Some time around middle school, I realized that my eyes were pretty bad. I prefered to sit toward the back of the classroom, so that meant I couldn’t read the whiteboard. Eventually, I got glasses and contacts. When I first wore them, I remember being suprised that the Simpsons characters were drawn with a harsh black outline. For me, they had always been fuzzy, soft-edged creations and the difference was striking.
For a variety of reasons, I finally decided to have Lasik surgery a bit over three months ago. I had heavily researched it before, but I kept debating with myself before I determined that I should go through with it. This post is a reflection on the surgery, recovery period, and overall experience. This post might help you decide to have or not have Lasik surgery. Note that prior to the examination that determines if you’re elligible for Lasik, you should be out of contacts for at least a week (and two weeks before the operation itself).
The first eye checkup I had, my eyes were carefully examined and topographically mapped by the technician. Then I met with the doctor to review the options and discuss the fact that I have slightly larger-than-average pupils. There are a variety of corrective eye surgeries to consider and, even after deciding on a specific one, there are options to evaluate. Lasik essentially revolves around the idea of cutting a flap in the surface tissue of your eye that can be folded back so that a laser can reshape the cornea underneath. The flap is then positioned back in place, which is what allows the healing process to be relatively fast. You can choose to have the flap cut by a blade or by a laser (I opted for the precision of a laser) and then you can choose which type of reshaping treatment you have done, traditional or wavefront (which was my choice because it offers more precise and personal eye corrections). Note that the checkup involved having my eyes dilated, so I recommend you either have some good sunglasses or a driver for the trip home.
The Operation
The day of the operation, I didn’t have to worry about eating anything specific (though they did recommend avoiding alcohol for a few days as it can dry out the eyes). I simply had to show up and have transportation available, since you cannot drive after the operation. They did another quick check of my eyes to ensure that the measurements were the same and nothing had come up, and then they gave me some numbing drops in my eyes.
I sat and waited, relaxed but excited. After fifteen minutes or so, the drops had done their job and I was led into the operating room. I was told to lie down and get into position, so I did. They did another quick check of my eyes before beginning. The first step was to put some kind of clamps in place that would prevent me from blinking. Once they were in place, I felt like my blinking was restricted but not in a painful or uncomfortable way. Next, they applied a corneal suction ring. As it was being applied, by vision dimmed and the laser cut the flap. They lifted the flap and pulled it back, a strange process to experience. I didn’t feel anything, but it was somewhat disconcerting to have all focus lost from my eyes. I thought briefly, “This is what being blind could be like.” Of course, I could still see a general sense of color but no detail at all.
I was then told that I would need to stay focused on the light for fifteen seconds while my cornea (more specifically, the stroma) was reshaped by the laser. At that point I thought the light was just some kind of guide light, but it occurred to me later that it was probably the laser itself. The light was so blurred that it took up much of my vision. Imagine seeing a light through a foggy window and then blur that even more to have some concept of how unclear vision is at that point. Once or twice, I had a hint of the smell of burning but never enough to really confirm that I was definitely smelling it and not just imagining it, since that had been one of my worries before the procedure (I really hate when you can smell burning tissue of any kind, even at the dentist’s office). The other eye took a little longer since vision was slightly worse, but it was the same experience.
The flaps were positioned back over my eyes and double-checked, then they took off the clamps from my eyes, so that I was again free to blink. They had me get up and sit at another location where I could rest my chin and have the doctor do a full examination of my eyes to verify the flaps were in place and there was no debris or any other issue. Satisfied everything was okay, I was given a seat in a nice, relaxing room to rest my eyes while waiting for my ride to arrive. When he did, they helped guide me back to the entryway to meet with him. At that point, my eyes were definitely much better, but they felt rough and I had sensitivity to light and some difficulty focusing (all normal). I had a bit of excitement in me after realizing that my vision was already improved.
