Week 6

Well, I think I may have discovered something this week. Not sure why it took 6 weeks to figure out and I'm not sure it's a good thing or bad yet.

So, the last few weeks I've been whining about how my left eye has had some good days and bad days. I had a thought that part of the reason might be how I sleep. I usually sleep on my side. Sometimes I'll sleep on my left, sometimes right, but in either case, my face (and correlating eye) is always against my pillow. This week, I decided to try using the eye shield again...only on my left eye, since my right has been pretty stable.

The clear shield basically keeps my eye from even touching the pillow. I wore it one night and the next morning, lo and behold, was a good day. I was able to read my eye chart pretty well, and I'd say it passed my bookshelf test. It wasn't perfect (never has been), but it was about a normal good day.

I tried it again, the next day with the same results. So, I decided to use the shield all week...and all week I've had good days.

So, all is good in the land of Brian's vision??? Not quite...things I still notice:

1. My left eye still has the ghosting effect...good day or bad. I notice is mostly when I'm trying to read a bright or lit-up text on a black background. (Think of a lit up Sony logo)

2. My left eye's vision still gets worse when it's dark. If both eyes were like this, I would say that I wouldn't be fit to drive....luckily, good ol' brain is still using my right eye as the dominant eye.

3. One new thing I'm noticing is after periods of physical activity...like volleyball or running, I notice my left gets worse. Not sure why...perhaps because it's tired...or maybe sweat that gets in it. Not sure...but I do know the last few weeks of volleyball, it's what I'd compare to a bad day. Go figure...

So, again, I'm not sure if this latest discovery is necessarily a good thing, but at least it makes me feel like it still has room to heal. Unfortunately, the consistent ghosting, while not as bad, still worries me. It kinda makes me sad thinking how awesome it would be if just that were fixed. Hopefully it'll still heal up, but the fact that the ghosting is consistent after 6 weeks still worries me.

At this point, I "think" I'd do it again...the convenience is nice, but right now, not a day goes by where I totally just forget about my left eye. It's kinda like having a splinter...just nags at you.

Day 27 ...and we're back

Ok, so after the freaky day yesterday, it looks like today was a bit better. I do think I still have a very slight ghosting in the left, but it definitely wasn't as pronounced as it was yesterday. Actually today I felt like I saw better than I had been in the last week.

All these up and down fluctuations have been pretty stressful. The things I keep in mind though is that it's still early in the healing process. A lot of the research that I've done suggests that vision doesn't even start settling until week 4. The other thing is that my vision is pretty darn good with both eyes open, and since my right eye is still more than perfect, it's a good compromise. Also, I do have good days. I have to keep reminding myself of this, but that's a positive as well.

One weird thing I discovered this week is that when I put tearing drops in my eye, my vision clears up for maybe 30 seconds. Like crystal clear...20/20. I did research on why this happens. I guess after lasik, your eye has a lot of micro-tears that will eventually heal. When you put drops in the eye, it actually fills in all these tears, and smooths out the lens (thus clearing the vision). Of course, when the drops dry up, the clear vision goes away. :( So, yet, another possible positive if this is the case. The other reason is that the drops thicken the lens which can clear the vision as well...of course, if this is the case, then healing may not help. Hopefully the former is the case.

Anyways, wanted to post this after last night's debacle. Same story...they weren't kidding about possible fluctuations!

Day 26 - a step backwards

Well Day 26 was another tale of a bad regression day. I actually had a string of "not-so-great" days in the row, culminating to this. It felt like a normally blurry-ish day for my left eye. While I was at work, I was reading a document that had really some really teeny text. So, it was normally blurry with my left eye. The one thing that I noticed, though, was that it wasn't so much that the vision was blurry, but I saw a slight "ghosting" of the letters. It was like I was seeing double out of my left eye, but the 2nd image was slightly off-center. One sec...I'm gonna try to Photoshop the effect..............

ok...done:




It was only out of my left eye. I think I had barely noticed this weeks ago. Since the "shadow" is just slightly off, it just looks like a blur when looking at most things. But because the text was so small, I was actually able to make out the blur to be a mirror image. This plus Wednesday was a particularly blurry day.

It was a little freaky...but the good thing was that when I opened both eyes, the shadow image went away. The beauty is that when you have two fairly different prescriptions in each eye, I guess the brain just throws out the bad information and keeps the good.

