Eyes
20 years ago I decided I wanted to have my eyes lasered. Last year I finally persuaded myself that now was a good time and that either I'd just have to get over my fear of having anything near my eyes or be shortsighted for the rest of my life. I only postponed once, and on Wednesday (after a couple of sleepless nights) Mat took me to the clinic.
First I had anaesthetic drops put in my eyes so that the doc could put purple felt-tip dots on my eyes (so he could line the laser up for my astigmatism apparently). Then the nurse put lots more drops in - antibiotics and anaesthetics. Then it was into the Laser Room, where I had to lie down and have my eyelids retracted on my right eye.
More drops, this time to dissolve the surface cells on my right eye. After 20 seconds the doc scraped the cells off - this was probably the worst bit, though really I couldn't feel anything, only see something moving across my eye. Then the LASER! Lots of sparkly red dots and a burning smell. The nurse told me when it was a quarter, half, three-quarters done. Once it was finished my eyes was flushed with water and a contact lens put on. Then repeat on the other side.
My treatment was blended vision surface ablation, which means that my left eye has been left a little bit shortsighted. This is because as my eyes naturally deteriorate with age I shouldn't need reading glasses until I'm 60 or so - about 10-15 years longer than average. I've had surface ablation rather than having a flap cut because if a flap is cut the eye never fully heals, which isn't good for martial arts. The recovery is longer and more painful though, so it could be as long as 3 months before my vision settles completely. At the moment it's pretty good in the morning but still sore, and very light sensitive.
Hopefully it'll improve a lot over the next 48-72 hours. In the meantime, I can use the computer or read for short spells today.