Lasik Eye Surgery

Well, I finally did it. I hadn’t wanted to blog about this before because I didn’t want to jinx anything or get any comments with horror stories that might make me change my mind. It’s done, over and it went well. I woke up this morning and am seeing better than ever. I always saw well with my contact lenses, but this morning everything is just a bit crisper.

Dr. Corbin (661-259-2168) over here on Lyons and Waymen St. in Newhall has been my optometrist for about 10 years. The staff is great over there and he’s been telling me for a few years that I was a good candidate for the surgery. So finally after hemming and hawing over it, I committed to get it done 2 weeks ago and I sit here today wondering why in the world I waited.

At any rate, I will admit that I was scared to death and cried like a baby while I was laying there waiting for the procedure to begin, but at that point, there was no turning back.

If you are thinking of having Lasik done and want the details, read on.

I had the procedure done in Sherman Oaks by Dr. Berg who is one of the top 10 Lasik eye surgeons in the country. He has performed some crazy amount of surgeries (I think over 20,000) and after researching him online, I found nothing but positive comments about him. When I met him I knew why. The guy is so nice and makes you feel at ease. He talks to you through the entire procedure telling you what you will feel, etc.

When I got there, they did a few screenings on my eyes. They checked my prescription with some high tech gadget and also did the typical vision screening (What is the lowest line you can see?). There was another machine that scans the eye and makes a map of your cornea. So after that, it’s time to go in and begin.

The procedure I had done is called Custom IntraLase aka Bladeless Lasik. I liked the ‘bladeless’ part. Basically, you lie on the table and they numb your eyes. Then they put these lid apparatuses under the eyelid to keep them open. Kind of uncomfortable, but not too big a deal. After that they place these suction cup type things on the whites of the eye and then everything goes dark for a moment, then they say “suction on” then the laser goes to work on making the ‘flap’. While the laser is cutting the flap, you see very small different colored lights. Very weird. After it’s done, they remove the suction cups, and what you see is all frosty and blurred. The flap cutting was the most uncomfortable part of the whole procedure. I wouldn’t call it pain, just pressure on your eyes and knowing what they are doing doesn’t help. But like I said, you can’t turn back at that point.

Once the flap is made, it’s time to get to work with the laser that repairs your vision. So Dr. Berg is talking to me through this whole thing to keep me calm. He starts by opening the flap of my eye (kind of like turning a page in a book). The flap is surprisingly sturdy even though it looks so fragile. Once the flap is open, he adds some drops and just kept telling me to look at the red light. Easy enough, then all of a sudden, the laser starts ticking and for about 15 secs, I couldn’t move my eye, I just kept staring at the red light. (Side note: the laser is basically vaporizing molecules in your eye, so ehm, you’ll smell that and it’s kinda gross). Once that’s done, he rubs down the flap to flatten it out and then it’s time to move on to the next eye.

After the surgery, things were still a bit blurred, but I could tell immediately that my distance vision was already better. I left there with these shields on my eyes that made me look like a fly. (I have to sleep with them for a week-ha-very funny). I was told to go home and sleep for five hours, so they sent me home with a nice valium cocktail and I was out for exactly 5 hours. When I woke up, my eyes were sensitive to the light, but I could see much better than when I left the doctors office earlier that day.

This morning when I woke up, I was amazed at how crisp everything was. I could see the clock on the cable box across the room, the trees on top of the mountains. It’s so weird.

My post op care will be handled by Dr. Corbin, so I won’t have to go back to Sherman Oaks. Not that I would mind, they are fantastic over there at Dr. Berg’s office. Thank you to Janice for holding my hand though the tough part. For the next for weeks, I basically CAN NOT touch my eyes. The flaps have to heal and it takes a few weeks for them to fuse back together. I need to avoid dusty or windy places for the first week (ie: softball fields) so I’ll have to miss my daughter’s games this weekend. Ugh!
So would I do it again? Absolutely.