I did plenty of internet research, and it does look like a lot of the cases do resolve over the first 6 months. Of course, there are some cases that say it never goes away...which freaks me out.
I guess time will tell...

Day 19 - Face meet volleyball

So in my last checkup, the doc told me that I can resume contact sports after the first week, so I played my first match last week with no problems. Basically my goal was to not get beamed in the face with a volleyball. Everything went great...that was last week.

Tonight I went up for a block against one of the opponent's stronger hitters. Well, I got a solid touch on the ball...unfortunately, it was with my face. It slammed against the left side of my face, right where the eye was. Luckily, I closed the eye in time...and double luckily, I think nose and cheek bone took the brunt of the blast. I did see some stars just afterward, but everything seemed normal. I had all these scary thoughts of the flap coming loose or ripping (yikes!), and I'm happy to report that all is good. These eyeball things are apparently pretty robust creatures. :)

I spent the next 5 games winking at random things, checking to see if any problems came up. So far, so good.

Btw, the eye is kind of a middle fluctuation day today. (Slightly blurry 20/20 line, but readable without guessing)

Days 15 and 16 - two very different days

Well, after my very positive two week update, I woke up to find that once again my left eye had regressed the other direction. This time it was to the point where I could barely read the 20/25 line on the chart. In my bookshelf test, I couldn't make out most of the letters...and I could tell that the two eyes were just way off. It actually started in the morning, and went all the way until I went to sleep.

I have this theory that I slept with my eye directly on the pillow and for some reason it threw it off. I'm not sure if that's even plausible, but it did feel very "contacty" from morning all throughout the day.

Today, Day 16, was exactly opposite. I made sure to sleep on my back or where my eye was not in the pillow. I woke up, immediately did my bookshelf test and was the eye was instantly back to the good side. I did my usual eye chart test and was able to read the 20/15 line. Very weird...but I guess that's just how it goes when you're healing. Sorry for the repetitiveness of my entries. The reason why I'm posting the fluctuations, is that if anyone out there is reading this, you'll know that someone else has gone through this exact scenario. The good thing is that there are good days...and I'm hoping that whenever the healing process is complete, it'll end on a good day.

I'd probably be more concerned if after more than two weeks, I still hadn't reached a 20/20 day. Luckily this is not the case for me. Anyways, more updates to come.

Two Week Anniversary

Well, it's been two weeks today that my eyes got pew-pewed. I haven't commented too much on other things than the progress and the differences with my left and eyes. This would probably be a good time to go over some other observations after 2 weeks.

Dry eyes - None...I didn't really have dry eyes before, but this is one of the side-effects of the surgery. My eyes feel normal...I don't feel the need to blink more or anything. All things on the dry eyes front is good!

Night vision / low light - I do notice my vision is a tad bit blurrier in the evenings and in dim light. It's not terrible or anything, but it's noticeable. I notice this when I'm trying to read smaller side-street signs. Unfortunately, I can't remember if I was able to read them before with glasses, but overall I'd say I maybe go into the 20/25 category in both eyes....probably better than that, but I'm pessimistic.

Halos/Starbursts - Ok, so while vision may get a fraction worse during night, I do have to say that I'm barely seeing halos or starbursts around lights. This is supposed to be common at night when oncoming headlights drive past you. I do see them, but again, it's not as bad as when I had my glasses on. It's not distracting. In this specific case, my new eyeballs probably see better than before.

Feel - So one thing I still notice on occasion is that my eyes sometimes feel like I've got contacts in them. It's not painful or anything, it just feels like they're there. I notice this most while taking a shower when I get some water in my eyes. You might be asking, well then aren't you just feeling the water? Nope...it's a different feel. It also happens for the first 10 minutes after waking up in the morning.

I also notice this "contact feeling" when I slightly wipe my eyes. I'm not supposed to wipe them but if I'm drying my face or something, I'll get the "contact feeling" for a few minutes.

Vision - Finally I have to talk about vision. I know I've been harping on it over the last 2 weeks of posts, but want to give the latest update. As I've said, the fluctuations having been on and off. The first few days after surgery, vision was mostly blurry at the 20/20 range. Slowly the good fluctuations started to increase frequency. They were probably even after the 1 week mark. Then after the 10 day mark, while bad fluctuations still occur, they are fewer and far between.
Now at the 2 week mark, I'm noticing that my left vision is definitely better around 85% of the time.

