Carter Eye Center Lasik Review: My Lasik Experience in Dallas

Lasik has changed my life. If you’re interested in Lasik in Dallas, here’s my Carter Eye Center Lasik review.

This is not a paid collaboration at all; it is just based on personal experience. I chose my Lasik center, paid for everything, and here are my fully honest results!

Carter Eye Center Lasik Review: My Path to Getting Lasik

Harrison and I have both had glasses since the third grade. I finally got contacts in seventh grade and have worn them ever since.

Up until 2016, when I randomly became allergic to my contacts.

My Contact Lens Allergy

My condition was called GPC, short for Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. According to my understanding of GPC, I had little bumps underneath my top eyelids caused by inflammation from my contacts. When wearing contacts, I could feel them when I never could before; my contacts felt thick and would sometimes slide around.

The normal remedy is prescribing daily contacts… but I was already using dailies. The doctors at Vision Quest in Dallas also prescribed Lotemax, a prescription gel that I’d apply to my eyelids at night, which was expensive and a hassle to use.

There was also Blink for Contacts, an OTC drop that lubricates your contacts, but these drops still weren’t all that helpful.

Myebomian Cysts

On top of that, I would develop myebomian cysts, a sort of calcium deposit, underneath my eyelids if my contacts irritated my eyes. This would happen once every few months, and each time it felt like there was a giant grain of sand each time I blinked or closed my eyes (yes, that made sleeping at night very difficult). These would have to be removed surgically by the eye doctor, leaving me with a hefty bill each time.

In the end, I switched to glasses and only wore contacts on the weekends. But my glasses were uncomfortable, and my contacts irritated my eyes.

After dealing with all of that for a year and a half, I finally decided to look into Lasik. Harrison had always wanted Lasik, but we figured it just wasn’t financially feasible.

But I went in for a consultation, and after learning more about it, I was sold.

I booked Lasik appointments for both Harrison and me!

(Here we are a couple of weeks post-Lasik and oh-so-happy!! Read on to learn about the redness in our eyes!)

Carter Eye Center Lasik Review: Why was I sold on getting Lasik at Carter Eye Center?

Lasik Cost

First and foremost: the cost was way better than I thought. At Carter Eye Center in Dallas, TX (which I chose because of the reviews and the location), it ended up being about 3,800 per person.

Yes that is a lot if you’re looking at it as a one time payment. But we went with Care Credit, a medical payment platform that allows you to do a 2 year payment plan with zero interest. For Harrison and me combined, that’s only about $305 a month. Totally doable.

Also, this was at the end of 2017… I’d love to know what it costs today! I imagine it would be a lot cheaper now!

Next, Carter Eye Center itself.

Carter Eye Center

Dr. Carter has performed over 70,000 Lasik surgeries, which definitely boosted my confidence in his abilities. At the consultation, you actually get to speak with Dr. Carter, which made it feel more personal and showed that he truly cared about his patients.

People at the Carter Eye Center were really kind. Bobby was our patient consultant, the guy who we planned everything with. He also did our Care Credit application so that we didn’t even have to do it ourselves. He really made everything flow seamlessly.

So we scheduled our appointments a week apart (mine on November 9th and Harrison’s on November 17th).

Carter Eye Center Lasik Review: The Operation

My appointment was at 2 pm.

I arrived and met with Bobby to sign the standard medical forms. He gave me a bag of everything I’d need: Oasis tears, night goggles (which protect your eyes at night), and extra tape for the goggles.

John, a tech at the Carter Eye Center, led me to a dimly lit room with four lounge chairs in it- the relaxation room.

In that room, John gave me a Valium to take and then periodically gave me steroid eye drops.

After about 30 minutes or so, once the Valium had kicked in, he brought me into the laser suite, where I’d have the surgery. (John took some photos for me pre-surgery.)

Lasik Surgery

In the laser suite, you’re situated between two machines. The first one cuts the flap in your eye and the second one corrects your vision. (That’s the extent of my graphic descriptions!).

But first, you get numbing eye drops. Then, they show you what you’ll see when the laser is pointing at your eye.

Finally, it is time for the surgery, which lasts all of a minute. Your eyelids are taped open so that you don’t blink, and your only task is to stare directly into the red laser.

Immediately Post-Lasik Surgery

After both eyes are done, you’ll sit up and be led to an examination room.

That’s where Dr. Carter checked my eyes and inserted punctal plugs- tiny plugs that go into your tear duct in each eye that help with dry eyes. They stay in there for months (I still have them in years later!) and you can’t feel them! Punctal plugs are his dry eye treatment of choice- other doctors use prescription drops, but I definitely prefer the plugs.

Then he puts your goggles on (they get taped on) to protect you from accidentally rubbing your eyes.

And then I was done for the day! Harrison picked me up, and I went home and slept.

Post-Lasik Surgery at Home

They recommend sleeping for as long as possible and keeping your eyes closed for the rest of the day.

You might think it’s hard keeping your eyes shut, but it’s like your brain knows to keep them shut- you have no desire to open them!

So I took a nap and actually woke up after 30 minutes and quickly realized why you are supposed to stay asleep- because once the numbing drops wear off, your eyes do hurt a ton.

I’ve heard mixed feedback on whether or not you’re supposed to feel any pain, but I sure did. It only lasted about an hour until I was able to fall back asleep again. Then when I woke up two hours later, they felt so much better.

With my eyes closed, I listened to a couple of Seinfeld episodes, ate dinner, and then went to sleep for the night.

Carter Eye Center Lasik Review: After My Lasik Surgery

The Next Day

The next morning I was so scared to open my eyes. I tend to be a really anxious person and was so afraid of not being able to see (irrational fear). After removing my goggles, I quickly put in my drops and took a look around.

I could see! Sure, some things were a bit blurry, but I knew in advance that that was normal. John also had warned me of gritty-ness, which I did feel, but knew was normal as well.

The one thing I didn’t expect was how red the whites of my eyes were! Not all over, just where the suction had kept my eye in place.

Redness definitely varies from person to person, but mine were pretty strikingly red.

I went to my one-day follow-up appointment, which went great. I was already seeing 20-20, though one (normal) issue was that lights appeared to glow. (Light sensitivity and poor night vision are also completely normal.)

The redness took about a month to go away completely.

My eyes got dry at night for at least 6 weeks, but that was part of them healing.

6 Weeks after Lasik

We both had great one-month checkups with perfect 20-20 vision! The redness is gone from both of our eyes, and we are two very happy campers.

I still had trouble with night vision for at least a few months after Lasik. Specifically, I’d see halos around lights at night. However, this eventually resolved itself a few months (perhaps even half a year) after surgery. (I could still drive at night and everything, but it was just a bit annoying.)

8 Years after Lasik

I can’t believe it has been eight years since our Lasik surgery! Both of our 20/20 visions are still going strong!

They say you might need to get Lasik again a decade after surgery, so I’ll keep you posted if that happens!

Carter Eye Center Lasik Review: Conclusion

Getting Lasik at Carter Eye Center was really life-changing for us. Despite the pain I felt a few hours after getting Lasik, I recommend it to everyone who can get it.

It’s amazing to be able to see right when you wake up. And when it comes to travel, it is a godsend. As full-time travel bloggers (get travel inspiration here!), we no longer have to remember to pack contacts, contact solution, glasses, and glasses cases.

I don’t have to take my glasses off when I want to sleep on the plane. Not having to worry about putting contacts in and taking them out is so wonderful.

And we finally get to make great use of our sunglasses!!

I hope this Carter Eye Center Lasik review has helped you. If you have any questions about Lasik, comment them below!