So I decided to have laser vision correction. The decision wasn’t made lightly, and I did a fair amount of research into all of it. I mean, you only have one chance, right? I’d heard and read good things about it. It actually amazed me how many people I know who have had it done, or who have a family member who had it done. It’s like they started coming out of the woodworks when I started mentioning it in passing conversation.
I started to do more research into Lasik and PRK. The decision for me was PRK because it’s less invasive (no cutting into my eyeball), has the same results as Lasik, but the catch is that it has a much longer recovery period. I made an appointment with the Lasik Vision Institute on referral from someone at work who had Lasik done there. Hey, if you go there, tell them I referred you (email me – you’ll get a discount and I’ll get a bonus). =o) A note about PRK and the recovery period…plan to be out of work for at LEAST a week, maybe a little more depending on how your eyes decide to recover.
My eyes before surgery: Left eye -2.75, Right eye -2.25, slight astigmatism in both eyes. I did my surgery on a Saturday afternoon to allow me the most time for recovery with the least amount of time away from work.
Day 1 – Surgery. Let’s skip all the boring stuff like the eye exams and pre-surgery talk. I decided to go with Custom PRK (Wavefront, or something like that) The surgery really is totally painless. It was weird to see the doctor doing all this stuff to my eyeball, but it’s not like you can look away because they prop your eyelids open. The doctor used a brush to …let’s call it “exfoliate” my cornea. Basically brushing off a layer of outer cells and creating a smooth area for the laser. They told me to hold still and focus on the blinking orange light. The laser starts up (T-rr-at-tat-tat-tat!) and all I see are these circles of purple light beginning to fill up my field of vision. The procedure took less than 5 minutes per eye. The only part that DID hurt was when they peeled the tape away from my eyelashes. hey doc, are they still there?!
Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. how would you like to pay for that?
I could see somewhat clearly right after the surgery, but there were super duper starbursts around lights and some ghosting. On a pain scale of 0 – 10, I’d say the discomfort was maybe a 4. My eyes stung like when you get soap in ‘em, and it felt like there was an eyelash in my eye when I blinked. We went to lunch and then straight to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions. It cost me $100 bucks after insurance to get the eye drops and the Vicodin and Xanax that the doctor prescribed. The eye drops were: Zymar, FML (given by doctor), and Xibrom. I couldn’t see or read anything close-up, it made me dizzy. Went home and went over the eye drops regiment instructions again, just to be sure. Later that evening the burning was increasing to about a 5 or 6 on the pain scale and it felt like a HUGE eyelash in my eye when I blinked. I figured it was time to pop some pills and had no problems passing right out. They did say to take the Vicodin BEFORE you think you need it. Oh, and I get to wear these uncomfortable goggles at night to keep me from rubbing my eyes.
4 a.m. – Woke up with burning, dry eyes. Stinging was at an 8 or 9 and I could barely open my eyes. The bathroom light just about blinded me (but doesn’t it always?) I managed to get some medicated drops in my eyes, I popped more pills and passed out about 15 minutes later.
Day 2 – Stinging back down to a 4. Eyelash feeling still there when I blink, but it’s not a huge eyelash like yesterday. Follow doctors orders and do the eye drops every 4 hours, and take some Vicodin once or twice. Most of the day spent sleeping since my eyes are sensitive to light. Can see better than pre-surgery, but the ghosting is distorting everything to the point of blurriness.
Day 3 - Since I couldn’t drive anywhere, I lounged around on the couch all day trying to watch TV. I’ve never watched so much Lifetime in my life. Wife Swap is keeping me entertained and apprently they run a gazillion episodes of it back-to-back. My vision remained the same as Day 2 – kinda better than pre-surgery, but I won’t drive anywhere because of the vision distortions. In the middle of the afternoon I noticed that my eyes don’t sting anymore. In that case, I won’t take the pain pills…save some for when the contact lens bandages come out in case it hurts!
Day 4 – More of doing nothing. Vision the same as Day 2, but light sensitivity not bothering me. Have been going out with friends and family, but can’t drive myself anywhere and they think it’s pretty funny that I can’t see stuff clearly. Following eye drop instructions. No longer on the Xibrom, just FML and Zymar.
Day 5 – Vision unchanged. The doctor said if I was comfortable removing the contact lens bandges by myself, go ahead. So I removed them today. Tommorrow is my post-op appointment, where they would remove them anyway and check my eyes. I can read close-up now, so at least I have more options to pass the time.
Day 6 - Post-op appointment. The exam showed good healing so no problems there, although the doctor said my left eye is lagging a bit. I can read the letters on the eye chart, but the ghosting is still there. Instead of seeing one line of letters, I see two lines. Still seeing halos around lights. Next post-op appointment is a month down the road.
I keep going to sleep praying that tomorrow will be the day my vision gets better. It begins to become discouraging after a while and you start thinking, what if this is IT?! But I know this is normal. I did my research. I know what the recovery timeframe can be. Several of my friends have had PRK, they tell me to be patient.
Day 7 – More of the same unchanged vision. Follow eye drop instructions. Still wouldn’t feel 100% comfortable driving though…starting to wonder if I’ll be able to drive back home (2.5 hrs) and go to work on Monday.
Day 8 - This morning woke up with dry eyes and had trouble opening my eyelids all the way. Put some drops in my eyes. Having dry eyes like this hasn’t happened often, so I don’t consider it to be a problem for me. I know some people report chronic dry eyes after surgery. Down to just the FML drops now, and once I put them in, my vision was crisp and clear…for about 10 minutes. Needless to say, it was at least encouraging. Over the next 20 minutes my vision regressed back to what it’s been for the past week. I am really hoping that by Monday morning my vision is good enough so that I feel comfortable to drive back home. I do have to go back to work! Guess we’ll see what the next few days bring. Walked the dog after dark and noticed that my right eye doesn’t see halos around lights anymore…but the left is lagging a bit…still some haloing around lights.
Day9 – Vision still blurry…is it worse today? or is it just me? Hard to tell when there’s nothing to compare it to. Noticed that nighttime haloing is reduced in both eyes now. At least there’s a bit of progress. Eyes felt a bit dry today…was at a gathering of friends and family and unfortunately there were a couple fans around the room on full speed and I felt like they contributed to the dry eyes. Friends who have had PRK continue to encourage me. Decided today wouldn’t be a good day to drive back, since it was late afternoon when I got back from the gathering…nighttime driving is definitely not a good idea right now…will see how my eyes are doing tomorrow.
Day 17 – Vision has been fluctuation for the past week since I came home. The haloing was gone at night, but then it returned for about 2 days or so…now it’s going away again. Some days are blurrier than others. I can get around and drive and do what I’m supposed to do, but the clarity of vision just isn’t there. It came through for a little while today during the afternoon though…but now my right eye has gone pretty blurry while the left seems fine. *shrug* I am on the FML drops twice a day. I noticed that my eyes didn’t have the redness under my lids like they have had for the past 2 weeks. I’ve been using the Optive preservative-free tears twice a day. They really help when I put them in right before going to bed.
