Last Thursday I finally underwent Lasik treatment for my eyes and the results are amazing! I wanted to do this years ago but considered Sakhalin, or travelling from there to Korea or Japan not the easiest or best solution so decided to hold off then. Subsequent pregnancies and nursing babies rendered me ineligible for the procedure. As Houston is the medical epicenter of the world this is a great place to do such a thing and so once I was more than 2 months past nursing Kaat I immediately contacted a Dr to schedule an appointment.
The pre-ops consist of some checks whether your eyes are suitable for Lasik (need to have thick enough cornea? And have healthy eyes, no other issues etc) a couple of weeks prior. Then you need to start wearing your glasses, as contacts deform your eyes, for at least 2 weeks. After that they do some more checks most of which all look like the things any optician on annual check does as well apart from 1 ‘sample’ test.
The day prior to the procedure you need to start applying some drops to your eyes in preparation (antibiotics and steroids). No soap, perfume and make-up allowed the day of the surgery and you need a driver to take you there. The session itself starts with another quick eye inspection and a thorough cleaning of the eye area.
After that you are given some drops to numb your eyes (anesthetic) which feels weird but not uncomfortable, as well as some drops to dry out your eye temporarily. After you have signed the consent forms you get to take some Valium and are ready to go. I was of course a little nervous and struggled to 'relax'.
Then you are put on a table and they put a rubber ring on your eye ball. I did not feel that until they apply some suction to it to keep it in place. At that stage your vision in the relevant eye ‘goes out’ and it feels as if someone is lightly pushing on your eyelid when you eye is closed. So you notice it but no pain. A cone mounted on a machine is ‘docked’ onto the ring on your eyeball and in 20 seconds that machine cuts a little flap in the top layer of your eyeball. You have to watch with your other eye in the meantime at some lights in order to focus in the right direction.
The ring and suction are removed and you are ‘swung over’ to another machine. The Dr quickly puts some small protective mats around your eye socket and rolls open the little flap.
You are put under a lasik machine and are asked to focus on a red light. 15 seconds later the Lasik is done (you can hear the ‘sparks’ from the machine but feel absolutely nothing) and the Dr progresses to ‘brush’ closed the little flap.
All is repeated for eye # 2 and you are ready to leave the room, a little wobbly from the Valium and with a very foggy eyesight. After a quick close up look whether the flaps where back in place and the eyes are clean in the exam room I was on my way home again in less than 1 hr!
Once at home you have to relax with your eyes closed for at least 1 hr. Considering our chronic lack of sleep I made it about 3 -;). After that my eyesight started to improve quickly and the after effects from the Valium were more annoying than any effects on my eyes. I had to wear some gogles the first evening & night to avoid rubbing my eyes due to irritation from the dryness. Fortunately I had remembered in advance to ask an extra set for Mr Rick so I actually managed to keep my own on.
The next morning by 9am (less than 20 hrs after the procedure) I could drive myself to my check-up already and hade 20/20 vision in each eye. From that point onward it will only get better. One more week of all sorts of drops and good use of sunglasses the first few months is all it takes now.
Safe to say I am pretty pleased! Anyone in need of contact fluids? I have plenty left! Anyone want the frame from my glasses? I have no need for any of it anymore!
