Been wanting to do this for a while but I was just too chicken, well I finally grew the courage and it was pretty much a sporadic decision after reading up about it for so long. Was on Friday the 13th, which interestingly, it was also a Friday the 13th in grade 9 when I found out I needed glasses. I was horrified.
Day 1:
Went for consultation yesterday, went through all the stuff like risks and so on and I was able to back out any time, there was also a video I had to watch. They were not pushy, this was a good sign. After the consultation I paid and was booked to come in a few hours to get the procedure done. Since I have large pupils there's an extra step they have to do so that cost an extra $500 but I was told about that before, they just could not know if it applied to me until they got through all the tests. Turns out that extra step is actually a good thing, as it reduces the chance of major halos. (will get to that later)
Left the office to kill some time then went back in the afternoon for the actual surgery. While I was waiting I was more and more nervous, knowing, this was it, it was real, and it was about to happen within minutes. They called my name, I went into a room for a final quick consultation and to sign the consent form. They also applied the drops for the freezing. TBH, the drops are the hardest part of this entire process. They always had to do it multiple times before I don't blink or move or what not. It's not a very nice feeling having a drop of something fall directly on your eye ball. But it has to be done, and this one in particular was quite important!
Next, this is where my heart lifted, I was brought into the actual laser room. Seeing the bed (like in final destination) and the distinct humming sound. A faint but loud enough hum. I imagine it's cooling fans for the equipment. So I lie down and line myself up to look at the red dot. The bed moves too so they lined it up as well so it's 100% accurate. The laser part moves too. They applied more drops. Then they started to actually play with the eye ball, this part was tough, but I was just doing my best to keep looking at the light. I believe they put a suction cup of sorts to keep your eye fairly steady as well as to keep it open. I could still move my eye, but at this point things got really odd and sometimes I could not see or it went blurry etc... the doc was really good about explaining everything and what I expect to see. Then he cut the flap. This had an odd sensation, it did not hurt, but imagine a very fine tooth saw just brushing against your finger. It felt about like that, but on the eye, but, no pain. It's hard to explain. It's a laser that does it, so at least it's nice to know it's not actually physically touching your eye. I could not really tell 100% when they lifted the flap but I figured that's what they did right after it was done as things went blurry. I just remember lot of odd flashing lights and auras.
The lasering itself is nothing. You hear a buzz sound from the corner of the room to indicate the laser is about to activate, then you hear what sounds like static electricity. very fast tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk. It also felt a bit like electricity. If you've ever played with a van degraaf generator, when you put your finger near ground while other hand on the ball a lighting bolt keep shooting out of your finger, it felt kinda like that, but very faint. I would take that feeling 100x over the eye drops. The laser was done in about 5 short spurts of 5 or so seconds. The entire process on one eye took MAYBE 3 minutes, I think it was even less.
Then they moved me over and repeated the same thing on the other eye. At this point I was a bit less nervous realizing how quick it was. Very uncomfortable and awkward, but not painful. Then, they told me it was all done, and to slowly slide forward (eyes were closed at this point as they removed the tape and other devices - nothing was touching my eye anymore) Then I got to the end of the bed and sat up, then I could open my eyes.
It was incredible just how quick it went, and it was awesome to realize that, it was done. I was still kinda grainy and contrast was not all there, it felt really gray but I could actually see things in focus. Then they put protection on my eyes, it made me look like a gold fish or alien or something. Basically two plastic domes. At that point I asked to read a chart for fun and I forget what my eye sight was at, but he said I could technically drive. So it was quite good. Note: Driving is NOT recommended after, he just told me that to gauge what my level was at. You need a ride after the procedure.
Went to rest at the hotel, but given it was middle of the day and I was quite excited and still had nervousness in me, I could not really sleep but I did lie down for about 4 hours to try to rest my eyes. I thanked God that all went smooth.
There is only about a 3% chance for me that I may need to go back, so that is good. I continue to pray that I don't. It can take months till it heals to a stable point so I just have to wait and see what happens.
Day2:
Got up early, showered carefully, and went straight to the office to get my protection removed. At this point I could really gauge my improved vision better. Did some tests and one eye is 20/20 and the other is 20/30, but it should improve.
Now I'm back home. I just put in eye drops alone for first time. Took me a good 10 minutes. Have to do this 4 times per day, it's going to suck, but it's only for a week, so in the end it's all going to be worth it. These drops are also very important as they will help heal the eye as well as prevent infection.
I still can't see my computer screen as good as I did with glasses though, but I'm hoping this will improve, and I think it will. Also it's not so much that things are blurry, but I think I just have a harder time focusing as I'm basically "learning" how to use my eyes again instead of the glasses doing the work. So I think all this will clear up.
Halos:
For anyone worried about this, it is really not that bad. I can only notice them if there is something bright with a dark (less light, not color) background. The halo effect is similar to doing a contour blend effect in a program like photoshop. Say you are looking at a round light. The white part being the actual light source, and very bright, as normal, now take a paint brush and paint a faint white circle around that white portion. That circle is about 60% transparant. That's basically what the halos are, and since it's summer and the sun is up when I'm up, I wont really see them much. I have not experienced night yet and by the time I do, the halos will have faded away. This is normally not permanent.
