My experience with lasik

hello...

long time no see....

finally i can see rather clear without the aid of specs or contact lens....

it's e 3rd day after my lasik surgery for my left eye, 4th for my right eye...

and i'm seeing things in a much clearer view already....

after my post-op checkup on 23 Aug, my doc already said that I have 6/6 vision... whatever that means... I'm nearer to 20/20 vision I guess....

Let me check it out....

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Ok ...

By looking at lots of people, eye doctors have decided what a "normal" human being should be able to see when standing 20 feet away from an eye chart. If you have 20/20 vision, it means that when you stand 20 feet away from the chart you can see what the "normal" human being can see. (In metric, the standard is 6 meters and it's called 6/6 vision). In other words, if you have 20/20 vision your vision is "normal" -- a majority of people in the population can see what you see at 20 feet. (From here on, please assume that the word normal has quotes around it.)


Ha ha.... that means I have "normal" vision now....

ha ha ha....

kudos to my doc... he did a great job!

he talked me through the entire op, I was able to feel much more at ease lying in the op bed, in such a compromising position (I had a bulky equipment right above my head, where I was supposed to look at the blinking red light thoughout the op) with 4 people in op robes around my head ( 1 nurse, a anaesthecian, an intern, plus my doc).

now I'll tell you more about the procedure....

When I arrive at 8.30am, I registered myself, and paid for the surgery first. They probably think it's better cos most ppl can't see well immediately after the surgery. Then I was asked to sit and wait outside the lasik suite. About 5 to 10 mins later, a nurse wearing op gown, mask & cap comes out from the lasik suite and calls my name. I enter the suite with her and she goes through a series of questions on my current health and condition, and checks my IC number, and doublechecks with me which eye I am doing for the day, and asks me to wear a cap and shoe covers to enter a room to have my pre-dilation pupil size scanned. This is the same room where I will be having the lasik surgery.

After the pupil scanning, she then brings me outside and administers 2 types of eye drops into my right eye, which has a bit of stinging sensation. The I'm instructed to keep my eye closed for at least 5 mins to help my pupil dilate faster. And I am lead to wait outside.

This dilating eye drops process goes on for about 3 times (each time about 15-30 mins apart) before the normal human's pupils will dilate. Some may take only 2 times, while some need 4 times.

At around 9.30am, my pupil is dilated, the nurse informs my doc, who rushes down to the lasik suite and gets himself ready for the op.

My doc then checks the equipment while I'm being prepared for the op.... Here I can hear the sound of the laser going "zzzzz tiak tiak tiak"...

The nurse then calls me to go into the suite to doublecheck my IC again, the dilation level of my eye to be operated, then asks me to wear a cap, a pair of shoe covers, and a op gown. After which, she drips antibiotic eye drops into my eye, and then proceeds to sterilise my eye to be operated with iodine. First she cleans my lower eye lashes, then my upper eye lashes, with a cotton budstick soaked in iodine. Then she wipes my entire eye area with a cotton pad soaked in iodine.

Wah la... I'm ready for lasik....

My doc then calls me into the op room, where I have to lie in the above-mentioned compromising position. He then tells me to relax, and that this is a very straight-forward procedure, and not to worry. I just have to help him by looking straight at the blinking red light throughout the entire procedure.

After adjusting the position of my head on the op bed, he tells me that he is going to cover my non-operating eye to protect it during the op. I see a plastic eye cover being taped over my non-operating eye. Then he says he's going to tape my eye lashes to stop them from interfering with the op, and he tapes the upper lashes first, then the lower lashes. I can only see and feel tape going over my eye, and a piece of plastic going over my face. Now I can only see through the hole through the plastic, aka only my eye area.

He then says he's going to place a clip into my eye to keep my eye open during the op. I see a metal thingey similar to what women use to pluck their eye brows, coming towards my eyeball, and I feel it being placed on top of my eye ball, and pushing against my eye lids.

The doc then tells me that I'm going to feel some pressure on my eye as he places in a circular thing into my eye, and that the blinking red light is going to disappear for awhile, and that it's okay, and I just have to keep looking straight, and I can blink gently as normal, just not to squeeze my eye. I can see his hands going over my eye, and I feel something circular going on top of my eye, and some pressure, which caused me to start tearing. The red light disappears and I can only see a blurry image, some what like his hands doing something to my eye, but can't tell what.