I know I talk about the lag of the left eye a lot...the thing I haven't written much about is my right. At this point, the right eye is great. Every time I say that my left eye is a little clearer, my right eye feels like it's gotten that much better as well. Part of all the lag that I talk about is probably because the right eye is getting better every day.

Sooooo...I put it to the test (I know...surprising) I convinced Becky to return my Snellen eye chart that I used back in Day Two. I taped it to the same wall and tested my eyes from the same 20 foot distance. This time, with my left I was able to read the 20/20 line without guessing. to my surprise, I was also able to read the 20/15 line (deducing correctly on some).
My right eye could read the 20/15 line with no problems. I kinda wished there was a 20/10 line to see if I could read that.

This proves that both eyes have gotten significantly better over the last 2 weeks. The lag that I see in my left doesn't seem to be due to an undercorrection. Instead, I would guess that my left eye's vision is about 20/20 (most of the time...can't forget about low-light/night vision). My right? At least 20/15...probably better.

Might be just a good day. :)

Day 12

Still fluctuating and left is still behind...BUT I'm starting to notice a couple of things in my bookshelf test:

1. During the good fluctuations, I'm seeing letters that I know were too blurry to make out before
2. Good fluctuations are becoming more common than bad

This again is giving me more hope...will keep posting on progress!

Day 11 - Yep....There's an app for that!

So I discovered a new way to test my vision. There's an Ipad app called Eye Chart Pro
It creates a random eye chart that you can place 8 feet in front of you. Once you've read the lines, you can also change the lines just by tapping it.

Maybe the app isn't the most accurate thing. Today felt like it was an off-day with my left eye...I was sure it was low for most of the day. I used the eye chart app and though, again still a little blurry was able to read the 20/20 line...and even was able to make out a bit of the 20/15 line. Again, maybe not the most accurate, but I think the Snellen eye chart test is pretty subjective to begin with.

Anyways, it gives me a little hope.

9 Days

Back to a normal day...left eye back to being behind. No major fluctuations, positive or negative.

8 Days

You're gonna realize what a freak I am...I'm constantly comparing my eyes.

I was at Barnes and Noble today and did an individual eye test on a sign that was pretty far away. My left eye was actually better than my right. Not sure if my right eye got worse or my left got better. Hopefully the latter!

7 Days

Today, was another fluctuation day...I did my bookshelf test mid-day today and felt like I could read at about the same level as my right eye. I did the test again before bed, and it was back to normal. This kinda gives me some hope.

One Week Post Op

My one week post op came 6 days after the surgery. They basically did the same test. It was just about the same result. I think I read the last line with my right quite a bit easier. But the left eye was blurrier. I think this was one of the bad fluctuation times (it was 6:30 pm after work, when my eye was a little tired).

I told the person that it was blurry with my left. She just told me to blink and read. I blinked, squinted and deduced the letters. I think I got them right, but definitely didn't feel like I deserved it. She just told me I was 20/20. This was a little frustrating, though. I know that the surgery is supposed to get me as close to 20/20 as possible... At this point, I was able to read the 20/25 line, so if that's where I'm at, then just acknowledge it. It almost seems as they are trying to pad the numbers.

The doctor came in, looked at my eyes and said I was healing well. I explained about the blurriness in my left eye. He just looked at the paperwork, and said that I'm 20/20. He said that it "may" clear up in the next few months of healing. I only met with him for about 3 minutes. He said I could stop the eye drops and start up with contact sports again.

My next appointment is set for May. In the meantime, I'll keep posting on my progress.

Through the First Week

Well, I followed my eye drop schedule through the first week to a tee. I wore my eye shields at night, every night and avoided rubbing my eyes.

I came up with a new test that I did every morning (yes, I'm a freak about this!) I stood at the wall on one side of my room and looked at a bookshelf on the opposite side of the wall. I covered each eye and tried to see if I can read the books on the shelf. There wasn't a whole lot that changed through this first week.

Things that I did notice, though:
For the most part my left eye didn't change, but I did notice some days seemed better than others. These were the fluctuations that I guess they were talking about.

Although my vision in general is great, I do think that my vision in low light is a teeny bit worse. I only really notice this when I'm trying to read something from far away. If I'm not trying to read a clock from 20 feet away, everything looks clear.

My one week post op is Thursday.

