|
Elvira before Lasik |
|
|
|
|
|
Simulations of Lasik-Impaired Vision
|
I had Lasik to both eyes in June of 2004,
with disastrous complications. Prior to surgery, my vision was correcting
to 20/15 both eyes (which I was not told) and I had trace cataracts both
eyes. After surgery, I immediately lost my close up and intermediate
vision. My right eye corrected to 20/20 and my left eye was overcorrected
and I could see nothing near or far, everything was fuzzy.
4 days after Lasik, my vision started regressing and the doctor told me that
it appeared that both my eyes had over reacted to the laser. Within 3
months my eyes started burning terribly and I could not sleep without Ambien.
A year later, I have had to retire, can no longer work because I am unable
to sleep even with sleeping pills, I only sleep 1 to 3 hours a night
and am unable to drive due to my lack of sleep and loss of vision. I do not
want to endanger anyone's life if I were to get behind the wheel of the car.
My eyes are extremely dry, I have lost most of my eyelashes because my tear
glands are clogged and I no longer have normal tears. I have constant
headaches, which no amount of pain medication helps. I had torn shoulder
rotator cuff surgery about 5 months before my Lasik and I am told that this
is the most painful surgery you can have, no the Lasik burning eyes are
worse. Since the surgery, I have now found out that I was not a good
candidate, unfortunately I trusted my doctor and he did not tell me the
truth. There were at least 6 to 7 red flags that the doctor should have
caught and told me about.
1. Trace cataracts both eyes
2. very dry eyes
3. instability of prescription changed about 3 or 4 times in 9 months
4. high prescription in my left eye
5. large pupils
6. my age put me in a higher risk factor.
According to the FDA web site: http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/LASIK/when.htm, large pupils, dry eyes and cataracts are contraindications for lasik surgery. I did not know that the FDA had a web site prior to my lasik. And of course, my eye doctor did not tell me. The FDA also mandates doctors to provide any patients that are interested in lasik with a patient information booklet as soon as they ask about lasik. My eye doctor does not provide it. Why does the FDA even require this, if they do not monitor it? The doctors know that the FDA does not do its job; therefore, doctors are not complying.
All the problems that I started having after Lasik, my doctor has questioned and now states that it is all mental. It is NOT!! Most women wear make up and see their faces and eyes daily, most of my lashes are gone. My eyelids are starting to droop and I specifically asked my doctor about this and he said that it had never happened to anyone. My left eye which is my dominant eye is completely ruined and my doctor insists on re-lasering it. No way! If he could not get it right the first time, what makes him think he will get it right the next time? My eyes are so dry and I get sharp stabbing pains around my eyes, in my head. I am now afraid that I may have damage to my optic nerves and something has gone wrong with the pain control center in my brain. I have taken up to 12 Naproxen at one time for pain, up to 8 Ultram or Ultrace, up to 10 Tylenol and nothing helps. Prior to Lasik, I would take 1 aspirin and everything would clear up. Prior to Lasik, for my shoulder surgery, I would take 1 Ultram and I would sleep for 4 hours straight, no pain. There has to be something wrong with the pain center in my brain. Prior to lasik, I always slept a good 8 to 10 hours every night. I rarely watched the 10 p.m. news because I would fall asleep. After Lasik, even Ambien or Resistoril or Remeron do not help. One night I was desperate and took 9 Ambien. 9 Ambien should put a horse to sleep for 1 week, I only slept about 3 hours. Something is wrong between my eyes and the pain center in my brain. Think about it, the eyes are connected directly to the brain and if something goes wrong, how can anyone know how far the laser light goes and does damage? If a laser pointer can be pointed at someone's eyes and blind them, imagine what a greater strength laser can do? Having Lasik surgery has been the worst mistake of my life. It has literally cost me my life. I have cried every day for over the past 16 months. I have tried approximately 18 anti depressants without any success as most of them make my eyes drier and I sleep even less. My life is ruined, unfortunately I am not the only one paying the price. My husband is ill and now his life is ruined. These were supposed to be our golden years, where we were going to travel, go fishing, take it easy, but because a doctor was so greedy he did not tell me the truth about my impending Lasik failure, others are also paying the price, my sons, my daughter in law, my sisters, my father, my friends, my neighbors. I have been hospitalized 4 times in the past year and I am still not doing any better. This is so true that it is scary. I feel that I have been and am still in hell for over the past year. It is so very true that Money (greed) is the root of all evil. The American public should be aware that with Lasik surgery there is a mass human experiment going on and only the future will tell how many people will be disabled due to the greediness of doctors.
