Sunday, April 26, 2009

Lasik Rundown

This whole experience has been amazing. It's been about 56 hours since my surgery and I just can't believe it. Let me say that I know the picture below from the previous blog is kinda sorta really scary, but my Mom and I cracked up laughing while trying to get the perfect picture of my eyeball hickey's! ...It was seriously funny, you should have been there! And since I've posted such a horrid looking picture of myself I thought I would try to top it with me in my sleeping goggles. Yup, that's right. I have to where goggles for the first week, so that I don't accidentally rub my eyes (no rubbing!). They actually aren't that uncomfortable, but my battery has died on my camera, so unfortunately (or fortunately) you don't get to see me in my goggles. I look very cute I'm sure! :)

Let me share the details of my surgery. I arrived at the eye doctor's at around 10:15am, Friday morning, to set up all the paper work, pay them the big bucks for the procedure, and sign away and acknowledge all of the things that could go wrong and the possible side effects. Once that was taken care of, they take new pictures of my eyes, and let me know what to expect during the 10 minute surgery. All of that took about 2 hours. They then take me into a back room, dress my hair and feet in very attractive medical gear, and give me a happy pill to calm my nerves. ...which in all honesty, I don't think did anything for me.

Then I go into the "operating room" and the doctor tells me all is going to be fine. She says she is going to look at my eyes and mark them with a purple marker so she can see where to make the incisions. You know the purple marker you see doctors use to mark patients going in for cosmetic surgery's? ...well surely the doctor wasn't going to actually mark my eyes with a purple marker. This was my eyeball, not my skin. So I thought "purple marker" was some medical turn for something else the doctor would use to mark my eye. ...well I was wrong. It was actually a purple marker she used, and put little purple dots on my eyes. I get a whole bunch of numbing eye drops put into my eyes and we are off to start. I lay down on the bed thing they patch my left eye and start with creating the flap on my right eye. Right eye is open and ready for the laser. They then put the patch over my right eye, and swivel me over to do my left eye. Left eye is open and ready for the laser. This first part was maybe 3 minutes. I get up and walk over for the second part, and lay underneath the the lasers. The 4 or 5 step walk to the other bed looked like I was in a bubble, and blurry, and kinda gray is the best was to describe it, but I could still see. Once I'm laying down again getting ready for the laser part I get more eye numbing drops, and my left eye is patched again. The doctor scraps something over my right eye, and asks if I can feel anything. I say no. At this point in time I see a red flashing light, which I am told to focus on and a green light. It kinda looks like a up close blurry laser light show, with only 2 lights. They go to town with the lasers, and this is the noisy part with the smell of burning hair. Repeat for my left eye. This part was maybe 5 minutes.

Afterwards I'm taken into a recovery room to close my eyes for 15 minutes. My eyes are hurting at this point, they just feel very sensitive. That's really all I can say. I don't really know how to describe it. That 15 minutes the flap basically heals itself. The doctor checks the flap one last time before sending me home, and she says it's healing just as it should.

I haven't experienced any dryness, I sometimes have a little sensitivity, but I just close my eyes for a few seconds and it goes away. I do have the "halo effect" at night around lights, but that is completely normal, and could last up to6mos to a year. All is perfect. I'm amazed.

This afternoon Mom and I went shopping and I was able to walk in and out of stores without switching my sun glasses to regular glasses and then visa versa. The biggest adjustment is at the gym. I actually really liked not being able to see people at the gym. And now I can see people, look at their faces, ...look at the attractive guys I'm sweating next too! But it's an adjustment that is well worth it. If you have ever looked into getting Lasik I would highly recommend it! Such a super fast recovery, and the power of sight!

4 comments:

Emily said...

I really would do it if I had a spare two thousand dollars. But these pesky kids keep asking me for food, and I (un)willingly oblige them.

Nikki said...

whoa. That sounds intense. I am glad you got it done. I really want to try it, but I am a scared. I am glad you had a good experience, and that all is going well.

You make me laugh (about the gym stuff)

Anonymous said...

Maybe someday, if I'm a candidate.

Love,
Mom

Racquel said...

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