Day Two

Vision is still pretty clear...but my left eye is definitely not as good as my right. I've been continuing a lot comparisons between the two, like looking at books, clocks, lights, etc with each eye. In each case, it was quite a bit blurrier using just my left eye.

I've been looking a lot on internet. There are a lot of comments on various forums and blogs like this one about people who get weird fluctuations after lasik. In a lot of cases people are seeing 20/40 or 20/60...but after a few weeks or months they are seeing almost perfectly. I'm probably still close to 20/20 with my right and 20/25 with left...so I can't complain too loudly. It is still a little concerning. All I can think about is whether I stared at the correct light during surgery or if I moved my eye...or maybe they mapped me incorrectly. Very freaky.

So, I did what any geek would do. I printed out a Snellen eye chart (the one with the big E at the top) and taped it on the wall. I stood about 20 feet away and tried to read the 20/20 line. Just like at the post op, it was a bit blurry, but I could sorta read it. The left was much blurrier and the only way to read it is if I used my brilliant powers of deduction.

Again, all the reading materials say that fluctuations are expected. Becky reiterated this...then she took my eye chart off the wall and hid it from me. sad :(

One Day After

I woke up the next morning. Of course, the first thing that I did was look at my alarm clock. Normally, I would see a big blur, and would have to squint a bit to see. It was a bit of a haze, but after just blinking a few time, it cleared up and the red 5:00 appeared bright and clear. I got up all energized and put the prescribed drops in my eyes and made my way downstairs.

My vision was just a tad hazy, but I think that was more part of waking up then anything else. It cleared up the longer I was awake. There was no pain. The only sensation that I had I'd compare to the feeling that you get after having your contacts in your eyes all day, when you start noticing the contacts in your eyes.

I instantly started testing my eyes. I stood at the edge of the kitchen and was able to see the digital clock on above the stove (maybe 20 feet away). It wasn't crystal clear, but definitely clear enough to figure out the time. At this point I couldn't remember whether or not it was crystal clear with my contacts or glasses on...I think I saw better before, but I'm picky (or a pessimist).

I looked at lights in the kitchen and they had a slight radiant halo above. I kinda had expected it after reading all the material before the surgery. It wasn't too bad...it was very slight.

The next test was turning on the TV. I sat on the couch about 13 feet away and flipped the channel to ESPN. Not because there was any pressing news I needed, but they always have the tickers at the bottom. At this point, the ticker at the bottom was a readable, but still a teeny bit blurred. I closed my left eye and found that I could read it clearly with my right. I then closed my right eye and was disappointed to find that it was a little blurry with my left. I was still able to read, but the blurriness was noticeable. It was still early, so I wasn't freaking out just yet...but I was sure I could read the ticker before with contacts/glasses.

My one-day post op appointed was scheduled for 8:30 am. So, to kill time, I started writing the first entry of this blog. It probably wasn't the best of ideas to stare at the computer a day after the surgery. My eyes could have used a little more rest, I'm thinking.

I wasn't sure if I should drive yet to the eye center, so Becky was willing to drive me to the appointment. Along the way, I did a few more tests with Becky. While on the highway, we both stared at the same highway exit sign, and Becky told me the exact moment she was able to read it. This test actually made me a little more comfortable about my vision, because she was able to read the signs about the same moment that I was able to make them out.

Once I arrived at the eye center, I was called and the first thing they did was the eye chart test. I was asked to cover one eye and read the bottom line. I could make out most of the letters, but the entire line was a little blurry. After the test, they told me that I was 20/20 in one eye and just a fraction worse in the other (probably my left). I'm not even sure that I deserved the 20/20, since it was so blurry. This is what makes the test kinda crappy, 'cuz if you can deduce the letter, you still get the score.

While I couldn't argue the awesomeness of seeing clearly without glasses or contacts, I couldn't help but be a little worried. I knew it was still early, though. The doc looked at my eyes and said that the healing was going well, and think that "it will be a homerun." That made me feel a little better.

That night we celebrated with Pizza and Starbucks.

Right after surgery

They slapped the sweet sunglasses on me and led me out to the lobby. At this point, everything was still pretty hazy, but I definitely noticed clearer vision in short distances. I recognized Becky and tapped her on the shoulder to let her know that I was done. Like I said, it wasn't longer than 5 minutes 'til we were out the door and into the car. Right about this time, I can start to feel the valium take effect, 'cuz I was getting really groggy. It was easy to keep my eyes closed.