I believe that to try to ease his conscience, the doctor sent me a huge plant with a get well card and a gift basket from the coffee emporium, provided me with 2 pairs of glasses at his cost and this last pair he did not charge me. I have had other expensive surgeries and the doctors never even sent me a get well card, just a bill for the balance of their services. Why would this doctor send me these gifts? I believe the doctor knows deep in his heart that he made a mistake and he is probably afraid of a lawsuit. Lawsuit? If it were in my power, I want the whole world to know what can really happen with Lasik surgery. Why on earth I allowed a man calling himself a doctor to play God with my eyes and cut and burn them, I will never know. I made the mistake of believing and trusting what a doctor and his well trained staff told me. I believed a doctor who took an oath to do no harm. Even though I signed the consent form, as another lasik victim says “the consent form does not give the doctor the right to do surgery on someone who should not have the procedure. The consent form you sign has you taking all the risks and the doctor taking none even if he screws up!” I thought that that is what I was paying the doctor for, his expertise, knowledge and integrity to screen me as to whether I was a good candidate or not. I pray that God watch over others that are considering Lasik and have them research it before they do it. As for me, it is too late and it has completely ruined my life, I had a wonderful life and I just now exist from day to day. Remember, you only have one pair of eyes and Lasik is major, major surgery. Do not risk your God given blessings.
In May of 2005 at a follow-up appointment with Dr. David Doka of Doka and Vasquez, Dr. Doka told me that I was extremely selfish for not wanting to have my left eye retreated (enhanced) and that he could see that I was a burden to my family and that I was in no mental capacity to make decisions but that I should have my left eye retreated. He also told me very angrily to stop doing all this research on the internet and told me that most women who make it into their 50’s get depressed and many think of suicide. That his grandmother had committed suicide in the early 1900s. What his grandmother had to do with me, I do not know. Maybe the doctor is hoping that I commit suicide. How can someone take an oath not to commit harm and yet let their greed overtake them. Ruin someone’s life for money? I could never do that. And of course, keep me in the dark; stop doing all this research, which is what I should have done before trusting him and having the lasik! He did not want me to find out that there have been many, many lasik casualties. The doctors have quite a bit of money, have power, and pay their Political Action Committees so that bad results can be hidden from the public. Rarely hear about bad results in the newspaper. Why, one local doctor advertises heavily in it, the paper would lose advertising dollars. The local T.V. stations do not want to air the stories, because again, several doctors advertise and they would lose revenue dollars, not to mention the fact that several news anchors have had lasik done for free by a local doctor for the free publicity.
It has been over 16 months since the terrible surgery and I wake up with terrible pains in my eyes and sticky, sticky eye moisture. My sons do not want to see me and no longer come to see me, my sisters have not called me in over 1 year. One of my sisters had Lasik about 4 years before I did and when I called her the day before to tell her I was scheduled for Lasik, she did not warn me. Months later she claimed that she tells everyone it is not worth it because she wears 3 different pairs of glasses during the day, her eyes are dry and she is losing sleep. My sister could have warned me and saved my life! But for whatever reason she did not, I do not know, but I truly feel that she now feels guilty. When I was working, I thought I had a huge circle of friends, I no longer have any friends except maybe one and the new friends that I have come to know because they too are lasik casualties.
After Dr. Doka told me about his grandmother committing suicide, even though suicide is against every thing I have believed all my life, I felt at the time that it was the only answer to my family’s suffering, my suffering and my having become a burden. My husband and I have worked for close to 40 years each and we were going to enjoy our golden years. Without quality of life, quantity of life is not living. My husband is angry at me because in June of 2005 I tried to overdose and unfortunately I did it during he day when he was here and I was rushed to the hospital in time to be saved. My husband is very ill and had to quit his job to monitor me. When Dr. Doka told me about his grandmother, he planted the seed of suicide in me.
My husband says that he believes me when I tell him that my eyes hurt and burn but that I have to keep pursuing going to the doctors. I have been to the hospital 3 or 4 times after the Lasik surgery, they can do nothing. Of course Dr. Doka who did the surgery sees nothing and says that it is all mental and he can do nothing, because he sees nothing wrong, except for striae, which are wrinkles in the flaps! He sent me to two different doctors for another opinion and they both agreed that I need to have my left eye “enhanced”. No, no, no. If Dr. Doka could not get it right the first time, what makes him think that someone else will get it right. I e-mailed a world-renowned doctor in California who also does lasik and he advised me that if I do have cataracts to not have any more corneal surgery. When I e-mailed this doctor’s opinion and web site to Dr. Doka, I did not get a response from Dr. Doka. Now Dr. Doka says he never heard of a Lasik case going bad. Do I believe him? NO, the doctors get together at conferences and compare notes. What about the burning and the pain? Neither doctor responded to this. There is nothing in this whole world that anyone can do about Lasik damage. I have seen about 4 or 5 different psychiatrists and they either think I am bipolar or schizophrenic. I wish that I were bipolar, at least that way I would have moments of happiness. I have not had one happy moment since I started having complications. They do agree that I am in a severe depression. I have been to my family doctor, a grief counselor and a psychologist, nothing helps. Even with sleeping pills whether I stay up late or not, it takes me anywhere from 2 to 3 hours to fall asleep and then I have nightmares. It has been over 16 months that I have had a normal night’s sleep. I do not believe that I will ever be able to have the sweet restful sleep of a normal person while I still live.
