Saturday, June 16, 2007
Well, it's been over six months now, and my eyes are still working just as good as when I had my glasses, which is great!
I'm still using the Bion Tears from time to time, as my eyes tend to be dry in the morning, but other than that, everything is going pretty good. I don't really even need the drops anymore. I've been out of them for the past couple of days, and found that if I just went about my morning routine my eyes would eventually come around and not feel so dry. The drops just make them better right away.
I still highly recommend the procedure.
I'm still using the Bion Tears from time to time, as my eyes tend to be dry in the morning, but other than that, everything is going pretty good. I don't really even need the drops anymore. I've been out of them for the past couple of days, and found that if I just went about my morning routine my eyes would eventually come around and not feel so dry. The drops just make them better right away.
I still highly recommend the procedure.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
I found this video on YouTube of a Lasik procedure. It's not my exact procedure, but it's pretty close to what I went through. Unfortunatley, it doesn't show the creation of the flap in the cornea, but it's still worth a look.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
It's been over a week now and my eyes are doing great! I'm seeing a perfect 20/20 and have had no problems. I would highly recommend this procedure to anyone who wants to get rid of their glasses or contacts.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The nurse came back in and took another woman into the operating room. We wished her luck as she went in.
A few minutes later, the nurse came back to give me some eye drops and and an antibacterial swab of my eyes. I was next.
I was a little nervous as I sat there waiting, but then the woman back and it was my turn to go in. I stood up and marched into the operating room. There was about 3 or 4 other people in there with the surgeon.
They had me lay down on a table in the middle of the room and placed two stress balls in my hands. Apparently, they give these to everybody.
The surgeon told me to just sit back and relax. He taped my left eye shut, and then pivoted the table I was on so it would swing underneath the IntraLase Laser, the one that cuts the flap in your cornea. He pressed something onto my eye to hold it in place, and then said "Suction on." My vision slowly faded to black at this point as the suction ring held my eye in place. I heard one of the nurses start a countdown from 30 seconds, and I heard some clicking sounds as the laser cut a precise flap in my cornea. I could smell the gasses of the laser mixing together. They kept assuring me that this wasn't the smell of my eye burning, just the natural smell of the laser. After 30 seconds, they were done making the flap. They then did the same procedure to my left eye.
"The hard part is over," the surgeon said to me.
I could feel the table pivot over to the other station, the Wavefront Guided Excimer laser station, the laser that would correct my vision. He opened up my right eye and placed something over it to keep it open. I couldn't see much at this point, as I was looking through the gas bubbles left in my eye from the intralase laser.
"Just follow the red light," he told me. I tried to keep my focus on this dancing red light, but it was rather difficult. They then started the LASIK procedure. I could hear the laser clicking, smell the gas, and hear the nurse counting down from 20. I could see some dancing lights and lines, then some spots, and had a feeling like I was jumping through hyperspace in Star Wars. Very trippy. Then just like that, it was over.
My vision started to come back just in time for me to see the surgeon place the flap back into position. He smoothed it back into position with something that looked like a tiny paint brush from my badly blurry and distorted one eyed perspective. He then taped this eye shut and did the same procedure to my other eye.
By this time, I knew what to expect and was just amazed to watch the whole thing happen again.
Not even ten minutes after I had entered the room, it was over.
"That's it, you're all done," said the surgeon. I sat up and handed the stress balls back to the nurse. I thanked the surgeon as the nurse helped me off the table and guided me out the door.
My vision was blurry at this point, yet sharp. It was almost like looking out of my glasses with big smudge marks on them.
The nurse took me back into the waiting room, where some of the newer people to come in where amazed that I was already done.
I sat back in my chair and put my dark sunglasses on, even though I didn't need them. My eyes weren't sensitive to light or anything, but the darkness helped me to keep them closed, which I had to do for 20 minutes.
After that, the nurse came back, put some drops in my eyes, and sent me over to their optometrist. The optometrist examined my eyes with a slit lamp to make sure that my flaps were in place, which they were.
"Great," she said. "You're free to go."
I grabbed my bag of eye drops, medications, and directions, and headed out to the waiting room to find my girlfriend. It was time to head home.
A few minutes later, the nurse came back to give me some eye drops and and an antibacterial swab of my eyes. I was next.
I was a little nervous as I sat there waiting, but then the woman back and it was my turn to go in. I stood up and marched into the operating room. There was about 3 or 4 other people in there with the surgeon.
They had me lay down on a table in the middle of the room and placed two stress balls in my hands. Apparently, they give these to everybody.
