The Lasik Experience

When I walk out the door for my morning run everything comes into focus. I can see individual leaves on trees. Everything looks so crisp and so clear. This is still a new experience for me. I just had Lasik surgery a little over a month ago.

Prior to undergoing Lasik surgery, I had awful vision. I mean truly, bad vision. I had been wearing glasses since I was 6 years old and contacts since I was 15. Now at 25, when I went in for my Lasik consult I couldn't even see the biggest letter on the Snellen chart. I was more than ready for Lasik. The idea of not being able to see scared me more than the surgery itself. I mean, what if something happened, like a natural disaster and I somehow ended up without my glasses or contacts? I would be completely lost and unable to see. Now that's scary.

The morning of my Lasik surgery my dad and I stopped at Starbucks on the way. Sitting in the parking lot waiting for my dad to get his coffee I got a call from the Lasik coordinator. There was something wrong with the laser (yikes!) and the surgery would have to be rescheduled. I was upset to say the least and I was not happy about the prospect of having to wear my ill-fitting glasses for another week.

A few days later I got the call that the laser was up and running and surgery was a go. I went in on a Wednesday evening and I was, surprisingly, not even the least bit nervous. The technicians took a few more pictures of my eyes and the doctor came in to go over the surgery one more time. I was then led to a small room with a giant reclining chair where a plethora of numbing drops were placed in my eyes. The doctor then used a pen to mark a spot on each of my eyes but I didn't feel a thing thanks to the numbing drops.

I was then led to the operating room where I was told to lay down on the table. Everything went pretty quickly from here. My left eye was covered while tape was placed over the eye lashes on my right eye and a clamp was placed to keep my eye lids open. The eye lid clamping part had always been my biggest fear and concern prior to the surgery but in reality I could hardly feel it and it was no big deal. Next the doctor created the corneal flap with the laser. I felt a little bit of pressure but it wasn't too uncomfortable and was over quickly. Then I was told to stare at a red dot while the doctor reshaped my cornea with the laser. Since my vision was so bad this took about a minute. When the reshaping was complete, the doctor irrigated the corneal with water. This part felt weird. It wasn't painful but I could feel the coldness of the water which felt slightly uncomfortable. Considering this was the worst part of the experience, it was not bad at all. My right eye lid was unclamped and covered and the procedure was repeated on my left eye. The entire thing probably took about 10-15 minutes. I was told that since my vision was so bad, that it took a little bit longer than average.

I was led back to an exam room where I waited for the doctor to come check my eyes before sending me off with a pack of eye drops and a pair of eye shields. At this point, everything was still blurry from all the numbing drops but I could already notice a huge difference in my vision. I was already seeing 20/50. I went home to sleep for a few hours, woke up at 11pm to put in my eye drops and then went back to bed. The next morning everything was still hazy but I could see much better.

Over the next few weeks my vision continued to improve and by my 2 week post-op appointment my vision was 20/15. It is still a little unbelievable to me. Some days, when I wake up in the morning, I find myself reaching for my glasses on my bedside table, but then I catch a glimpse of my alarm clock and the numbers are crisp and clear, no longer a blurry haze.