Plum Crazy

Lawsy, lawsy, Miss Eva, I can see!

The laser eye surgery has been completed, and so far I am quite pleased with the results. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. A little rundown on the types of surgery I had.

In the left eye, I had the LASIK surgery, which is where they make a flap in your cornea with the Excimer laser, reshape the eye under the flap, and then put the flap back where it heals naturally in a couple of days. It took about 7 minutes all told to do that eye, although most of it wasn't with the laser. I felt no pain at all, just a little pressure when they inserted the speculum to keep the eye wide open and when they used the microkeratometer to make the flap. Last night, it felt like I had something in my eye, but that sensation was gone when I woke up this morning. My vision in that eye went from 20/400 to 20/30 overnight, and my astigmatism went from 1 point to being completely gone. The vision should improve a bit further over the next couple of days, but even at 20/30 I'm ecstatic.

In the right eye, due to a recurring problem with corneal weakness, I had to have the PRK laser surgery (photorefractive keratotomy). In this procedure they use the Excimer laser to remove the top layer of the cornea and then reshape the eye. Because of this, the healing time is longer, and you don't get the same immediate vision benefits. The top layer grows back naturally also, but it takes 1-2 weeks instead of 2 days. Again, no pain, just pressure from the speculum. This procedure also took about 7 minutes. Today there is some minor discomfort and I'm wearing a bandage contact lens (basically a contact lens without vision correction capability). The vision in that eye went from 20/400 to 20/100 overnight and the astigmatism is completely gone. The vision should continue to improve as the eye heals. The PRK surgery will also cure the corneal weakness. What would happen is that part of the top layer of the cornea would erode every 2-3 weeks, so it was like getting a scratch in your eye every 2-3 weeks. When the cornea regrows, it will be stronger, so no more erosion!

I'm on eye drops a-go-go for the next week. Antibiotic and steroid drops 4 times a day and artificial tears every hour while I'm awake. I also have another type of drop just for the right eye which I also use 4 times a day. I have to wait about 5 minutes between types of drops, so it's a 15 minute procedure every time I have to use them. The bandage contact lens comes out on Tuesday evening.

I am not having much light sensitivity after all. There was a bit this morning, but it has mostly subsided by now. The left eye has no discomfort. It's a little dry, but the artificial tears help with that. The hardest part of the entire surgery was having to stare straight ahead for 5 minutes. Well, that and the no eye makeup for a week thing. The room is freezing, so they give you a blanket. They'll also give you a sedative if you ask for it, but I wasn't feeling nervous enough, so I went without, and I don't regret that at all. Didn't need it.

This is so fantastic. I have been wearing glasses since I was 3, so that really means I was born with bad vision. This is the first time I have ever been able to see unaided in my entire life. I haven't been able to wear contact lenses for the last year because of the corneal weakness, so I've been stuck with glasses. I can't wait for the week to be up, so I can start really showing off all that fancy Bobbi Brown eye shadow I bought!