Ok, I am going to preface this post by saying that this is not a sponsored post.   I just wanted to share the experiences I have had over the past few months.   My eyesight was ok in grade school but towards the end of high school and into college it went downhill very fast.  I tried to get lasik about 13 years ago and they said I did not qualify.  So in the back of my mind over the years I have had fears that my eye sight will just keep getting worse until glasses and contacts won’t even work for me.

I was really nervous that I wouldn’t be able to renew my driver licence last year, but I just barely passed the exam with my high contact prescription.

Anyway, about 6 months ago, I thought I would go into a lasik consultation just for fun.   I thought maybe I could get lasik just to improve my vision a little and make my prescription not so high.  I did not qualify for lasik (as expected) but they did introduce me to a couple other procedures that I would quality for.  I didn’t even know they existed!

I am now seeing 20/25 (they said in 3-4 weeks they expect me to be at 20/20) and I couldn’t be happier!  Here is what I did.

I opted for ICL surgery and PRK surgery – both performed at Hoopes Vision in Draper Utah.  It wasn’t cheap, both procedures together came to just shy of 8k, but there are payment plans offered that make it doable.

ICL

For my ICL surgery they actually implanted a permanent contact into each eye.   It was a very simple procedure and the recovery was quick and painless.  There were a few risks (the lens needed to be measured and inserted very precisely).  Everything went as smooth as could be.  If the lens measurements were off, the surgery can be reversed and redone.  But that would be rare.  My doctor said over the past 9 years (i think) and doing this procedure about 4 times a month, he has seen 2 (maybe 3?) complications.   I thought those statistics looked pretty good, and took my chances.

Here’s a video (watch at your own risk haha) of the ICL surgery:  Surgery Video

Because we aren’t in Canada and a toric lens isn’t approved by the FDA yet, I needed to also do PRK to correct my astigmatism.

PRK

This surgery is comparable to lasik (except for the recovery) but because of my ICL, it was safer for me than lasik.   You can find detailed info about the surgery HERE and a video of what they do HERE.  The surgery was simple and did not hurt, but the recovery for this surgery was a lot harder than the ICL .  There was a lot of scraping at my eye, so the pain was stronger.  Light was so sensitive and I could barely open my eyes for the first few days.  I didn’t feel comfortable enough to drive until day 5.  They gave me lortab to help the pain, and it also made me sleepy which was a bonus.  I could just lay in bed and sleep the days away until I was able to see.  It’s been 1 month since the surgery, and I am seeing great (20/25) and I will continue to see better over the next 2 months.

I am so grateful for this modern day miracle.  I never thought the day would come where I could see!  I have no regrets from doing these surgeries.

Feel free to ask me any questions if you are considering either of these procedures.