LASIK

I got LASIK!!!! After being in glasses since 4th grade, contacts since 7th grade, gas permeable contacts since 9th grade, and being deemed legally blind since then, I can finally see! Around Christmastime I started having problems with my contacts. In fact, I ended up in Urgent Care the day after Christmas with what I thought was a scratch on my right eye. It was not a scratch, but seemed to be some sort of rejection of my contact. Nice. So the thought of spending who knows how much money on new contacts and doctors appointments was so unpleasant that we made the decision to look into LASIK. I harassed every person I've ever known to have gotten LASIK or PRK, and I went to three different doctors for opinions. In the end I chose Dr. Starck, after wheeling and dealing with the price, and I had the surgery about two months later. I had to wear my glasses for two months before my eyes were ready for the procedure, and believe me, that was quite a sight! My glasses were broken, had only one "arm", so I had to strategically style my hair to hide the missing side for 8 weeks straight! It was quite comical in the end, though, and with the end of glasses forever so near in my sight...it was worth it! The actual procedure went quite smoothly, although nobody ever really talks about the creepiness of the whole thing. You can't close your eyes and pretend it isn't happening!! You are forced to keep your eye open as they peel a flap of your eyeball back!! It gave me the willies in a major way. They gave me a sleeping pill to take when I got home, which they told me should knock me out for "about 4 hours." I knew that it was going to knock me flat, but they assured me that I'd be fine. Well, when I woke up 14 hours later, the next morning, I hadn't been able to use all the eye drops that I was supposed to be using every 1-2 hours. So...that put my recovery behind for about 9 days, as it turned out. I couldn't see very well (it looked like I was looking through dirty glasses) for the first week, so of course I was completely freaked out. But they told me to up the eye drops and gel to every hour until the dryness improved, and they put in temporary tear duct plugs. So on about day 9, it seemed to have done the trick! I could suddenly see clearly, and I have been thrilled beyond belief ever since. Hurray!!!!
P.S. This picture is taken immediately following surgery, as I'm getting ready to go home.