I Can See!

I've been talking about it since February, and the day finally arrived...Thursday morning, I had my LASIK procedure!

I know many of my readers have had LASIK and some are considering it and are interested in hearing about how it went, so I'm going to do a rundown.

Pre-Surgery Prep: 

My appointment began at 10:30. My eyes were measured and checked for dryness (this is done with a machine with blinking lights, so it's totally pain-free) and I had one last vision exam to make sure my prescription was the same after seven days out of contacts. (Apparently contacts can leave residue/subtly change the shape of your eye, so I didn't wear them for a week in order to get the most accurate reading possible on surgery-day.)

I got all decked out in my surgery garb, signed my consent forms, and took my Valium. (I was getting pretty nervous at this point, but I was even more nervous about taking Valium since I never had before. I wasn't sure what it would do to me.)

Not a good look.

After a short wait (during which Elisa and I caught up a bit - she was having her LASIK done too!), the surgeon came in and explained the entire process. He was very reassuring and competent, which was a good thing because I began to notice that I'm apparently totally immune to Valium.

The Procedure: 

As for the actual surgery, it was kind of stressful. They numb your eyes with drops and the only uncomfortable part is, after securing your eyelids so you can't blink, they put a disk on your eye. I think this was the razor that opens the cornea. Everything got dark and there was pressure and vibration in my head for about 10 seconds; then the ring came off and the actual laser did its job.

The laser itself was easy and quick. I didn't have trouble staring straight ahead. The worst part was afterward when the surgeon put the corneal flap back in place and used a little sponge to mop up my eye; it's so weird to see all this going on but not feel it! After everything was clean, they inserted punctal plugs, and I was done!

I was able to keep myself calm by white-knuckling this stuffed monkey they gave me and imagining I was wearing glass goggles just over my eyeballs and that the entire procedure was just something I was watching from beneath the lenses.

Watching LASIK online is way scarier than actually having it done!

Recovery: 

I was done around 12:30. I went home to take a doctor-prescribed nap. About two hours in I woke up with burning eyes and a terrible dehydration headache. I think the burning was the numbing drops wearing off. I put in some of my prescription drops and went back to sleep. When I woke up again, I felt great!

Most uncomfortable goggles ever.

My eyes are a little sensitive right now, obviously, but I can see! My vision wasn't so bad that I'm suddenly like OMG I can see things!, and I'm so used to wearing contacts all the time that in a way I don't feel different; the improvement is anti-climatic. But I can see the clock from my bed, and I can see the TV; the lines in the road aren't blurry and I realize that from now on I'll be able to roll out of bed and just get going instead of taking the time to put contacts in, so I think that will be the biggest difference for me.

I mean, I've worn glasses since kindergarten...so this is definitely life-changing!

(I used to lose my glasses all the time on purpose because they were huge like Sally Jesse Raphael's. The wig is me playing dress-up...the glasses are not.)

I have a checkup Friday at 9am and then my next is a week out. I'm using three types of eye-drops (an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory, and artificial tears) and feel pretty good!

I'm supposed to take some time off running to avoid getting sweat in my eyes; hopefully I get the go-ahead soon because I have a race next weekend!

Have you had LASIK?

Are you considering getting LASIK?

ABK