I'm making this post to let any visually-impaired diabetics know, it is possible to have lasik. Here is my story.
Ten years ago, I had just gotten my first real job, with real insurance and everything. I had made a consultation appointment to see about getting lasik and then... Boom. Diabetes struck and I joined the club no one wants to be in.
I was told at that time, there's no way you can have lasik now. No big deal, just diabetes taking something else away from me. I've worn glasses since I was 7 years old. Without them I was legally blind.
Now, I'm 35 years old. In August I will have had T1 for ten years. At my regular eye appointment a few months ago, my doctor said, "You know, you're an excellent candidate for lasik." My jaw hit the floor.
My control has been pretty good. A1C consistently around 6.5, except for the year I didn't have insurance and relied on Walmart insulin and test strips (that year A1C was about 7). Nothing amazing, not the nearly non-diabetic levels I've seen achieved here on this sub. But still!
I went to three different lasik doctors. All of them examined me and looked at my diabetes records, and said, yeah, you're a candidate, we can schedule you whenever you want.
My husband and my mother colluded and gave me the money I'd need for lasik for my birthday last month. I made the appointment and immediately went very low-carb, just to keep my sugars stable as possible.
Tuesday this week, I had my eye dilation and pre-op appointment. I got up very early to make sure that my blood sugar would be absolutely perfect for the dilation (which is when the measurements for lasik are taken).
Yesterday (Thursday), was the surgery. I checked my sugar (with fingersticks) every hour because again, this is the moment that it really mattered. I ate an egg and a string cheese that morning; I wasn't hungry in the slightest but it was necessary. I handed the Dexcom over to my husband so that he could monitor me. Just in case I had a glucagon pen standing by. The lasik room is right next to an observation window with chairs for the family, so if anything happened my husband would know right away.
From the moment I entered the room until the procedure was done was less than 15 minutes. My sugar stayed stable at 110 the entire time.
Today, I woke up and my vision is totally flipped. I can read the titles on the bookcase across the room, but things less than a foot away are super fuzzy. That's totally normal and should improve daily.
Anyway, that's my story. Much longer than I intended but I've got nothing else to do today (other than my post op appointment in a few hours).
TL:DR - I'm a type 1 diabetic, I had lasik and you can too! I welcome all questions.
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