I Can See! I Can See! Part 1

I've been fascinated by the amount of inquiries I've gotten about my Lasik surgery. Practically everyone I've encountered has known of someone who's done it, has done it themselves, or are interested in doing it. Here was my experience.

Wavefront vs. Traditional
There are two main types of Lasik, traditional and custom wavefront. Unlike traditional Lasik, Wavefront Lasik further corrects for other "higher-order" imperfections in the cornea which cause glare, halos, stars, contrast, and night vision problems. It makes a map of the cornea and pinpoints particular areas to correct, whereas traditional Lasik just slices off the top. Wavefront Lasik is also about $400 more per eye. So here's a no-brainer: all doctors recommend Wavefront.

Which Doctor?
I originally planned to use one of the guys I hear on the radio. They offered free exams so why not? Problem is that they are so booked up, you'll be lucky to get an appointment within 7 weeks. So in October while I was waiting for my December appointment, I decided to ask my regular optometrist Daniel for a recommendation. To my pleasant surprise, Daniel actually works with a Lasik specialist, Dr. Mandel, who's an excellent doctor (according to Daniel)! Daniel would take care of all the pre-screening and post-op exams, and I only see Dr. Mandel for the actual surgery. Cool beans!

What makes you a "good" candidate?
Of course I'm a good candidate, why wouldn't I be?? I got the money right?! Well first of all you need to be in good general health. Second, you need to have enough thickness in your cornea to accommodate your correction. So someone with a -8 nearsightedness would need twice as much thickness than someone with -4. And finally, if you have an astigmatism, it may disqualify you also depending on the severity. Fortunately for me, I'm ok on all fronts. His only concern that is when I turn 45 I may need reading glasses, so I'll only be completely glasses-free for a few more years. Yeah I wish I had done it sooner too.

The day
I went to the Horizon Vision Center in San Leandro. There was a huge waiting room with about 20 people. I guess people like to come with their families to cheer them on – I can envision these same people at the plastic surgeon's office. In my case, Chrissy just dropped me off and went shopping. She should have stayed because they even have a window where you can witness everything. They perform anywhere from 15 to 25 surgeries every day.

The staff was quite efficient. I was called in and out 3 times to do various measurements at different stations with different doctors. They all gave me assurances that I was a great candidate, and that I had enough thickness for a -8 procedure even though I was only a -3. I'm sure they were all thinking "easy money on this guy." Then they sent me to the receptionist where I had to pay.

The 4th station was the final call where they started to numb my eye and gave me a valium to relax. I sat there for 30 minutes next to this woman who drove all the way from Turlock (wherever the heck that is) just to see Dr. Mandel because she heard he was the best! Unfortunately he would only operate on one of her eyes because the other lacked the thickness required. But he did tell her that some other doctor would probably do it for her. It's just that he wouldn't. You see, he only accepts low-risk patients (in order to maintain his perfect record. – Hmm, sounds like sandbagging to me.)

The moment of truth
I entered the room and laid on the table. There were about 5 doctors there. They made me hold this stuffed teddy bear for comforting reasons. Um, ok... They tape my eyelids open and inserted that thing you see in the first picture which was rather uncomfortable. The machine then moved into place right above my eye. Then they pressed (rather hard) on my eye with something else and I felt something swipe across. That's when they peeled my flap across like a can a Pringles. And that's when I started to freak out a little. The clear ring of light I was staring at got real blurry as the flap was lifted. Then five seconds later everything went dark. I was blind! I'm like "um, excuse me, but I can't see..." They assured me that it was normal and to calm down. Then shortly after I see a dim blurry flashing orange light. They say to look at it. I hear the tapping sounds of the laser for about 10 seconds and then the flap is folded back into place. They brush around the edges of the flap and the machine moves to the next eye and I remember thinking, "Hey that wasn't that bad, it was really fast too!"

As they started to tape the second eye, I started to recall the part of the video where they say the second eye will always hurt more. Not that it does, but because your mind is preparing you for it. And man, boy did that second eye hurt like crazy! And it lasted twice as long too! (Or so it seemed). Good thing I had my teddy bear!!

The actual surgery lasted about 5 minutes per eye and I was in and out of the office in 2 hours. The valium made me real lightheaded and relaxed. I asked them for another one, "you know, for the road..." They said no.

Recovery
The surgery was at 4 and the car ride home was long and uncomfortable. My eyes were starting to burn and itch and there was nothing I could do since I had to wear these protective shields. They recommended I take some Tylenol and to keep my eyes closed until morning. I wanted to go to bed asap but we had to go pick up both boys from daycare, and then we had to pick up my prescription too. With my eyes closed, it's amazing how well you can focus on sound. That's when I realized how loud my kids are! They're also spoiled and bratty too!

That night I slept until 9:30 when I got up to eat dinner. By that time, about 90% of the pain had subsided. But it was still hard to open my eyes. I was only able to squint in order to see. And other than stepping on a few toys, I was even able to make an accurate visit to the bathroom!

The next morning I was able to see fine. Still hazy, but not blurry. I was able to drive the kids to school and myself to Daniel's for my post-op check-up. I left my covers on as I drove just to get some weird looks from other people.

Oops, this post is quickly getting way too long. I'll continue the story on my next post. Thanks.