In case you are considering getting Lasik eye surgery, and want the opinion from someone who is scared of everything on what surgery feels like; let me tell you.
This time last year I had Lasik eye surgery. They had to give me a volume to relax my nerves because I was very nervous about the pain. I watched a video on what the procedure would be like in a massage chair for about 10 minutes. I could see them preparing my surgical room from the massage chair. The nurse came in after the video was over, and put some numbing drops in my eyes. If you don’t know, they cut the pupil part of the eye before using the laser to correct your vision. The numbing drops don’t sting or burn or anything. It felt like I had dry eyes when my eyes were numb, but I could still blink.
When I went into the surgical room they had me lay down, and they put me under the laser. The whole procedure took 5 minutes, including prep time and both eyes. To keep the eye from blinking, they used a metal hook to keep the eye open. The hook was not what I expected; it was very comfortable. It looks worse than it is. The other eye was covered with a plastic white patch to protect it from the laser. My lashes were taped down, and they began to do the work on me.
The doctor says you will feel slight pressure when they cut your pupil, but the pressure is minuscule and nothing painful that will make you grunt or anything. But I was praying the whole time, “Lord, this too shall pass, this too shall pass!” The most annoying part is having someone else’s fingers in your eye, and having your eye cut while you’re awake. The cutting part doesn’t hurt because your eye is numb. Beware that the laser does smell weird. Almost like burning hair, although the doctor says it’s the fumes from the laser machine. I promise you the procedure for both eyes took 5 minutes or less. They give you an eye exam immediately after the procedure. My vision improved dramatically in just 24 hours. For 24 hours I couldn’t watch TV, read, get on the computer, or drive. My vision wasn’t blurry afterwards, but my eyes needed to rest. The eyes heal very fast. In the first 24 hours, the eye is 80% healed. The rest takes 4 – 6 weeks to heal.
Basically after I had Lasik, it felt like I had an irritated contact in my eye, and all I wanted to do was rub it or keep my eyes closed. You cannot rub your eye for 6 weeks, instead you have to use prescribed eye drops. As the numbing drops wear off, you’ll want to keep your eyes closed and rest. My eyes only irritated me when they were open. That irritating feeling lasted 48 hours, and got progressively better every day. I did use the drops as prescribed, and followed all the directions. The weirdest thing was that I could taste my eye drops. The drops went into my eye, through my nose, and then into my mouth. Yuck! Amazing how the body is all connected. When it was all said and done I had 20/15 vision, and most importantly; I could wake up and see. No more breaking my glasses which was the best part. My vision was perfect and I was happy, until about 8 months later when my eyes began to get worse. So I went back to my Lasik center, and had a free exam. They ended up having to give me an enhancement on my right eye.
So this past Saturday, I had my enhancement surgery and now my vision is at 20/40. They are hoping it will be 20/20 or better in six weeks. I hope it is. Lasik eye surgery is worth the money on discount, but I would never pay full price for it. Also, make sure you get some type of guarantee. I got my enhancement surgery free because of my centers guarantee. If you want Lasik you should get it, and don’t worry about the pain because it’s not painful at all. The surgery feels like someone is pressing on your eye, then putting in a contact for you except it doesn’t burn half as bad as contacts do. Its more annoying and uncomfortable than painful. Afterwords it’s just a pesky feeling like a dry contact is in your eye. That dry contact feeling gets better every day, especially when you use the drops. You won’t need any downtime aside from the day of surgery. Just keep in mind all the risks involved with the procedure, pray about it, and be mindful that it does not result in a lifetime of great vision.