I think Becky was talking to me on the drive back, but I was so out of it. During the drive home is when the stinging started. It felt like I had gotten soap in my eyes, but instead of the tears washing the sting away it felt like they made it worse. My guess is that the watering mixed with the iodine and just added to the burning sensation. It wasn't excruciating or anything, but I won't lie, it was on the painful side. Every time I tried to crack open one of my eyes, water just streamed down my face.

The drive home seemed pretty quick (for 40 minutes). We got home around 3:30. At this point, I had a hard time opening my eyes, so I basically just had Becky lead me straight to the bedroom so that I could sleep. I was all ready to just crash, but out of the blue, something happened that I did not expect. My nose suddenly got congested. Not just a little, but to the point as it does during a really bad cold. The problem was that because of the valium, I was crazy, tired...but because I could barely breathe, I couldn't get to sleep. I basically sat up, still with the burning in my eyes, my new found congestion, and my continued grogginess. It was pretty uncomfortable. I think I was in and out for about 1-2 hours until the congestion finally stopped and finally fell asleep. I woke up around 6:30. The stinging had stopped, and I looked at my alarm clock by my bed to see if I could read it. To my surprise, I was able to read it without squinting, albeit a little blurry (probably more due to me just waking up). It felt like I had just woke up with my contacts in.

I made my way out of the room and while still a biz hazy (kind of a dreamlike state) I could see things relatively clearly. I could see things extremely clear within 10 feet in front of me...and then it just started to get a little blurry further off. It was much better than my vision without glasses, but still nowhere near my vision with glasses on. I stayed up for a few minutes. I grabbed a quick drink, put the prescription drops in each eye, had becky type out my facebook status to let everyone know I was still alive, and then went right back to bed. Immediately, I was out like a light again.

I woke up around 8:50. Vision again was much clearer than before. The haze was pretty much gone. I could see clearly...it still wasn't as good as when I had my glasses, but again, better than before. The only thing I noticed was a bit of a halo around light. It wasn't too distracting. I got up and ate some food (thanks for becky), put more drops in my eyes (doc said every two hours the first day)...and went right back to bed around 9:30. Before the surgery, I thought the hardest part was to get myself to sleep. I think my body was so tired for the surgery that sleeping was the easiest thing.

Surgery

So, finally the big day was here. I had actually stayed up until 4am the night before, and then woke up around 9am, in preparation for the sleep that I'll be needing afterwards. The doc said that the longer you sleep, the better the healing process will be.

It had been pretty much out of mind the last few days, so I wasn't really nervous. Also after reading Teresa's blog, I pretty felt pretty comfortable. I do have to say that the waiting area at Clear Choice has a very calm ambiance. I checked in and paid in full (yikes) and basically just sat and waited in the lobby. About 10 minutes before my appointment, a masseuse offered me a massage. My nerves were pretty calm, but I figured I might as well get my money's worth. It was basically one of the massages that you see people get the mall...except with calm music in the background. I do have to say it was pretty relaxing, though that may have been the 5 hours of sleep that I had the night before.

After about 10 minutes, the massage was done and just as I was about to partake of the complimentary cookie goodness, I was called in. They had me take my pouch of goodies (i.e. drugs). I entered another waiting room with 4 seats, two massage chairs and two regular ones. Three of the seats were taking, and the lady that brought me in kicked one of the people out of the normal seats and told them to move into the massage chair. She told me to sit in the normal one. I guess being in the massage chair means that you're on deck. While I was sitting, she put one of those patient caps on my head and scrubbed iodine over my eyelids.

I was also instructed to take one of the valium pills and two benadryl. I just sat and wait. It was a purple room, where they were playing a Neil Diamond XM channel in the background. Also there was a fish tank built into the wall and another wall with a window to one of the surgical rooms. You can also hear the sounds of the laser in the background....it sounds like a constant clicking noise and some buzzing. They called each person in one by one and I eventually was asked to move to the massage chair. sweet... I think I sat in the chair for about 30 minutes fiddling around with settings.

Eventually, I was called in. I walked into the first room (the one with the window) and immediate laid down on the chair (kinda like a dentist chair). One of the assistants drowned each of my eyes with numbing drops. (the more the better, I say!) The surgeon came into the room and introduced himself. I still wasn't very nervous, but you can tell that his bedside manner was used to dealing with quite the opposite. He explained the procedure again and asked if I had any questions (nope).

