dr: a few days after the surgery, you may find that your eyes are more red than you're used to, you're experiencing dryness. . . or some slight discomfort. . .
me (giggling): because you just shot lasers into them?
dr: . . . uh, yeah. i guess that does seem kind of intuitive, doesn't it?
that's right. i'm signed up for LASIK. i'm giving myself the gift of sight. and i'm really, really excited about it. i've been thinking about it for a while and did a consultation in the fall after UW offered the procedure to its faculty and staff for half the cost. then, when we were in jamaica and i had to ration out my disposable lenses based on whether or not i wanted to take a nap during the afternoon. . . or when we did the rope swing and i came up out of the water trying to dislodge the contact lens that had shifted to the outside of my eye. . .i realized that if we're going to live an active lifestyle (thank you, bozeman!), this will make things immeasurably easier. and far less worrysome.
so, i've been doing some research on how LASIK works. it's actually really interesting. from what i understand, it essentially uses lasers to reshape your cornea. why does that improve vision? well, this is why:
even better, my surgery is going to be blade free. it has something to do with creating the "flap"with lasers and bubbles rather than a blade. this is fine by me. from what i can tell, you can see a lot more of an actual LASIK surgery than you want to on YouTube. i do not want to watch eye surgery on YouTube, but i do think that this one minute cartoon gets the gist of it across.
according to the American Academy of Opthamology and the Eye Surgery Education Council, approximately 700,000 LASIK surgeries are performed every year. LASIK has the highest patient satisfaction rate (95.4%) of any elective surgery. the majority of patients enjoy 20/20 vision or better post surgery. most LASIK patients are able to return to work the next day, though not for jobs that necessitate high visual acuity (i.e., you're a surgeon).
and if you're paying the price that i'm paying for LASIK vs. what i typically spend on contact lenses and contact lens supplies, the surgery pays for itself well within five years.
i'll need to use drops (antibiotics to fight infection, steroids to help with healing, and lubricating drops for the dryness) for a while. and i'll of course need to be careful about getting things in my eyes early on, but recovery really is supposed to be quick. paula has volunteered to make sure that i'm well taken care of should anything crazy come up. my plan is to have hear take me to the clinic on the 20th, bring me home, and then sleep until i feel better. or until i go back to the doctor the next day.
you'll likely be able to track the speed of my recovery by how quickly i am back on e-mail and facebook.
