my new eyeballs: a story about laser beams
at about 3:30 yesterday, my mom picked me up and took me to the lasik plus office in towson. we had to be there by 4 so we could finish filling out the paperwork, get my financing set up (they gave me a credit card with 0% financing for 18 months), and have another examination to make sure nothing changed since last time they saw me 3 months ago. everything was good. they gave me some tylenol pm, i guess so that i would be tired enough to go to sleep when i got home.
they took pictures of my eyes and printed them out, then went over what to expect during the procedure, and what to do for the aftercare. dr. goel told me the only thing i really have to do is stay still, don't forget to breathe, and just stare at the red light the entire time. he said that the laser would make a sound similar to a vacuum, that it would not be painful but i would just feel pressure, and i would smell what smells like burning hair but that was just the laser "doing its thing". he then gave me a kit with my dark sunglasses, my goggles i have to wear at night to prevent accidently rubbing my eyes, and my eye drops in it. then he put numbing drops in my eyes, let me give my mom a hug, then led me off into the room with the machine.
i laid flat on my back, then scooted up to position my head underneath the machine. he told me again to relax and just look up at the red light. there wasn't anything else i could really look at besides a green light in my peripheral. he blocked off one eye at a time, while working on the other. we started with the right eye. he pushed my eyelids open and they stayed that way, it felt like he was taping them open but i'm sure that's not what it was. just had to stay staring at this red light, which changed shapes the entire time, and the green light kinda blended into the red one. it was pretty trippy really. he told me "your vision is going to go gray or black soon" and as soon as he said that everything was gray for a very short time. i've heard other people say that part was scary, but it was for such a short time (maybe 2 seconds) i wasn't at all scared by it. then the red light came back into view again. it got bigger and smaller, got wavy, and at times looked similar to rain on a windshield or pixelated. it's hard to explain but having that to look at made it kinda neat. i actually did almost forget to breathe after the first few seconds but then realized what i was doing. my right eye was over with within a minute or less (it's hard to tell exactly how much time had actually passed), and then they immediately moved to the left eye. same exact thing on that eye, except this time i knew what to expect so it was less scary. nothing about it was at all painful, it was just weird. it was probably the weirdest few minutes of my life.
i didn't know it but in the waiting room, my mom was able to watch the whole thing on a tv out there. she said it was really freaky being able to see that, because he was sticking some long thing (i guess the laser?) into my eye. i wish i could see it. i wish they would give me a copy of it to take home and show all my friends, really!
as soon as they were done i could see everything perfectly as far as details go (i previously couldn't see details any farther than about an arm's length away), but it was kinda hazy, like if someone had been smoking in the room. they told me that is normal. they sent me home with my dark sunglasses and told me to take a nap for 2-3 hours to rest my eyes and initiate the healing process. my mom and i were talking on the way home and halfway there i was getting so sleepy i could barely pay attention. i got home and everyone still wanted to talk, but i had to say "i can't stay awake anymore" and go lay in bed. it was about 6 when i got home and i slept til 9:30.
my aftercare: i have to wear my dark sunglasses inside and outside through thursday. after that i only need to wear them outside for a week after surgery. i have to wear goggles while sleeping to avoid accidentally rubbing my eyes while half asleep. i have to put an antibiotic and a steroid drop into my eyes 4 times a day. i have packets of artificial tears i should use as often as once an hour, anytime my eyes start to feel dry. i can't wear eye makeup, rub my eyes, or allow anything to get into my eyes for one week after surgery.
i'm not going to work tomorrow just because i think it would look unprofessional for me to be wearing dark glasses while doing hair. it could put people off since i pretty much appear to be blind with these glasses on. i also have to be careful with chemicals, and i think my perception of color would be off with dark glasses on.
i had a follow-up visit today, and they told me i'm already seeing 20/20, which is apparently better than most people do the day after. i'm really excited because i can actually see better now than i ever could with contacts in. i don't feel like my eyes are especially sensitive to light. the only thing i've noticed at all is that if it's dark and there's a bright light there's a little bit of a blurring or halo effect, which is normal and decreases over time. it doesn't make it any harder to see it, it just makes bright objects look brighter in the dark. like my digital clock in the dark for example. they say it takes up to 3 months for your eyes to stabilize, but i'm 100% happy with the results already. i'm so glad i stopped being a pussy and finally decided to do this.
