LASIK : Patient Experiences

Eddie Spruill: Driving Auto Wrecker

Without Glasses Is a Pleasure Eddie Spruill has been driving an auto wrecker truck for 13 years, and for much of that time he has been squinting. But no more.

In April, encouraged by a sister-in-law who is a nurse, Eddie Spruill underwent a series of screening exams. Not long after, he came back for surgery at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, his uncorrected vision at 20:200 in each eye. When he left the surgical suite two hours later, his vision was a perfect 20:20 in each eye, as it remains today.

"It's hard to explain what a difference this makes in all parts of my life," says the young man, who had struggled with the nuisance of glasses most of his life. "From playing with my kids to doing chores around the house to driving my auto wrecker, life is simpler and easier and better without glasses sliding down my nose. I spend a lot of time driving around town, and that means searching for signs, mailboxes, maps, anything that helps me get where I need to be. I thought my eyesight with glasses was pretty good, but now that my vision is an honest 20:20 in both eyes, I realize what I was missing."

Eddie's wife is next in line. Their vision problem was so similar, they could and often did exchange glasses. "She'll have her eyes fixed by the end of the year," Eddie says. "My Dad is so excited about this that he's going to have the operation, too."

While it took several hours to prepare Eddie Spruill for LASIK surgery, the procedure itself was completed in a matter of seconds. "After making the pass with the microkeratome across the cornea, in less than 30 seconds ultraviolet light and high energy pulses from the excimer laser reshaped his internal cornea with an accuracy up to 0.25 microns", Dr. Perry says.

Eddie Spruill was fully conscious during the procedure. His eyes had been numbed with eye drops. "After Dr. Perry was finished, my eyes were a little scratchy, but I could see pretty well. He suggested that I go home and take a nap, which I did. That evening, I got up around 7, and I could see perfectly. I watched a little TV, and saw and read things that I could never make out before. I had no pain at any time, and took no medications except drops that Dr. Perry gave me for my eyes.The next morning, I went back to the clinic for a checkup. My eyes tested 20:20. I felt great, with absolutely no discomfort of any kind. So I went to work."