Took a week off to recover, and probably need to avoid computer/tv screens as well, but just thought I'd share.
Day 1:
Went for consultation yesterday, went through all the stuff like risks and so on and I was able to back out any time, there was also a video I had to watch. They were not pushy, this was a good sign. After the consultation I paid and was booked to come in a few hours to get the procedure done. Since I have large pupils there's an extra step they have to do so that cost an extra $500 but I was told about that before, they just could not know if it applied to me until they got through all the tests. Turns out that extra step is actually a good thing, as it reduces the chance of major halos. (will get to that later)
Left the office to kill some time then went back in the afternoon for the actual surgery. While I was waiting I was more and more nervous, knowing, this was it, it was real, and it was about to happen within minutes. They called my name, I went into a room for a final quick consultation and to sign the consent form. They also applied the drops for the freezing. TBH, the drops are the hardest part of this entire process. They always had to do it multiple times before I don't blink or move or what not. It's not a very nice feeling having a drop of something fall directly on your eye ball. But it has to be done, and this one in particular was quite important!
Next, this is where my heart lifted, I was brought into the actual laser room. Seeing the bed (like in final destination) and the distinct humming sound. A faint but loud enough hum. I imagine it's cooling fans for the equipment. So I lie down and line myself up to look at the red dot. The bed moves too so they lined it up as well so it's 100% accurate. The laser part moves too. They applied more drops. Then they started to actually play with the eye ball, this part was tough, but I was just doing my best to keep looking at the light. I believe they put a suction cup of sorts to keep your eye fairly steady as well as to keep it open. I could still move my eye, but at this point things got really odd and sometimes I could not see or it went blurry etc... the doc was really good about explaining everything and what I expect to see. Then he cut the flap. This had an odd sensation, it did not hurt, but imagine a very fine tooth saw just brushing against your finger. It felt about like that, but on the eye, but, no pain. It's hard to explain. It's a laser that does it, so at least it's nice to know it's not actually physically touching your eye. I could not really tell 100% when they lifted the flap but I figured that's what they did right after it was done as things went blurry. I just remember lot of odd flashing lights and auras.
The lasering itself is nothing. You hear a buzz sound from the corner of the room to indicate the laser is about to activate, then you hear what sounds like static electricity. very fast tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk. It also felt a bit like electricity. If you've ever played with a van degraaf generator, when you put your finger near ground while other hand on the ball a lighting bolt keep shooting out of your finger, it felt kinda like that, but very faint. I would take that feeling 100x over the eye drops. The laser was done in about 5 short spurts of 5 or so seconds. The entire process on one eye took MAYBE 3 minutes, I think it was even less.
Then they moved me over and repeated the same thing on the other eye. At this point I was a bit less nervous realizing how quick it was. Very uncomfortable and awkward, but not painful. Then, they told me it was all done, and to slowly slide forward (eyes were closed at this point as they removed the tape and other devices - nothing was touching my eye anymore) Then I got to the end of the bed and sat up, then I could open my eyes.
It was incredible just how quick it went, and it was awesome to realize that, it was done. I was still kinda grainy and contrast was not all there, it felt really gray but I could actually see things in focus. Then they put protection on my eyes, it made me look like a gold fish or alien or something. Basically two plastic domes. At that point I asked to read a chart for fun and I forget what my eye sight was at, but he said I could technically drive. So it was quite good. Note: Driving is NOT recommended after, he just told me that to gauge what my level was at. You need a ride after the procedure.
Went to rest at the hotel, but given it was middle of the day and I was quite excited and still had nervousness in me, I could not really sleep but I did lie down for about 4 hours to try to rest my eyes. I thanked God that all went smooth.
There is only about a 3% chance for me that I may need to go back, so that is good. I continue to pray that I don't. It can take months till it heals to a stable point so I just have to wait and see what happens.
Day2:
Got up early, showered carefully, and went straight to the office to get my protection removed. At this point I could really gauge my improved vision better. Did some tests and one eye is 20/20 and the other is 20/30, but it should improve.
Now I'm back home. I just put in eye drops alone for first time. Took me a good 10 minutes. Have to do this 4 times per day, it's going to suck, but it's only for a week, so in the end it's all going to be worth it. These drops are also very important as they will help heal the eye as well as prevent infection.
I still can't see my computer screen as good as I did with glasses though, but I'm hoping this will improve, and I think it will. Also it's not so much that things are blurry, but I think I just have a harder time focusing as I'm basically "learning" how to use my eyes again instead of the glasses doing the work. So I think all this will clear up.
Halos:
For anyone worried about this, it is really not that bad. I can only notice them if there is something bright with a dark (less light, not color) background. The halo effect is similar to doing a contour blend effect in a program like photoshop. Say you are looking at a round light. The white part being the actual light source, and very bright, as normal, now take a paint brush and paint a faint white circle around that white portion. That circle is about 60% transparant. That's basically what the halos are, and since it's summer and the sun is up when I'm up, I wont really see them much. I have not experienced night yet and by the time I do, the halos will have faded away. This is normally not permanent.
Took a week off to recover, and probably need to avoid computer/tv screens as well, but just thought I'd share.