Thanks to Dr. Doka who felt that money was more important than telling me the truth, the complete truth, I have lost my quality of life and so has my family. Actually, I have lost my life; I just exist from day to day. The only reason I can type on the computer is because I learned touch typing years ago and do not need to see the keys, but even so, I have problems. I know that this cannot go on much longer. I can fully understand why the psychiatrist that had a bad Lasik outcome committed suicide. I cannot go on and let my husband feel like a prisoner and hate and resent my (our) situation every day. I cannot go on with this pain and suffering. Well, the Lasik not only ruined my eyes, it also ruined my life and that of my family and friends. Dr. Doka, I started working when I was 12 years old to help my family out financially. I did not come from a well to do background. In my 52 years of life, this was the first big ticket (luxury) item that I was going to purchase for myself. This was the largest amount of money that I was spending on myself for the first time in my life. I never dreamed or imagined that it would blow up in my face and ruin my life. I trusted doctors as one had saved my life almost 20 years ago. I trusted Dr.Doka completely, even when he said the prayer the day before surgery, I had no idea how truly risky this surgery was. I was so excited about not needing to wear glasses, I forgot my common sense. How a doctor can use the Lord and say a prayer to increase his business is strictly evil as far as I am concerned. Yes, the doctor asked me if he could say a prayer and I said yes. I think probably he was praying that I would not back out. I specifically asked you and several of your staff how long it took the flap to heal and you all said “eventually”. You all played with words so as to not tell the truth, studies have shown that the flap never heals. I worked all my life to enjoy my retirement and now I have nothing. I do not want to go out because I cry and cry, it takes me weeks or months to shower because the water hurts and burns my eyes. Prior to lasik, my husband and I went everywhere together, the store, parties, to visit relatives, the carwash, you name it. We were rarely home and had many friends. I loved working in my garden, doing my housework, taking care of my puppies. I had a simple, wonderful routine. Now that we have the time, I do not want to go anywhere, I do not want to do anything, my eyes feel like they have a constant infection, I am always exhausted due to lack of and poor sleep, I usually do not care what or if I eat. I cannot even watch TV comfortably, because my eyes hurt. I basically do not care about anything, except my husband. Because of my lasik complications, I have become a prisoner of my body and in my home. So far, nothing, absolutely nothing gives me relief or comfort. What I would give to have my eyes stop hurting for at least 5 minutes.
My husband is extremely upset because I have tried to overdose. But time is not making my eyes better. It seems that time is making my eyes worse. The only person that can end this insanity is myself. My heart tells me one thing and my head tells me another. But this pain and suffering has to be put to an end so that my husband can enjoy whatever time he has of his life, as he has congestive heart failure and diabetes due to exposure to Agent Orange when he served in Vietnam, and maybe that way my sons will come visit him as they no longer come to see me. And of course, selfishly so that I do not suffer the constant pain and burning in my eyes. I was going to take care of my husband as his diabetes got worse, because I was the healthier of the two. Now I cannot even drive to the store, much less take care of him.
My family will never truly understand what I am and have been going through these past 16 months. The only people who can truly understand are those people that have suffered bad Lasik outcomes and have been wonderful in spending hours and hours talking to me and trying to help me.
Whatever I may decide to do in the future, I just pray that the Good Lord forgives me, I can no longer be selfish and continue putting my family through this. Though I know that many things in life are a risk, some risks you cannot afford to take, lasik is one of the risks that you cannot afford to take, especially when the doctor may has lost sight of his integrity. Late at night when I am trying to sleep, and think of everything that I lost because I gambled my eyes, it is so very almost impossible to tolerate. I wish so much that I had never had the lasik, but it is too late, what is done is done and there is no undoing it, the lasik is permanent.
If you are considering Lasik, please, please research it completely. I only wish that someone had warned me and my life would be normal and it would not be ruined. Truly, truly, I feel that I have nothing to live for except my husband, but what good does it do if he is so unhappy. We will all die eventually and I am not afraid of death, I am more afraid of continuing to live like this.
Just as the Lord will hold me accountable for my actions, I know he will also hold Dr. Doka accountable for his actions.
(This was written by Elvira G. Galindo, Wed, 19 Oct 2005)