Post-Op
On the way home, I alternated between resting and trying out my new vision from behind a pair of dark sunglasses. I kept finding myself mesmerised by the ability to see details, license plates, far away signs. I was satisfied, but blinking felt rough. People often describe it as feeling like sand is in your eyes, but it wasn’t as severe for me. It was more like dry eyes plus a sense of, well, a flap having been cut in my eye. It wasn’t sharp or stinging, just not smooth. When I arrived home, I thanked my driver and rested on the couch. I put drops in my eyes, put on protective eyeware (similar to safety glasses to prevent you from accidentally rubbing your eyes), and fell asleep.
When I awoke a few hours later, I was already feeling much better. I was told to try to avoid anything that requires focusing (reading, TV, basically everything), but I couldn’t help myself and kept testing my ability to focus clearly and quickly. I was surprised at how fast my eyes could already focus on anything as I looked around the room. The one problem that I noticed was lights were extremely hazy and brighter lights had “starbursts” around them, but I had been told that was normal.
I had to use steroid eye drops once every three hours as well as antibiotic eye drops at the same interval (though not at the same time in order to avoid one drop flushing out the other). Those were for speeding up the healing process and preventing infection respectively. One of the drops caused a bit of irritation in my right eye; apparently I had a very minor cut in my bottom eyelid (felt like a paper cut), but it wasn’t too bad. I also had some redness around my eyes from where the suction had been applied. I regularly used artificial tears (eye drops that are individiually packaged), which helped a lot.
The day after the operation was a Saturday, and I had a relatively early (I think 8am) appointment to get a quick checkup. I had to have a ride for this trip as well, though I felt like I could have driven just fine. The checkup was quick and painless, really intended just to catch any potential problems as soon after the surgery as possible, and I had a follow-up appointment scheduled for the next Friday.
Continuing Recovery
I was fine for work that next Monday morning, though I was still taking the eye drops regularly. At times, I found focusing to be slightly difficult and at other times it was not. I think my eyes were still getting used to their new ability to actually focus on their own.
I found myself having a tough time falling asleep for a while. Part of it was because of the annoying safety glasses (which I stopped wearing a bit early) and part of it was because right as I was about to fall asleep I would get the urgent thought “You need to take out your contacts!” I would bolt awake only to realize I wasn’t wearing contacts. If you have never worn contacts, you probably do not realize how much it can suck to fall asleep in them. When you wake, your eyes are completely dry and the contacts are glued in place. It’s not pleasant, especially if you need to remove them.
It was strange being able to just see. I could clearly see the smoke detector light at night. I often woke up and looked out my window to see very sharp and clearly defined leaves from trees, whereas before I could barely tell a window was even there. I saw details on mountains far in the distance. My vision was definitely better after surgery than it was with contacts before.
I had my one-week checkup, my one-month checkup, and my three-month checkup with no issues.
Final Thoughts
Vision is amazing, particularly good vision. Prior to surgery, I couldn’t read the giant “E” on the eye charts; hell, I couldn’t even tell there was anything on the chart. Now I am seeing better than 20/20. The surgery cost me about $3400 out of pocket, plus probably $50-$75 more for the eye drops, so it definitely wasn’t cheap (don’t expect much help from insurance, since it’s an “elective” procedure).
For some time after the surgery, you have to avoid certain activities such as rubbing your eyes or swimming, but I think the inconvenience was minimal given the amazing benefit of having naturally good vision. I can wake up in the middle of the night and just see things. It sounds far from amazing if you have never had terrible vision, I know, but I definitely consider this to be one of the best things I’ve ever done with my money.
The only problem I have had from the surgery is that I still see starbursts, mostly on bright lights at night. The doctor said I would probably experience this more than average because my pupils are a bit larger than average (I think 8mm vs. the average 5-7mm). The starbursts have slowly gone down some and I have gotten a bit more used to the problem, but it is more prevalent than before the surgery.
That said, I would absolutely make the decision to have Lasik again without hesitation.