The surgeon told me to just sit back and relax. He taped my left eye shut, and then pivoted the table I was on so it would swing underneath the IntraLase Laser, the one that cuts the flap in your cornea. He pressed something onto my eye to hold it in place, and then said "Suction on." My vision slowly faded to black at this point as the suction ring held my eye in place. I heard one of the nurses start a countdown from 30 seconds, and I heard some clicking sounds as the laser cut a precise flap in my cornea. I could smell the gasses of the laser mixing together. They kept assuring me that this wasn't the smell of my eye burning, just the natural smell of the laser. After 30 seconds, they were done making the flap. They then did the same procedure to my left eye.
"The hard part is over," the surgeon said to me.
I could feel the table pivot over to the other station, the Wavefront Guided Excimer laser station, the laser that would correct my vision. He opened up my right eye and placed something over it to keep it open. I couldn't see much at this point, as I was looking through the gas bubbles left in my eye from the intralase laser.
"Just follow the red light," he told me. I tried to keep my focus on this dancing red light, but it was rather difficult. They then started the LASIK procedure. I could hear the laser clicking, smell the gas, and hear the nurse counting down from 20. I could see some dancing lights and lines, then some spots, and had a feeling like I was jumping through hyperspace in Star Wars. Very trippy. Then just like that, it was over.
My vision started to come back just in time for me to see the surgeon place the flap back into position. He smoothed it back into position with something that looked like a tiny paint brush from my badly blurry and distorted one eyed perspective. He then taped this eye shut and did the same procedure to my other eye.
By this time, I knew what to expect and was just amazed to watch the whole thing happen again.
Not even ten minutes after I had entered the room, it was over.
"That's it, you're all done," said the surgeon. I sat up and handed the stress balls back to the nurse. I thanked the surgeon as the nurse helped me off the table and guided me out the door.
My vision was blurry at this point, yet sharp. It was almost like looking out of my glasses with big smudge marks on them.
The nurse took me back into the waiting room, where some of the newer people to come in where amazed that I was already done.
I sat back in my chair and put my dark sunglasses on, even though I didn't need them. My eyes weren't sensitive to light or anything, but the darkness helped me to keep them closed, which I had to do for 20 minutes.
After that, the nurse came back, put some drops in my eyes, and sent me over to their optometrist. The optometrist examined my eyes with a slit lamp to make sure that my flaps were in place, which they were.
"Great," she said. "You're free to go."
I grabbed my bag of eye drops, medications, and directions, and headed out to the waiting room to find my girlfriend. It was time to head home.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
A few details about the procedure
I arrived at the TLC clinic around 9:40 am, Thursday morning. Somehow, I managed to remain fairly calm the entire morning, maybe because I had to focus on driving through Toronto rush hour traffic. My girlfriend was with me, she was driving us home.
I walked into a fairly busy waiting room. Iwas surprised at homw many people were there, as it wasn't so busy when I went for my consultation the previous Friday.
After a few minutes of waiting, they called me into an office. I filled out some paperwork and paid in full up front. I then went back out in toe waiting room with my girlfreind where I waited another twenty mintues or so.
A woman with dark, wrap around sunglasses walked out of a room being guided by a nurse to a man in the waiting room "Where's your white cane?" he asked. "I can see," the woman replied. That made myself and some other patients in the waiting room very relieved.
Another 15 niutes and I was called up again. I looked at my girlfriend, said wish me luck, and walked off with the nurse.
She took me to another waiting room. This room at five green recliners on one side of it, and four padded wooden chairs on the other. I sat on a wooden chair. The people in the recliners were the ones that were next up for the surgery. We were all pretty nervous sitting there waiting. We talked about why were going through with it, and talked about our nervousness. Soon after, a you girl was guided into the room by a nurse. She was told to sit there with her eyes closed for twenty minutes while wearing the supplied dark wrap around sunglasses. We asked her how it went, and she siad it went well. We later found out that this girl actually passed out just before the procedure, but that's because whe was extremley squimish.
When she came in, another guy was taken into the operating room. We wish him luck. A new person came into the waiting room and sat down beside me. Not even ten minutes later, the guy who was taken away was back. "That was nothing!" he said. Again, very good for the rest of us to hear.
The young girl was given some eye drops by the nurse, and then she was taken out to the waiting room to see her parents.
That's when I was moved over to her chair.
I sat there for a minute or soon, when I was called out to talk to the surgeon. He examined my eyes, looked at my chart, and told me he was 100% comfortable performing either PRK or LASIK on my eyes, which was great to hear because I was a little nervous about LASIK after what I was previously told before. I made my decision to go with LASIK and was sent back to my cushy green chair. Just a bit more waiting to go.
