One Year Ago: New Eyes

June is almost over, but before it's gone, I want to commemorate the fact that last year in June I had LASIK surgery and experienced a "modern (medical) miracle" that made my life incredibly better! It happened on June 7 and while my vision was perfect right away, it took me a while to stop seeing glare and halos.

I never described the surgery in detail here in the blog, but it was very quick and painless. (here are all the posts that mention the surgery, starting with the reason why I decided to have it). I'm sure Jo(e)'s description of her surgery is probably better written, but I'll try anyway (and I won't re-read hers until I'm done).

First I was given Valium to relax and after about 10-15 minutes I walked to the room where the surgery was going to take place. My husband sat outside the closed door which had a glass window so he was able to see the whole surgery (shudder!). The room was fairly small.

I laid down on a "bed" covered in synthetic material, under lots of fancy medical equipment. Then, the doctor put these "clamps" to keep my eyes open (comparable to the one used in a gynecological exam, but much smaller and made of plastic [synthetic material], not cold metal) and the room was darkened. The clamps didn't hurt, but felt weird because we never keep our eyes open for long, we're always blinking.

The doctor put anesthetic drops in one of my eyes and then shone a light on it (red?) and then he cut the cornea to make a flap.  I could still see (and it wasn't strange), but I didn't feel any pain. The doctor then lifted the flap and told me that he was going to shine the laser. Meanwhile, he kept talking to his assistant and moving the machines and there was soft music playing in the room -- I always think that's a bit strange, but I quickly thought that it must be boring for the assistant and the doctor to be in that dark room all day, so they can listen to music, that's OK.

The laser made a whirring sound and I smelled something burning and that was the moment in which everything went dark in that eye. The doctor said that it was just the smell of the machine or something, but I'm pretty sure I could smell burning flesh from my eye. Shudder. Then soon after the doctor put the  cornea flap down and I think that by then I could see a bit in that eye.

The whole procedure was repeated in the other eye (left?) and then it was over. I could still see, but things were pretty foggy and strange. I got up and went to the doctor's office with my husband. I waited for them to check my eyes for about 20 minutes to half an hour. I don't remember if K left the room to check on the boys or not (they stayed in the car outside -- it was parked in the shade & they were playing on their iPads or watching something).

After a while the doctor came to check me and the assistant gave me a schedule of medication, checked whether I had bought all the eye-drops (I think I actually had to bring them with me to the surgery) and then gave me the shields & sticky tape and instructions on how to put it on as well as dark sunglasses. I was told to take a three hour nap as soon as I got home and only then to use my eyes.

We had over an hour drive to get home, though. I wore the sunglasses and tried to keep my eyes closed, but I couldn't help but try to look at things. We even stopped at Costco on the way home and it was really strange to look at the lights with this strange halo around them (it wasn't as bad outside, even with sun and bright light).

I did take the three hour nap when I got home (I'm guessing that the Valium made it easier to sleep) and I could see a bit more clearly then. The next morning we went to the doctor (this time we left the boys with a friend so I could have a meeting at the university -- I had just received a job offer, remember?) and my vision was pronounced better than perfect (20/15) and they took a photo of me and the doctor and gave me a T-shirt (?).

I had a strict routine of eye-drops and the only thing I think they did wrong was not recommending that I purchase the thicker "gel" lubricating drops (I guess I didn't have a problem producing tears, that's why they didn't recommend it). The problem I had was the following: whenever I slept I woke up with horrible pain from dried up eyes -- they eyelids were "sticking" to the eyeball and it really hurt! THis happened because I couldn't wake up and put the drops in the middle of the night, so it was helpful to use the stronger "gel" drops.

One really annoying thing (which I still experience when I put eye-drops before sleep) is getting up with eyes full of dried up eye-drops... sigh... and that went on for months because they recommended I keep using eye-drops to sleep (good advice).

The halos (caused by the cutting of the cornea to make a flap) were visible during the day when looking at lights and the sun and very strong during the night, but they slowly... over a period of two months... went away. The "starburst" lights at night lasted longer and in one of my eyes they still appear.

Other than the halo (also present when watching TV and looking at the computer screen) and the starburst effect, and maybe a bit of sensitivity to light in the very beginning, there were no other side-effects.

Is there anything you'd like to know about having LASIK?

It's definitely the best thing I've ever done, especially considered that I hate glasses and I was forced to wear them because of the GPC (giant papillary conjunctivitis).

But now I wait for my need to wear reading glasses (BOOOO!)... I hope I can have one or two more years, but... at nearly 42, I know it probably won't be long. :( Do you have to wear reading glasses?