My experience with LASIK

It’s Saturday! What should we talk about today?  Ooh, I know!

How about if I share some updates on how my eyeball surgery, aka LASIK turned out?  I’ve had a few requests for more information about it since I had it done in October of last year, so hopefully I can try to provide some answers and insight for anyone thinking of getting it done.  (Insight, heh heh).

First of all, I did not actually have LASIK.  I had a more in-depth procedure called PRK. LASIC is like wrapping a twisted ankle, PRK is like resetting a bone. Ok, that might be a terrible analogy, but the point is, there’s a big difference.

With LASIK, a small flap is cut from the surface of the cornea and flipped back, then the laser is beamed into the eyeball, then the flap is flopped back into place, and you’re done.  Healing time is short and sweet, and according to one friend who had it done “Kinda feels like having sand in your eye for a minute?”

With PRK, there is no happy little flap. Instead they burn off the surface cells of your eyeball, then shoot laser beams into your eyeball, then cover it with a temporary contact lens until your cells grow back. Healing time takes FOREVER, and according to myself who had it done “FEELS LIKE SOMEONE IS STABBING ME IN THE EYES WITH STEAK KNIVES!!!!!!!”

There were a few dramatic days of recovery.

The reason I went with PRK is because my cornea is very thin, so the flap option wasn’t even possible. However, even though the recovery can be a lot worse, many people opt for PRK even if they are candidates for LASIK, because it can be safer in the long run. No risk of a flap ever flopping out of place.

Unfortunately, my procedure was NOT performed by a shark with a freaking laser beam attached to its head. The actual procedure was only about 15 minutes and not nearly as scary as I thought it would be, although you can actually hear and smell your eyeball burning, which is pretty gross and no one ever told me that part before. But really, it’s not that bad.

So, once my eyeballs healed to the point where I could leave my darkened bedroom without moaning in pain, (about a week), I thought I was home free. Only my vision was not so good. At all. Like looking through glasses smeared with butter.

I’ll give it two weeks, I thought to myself, as I scooted my face closer to my computer monitor and enlarged the fonts.  Three weeks later, only the slightest improvements had occurred.  So slight I couldn’t even tell if I had improved at all.  My doctor assured me I had.  “It sometimes takes three to four months to fully regain your vision!” he said.

Ooohkaaay.  I had somehow overlooked that little factoid.

Every day I would check for improvements by setting a hairspray bottle on the bathroom counter then trying to read the smallest type.  Sometimes one eye would improve more than the other. Some days it seemed my eyesight got WORSE.

I tried not to panic that I had made a terrible mistake. My doctor seemed unconcerned, which was comforting in its own strange way.

But! Eventually, and veeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyy gradually, so gradually I didn’t even notice it from day to day, it got better. And better. And better. It really did take about three and a half months. But now, I’d say it’s pretty much perfect.

And it’s WONDERFUL.  As a person who has relied on glasses or contacts since I was ten years old, it feels like freedom! I can wake up in the morning and SEE!  I don’t have to wait to put my contacts in, or find my glasses, I can SEE.  I don’t have to worry about losing a contact, or breaking my glasses, which before would have left me incapacitated.  I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t read, I wouldn’t feel safe even walking across a street without them. But I never have to worry about that anymore!

It’s become so natural I hardly even think about it, but I try to stop and remind myself every now and then how truly fantastic it is to have this miraculous set of eyeballs that work all by themselves.

So, was it worth it? Absolutely! I have no regrets. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.  I only wish I had known more about what to expect during the healing and recovery process.

Should I do it too? I don’t know! But probably! Ask your doctor.

Anything else I should know?  Yes, I had to purchase three different types of eye drops separately which cost around $130, so that was an unexpected expense. Also, you can’t wear makeup for at least a week. That was hard for me, makeup is my good friend. Plus you have to sleep wearing goggles. And you’ll walk around moaning with a blanket over your head to block the light. You will probably not feel very attractive for a time, and might possibly scare small children.

Where did I have it done? The Walman Eye Center in Phoenix.

Did they sponsor this post? HA! Hahahaha.  I wish.

Where can I learn more? Here’s a good article to start.