He then tells me that after approximately 10 to 30 secs later I'll see the red light coming back. And I can see through my blurred vision, his hands exiting, and the red light coming back on. He then tells me the most difficult part is already over, and now it's time for the laser part. And that I have to keep still and look straight at the blinking red light. He then says he's going to help me by holding my head still. At this point I can only see the blurry blinking red light, and feel his hands holding my head, then I hear the laser sound. The doc then tells me to ignore the sound of the laser, and relax, and keep focusing on the blinking red light.

As the laser sound goes on "zzzz tiak tiak tiak", I can smell a burning smell, and it's actually not easy to ignore the sound plus the smell, cos you know that they are lasering your eye, and the burning smell is coming from your eye... So I mentally diverted all my attention to the blinking red light, and took long breaths of air, slowly letting them out, and listening to my doc's voice only (thank god his preppy voice has this soothing and calming effect), cutting out the laser noise... I can only hear the doc telling me that I'm 1/4 way through, I'm 1/3 way through, I'm 1/2 way through, I'm 2/3 way through, I'm 3/4 way through, and I'm done with the laser process!

I feel his hands letting go of my head, and he says that he's going to wash my eye. I hear and feel a clear liquid being squirted onto my eye, and I see a pair of gloved hands holding something (a gauze held by a pincer??) to clean my eye. this goes on for about 2 times. Then I feel and see my corneal flap being covered back onto the eye. Then he tells me that he's going to put a contact lens into my eye to help protect the corneal flap, and that he'll take it out tomorrow when I come back for surgery on the next eye.

They then start taking out the tapes, plastic, eye cover on my eyes. And I can see blurrily the equipment over my head moving slowly backwards away from my head. And I see the nurse coming to me and telling me to not get up first until the equipment is clear from my head. Then she helps me off the bed, and outside, where another nurse helps me get out of the op gown, cap and shoe covers.

This is when my doc comes out with his intern-in-toll to check my eye. He says my corneal flap is perfectly in position. It was so perfectly in place, that my doc had to make it a practical example for his intern-in-toll... and that intern directed the light too much into my operated eye... which made me start tearing like mad... and e doc had to dry my tears for me...

After some instructions on eye drops, wearing of googles, and things to note, I was able to go home after confirming my next op appointment with the counter staff...

When I get home, after 15-20mins ride on the cab, it's already 10.20am. The whole procedure took about 1.5 hours, but the actual op was actually about 10-15 mins tops. Most of it was waiting for your pupil to dilate.

After the first 2 hours, the anaesthetic eye drops went off, and I started to feel some pain in my eye (the sort of pain when you get shampoo into your eyes, a stinging pain). It lasted for about 3 to 4 hours. During which I had religiously dripped lubricating eye drops every 15 mins, and antibiotic eye drops every 2 hours, into my operated eye. I had my handphone buzzing me everytime it was time. I closed my eyes and rested them throughout the first day, except when it was time to drip the eye drops, to eat, to go to the loo, to bathe... And when I slept, I consciously maintained my head straight, to prevent any form of banging on the googles that I had to wear, for the first 24 hours, and after that every night for a week. It was not very comfortable, as my back ached from sleeping in the same position. But it was worth it, cos my corneal flap was still perfectly in position when my doc checked my eye before I went for the op the next day. And I could already see very well, according to my doctor, when he heard my eye test results.



So I guess it wasn't that scary after all... So I thought I'd share my experience with everyone, and if anyone wants to try lasik, can ask me for information... Cos I know how much it means to know you get can info from someone who did it before... Cos I got my info from two gals that have gone through it before, and it made the process so much easier for me...

And of cos if you've got a good doc, you've already won half the battle, the other half is your own psychological barrier. Quoting my doc, he said that if you are psychologically prepared for this, the post-op and recovery process would be much easier and bearable, even though different people experience different symptoms. Some might feel immense pain and tearing, some might feel nothing much at all. Some might realise that they experience different symptoms from both eyes after their op!!!

So whatever it is... Just be mentally and psychologically prepared for lasik, cos it'll make your experience a whole lot easier....


cheerio,
Same Old Blur Vision No More!!!

PS: Thank you to my wonderful doctor once again, for making me "see" again!!!