is still considerably weakened from the last LASIK.

I was on Ophtho-Tate (Prednisolone Acetate 1%), a corticosteroid suspension, to helps calm the inflamation of the iris, reducing the pain considerably. My eye was also fully dilated to help relax the muscles and again decrease the pain, using Isopto Homatropine (5% Homatropine / Hydrobomide solution). To put the icing on the cake, I was also on an ocular ointment called Maxidex (Dexamethosone 0.1%). It took 8 weeks to recover.

Ten years later, I happily wear my glasses.