Warning - contains eyes! Do not read or view if squeamish!

Only a three-month gap between blogs this time! I was going to do one the other week after my holiday to Vegas, but I decided that will have to wait as I have something more suitable for blogging to report on. After being a specky-four-eyes for around 25 years, I finally decided to try and ditch the glasses and contacts altogether as it is just too much of a faff for camping and holidays and things. So yesterday I had LASIK treatment and thought it was worth detailing the experience.

The Preamble:

I am (rather, was), what is termed a "high myope" (someone with prescription worse than -6.00 diopters). My last eye exam stated I was -8.5 in my left eye and -7.25 on the right, which equates to being able to see clearly up to 12cm, anything further away getting progressively blurred. So first thing in the morning I had to reach automatically for my glasses before doing anything. Contacts were fine, and I had excellent corrected vision, but I did get dry eyes with the contacts which limited the time I could wear them for, and they weren't practical for the sorts of holidays I do. Not to mention the vanity factor - I hate wearing glasses as can never find ones that look good after putting the thick milk-bottle-like lenses that I needed. They had to go! In the past I would have been too blind for laser treatment but in recent years new techniques have been developed that have extended the scope of treatment, so I figured it was now or never. I chose to have it done at the local nugget (private hospital) as I know and trust the reputation of the consultant, and felt they would provide better care than the high street clinics (where you may not see the surgeon until op day). Plus they are better placed to deal with any complications quickly as they do the full range of corneal stuff rather than just refractive surgery. More expensive, but hopefully worth it.

The op:

After all the assessment stuff that I had a few weeks ago, I had the treatment at 9.30 yesterday. I was remarkably chilled out about the whole thing, and I promise there had been no valium involved! I just knew that I trusted the surgeon so figured there was no need to stress. I got taken into the theatre and lay on something resembling a dentists chair, and everything went fairly quickly after that. I understand that people tend to be more stressed than I was, so I was told that they like to get it done quickly. The right eye was attacked first which involved having anaesthetic drops in, the eye clamped open, and eyelashes taped back. Then they apply a suction ring so that the first laser can cut the flap in the cornea (for details about the procedure used, see here ) although I had the intralase version whereby a laser rather than knife is used to make the flap. The suction ring feels a little uncomfortable, like pressure directly onto the eye, and the vision goes totally grey with lots of sparkly firework-like specks as the flap is cut. After about a minute the suction is removed and a pointy stick (or that's what it looked like to me) was used to fold the flap back. Then the chair swings round under the main laser, and I had to stare at a red flashing blob while the scent of burning (yes, my burning cornea) filled the air. Couldn't feel a thing though. The flap was then replaced using the pointy stick, more drops were installed, then he moved onto the left side. I think the local anaesthetic didn't work quite as well, as the suction and flap cutting was a lot more uncomfortable, bordering on the painful. It felt like an octopus had attached itself to my eye and was trying to suck out the contents while biting down, but it was bearable despite being unpleasant. The rest of the procedure was straightforward, and I was back in my room within 15 minutes.

The aftermath:

Slightly sore, bloodshot eyes, like looking through blurry contact lenses. I could already see distances more clearly although blurred, and was instructed to go home and sleep for a couple of hours. I spent most of the day lying in bed, and will describe the effects and further progress over the coming days. Watch this space!

This video below shows a speeded-up version of it all - it's not me as I didn't think to ask if I could get a video of my treatment. You might have to replay it as when I tried, it does something funny and misses out the first bit the first time it loads!

(4771 views as of 2/9/09)