My Lasik Procedure Experience

Me in my surgical cap

 with gauze at each ear to catch the over spill of the drops or any irrigation fluid

I was prescribed my first set of glasses at age seven.  By the time I was in high school I was pretty much legally blind without my glasses.  At age sixteen I obtained my first set of hard contact lenses and since I had astigmatism I was never a candidate for soft contact lenses.   Although I started hearing about Lasik surgery in the 1990s, I have never been one for elective type surgeries.  Therefore, I decided that as long as they could correct my eyes with lenses I would not opt for the surgery, assuming if it ever got to the point that lenses would not correct them,  Lasik would  be a procedure that had gained in precision  by that point in time.  About two years ago my contacts became increasingly uncomfortable to wear because I had one near eye lens and one far eye lens and I could no longer see what was on the shelf at the grocery or the computer screen very well.  I needed a third lens.  So eighteen months ago I went into glasses full time but I did not feel like I could see well in my glasses.  It could have been the progressive lenses but I was not satisfied.  Therefore, one of my New Years Resolutions was to investigate Lasik Surgery.  At the end of February I had my screening appointment and found out that I was a candidate for one of the newer procedures.  I scheduled my appointment to have it completed on April 8th.  The day after I made that surgical appointment I went on a hike and broke my ankle in two places.  Assuming I would need to reschedule the Lasik until I was more mobile I mentioned it to my Orthopedic Surgeon who said there was no medical reason not to have the surgery.  I then contacted the Lasik Plus people who said there was no reason to reschedule as they would help me with any mobility issues.  So yesterday I had my Lasik surgery.  The staff at LasikPlus was very knowledgable and kind.  They took time to explain each step to me before hand and then explained again as each thing happened.   The type of procedure I had involved two main surgical steps.  First, one machine made a flap from my cornea that would be pulled back out of the way.

It took fifteen seconds on each eye to complete the part of the procedure that involved peeling back a flap on each of my corneas.

Then I had to be moved to the machine that actually did the laser cutting.  I was afraid even though the staff was very reassuring,  so I held very still throughout both steps.  The second part was the actual laser cutting.  I found it a little disconcerting that I began to notice an odor that smelled  like hair burning.  Nevertheless,  there was no pain involved.  It took 25 seconds to complete step two on one eye and 29 seconds to complete step two on the other eye.  After the computerized laser cut the first eye then Dr Marino replaced the corneal flap by irrigation and moved the machine over to the second eye repeating the process.  

When finished,  they assisted me to sit up and I was able to  tell them what time it said on the clock up on the wall.  I was then moved to a viewing machine where Dr again looked closely into my eyes.  After an assessment of things like rechecking my blood pressure I was helped to my car .  My husband was my chauffeur and photographer for the morning.  My appointment was at nine am and I was on my way home by eleven am.  The most time consuming portion of the day was signing the consents and getting all checked in. 

 By noon,  I was home and the numbing drops began to wear off.  I found my eyes felt very gritty and I had some discomfort.  They had given me tylenol pm prior to beginning the procedure and so before one pm I drifted off to sleep in spite of any discomfort.  I woke up shortly after two pm and felt no further discomfort.  My vision was blurry but improved through out the evening.  I was not to read on my kindle or spend much time on my lap top but had been told I could mess with my smart phone and/or watch television as tolerated and it was necessary for me to sleep in sun glasses the first night.  I was amazed when I woke up  and could look over at my clock and see what time it was without having to feel all over my night stand for my coke bottle bottom glasses to put on in order to see the face of the clock.  After getting up I went to  my follow up appointment.  If it were not for my broken right ankle I could have driven myself.  My distant vision is now 20/20 when using both eyes and one line above that if I am looking out of one eye or the other.  I am blurry up close but was told in the prescreening process that I would require over the counter drug store type glasses for close work.  They explained that my vision will continue to improve over the next three months.  I am shocked at the clarity with which I can see now along with the vividness of the colors.  I also want to mention that the doctor called me the evening before surgery to see if I had any questions and the evening after surgery to see if I was doing okay and  when he spoke to me prior to starting the surgery he squatted down at my  wheel chair level and looked at me when speaking.  He did not stand over me and talk at me.   Even though my procedure was completed at the Cincinnati office my prescreening was completed at the Dayton office and I will have the remainder of my follow up visits in Dayton,  I would not hesitate to recommend either office to others.  In fact,  I saw some of the same staff both places.  

I do have to be careful this first week but I really only have one remaining question:  What took me so long to decide to do this?!

Dr Marino and I after surgery on Friday morning.