and for your viewing pleasure (go ahead make fun of me, i am), me with my terminator sunglasses.
they took pictures of my eyes and printed them out, then went over what to expect during the procedure, and what to do for the aftercare. dr. goel told me the only thing i really have to do is stay still, don't forget to breathe, and just stare at the red light the entire time. he said that the laser would make a sound similar to a vacuum, that it would not be painful but i would just feel pressure, and i would smell what smells like burning hair but that was just the laser "doing its thing". he then gave me a kit with my dark sunglasses, my goggles i have to wear at night to prevent accidently rubbing my eyes, and my eye drops in it. then he put numbing drops in my eyes, let me give my mom a hug, then led me off into the room with the machine.
i laid flat on my back, then scooted up to position my head underneath the machine. he told me again to relax and just look up at the red light. there wasn't anything else i could really look at besides a green light in my peripheral. he blocked off one eye at a time, while working on the other. we started with the right eye. he pushed my eyelids open and they stayed that way, it felt like he was taping them open but i'm sure that's not what it was. just had to stay staring at this red light, which changed shapes the entire time, and the green light kinda blended into the red one. it was pretty trippy really. he told me "your vision is going to go gray or black soon" and as soon as he said that everything was gray for a very short time. i've heard other people say that part was scary, but it was for such a short time (maybe 2 seconds) i wasn't at all scared by it. then the red light came back into view again. it got bigger and smaller, got wavy, and at times looked similar to rain on a windshield or pixelated. it's hard to explain but having that to look at made it kinda neat. i actually did almost forget to breathe after the first few seconds but then realized what i was doing. my right eye was over with within a minute or less (it's hard to tell exactly how much time had actually passed), and then they immediately moved to the left eye. same exact thing on that eye, except this time i knew what to expect so it was less scary. nothing about it was at all painful, it was just weird. it was probably the weirdest few minutes of my life.
i didn't know it but in the waiting room, my mom was able to watch the whole thing on a tv out there. she said it was really freaky being able to see that, because he was sticking some long thing (i guess the laser?) into my eye. i wish i could see it. i wish they would give me a copy of it to take home and show all my friends, really!
as soon as they were done i could see everything perfectly as far as details go (i previously couldn't see details any farther than about an arm's length away), but it was kinda hazy, like if someone had been smoking in the room. they told me that is normal. they sent me home with my dark sunglasses and told me to take a nap for 2-3 hours to rest my eyes and initiate the healing process. my mom and i were talking on the way home and halfway there i was getting so sleepy i could barely pay attention. i got home and everyone still wanted to talk, but i had to say "i can't stay awake anymore" and go lay in bed. it was about 6 when i got home and i slept til 9:30.
my aftercare: i have to wear my dark sunglasses inside and outside through thursday. after that i only need to wear them outside for a week after surgery. i have to wear goggles while sleeping to avoid accidentally rubbing my eyes while half asleep. i have to put an antibiotic and a steroid drop into my eyes 4 times a day. i have packets of artificial tears i should use as often as once an hour, anytime my eyes start to feel dry. i can't wear eye makeup, rub my eyes, or allow anything to get into my eyes for one week after surgery.
i'm not going to work tomorrow just because i think it would look unprofessional for me to be wearing dark glasses while doing hair. it could put people off since i pretty much appear to be blind with these glasses on. i also have to be careful with chemicals, and i think my perception of color would be off with dark glasses on.
i had a follow-up visit today, and they told me i'm already seeing 20/20, which is apparently better than most people do the day after. i'm really excited because i can actually see better now than i ever could with contacts in. i don't feel like my eyes are especially sensitive to light. the only thing i've noticed at all is that if it's dark and there's a bright light there's a little bit of a blurring or halo effect, which is normal and decreases over time. it doesn't make it any harder to see it, it just makes bright objects look brighter in the dark. like my digital clock in the dark for example. they say it takes up to 3 months for your eyes to stabilize, but i'm 100% happy with the results already. i'm so glad i stopped being a pussy and finally decided to do this.
and for your viewing pleasure (go ahead make fun of me, i am), me with my terminator sunglasses.