Well that was interesting. More painful than I had anticipated. I have told dozens of patients over the years that "lasik doesnt hurt", but it did. Not terribly nor unbearably, but far from "painless" either.
It wasnt the laser that hurt, it was the microkeratome. I had "traditional" lasik b/c of my high astigmatism, not custom "intralase" like literally everyone else who was in the waiting room with me had. The microkeratome was a lot of "pressure" and it was pretty uncomfortable for about 2 minutes.
My vision is still pretty hazy. I definitely have better acuity now than I did before the procedure, but the QUALITY of the vision is pretty poor. Very hazy/foggy. I'm sure it'll clear up in the next few days...I was told that it would.
I have multiple "subconjunctival hemorrhages" or broken blood vessels in the eye from the suction of the microkeratome, so I look pretty bad. Its about 6 hrs after the surgery and my eye is pretty "achy" and burns like I got a little tobasco sauce in it. Neither feeling is too bad.
Eye Center of Texas was a very pleasant experience. The staff was nice to me, and the docs "showed me off" to the other patients, announcing to the crowd of lasik patients that I was an "eye doctor getting lasik!" I was surprised to find that my tech for most of the workup was a former employee of mine! She worked at the front desk of my old (now closed) private practice before she was accepted to optometry school. I even wrote her a letter of recommendation! Well now she is graduating from optometry school in May, and is in her final internship...and it is at Eye Center of Texas! She recognized me immediately and we "caught up" both before and after the procedure.
I learned something today that I have to admit I did not previously know. Most lasik patients are myopic (nearsighted), which of course I knew b/c I have referred dozens for the procedure. Every lasik procedure I have ever witnessed was performed on a myope. But in cases of high astigmatism, the tech "marks" the axis of the astigmatism with a type of writing pen before the surgery, in case of cylotorsion (eye rotation) after the application of the microkeratome. That was uncomfortable as well. Imagine someone trying to literally "write" on your eye with a pen...thats pretty much exactly what it felt like. At the time I thought that was pretty uncomfortable, but it was nowhere near the discomfort of the microkeratome. I'm not trying to scare anyone away from having lasik (far from it!), but that microkeratome just downright hurt.
So why did I have lasik if I'm such an advocate for ortho-k and contacts? Multiple reasons:
1) ortho-k works awesome on myopia (which I do not have) and works poorly on astigmatism (which I have a LOT of)
2) I have spent years trying to find a contact lens that is comfortable. In my Rx, its very difficult. High cylinder soft torics with an oblique axis (for my astigmatism) cause a very thick edge in a place that is pretty darned uncomfortable
3) frequently (daily!) I am required to use BOTH eyes, or even my right eye by itself WITH NO GLASSES ON in order to look into someone else's eyes with some piece of optical equipment. Well all of the oculars and ophthalmoscopes have adjustments to account for myopia or hyperopia...but literally NONE of them can account for high astigmatism. I would need to wear contacts (which are uncomfortable in my Rx, see #2), or have ortho-k (which doesn't work well in my Rx, see #1), or have lasik.
I'm sure I'll add more info as I remember it, and feel free to ask me questions. I'll post updates about my vision, acuity and recovery time, etc. THANK YOU EYE CENTER OF TEXAS AND DR. EDWARD WADE for working with me to correct my blurry eye!
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