I had my LASIK done by Mr Gartry 11/Sept/2004. I am not particularly a fan of Mr Gartry now as I will explain later.
Before LASIK I had -3.5 D in both eyes with no astigmatism.
To cut to the chase I have good vision in both eyes, with some starburst and slight double-vision at night or with bright lights on dark backgrounds. I was affected with Stage-1 DLK (Diffuse Laminar Keratitis) after surgery, which manifest itself some day or so after surgery.
Immediately after surgery my eyes were cloudy - this is normal. They then began to clear. The following day I could notice that my already notice my right eye was not really as good as my left. There is a follow up scheduled for 48 hours after the operation. By the morning of the appointment I was quite concerned and had emailed them that the right eye was cloudy and the left eye was beginning to cloud too. Actually I was panicked. Saw Gartry, and he allayed my fears, that I had some haziness that was quite normal and would clear up – keep taking the drops (steroids et al.).
It was only on searching the Internet that I found a website describing DLK and I thought to myself ‘I hope I don’t have that’ as in the latter stages it can develop to corneal melting and the need for a corneal transplant. When I saw Gartry a week later I asked him if I had DLK, and he said yes. I think my heart sank a bit, he probably thinks ‘haziness’ is a suitable lay substitute term for DLK but even so it was disingenuous I think not to tell me straight especially as it occurs in only 1% of patients. I would like to make clear that I wouldn’t necessarily wish to demure from the view of Mr Gartry’s position as a pre-eminent consultant, nor indeed have I any reason to believe the DLK was due to any lack of good procedure. It has after all almost, but not totally cleared up, so what am I whingeing about? Well this perhaps is a matter of predilection, but I do not like fudgers, people who try to break the bad news, or omit information in order not to alarm patients that may or may not make their life difficult. I saw Mr Gartry recently for the last time, after having seen another optician a week previously for a 3rd party examination. This is standard practise and is at Mr Gartry’s suggestion that all patients do this a week prior to their final visit. Well, I had my eyes examined thoroughly and I am able to read the bottom line of the chart. There was some slight DLK still visible in my right eye, and as I explained at the outset I still have some so-called 3rd order aberrations like starburst at night and slight double-vision, but liveable with and on-balance I am happy. I returned for my last consultation with Mr Gartry, and he explained that after three months I am probably stuck with the starburst and double vision. I was disappointed with this, but I did not feel it was his fault or that it was bad enough to consider risking a corrective operation. However, what happened next quite shocked me, although some may see it as quite minor, I will leave it to the reader to decide for themselves. I had not at this stage told him that there was still some DLK observed in my right eye as I wanted to see what he said when he examined me with the scope. I am sad to said it was now totally gone, perfect, completely clear. I immediately offered that I was surprised to hear that (inside I was thinking though actually no I’m not surprised and feeling quite angry with his little lie) as the other optician said there was some. He immediately backtracked and said that well yes there was some, but you would have to know it was there to see it, and brushed it aside. Like I say, I find this unacceptable, and certainly given the esteem he is held in, I would expect better.