Laser Eyes

Got LASIK!

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3 weeks ago yesterday. I'd say I'm at 95%. I could never see 100% with each eye, and I see as well as with my prescription.

Are you a candidate? - Screening
Got like 2 or 3 tests, took about 30 min. Good candidate apparently. After that got a quote and set possible dates. Mulled over it for like a month and finally caved in. Scheduled a Pre-op.

Pre-op
~2 hours total of more tests and measurements. Eyes dilated, more tests. After all that I still asked if I was a good candidate and got assured I was. Dice was rolled ;) Same day I picked up drops (antibiotic and steroid). The paperwork describing all the things that could wrong almost put me off it, but decided to brave it.

Surgery
Arrived at 7:30am, took one relaxant pill. At 8am got into the surgery room, two machines (two lasers). Got one of the


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clamps set up, that was the most uncomfortable part of it and I barely felt it. That took maybe 20 secs to put them in. Then sat in one of the machines, dr/nurse will add eye drops for lubrication.

Laser #1: Look at a green dot. Don't move your eye for 18 seconds. Dot looks blurry/blob, Dr assures it's normal and is talking all the time, reassuring what you are seeing and explaining it. Next eye. You can see some little brush the Dr does to your eyes.  At that point you see very blurry. Stand up and move to next machine.

Laser #2: Don't move your eye for 6 seconds. New light. Some eye drops, next eye. Done!

Stand up and leave. You can see in focus w/o glasses, just very "milky" like if you were looking through a white filter. Use sunglasses and go home :)

Eye drops
Start with drops an hour after surgery. Antibiotic drops are 4x/day for 7 days or until bottle runs out. Mine ran out end of 5th day.
Steroid drops are: 3 days each hour (steroid) you're awake. Then 4x/day for 4 days. Then 2x/day for 7 days. And finally 1x/day for 7 days.
You also can get some tears/lubricant extra, though they recommend not using them the first day. I didn't have to myself that day. Probably have used them 4 times in 3 weeks.

Eye care (First week)
The first week is the most important one. You can't get water/dust/etc on your eyes, nor scratch/rub/touch them. They give you a flexible eye guard to sleep so you don't rub them while asleep. Very uncomfortable in that you build some crust/byproducts from the eye drops and you can't take it off. I used a tissue and just tried to not touch the eye, only the eyelid/bony part of the nose. Got some tight goggles for showering. After the first week Dr. cleared me off water/eye guard.

Post-op visit
One 24-hours after surgery, next 7 days after that. My next one is a month after last one.

Actual vision
Vision as good as with glasses. Some days the first week were a bit off on one of the eyes, but got better after a few minutes: no "OMG what have I done" moments. I saw halos around lights for a while, seems to be diminishing over time. Car headlights/lights at night do seem brighter than usual, as if they had the high-beams on. Dr. mentioned this should improve over time.

All in all, worth the ordeal for me. Laser eyes FTW!

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