Doctor my Eyes

So I did it. I went for Lasik. I was tired of wearing my contacts and didn't have an up-to-date prescription for my glasses. I would hit the 12-13th hour and my contacts would go on strike. My eyes would dry, the contacts would spontaneously fold in half or just pop out. I would then be faced with the decision: should I keep putting drops in and deal with it until it gets late enough for me to go to bed or should I take them out, sit bored on the couch unable to see the tv, the couch, the bf? 8:00-9:00 is awfully early to turn in. Once the contacts came out I felt helpless and unable to do much of anything. When my glasses were up-to-date, they were not much help because my eyes never liked the transition. I got dizzy, disoriented, and laying on the couch watching a movie was out of the question.

I will spare all the tedious details of the doctor appointments but I learned several things in the process that would have been good to know going in:

1. You will need to be out of your contacts to 2-4 weeks before the 3 hours of tests (to see if your eyes can be fixed by Lasik and to map the eye for surgery). You need to continue to be out of contacts before the surgery as well. For me, this meant spending $80 on new lenses for my frames. Because of my problems transitioning from contacts to glasses, this three weeks seemed like a lifetime. Some doctors say 2 weeks, other 4. I split the difference. I found that wearing glasses changed me a bit. I had trouble putting make-up on (usually you do that with the contacts in but you need to have your glasses off to apply eyeliner) I had trouble styling my hair, I had more headaches, days of dizziness, no peripheral vision, etc.
2. Lasik surgery does not mean you will never have to wear glasses again. The older you are, the more likely you will need reading glasses.
3. My particular doctor had a mandatory video, quiz, 6+ pages of cya (cover your ass) which had to be initialed, copied in my handwriting (some sentences) and signed. Not everyone gets this much work but I found it interesting that when I followed the directions and took notes fro mthe video, asked questions before I initialed things, the nurse/doctor were a bit taken back. Had no one ever read this stuff? Do people just sign all this stuff out of their excitement of having the procedure? When the video mentioned to talk to your doctor about eye allergies, I noted that, and when the video was over, everyone proceeded with me as if I had no questions. When I brought them up, they stumbled over their words. I was told I could return to work the next day but the paragraph I was to initial said I would be off 1 week. I had to initial next to the specific prcedure I was having (one eye or both - which is necessary as you get older to keep both near/far sightedness) I had no idea which they planned to perform. The paragraph said that starting at age 35, the doctor will determine which is best for you and as you get older, the chances are higher they will do the one eye procedure. No one had even talked to me about this. When I asked the doctor, he said that I was far too young to be considered for that but the form seemed to disagree. I started to feel like not only did patients not read this, maybe the doctor hadn't either.
4. People who I spoke with about their personal experience with Lasik talked about how wonderful and easy it was. Many times I heard that I would feel silly about being afraid to go through with this and ultimately I would laugh about my fears. You know what? They tape your freaking eyelashes down, put a metal speculum to hold your lids open and press a suction cup on your eye for slicing a flap on your cornea. You don't feel it because of the wonderful numbing drops they give you but you hear the buzzing as it cuts and you smell it. Burning cornea smells like singed hair. The do each eye seperately and for both eyes, I started to feel woozy and faint when they pressed the suction cup down. They had given me a valium prior to the procedure but I'm not sure that did anything, maybe help me sleep when I got home. None of this really hurts, there is discomfort, and pressure but no pain. Ultimately it was not as easy as everyone said it would be but that doesn't mean I regret having it done, I would definitely do it again.
5. Your eyes have to be protected for at least a week after the procedure. You sleep with goggle/shields. You shower in swimming goggles. No make-up, no swimming (for several weeks), no heavy lifting, no strenuous exercise, no rubbing your eyes. Four times a day you use three different drops in your eyes. In my case, one of the drops, artificial tears, is needed every hour because my post-op appointment the next day revealed a severe dry eye problem. I was not 100% the next day but within 24 hours of the procedure I was 95%. Your vision goes in and out for a bit, somethings get blurry depending on how bright it is, what ytou are looking at and if your eyes are dry.

What really makes this whole procedure wonderful is waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and being able to see the alarm clock. I don't have to feel around for the walls to get to the bathroom. I can lay on the couch watching tv and as I feel myself fall asleep I don't have to worry about taking my contacts out. There would be this dry eye signal that would send me to the bathroom to deal with my eyes. Take them out or use drops? I don't have to make that part of my nighttime ritual and I love that.When I wake up in the morning I don't feel I need to put my eyes in/on which inevitably makes the decision for me as to whether I am up permanently or up temporarily, with an option to go back to sleep.

I've been back twice to see the doctor and I think he's happy with the results. My vision is officially 20/20. I have another appointment next week and within a few days I'll be able to put make-up on again.