Feeling Just a Bit Like Tom Cruise in "Minority Report"
Dec 06 '03
The Bottom Line If you've got thick glasses, but not bifocals, LASIK may be for you. It's definitely for me.
I’ve been wearing contact lenses for about twenty years, and I’m tired of them...
November 15th - the first appointment
After finally deciding to go through with the LASIK procedure (after my brother and sister had already had it done a few years ago at the same location, same doctor) I made an appointment with the LASIK Vision Center on Thomas in Phoenix, Arizona.
They went over the various options, did a preliminary check of my eyes, and told me that things looked good to perform the procedure. We scheduled the following Saturday for the in-depth examination.
November 22nd - the second appointment
I went into the office for my second appointment, and was allowed to watch the procedure on another patient.
I watched with a certain amount of trepidation as the woman lay down in the operating theater, her eyes were pinned open one at a time a la “Clockwork Orange,” and flaps were sliced from the front of her corneas with a microkeratome.
The flaps were lifted out of the way, the remaining surface swabbed, and the laser applied to reshape the tissue. Then the flaps were put back, some drops put into her eyes, and she walked out of the operating theater.
I think I can deal with that much in order to avoid wearing glasses...
After the woman’s surgery, I was called into the exam room and questioned about my contact lens habits. Then my eyes were dilated, and anesthetic drops put in them, so that detailed computer maps could be made of my eyes as well as checking the intraocular pressure (the pressure inside the eyeball). I was told that my corneas are slightly thinner than average, but there should be no problem with doing LASIK, and a follow-up adjustment surgery later if necessary.
Multiple adjustments are not going to be very likely in my case. There’s just not enough cornea to remove much more material after the initial surgery...
As sensitive to light as I already was, the dilating drops made things quite a bit worse. I’d been making do with my glasses and a pair of clip-on sunglasses, but with the dilating drops in my eyes, I couldn’t see anything but a lot of glare until I stacked on another pair of the roll-up sunglasses that the optometrist gave me. The clip-ons aren’t quite half as dark as my regular Ray-Ban G15 lenses, but at least they’re polarized. Since the roll-up plastic cheapies were polarized in another direction, I managed to get things down to “almost black” and could at least function until the drops wore off - almost 28 hours later.
I was also given a prescription to fill for antibiotic eye drops, and told to get one of several brands of “artificial tears.” One of the common complaints from LASIK patients is that their eyes get dry, and the artificial tears are supposed to help keep the eye moist so it can heal properly.
December 5th - Surgery
I was in the emergency room last Sunday (November 30th) for an ear infection. I called the surgeon’s office on Monday, and they told me that if I was on antibiotics for the ear infection, it was entirely up to me to decide if I could handle both the ear pain and the discomfort from the LASIK surgery. I decided that since I had a bottle of Vicodin to deal with the ear pain, I would be fine for the eye surgery since I planned to go in, get the surgery, and go to sleep for the weekend.
My appointment was at 8:45AM. I walked in, they re-checked my eyes (now three weeks without contact lenses) and put me in a waiting room with comfy chairs and a TV playing “Friends” without commercials. While there, the assistant also handed me a bag containing anti-inflammatory eye drops, an eye shield for sleeping, and a pair of plastic wraparound sunglasses. I was also given a surgical hair cover and shoe covers to put on.
On being taken into the actual surgical theater, they laid me on a chair not unlike a dentist’s chair that was laid all the way back. Someone handed me a stuffed hippopotamus to clutch (They told me later that they hand everyone a stuffed toy - it’s a comfort thing), the nurse put some anesthetic drops in my eyes, and I was ready for the surgery.
One of the more recent developments for LASIK and other eye surgery is the availability of "punctal plugs," which control the flow of fluids out of the eye through the punctum and into the nasal passages.
One the advice of my eye doctor, my optometrist, and an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist who had LASIK last year, I agreed to have the 30-day collagen plugs inserted. They'll dissolve over time, but in the interim will prevent some of the fluid (tears, etc.) from escaping my eye. This will help keep them wetter than if I were depending solely on artificial tears. Other varieties include one-week plugs, and permanent plugs made from silicone.
Now, I’d been told before the operation that they might have to do a PRK procedure instead of LASIK, but it turned out that my corneas were thick enough to go ahead with LASIK for my rather strong prescription.
The surgeon warned me that there would be some pressure, but no pain, for the actual flap-cutting procedure. I did see some rather odd visual effects (sparkly green and red dots) while the microkeratome sliced the front of my cornea, but I did not feel any pain.
After that, I was asked to look directly into the red light in front of my eyes as one eye was covered, and the laser went to work. Since the front of my cornea had already been “flapped,” I couldn’t see a “dot,” but just a “cloud” of red light.
I didn’t smell the “burning hair” scent that some other LASIK patients had reported.
Once the procedure was completed (about ten minutes later) I walked into another room, an optometrist looked at my eyes, and I put on my sunglasses for the ride home at 11AM. On my way out the door, I dropped my old eyeglasses into the Lions’ Club basket. They collect eyewear and redistribute it according to prescription to people who otherwise couldn’t afford glasses.
The first four hours were the worst - as the anesthetic wore off, it felt as if someone had lightly sanded my eyeballs, and they were constantly watering. This continued even as I slept under the influence of two tablets of Vicodin, and left my pillow damp in two spots (I slept on my back, and dripped down both sides.) I felt a little like Tom Cruise in "Minority Report," being told to keep my eyes covered and closed for the first four hours.
At 3PM, I woke up and started my routine with the eye drops - every four hours, I have to use the antibiotic drops, then five minutes later the anti-inflammatory drops. Every half hour, I have to add the “artificial tears” to my eyes. By 6PM I was comfortable enough to go out to dinner (Mexican food) although I wasn’t driving, and I kept my eyes closed for the drive.
After dinner, I still felt comfortable enough to write this up, but I think this is enough for now.
Dec 6th - The Day After
Now I understand my doctor’s repeated warnings to rest my eyes. I woke up this morning with only very mild discomfort (my eyelashes had glued themselves together a bit from the residue of all of the eye drops) but I could see very clearly, including house numbers on the buildings across the street, my clock radio, and my computer screen.
It’s very tempting to just enjoy the ability to see, but the itching and burning comes back at regular intervals to remind me to use the drops, and to rest my eyes some more.
At the post-operative check this morning at 7:30AM, the optometrist rechecked my eyes both manually and with the automatic machine. I’m checking in at 20/15 vision - a distinct improvement over my old 20/900ish vision...
I’ll be wearing sunglasses indoors and out for the next week, and sleeping with the eye shields on, but barring any complications I think LASIK is the best thing I could have possibly done for myself at this stage of my life. It’s absolutely fantastic.
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Epinions.com ID:
caradoc
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Member: John Groseclose
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Reviews written: 182
Trusted by: 133 members
About Me:
System admin, technology addict, knife thrower, and dog "caregiver."
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