tired looking eyes, lasik, etc.

[lboogie]

Today is 2 months post-lasik. Hard to tell if things are getting any better........but I'm sad that I look so terrible and tired. I am pre-disposed to dark circles anyways, but now I just look so tired all sickly all day long. Even though I sleep a lot.

If and when my dry eyes clear up during this healing time, could I expect the tired eyes to also go away?

I had no dry eye before lasik, and my exam showed me to be a good candidate. So I'm really, really hoping it will clear up -- I am 29 years old.

The other thing I was curious about is strength of perscription and length of dry eye symptoms. I was moderate -5.00 and -4.50 ........but more than my other friends who have had it done. Could that be why I'm having a longer/harder healing time?

Trying all the drops and flax and tranquileyes.......doc didn't seem too concerned last time. I'm just so worried about this altering my life as I know it -- I am an active, social person -- but I am so out of it and depressed these days, I hardly recognize myself. Just feeling so stupid for even messing with my eyes in the first place.

[LasikLady]

If you are like the vast majority of patients, your dry eyes will clear up within the 6 month initial healing period. Only something like 3% of patients have complications at the 6 month mark. That is what my doctor told me anyway.
Even if they don't completely clear up I can tell you they will get WAY better than where you are right now. The first 6 months were really hard for me and it has SLOWLY gotten better. And I mean SLOWLY. Now I am to the point that I have what is considered "mild" dry eye. And I had SEVERE sypmtoms for the first few months. It was awful. Plus I had the tired strained eyes. I have no eye strain now. My eyes still get tired after 9 hours working on the computer, but I go out in the evening now and they don't bother me too much. My whole issue has been accepting that I may have to cope with mild dry eye for the rest of my life now. But finally I think after 15 months I am accepting things and if they are permanent I can now tell you I plan on having a great life anyway wearing my Panoptx, using my gel to sleep, and using my Restasis twice a day. Is this the convenience I thought I was getting by ditching my contacts and having lasik? Heck no. But life goes on. And what got me to this point, and I haven't been here too long, is seeing what these awesome people on the board have accomplished despite their dry eyes. You are going to improve so much over the next year you won't believe it. But it will probably be a slow process. I also had no dry eye that I knew of pre surgery. This is a process I think we all have to go through. Getting over the guilt, depression and regret and realizing we will survive and be happy once we wrap our minds around the right attitude. It hasn't been easy but is very do-able. Oh also, I was -275 & -300 pre surgery. Not that myopic yet I still developed severe dry eye. I know people who had higher prescriptions than me and didn't get the dry eyes. I think it's a roll of the dice and some of us are just unlucky. But again, life goes on.
Hang in there.