LASIK
So I'm mostly recovered from my LASIK experience. People ask me what it's like, and the most memorable detail is that, much like when the dentist is drilling at your teeth, when the doctor is laser-ing your eyes, YOU CAN SMELL THE BURNING.
1)First they began by inserting punctal plugs into the tear duct drains (okay, I don't know medical terms for anything.) Apparently LASIK can dry out your eyes quite a bit, especially if you already have dry eyes from wearing contacts for years. Anyhow, they put in these little purple plugs to help tears stay in my eyes longer and reduce dryness. They did it with numbing drops and incredibly pointed tweezers.
2) They gave me a nametag that said my name and the procedure I was having. I was instructed to put it upside down on my left shoulder.
3)I took my Valium and they gave me a shower cap and shoe covers (like doctors wear) and sat me in a Le Corbusier chaise longue while they put a variety of drops in my eyes. I didn't feel the Valium until I got up to walk into the surgery room. Whoa.
4)I laid on a padded table and they started with MORE eyedrops and then the doctor put this vacuum tube on my right eye which held my eye in place while the laser cut a flap in my cornea. The tube didn't hurt, it just felt like hard plastic on my eye and it slowly made everything fade to black which was bizarre. The nurse counted down 50 seconds and then repeated on my left eye.
5) Dr. Whitman poked and prodded at my right eye to pull the flap up. They ask you to stare at a red light and since your cornea is sliced open, it looks like you're looking through frosted glass. The second laser zooms over your eyeball while you're looking at the red light. (This is when you smell the burning.) The doctor washes the eye and prods and pokes some more, replacing the flap. He tapes the right eye shut and repeats the laser procedure on your left eye.
6) The whole laser part took maybe 5 minutes. The nurse escorts you into a waiting area, gives you goggles and instructions on how and when to use the 3 different eyedrops they give you. Everything was fuzzy, but not in a nearsighted fuzzy way, more like if you get too much chlorine in your eyes. And it felt like that, too--my eyes were burning and tearing the whole way home. I only opened them to find where to bite into my bacon and egg biscuit.
7) I slept from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. When I woke up, my eyes weren't burning anymore but my vision was still hazy and I had very little depth perception and was very sensitive to daylight.
I've been following my eyedrops routine, but have definitely noticed marked dryness in both eyes. My vision is much improved from Friday, but I still see halos around lights or on high contrast things (white text on a black background).
Overall, pretty impressive what they can do in about 5 minutes under a laser.
1)First they began by inserting punctal plugs into the tear duct drains (okay, I don't know medical terms for anything.) Apparently LASIK can dry out your eyes quite a bit, especially if you already have dry eyes from wearing contacts for years. Anyhow, they put in these little purple plugs to help tears stay in my eyes longer and reduce dryness. They did it with numbing drops and incredibly pointed tweezers.
2) They gave me a nametag that said my name and the procedure I was having. I was instructed to put it upside down on my left shoulder.
3)I took my Valium and they gave me a shower cap and shoe covers (like doctors wear) and sat me in a Le Corbusier chaise longue while they put a variety of drops in my eyes. I didn't feel the Valium until I got up to walk into the surgery room. Whoa.
4)I laid on a padded table and they started with MORE eyedrops and then the doctor put this vacuum tube on my right eye which held my eye in place while the laser cut a flap in my cornea. The tube didn't hurt, it just felt like hard plastic on my eye and it slowly made everything fade to black which was bizarre. The nurse counted down 50 seconds and then repeated on my left eye.
5) Dr. Whitman poked and prodded at my right eye to pull the flap up. They ask you to stare at a red light and since your cornea is sliced open, it looks like you're looking through frosted glass. The second laser zooms over your eyeball while you're looking at the red light. (This is when you smell the burning.) The doctor washes the eye and prods and pokes some more, replacing the flap. He tapes the right eye shut and repeats the laser procedure on your left eye.
6) The whole laser part took maybe 5 minutes. The nurse escorts you into a waiting area, gives you goggles and instructions on how and when to use the 3 different eyedrops they give you. Everything was fuzzy, but not in a nearsighted fuzzy way, more like if you get too much chlorine in your eyes. And it felt like that, too--my eyes were burning and tearing the whole way home. I only opened them to find where to bite into my bacon and egg biscuit.
7) I slept from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. When I woke up, my eyes weren't burning anymore but my vision was still hazy and I had very little depth perception and was very sensitive to daylight.
I've been following my eyedrops routine, but have definitely noticed marked dryness in both eyes. My vision is much improved from Friday, but I still see halos around lights or on high contrast things (white text on a black background).
Overall, pretty impressive what they can do in about 5 minutes under a laser.