The actual procedure
So after a few more minutes of waiting for the numbing drops to take effect, the surgeon came back in and say they were going to make the flap here and then walk me over to the other room to do the laser part. This room was brightly lit. He started by putting this clear plastic device on my right eye. This is where the pressure came into play. It wasn't painful. I can only describe it as the sensation that you feel when getting hit in the face with a ball...except in slow-motion.

Ok...for these thinking about it, I'll describe. You know when you get hit by a ball, your vision goes black for flash, and then you see stars whenever you close your eyes? Instead, once they start putting the clear device on your eyes, you slowly feel the pressure building. Then your vision goes black (like when the instant the ball hits you) and then you see stars. I would describe it as mild discomfort...and then when it feels like it's about to hit the medium discomfort level, it's over. The pressure stops instantly and then your vision returns, albeit blurry.

They then do the same thing on the next eye. Exact same feeling. Once that's done, they put another few drops of something in each eye (I forgot to ask) and then you wait. I kept my eyes closes, but snuck a few quick peeks out of curiosity. I was able to see through both eyes, again just blurrily.

After a few minutes, I felt the assistant come by and he helped me up and walked me over to the laser room. The laser room was a darker room. He had me lie down and basically just position the machine over my eye in preparation for the pew pew (my sounds for the laser) part. I saw a weird pattern of lights. It basically looked like this:


At this point, not sure if it was the valium or the flap making, but I had a hard time opening my eyes.

The surgeon came in and gave me another round of numbing drops. The immediately put a patch over my left eye. Then then opened my right eye and somehow taped it to stay open. (It was hard for me to figure out what was going on, but I know I felt tape.) Then I can tell in all my blurriness that the surgeon had started flipping the flap open. This is where I felt a pinching sensation. I can only compare it to getting an eyelash in your eye and it turns the wrong direction that pinches. As soon as the flap is lifted, my vision gets immediately blurry.

Once he started, I saw the same pattern, but the red light was split and kind of moving. This is what I saw:

Ok, so this is where I got all confused. In all the material that was given to me, it said the most important thing was to continue looking at the red light. The surgeon kept telling me to look at the blinking light. The only light that was blinking was the green light in the middle. Well, he started already pew pewing my eye, and I didn't want to move my eye anymore by talking, so I just stared at the blinking light like the surgeon told me. The whole thing felt like it only took maybe a minute. The red light stopped and the surgeon started fiddling with the eye again. No pinching...I think I saw a brush over my eye...and eventually (i'm guessing once the flap was positioned) my vision came back. I couldn't tell if it was better or anything. They put a patch on the eye and immediately started on the left eye.

The left was pretty much the same as the right. The pinching was less, so perhaps the numbing drop need more time to take effect. Again, it lasted for about a minute and then done. Easy peasy.

They took the patch of my eye and helped me up. At this point, I can tell my vision is already better. It was very hazy, but I can recognize the surgeon's face now. I can see details that I definitely couldn't have seen before. The doc walked me into one last room. He sat me down, and had me look through a device where he could look at each eye closely. He said the surgery went well, and reiterated all the post-op stuff. The more I kept my eyes closed, the better they will heal. He gave me the schedule to take the prescription drops and said I was all good.

He left and one last person came in to tape clear eyeshields over each eye. It was literally 5 minutes after the surgery when I was brought out to the lobby and met Beck to drive us home.

Pre-Op

Once you have decided to have the procedure done, the first step is the Pre-Op appointment. I think you have to pay something for the pre-op since this is basically a full eye exam. The experience may be different, depending on what type of lasik procedure you choose, but there will probably be a good amount of similarities as well.

First off, they handed me a bunch of paperwork for me to initialize or sign. Most of these were to accept the risks of the procedure...as well as signing an agreement to do the post-op appointments and the guarantees and such. No big deal.

After my name was called, I was brought to a room similar to the one from my consultation appointment. The machines were pretty much the same. Stick your head into the machine and stare into it while it churns. After a few seconds it finishes and you move onto the next one. I believe one machine maps your eyeball and weirdly can tell what your vision is from this mapping. One of the other machines is the glaucoma test, where you basically stare into the machine until the puff of air shoots into your eye. I never had problems with this test, but some people do, so I thought I'd mention it.

Once the machine stuff is over with, they take you to another room and start doing standard vision tests. This is the silly subjective test where you see the letters on the wall, and you have to tell which lens looks better.

