LASIK Surgery

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile and I keep putting it off in favor of other things. Like making cute strawberry costumes for Halloween. I got LASIK about seven weeks ago and it is amazing.

Pre-Op

This was a very annoying part of the process. Hubs wanted me to get LASIK for my birthday which was in January. However, I was not a candidate at the time because I was still nursing. I had to wait until my daughter was weaned + three months. They say this is because the hormones related to nursing can affect your vision. There is no sense getting LASIK for a prescription that is prone to change. 

My daughter weaned around 14 months (late April), so I couldn't get the surgery until late July. However, I was going on vacation in late July/early August. After LASIK, I wouldn't be allowed to get in a natural body of water for weeks. I wanted to enjoy my family vacation, so I scheduled the procedure for after we returned home. 

I still had my pre-op appointment in July to confirm I was a candidate based on some parameters about my eyes. I got the all clear and surgery was set for mid-August. They checked my eyes one more time before the procedure to make sure my prescription hadn't done anything weird and to check the dryness of my corneas. Apparently, my initial exam showed some corneal dryness. They were not any dryer than before, so I was all set.

This is the last picture of me wearing my glasses the day of the surgery. Also, no makeup. Ew.

To get ready for the procedure itself was kind of funny. They put my hair back in a net and put some numbing drops in my eyes. Then they wiped down my eyes with some antiseptic cleaning product. I was not allowed to wear makeup or products around my eyes for three days leading up to the surgery or for one week after the surgery, but they wanted to be extra certain that my eyes were clean. 

Here I am in all my no makeup glory. 

I was offered a valium for nerves, but I declined. I have had poor reactions to narcotics in the past. I know valium is not a narcotic, but I did not want to discover mid-eyeball surgery that Valium makes me go nuts. I was given a warm neck pillow, blanket, and a teddy bear wearing scrubs to hold. This was oddly comforting. 

The Surgery

The surgery is not painful, but it is not the most comfortable thing in the world. The part I was most worried about was getting the little thingamabobs put into my eyes to hold them open. I didn't even feel that part since they gave me even more numbing drops before the procedure. 

The part that was uncomfortable was cutting the flap. The surgeon has to hold the eye in place to ensure it does not move. This requires an absurd about of pressure. It is exceedingly uncomfortable. It does not take long, though. 

The surgeon pulling the flap back was by far the oddest part of the procedure. From what I could tell, he was using a tiny spatula to gently ease the flap open. Each time he pulled on the flap, my vision would move with it. Super weird. It was also odd to see someone wiping a tiny spatula across your eye. It was kind of like watching TV if the TV was directly on top of my eyeball. 

The laser part was simple. My prescription was pretty mild, so I only needed the laser for four seconds per eye. It did smell like burning hair, though. That was gross. Then the surgeon replaced the flap and that was it. He taped some super attractive eye shields over my eyes and I went to get lunch. I had to come back 90 minutes later for post-op.

Recovery

My eyes got extremely uncomfortable within 30 minutes as the numbing drops wore off. They didn't hurt so much as they were light sensitive to the extreme. When I went back in for my 90-minute post-op, I could barely open my eyes in a dark room. However, I was already at 20/20 vision for distance. 

My up close vision was blurry which freaked me out as I've never had problems seeing up close. The surgeon explained this was because of all the drops I had in my eyes. He said it was kind of like looking through a fish bowl.

The surgeon gave me some more numbing drops in the office so that I could open my eyes for more than two seconds. He inspected my flaps and said it all looked how it should. Hubs drove me home and my eyes were starting to bother me again by the time we got to the house. However, I took a three-hour nap and woke up feeling 90% normal. My eyes felt a little gritty, but they did not hurt in the slightest. 

I had to wear my super attractive eye shields at night for five days. I also had to use antibiotic drops for a week and steroid drops. I was supposed to use the steroid drops until I ran out of them. However, I made the unfortunate discovery that I am allergic to sulfites. One of the ingredients in the steroid drops was sodium bisulfite. It made my torso unbearably itchy. At my one-week post-op appointment (which was actually 10 days after surgery), the surgeon told me to cease the steroid drops.

Here are the eye shields. Trying to take a selfie after LASIK is hard. I couldn't see up close.

I came back one month after my one-week follow-up for my last follow-up appointment. My eyes are doing great and my vision is excellent. My right eye is 20/20 and my left eye is 20/15 (potentially even better, they didn't check below 20/15). 

In the beginning, I had to use artificial tears every hour. By one week post-op, I was using them every 2-3 hours. Now I use them about three times per day. The dryness was the most annoying part of recovery, but being able to see without glasses is worth it. Plus, that side effect won't last forever.