Adventures with Lasers
About two months ago I decided to bite the bullet and get lasik. After several appointments to map my eyes and determine my eligibility, I finally scheduled my appointment two weeks ago. I have been eyeglass-free for the past 2 weeks now and the recovery, nor the procedure were all that bad.
When I went in for the procedure, I walked down since the place is located just down the street from my work place. Pretty easy. Once everything was ready, they swabbed my eyes with betadine and that was the last time I wore glasses. A couple of numbing eye drops and I was good to go. Numbing drops, which are supposed to sting, made my eyes feel weird. It is a slightly uncomfortable feeling, not being able to feel my eyes. In the surgery room, I laid down on the table and they prepped my right eye first. A little cup was placed under the lids holding the eye open. Not sure what it really looks like but it was attached to a machine that applied pressure to the eye (yeah I know fun stuff). A flap was cut with the laser and the pressure released, next eye please. With the intense pressure, my vision just went black and gray.
Moving onto another table, the Doctor marked the location of the flaps. Taping the left eye closed and the right eye open I received another cup like thing. This time I had more vision. I was looking up into a circle of light with a smaller blinking red light in the middle. The Doctor peeled the flap back (and no I didn't feel it but I could see it), then I had to stare at the flashing light. A few seconds later and I was done. Now this was the most uncomfortable part in my opinion. The flap was placed back and massaged in place with a cold wet sponge. And yes I could feel that. Once in place, another drier sponge was used to soak up some of the excess liquid (I assume) and help seal it in place. No blinking and next eye please.
After the procedure, I sat and waited for the flaps to seal up to the Doctor's content then off to home I went with three different sets of medical drops to take every hour (arg I hate eye drops), and eye shields so I can't rub at my eyes.
I thought my eyes were going to really hurt or at least burn or something but the pain was more of a dry eye, staring at the computer screen for too long type pain. Not too bad. The next day I was back at the Doctor's office and the eyes were seeing pretty darn well by then. It was then that I realized I had eye hickies and they would be there for about 2-3 weeks. So fast forward two weeks and I still have some minor redness around the top of my eyes from the pressure but I am seeing much better. Right eye is pretty darn clear and about 20/20. Left eye isn't quite as clear (and it had a pretty bad astigmatism to begin with), but likely about 20/15. They feel a bit dry from time to time and I put in tons of tear replacement drops when I am working at the computer but otherwise, the healing is going well and I am rather pleased. I'm not sure the left will improve beyond what it is at now and I am not what they consider worthy of a touch up.
Time to toss the glasses. I have now replaced them with sunglasses due to supposed light sensitivity. My eyes don't feel too sensitive, except in full sunlight. I do have some minor halos and some streaking of light sources but nothing too bad. I'm told this diminishes with time.
When I went in for the procedure, I walked down since the place is located just down the street from my work place. Pretty easy. Once everything was ready, they swabbed my eyes with betadine and that was the last time I wore glasses. A couple of numbing eye drops and I was good to go. Numbing drops, which are supposed to sting, made my eyes feel weird. It is a slightly uncomfortable feeling, not being able to feel my eyes. In the surgery room, I laid down on the table and they prepped my right eye first. A little cup was placed under the lids holding the eye open. Not sure what it really looks like but it was attached to a machine that applied pressure to the eye (yeah I know fun stuff). A flap was cut with the laser and the pressure released, next eye please. With the intense pressure, my vision just went black and gray.
Moving onto another table, the Doctor marked the location of the flaps. Taping the left eye closed and the right eye open I received another cup like thing. This time I had more vision. I was looking up into a circle of light with a smaller blinking red light in the middle. The Doctor peeled the flap back (and no I didn't feel it but I could see it), then I had to stare at the flashing light. A few seconds later and I was done. Now this was the most uncomfortable part in my opinion. The flap was placed back and massaged in place with a cold wet sponge. And yes I could feel that. Once in place, another drier sponge was used to soak up some of the excess liquid (I assume) and help seal it in place. No blinking and next eye please.
After the procedure, I sat and waited for the flaps to seal up to the Doctor's content then off to home I went with three different sets of medical drops to take every hour (arg I hate eye drops), and eye shields so I can't rub at my eyes.
I thought my eyes were going to really hurt or at least burn or something but the pain was more of a dry eye, staring at the computer screen for too long type pain. Not too bad. The next day I was back at the Doctor's office and the eyes were seeing pretty darn well by then. It was then that I realized I had eye hickies and they would be there for about 2-3 weeks. So fast forward two weeks and I still have some minor redness around the top of my eyes from the pressure but I am seeing much better. Right eye is pretty darn clear and about 20/20. Left eye isn't quite as clear (and it had a pretty bad astigmatism to begin with), but likely about 20/15. They feel a bit dry from time to time and I put in tons of tear replacement drops when I am working at the computer but otherwise, the healing is going well and I am rather pleased. I'm not sure the left will improve beyond what it is at now and I am not what they consider worthy of a touch up.
Time to toss the glasses. I have now replaced them with sunglasses due to supposed light sensitivity. My eyes don't feel too sensitive, except in full sunlight. I do have some minor halos and some streaking of light sources but nothing too bad. I'm told this diminishes with time.
posted by Canadian Loonie at 3:00 PM
1 Comments:
Wow. You went and did it. My wife has been trying to convince me to get it done for years but I just haven't crossed that threshold yet. Congratulations on your bravery.
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