Afterwards, they walk you into the lobby and then you get to watch the fun video that describes all the risks. I figured this was coming at some point. The video was about 10 minutes long and just went through all the risks and expectations of the procedure. Basically saying the chance of going blind is like super teeny, but there is still the risk...so now that we're covered, sign the paperwork. They also go through the expectations, saying that it could take days, weeks or months before you see good results, so suck it up and sign the paperwork.

Alrighty, after the video, then you get to meet with one of the doctors, who basically does a second round of the subjective vision test. I'm actually ok with this, though, since he said they compare these test to the eye mapping to make sure they match. I figure the more testing they do the more accurate I'll feel for the surgery. The doctor explained the procedure. Basically demonstrating how much pressure they will be putting on the eye, and what to expect in terms of vision. He said my eyes were healthy and I shouldn't have any problems. I asked him if what would be a red flag for me to call after the procedure...and he said only if you experience pain after about 6 hours. He said I should plan on going to sleep after I get home and everyone will be fine.

Before I left, they gave me a little pouch of goodies. Basically they gave me lid scrubbers, which I have to clean my lids for 3 nights prior to the surgery. I received artificial tears to handle any dryness afterwards. I also got some sweet looking sunglasses, an eye shield, and directions to pick up prescriptions at my local CVS.

Consultation

So the place where most of my friends had their own Lasik done at was Clear Choice. The whole process begins with the consultation appointment. This is basically the appointment where they tell you if your a good candidate or not. It's pretty simple and took only about a half-hour. As I said before, I've been to a consultation twice. Once ten years ago, when I wasn't completely sure about doing it and another just recently when I was absolutely sure. The experience hasn't changed much...it's much better when your already leaning towards getting it done.

The consultation was pretty straightforward. It's not a full eye exam. They call you in and the associate walks your to a room with two machines. Both involve sticking your head into the device and staring at a light while it churns. The operator asks you not to blink during and after about 5 seconds or so, it stops and the operator gets a printout of the results. I guess this process is used to map out the thickness of your eye to see if there's enough to make a flap. (Make a flap? what madness is this? Read about procedure.)

After the two machines, they then walk you to a room where they show you an 11 minutes video about the procedure. In the video, they talk about the different types of procedures they have available. There are two ways of cutting the flap (one with a blade (!!!) and one with a laser). There are also multiple types of lasers. They also talked about financing plans and such. 11 minutes and your done.

Right after the video, someone called me in to meet with me. This is the sales pitch part that can be annoying or not, depending on if you were leaning toward having the procedure or not. It hasn't changed in 10 years. Basically, you sit in someone's office and they ask if you have any questions. You can tell they have been asked these questions before, since the responses always seemed pretty standardized. My main questions were around experience of the surgeons and percentage of unresolved complications after the first 6 months.

The part that I find a little off-putting is that they talk to you as if you've already made your choice. So, not too bad, if you indeed have made your choice, but back when I was on the fence about it, it felt very sales pitchy. Questions like, "So which procedure do you want to go with? We have these days available for the pre-op, which works for you?" Well, I had already did my research and decided on the bladeless flap and the custom procedure.

Quick background on me

I'll try to keep this brief since this is the boring part (about me). It took almost 10 years of prodding and successful results from dozens of friends before I finally decided to get my own eyes done. I remember my good friend Joanne singing its praises 10 years ago. I think she sent me coupon after coupon for years...I did do a consultation at one point back then, but only now decided to take the plunge.

Just a quick background on my sight. Without glasses, I practically had none. It was a big, blurry mess. My alarm clock, which is about 3 feet away from my bed, was impossible to read without squinting. Glasses (or contacts) were a necessity. My vision is pretty stabilized. I'm 33 now, but probably could have done this way at 23. I probably have 1-2 very minor changes in that 10 year span.

Also, a little background of my lifestyle...I do a lot of staring at computers. It's a hobby as well as my job. I'm also pretty active...playing tennis, basketball or volleyball. I was ok with contacts, but what a pain it was to get them on and off!

The only reason why I give this background is because I do believe the healing process will be different depending on your vision. My close friend Teresa wrote a wonderful blog about her Lasik experience almost exactly one year ago to mine. My vision was a lot worse than hers, and I'm starting to see some differences between our experiences. But if you're thinking about it, check Teresa's blog out. It gives a great overview of what to expect and helped me before my own procedure.