My LASIK was performed at 4:00 pm last Friday.
The surgeons’ assistant began by placing some numbing drops in my eyes. A few minutes later I was brought into the surgery suite and asked to sit on a table. The surgeon came in and proceeded to make two small marks on each orbit with some kind of “felt-tip” marker. When I immediately told him that I felt what he was doing more on the left eye than the right he abruptly said, “That’s O.K.”
At this point I’m thinking, “Oh my God, the numbing meds didn’t take!”
So they have me lay down, and the surgeon starts to afix my right eye in an open position with some sort of device. Something else is placed over my eye that I can feel, but all you see is a small blinking red light, which you are repeatedly told to stare directly at. The surgeon then say’s two words that you never want to hear in this position, “Apply suction.”
Over the next two minutes there’s lots of activity that you can sort of feel mostly in the form of pressure, not really pain. There’s a period of a minute or so where your really told to hold still and stare directly at the center of the red blinking light. He counted down the seconds for me…it felt like the hardest interval I had ever done. I guess this is the crucial period where the laser is doing its’ business.
When the minute is up, there’s some poking and prodding with some sort of sharp instrument ( I guess he was manipulating the flap) then he’s brushing the orbit with some liquid.
Each eye took less than 5 minutes. And the left eye, the one that I thought was not quite numb, was definitely more uncomfortable (bordering on downright painful) then the right. It was a surreal experience to say the least.
Immediately afterwards I could already tell that my vision had greatly improved, but I was so uncomfortable that it almost didn’t matter.
Friday evening was unbearable. Incredible burning, non-stop tearing. It was painful to have my eyes open, they teared non-stop when I closed them, and then were impossible to re-open again. I somehow managed a few hours sleep.
Saturday morning was only slightly better. At my 11:00 am follow-up appointment I was told that I had more swelling than normal. I was given a script for an oral corticosteroid that is supposed to reduce the inflammation and swelling.
I was told that I had 20/20 vision though!!
I have noticed slight improvement since then, and I am due for my second follow-up appointment later today. My vision is good, but still on the hazy, cloudy side. My vision seems better on the left side, but that may be due to the fact that my right eye is still very bloodshot.
So to make a long story endless, I am hoping that the final outcome is better than the process has been thus far.
I know many of you are still considering this, so I will keep you up-to-date as to my progress and final result.
P.S. I obviously haven’t trained since Friday morning. If things continue to improve, I’m planning a trainer ride in the morning tomorrow, with my first run on Wednesday. No swimming until Friday, though!