I arrived at the TLC clinic around 9:40 am, Thursday morning. Somehow, I managed to remain fairly calm the entire morning, maybe because I had to focus on driving through Toronto rush hour traffic. My girlfriend was with me, she was driving us home.
I walked into a fairly busy waiting room. Iwas surprised at homw many people were there, as it wasn't so busy when I went for my consultation the previous Friday.
After a few minutes of waiting, they called me into an office. I filled out some paperwork and paid in full up front. I then went back out in toe waiting room with my girlfreind where I waited another twenty mintues or so.
A woman with dark, wrap around sunglasses walked out of a room being guided by a nurse to a man in the waiting room "Where's your white cane?" he asked. "I can see," the woman replied. That made myself and some other patients in the waiting room very relieved.
Another 15 niutes and I was called up again. I looked at my girlfriend, said wish me luck, and walked off with the nurse.
She took me to another waiting room. This room at five green recliners on one side of it, and four padded wooden chairs on the other. I sat on a wooden chair. The people in the recliners were the ones that were next up for the surgery. We were all pretty nervous sitting there waiting. We talked about why were going through with it, and talked about our nervousness. Soon after, a you girl was guided into the room by a nurse. She was told to sit there with her eyes closed for twenty minutes while wearing the supplied dark wrap around sunglasses. We asked her how it went, and she siad it went well. We later found out that this girl actually passed out just before the procedure, but that's because whe was extremley squimish.
When she came in, another guy was taken into the operating room. We wish him luck. A new person came into the waiting room and sat down beside me. Not even ten minutes later, the guy who was taken away was back. "That was nothing!" he said. Again, very good for the rest of us to hear.
The young girl was given some eye drops by the nurse, and then she was taken out to the waiting room to see her parents.
That's when I was moved over to her chair.
I sat there for a minute or soon, when I was called out to talk to the surgeon. He examined my eyes, looked at my chart, and told me he was 100% comfortable performing either PRK or LASIK on my eyes, which was great to hear because I was a little nervous about LASIK after what I was previously told before. I made my decision to go with LASIK and was sent back to my cushy green chair. Just a bit more waiting to go.
I can' beleive how well this procedure has worked. Three days ago, I could barely read my monitor without my glasses due to my astigmatism. Now, I'm typing this just fine! I have 20/20 vision, and it's only the second day after my procedure. I'm taking a variety of eye drops right now and wearing safety glasses so that I don't inadverntenlty touch my eye, something I can't do for at least four days. My cornea has to heal up first, it can still be displaced right now, which would completley mess up my vision. I'm VERY happy with the results and can't beleive how nervous I was going in.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
I can see. It's incredible, but I can see.
More on this tomorrow.
More on this tomorrow.
I can see. It's incredible, but I can see.
More on this tomorrow.
More on this tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Tomorrow is the big day. The day that I allow a surgeon to cut into my corneas with a laser and gently reshape the curvature of my eyes. Yikes!
I'm a little nervous about the whole process, but at the same time excited. It will be nice to be free of my glasses. If the surgery is that successful. They have given me plenty of paperwork saying that results are not guaranteed, and that I might still need to wear glasses after the procedure. A scary thought considering how much this is costing me, but the odds are in my favor. Most people come out of this with very favorable results.
The other thing that is making me nervous about this, is that I've found a few negative websites out there in the past few days. Websites that tell of permanent damage done to peoples eyes from LASIK, and I even saw one of the ads on this website warning against LASIK.
LASIK apparently has more surgical risks than PRK due to the creation of a corneal flap, but has a much faster healing time.
In less than 14 hours, I'll be heading to TLC and preparing for my surgery. Wish me luck!
I'm a little nervous about the whole process, but at the same time excited. It will be nice to be free of my glasses. If the surgery is that successful. They have given me plenty of paperwork saying that results are not guaranteed, and that I might still need to wear glasses after the procedure. A scary thought considering how much this is costing me, but the odds are in my favor. Most people come out of this with very favorable results.
The other thing that is making me nervous about this, is that I've found a few negative websites out there in the past few days. Websites that tell of permanent damage done to peoples eyes from LASIK, and I even saw one of the ads on this website warning against LASIK.
LASIK apparently has more surgical risks than PRK due to the creation of a corneal flap, but has a much faster healing time.
In less than 14 hours, I'll be heading to TLC and preparing for my surgery. Wish me luck!
