PRELEX EYE SURGERY, One Person's Odyssey.

Cal Rice, one of Dr. Knolle's patients, documented his personal experience for his family and friends, and shared it with us. He titled it, "PRELEX EYE SURGERY, One Person's Odyssey."

       Dr. Knolle with PRELEX patient, Cal Rice

Preface

Medical Background

Personal Background            

I have always been somewhat farsighted.  About 1956, while in college, I began wearing glasses, and went to bifocals about 10 years later.  As time went by I lost my “intermediate” distance vision.  This was most noticeable when I tried to read the computer screen of a student or playing table games.  For instance, it was difficult to read cards lying on the table.             

A few years ago I went to trifocal glasses.  These were certainly better for general use.  Trifocals are made by keeping the upper (distance) vision portion the same and splitting the bifocal (near) portion into two portions.  The trifocal portion (in the middle of the lens) is used for medium distance and the bifocal (lower portion of the lens) for close vision.  The problems, for me, were the trifocal portion was too narrow for me to see the complete computer screen without having to move my head and, the bifocal portion was so small that I had to hold my head unnaturally high and move it when I was reading.  My solution was to have the trifocals for general wear, bifocals for reading, and single vision for computer work

Now, the glasses that I wanted were always at the wrong place!  Second, when I was in the office I would be switching glasses when I switched from being on the computer to wanting to read documents at my desk.  It was becoming more and more frustrating. 

The Odyssey

Pre-operation

My right eye, without glasses, tested 20/40 and my left one tested 20/100.  Glasses made it possible for me to live and work in a reasonable manner.  I wore glasses from the time I got up until going to bed.

The pre-op doctor visit was the normal eye check plus a number of measurements of the eye and mapping the surface of the cornea.

The video I viewed about the procedure cautioned to set realistic expectations.My biggest concern was that I might set my expectations too high. I told Dr. Knolle my expectations were to be able to see without glasses better than I now see with glasses. He said he did not think that was too high an expectation.

The Operation

I arrived at the outpatient operating center about 10:30 on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 had the right eye dilated (in a major way – more than for a normal eye exam), had the operation around noon (taking 20 minutes or so) and went home around 1:00.  A week later the left eye was operated on.  

The Excitement            

The first Wednesday afternoon I took a nap and generally played lazy.  The right eye had some discomfort, similar to putting in a contact lens, but did not hurt.  Thursday I woke up at 5:00 a.m.  By 5:30 I just had to get up and see what I could see.  It was magic!  I went to my computer and could read the screen, without glasses.  I could read the names of the books on my shelves (4-6 feet away), without glasses.  At 8:00 I drove to the Dr. Knolle’s office for the “day after” check.  My vision checked out at 20/15 for distance and 20/20 for close work.            

On Thursday and Friday I noticed that my eye was sensitive to light.  Being in the dark and turning on a room light or a cloudy bright day outside would cause some pain.  This may have been due to the effects of the dilation still wearing off.  By Saturday I was outside in the sun, without sunglasses, with no problem.            

On Monday, I was talking on the phone, leaning back in my chair with my feet up on the computer table.  I could read the words under the icons on the screen, very clearly, without glasses.  With my left eye I could barely determine whether there was one line or two lines of words under the icon.            

The left eye operation was more complex. The left eye had a significant amount of astigmatism which means the cornea is out of round.  This can be corrected by making incisions at critical locations in the cornea to release the “out of round” pressure.            

The week before had gone so well that instead of being lazy for Wednesday afternoon, I went right to work and spent several hours on the computer.  Anyway, Thursday and into Friday, there was discomfort in the left eye but by Saturday it was great.  

The Side Effects            

The only side effect, which appears to be universal, is seeing “halos” around point sources of light.  These appear around car headlights, taillights, streetlights, yard lights, etc.  I would describe them more as a star burst rather than a halo.   They look something like a fireworks starburst.  The farther away the light is the larger the halo.  For example, car headlights at a distance have halos large enough to overlap.  As the car approaches the halo becomes smaller and (basically) disappears when it is within several car lengths.  I am not finding it to be a problem.  

Current Experience (February 21, 2004)