Last week I wrote about deciding to get Lasik and how I picked a surgeon. This post will discuss the procedure, immediate care, and results.
Before The Procedure I scheduled my surgery with Dr. Straub and was stoked. I watched him perform 2 surgeries the day I received my initial exam. It was great being able to watch the Dr. do the actually surgery I was going to get. I also talked to a number of patients who had be operated on the previous day. I felt calm and confident after experiencing this. My surgery was 6 days after my exam. The wait wasn’t bad, I had already lived with glasses/contacts 20+ years. It wasn’t all roses and giddiness though. The day of my surgery I was pretty apprehensive. It wasn’t overwhelming, but I was nervous. I talked to a person who had the surgery a few years before and she calmed me down.
At The Office I showed up at the surgery center a few minutes early feeling good about the whole process. (I was calm by the time I got there) My wife drove me there because you can’t drive immediately after surgery. That’s what they say anyway. I’m sure you could but I wouldn’t want to. Anyway, I filled out some surgical paperwork and some financing paperwork. (Remember, I’m paying for this with a pastor’s salary!) The nurse gave me some post-op care instructions, some eye protecting goggles for sleeping, a couple of different eye drops, and an appointment card for the next day. Then, I went back to the waiting room. They made me put on a hair covering and some booties over my shoes. I watched him do a surgery before mine and then it was my time.
The Surgery I sat down with the Dr. one last time and he explained what was about to happen. He told my wife what to expect when I took my first Valium. I am pretty funny on that stuff. We all went back to the surgery room. My eyes were examined one last time and some final measurements were taken to verify which eye was going to receive which prescription. Then, he had me lay down in a very comfy chair so he could make “the flap” with a laser. He numbed my eyes and then put a contact on them. It wasn’t a regular contact, it was able to pull a vacuum on my eyeball. It wasn’t painful, it just felt a little uncomfortable for about 20 seconds. During that 20 seconds my eye was subjected to a laser that created a series of bubbles under the surface. I’m not sure how it works but if you want to know then click that previous link.
After the surgeon does that to both eyes everything looks hazy. Nothing hurts, or even feels weird, it just looks like a bowling alley in the daylight. Then, the assistant stood me up and I walked over to the next machine. At that time the Dr. pulled the flap and used the next laser on the uncovered area. This one didn’t hurt either. I stared into a green light and heard the laser and tracking machine do its thing. I did smell something that resembled burnt hair. I assumed that was part of my eye being lasered off and wished it good riddance. This was done to both eyes. The flaps were closed back up which looked weird watching it, but I’m sure everything was normal. I was stood back up and I walked over to an exam tool and he looked at my eyes to verify everything was good. He said it was great and was given a pair of sunglasses a was told to go home and sleep for few hours. I was amazed, I had been in the office for less than 45 minutes! I’ve attached a video of the process at the bottom of this post if you are interested. If you are squeamish I wouldn’t watch it.
Driving home everything still looked hazy. I was still feeling the effects of the Valium so I had no problem going to sleep for a couple of hours. I put on my stylish eye protectors and went to sleep around 5:30 pm. I woke up around 9:00 and felt fine. The haziness had greatly diminished but was still present. I put in my eye drops, talked to my family for a few minutes and went back to bed still wearing my sweet sleeping goggles. It was done. I was pretty excited to see how this was going to turn out.
Next I will tell you about my first two post-op visits and how this whole change has been.
Below is the video of the eye surgery.
There is no blood but it can be hard to watch.
You have been warned.