Lasik eye surgery was not something I had always dreamed of doing. It actually wasn’t until my eye doctor mentioned that I would be a great candidate for it, and after experiencing numerous sleepless nights, leading to dry, uncomfortable contacts, that I chose to have the surgery. So it was decided that the nearly $4,000 procedure would be my college graduation gift.
The process was relatively simple, I just had to meet with my regular eye doctor and schedule the surgery, along with a pre-operation visit followed by many post operation visits.
Fall break was the opportune time for me to have the surgery. On Wednesday, I was in Oklahoma City at nJoy Vision where they did all the regular tests, nothing new except dilating my eyes. I had never had this done before, and was shocked that my vision was blurry and out of focus for the next five hours. The optometrist made a joke saying they make my vision worse before they fix it. Outside the jokes, the doctor just assured me everything was going to go smoothly.
Thursday morning, I showed up at the nJoy vision center without any nerves. I had only heard positive things about Lasiks and had no doubt my experience was going to be just as positive.
They took me back and sat me in a recliner where they gave me a pill, like a Valium, to help me relax. I thought it was a bit extreme since I was already so relaxed, but I soon understood why I needed it.
The operation room was small. I laid down on their so called, “bed,” where they got straight to work. The first machine they put over my eye was supposed to cut the flap so they could begin correcting my vision. It was uncomfortable to say the least, possibly the worst part. I was fully awake, and although my eyes were completely numb, I could still feel the pressure on my eye as it was being cut.
From there they switched to a different machine. This is where they did the actual vision correction. They put something in my eye so I couldn’t close it. Then they told me to stare at the red light, while a woman counted down from 40, so I would know how much longer I had.
By this time, I was very appreciative of the little pill they had given me earlier, but I wondered why it wasn’t stronger. I could smell burning. The equipment was loud and I was uncomfortable. It was the longest 40 seconds of my life.
After the longest period of time in my entire life, it was time for the second eye. It was basically the same experience on the second eye. The entire process was rather discombobulating, because it was hard to tell what was going on and the doctors moved quickly. After the machines had done their jobs, the doctor placed the clear flap back in place over my eye. He also did other things to my eye, but I can’t explain what they were.
Then it was over. The actual procedure took only 10 minutes. Immediately following, the doctor checked my eyes again, gave me a pill to help me sleep, and sent me home.
My vision was hazy for the rest of the day, and my eyes were extremely raw and sensitive. Thankfully, the sleeping pill did its job better than my first pill. I slept the rest of the day.
The next day, I woke up to basically perfect vision. My eyes felt a little scratchy, but better than the day before. I had another checkup at nJoy Vision where the doctors were pleased with how my eyes were healing.
Overall, my vision is as good at they said it would be. They were able to transform my 20/400 to 20/20.