Laser Eye Surgery (part 7) - The conclusion
It’s done! All in a matter of maybe ten minutes, they’ve hit the reboot button on my eyes. I came out from under the machine feeling very disoriented and somewhat weak, but that was probably just the Ativan.
Forgive any typos I make, I just woke up from a brief nap and I’m typing with my eyes closed.
I arrived at the TLC building around 8:45 this morning, to be immedialy greeted and have my payment processed. Immediately following this, myself and four other hopeful patients were coralled into a small dark area with reclining chairs where one of the surgeons’ assistant went through all the post-op care, introduced us to the fab shades I’m wearing right now, and basically just set us all at ease.
At this point, the assistant also administered the freezing all around the eye, and an optional hit of Ativan, a very mild sedative which I still haven’t felt.
We were called in one by one, not more than 10 minutes for the whole procedure beginning to end. Of course, I ended up going last, so I had the opportunity to watch everyone else before me on the monitor. The most interesting part is when the flap of the eye is peeled back. At this point, the eye just looks like a peeled grape. You must wonder how that looks from the patient’s perspective..
When it came turn for me to go in, I was fairly calm about the whole thing, trying to remember that it was elective surgery, so that anything that went wrong was all my fault. I sat down between two giant machines, which I presumed were the Intralse machine, and the other was the actual operating laser.
As soon as I sat down, we got started. The doctor placed a small metal device with a loop at the end around the surface of my (now frozen) eyeball. This held my eye in the correct position I immediately couldn’t see anyting out of this eye - presumably because it was exerting force on all sides of the eye and the light was being distorted. He then moved the chair under the machine to the left, which is the Intralase machine. It would be cutting the flap.
I was pretty disoriented at this point, but I think the machine lowered to clamp on to the metal suction object on my eye to do its work. An assistant then called out “30 seconds,” and that portion was done. They bandaged up my eye for the time being, and did the same thing to my right eye.
Now, the actual laser procedure was ready to begin. He removed the bandage on one of my eyes, then used some kind of tool to keep my eyes open all the way. I could see a blinking, very HAL-like light above me, and was instructed to focus on it. Easier said than done… during this time my Surgeon was peeling back the flap of my eye, and so the light from this red dot hit my eye, the flap being moved around caused the dot to jump all over the place. It was tricky to keep an eye on it.
Once the flap was removed, the Surgeon used a small metal surgical device to move it up and out of the way (typically, this is when if you’re watching a LASIK procedure, the surface of the eye will appear as an exposed grape). This is when things went weird. My vision was just basicaily gone. I could see colors and lights, but couldn’t make anything out. They were now trying to line up the laser with my pupil. If you’re looking on the obersvation screen, you can see a crosshair trying to focus on the patient’s eye. This part is all about will power, as I tried to stay as still as possible. I thought I was fidgeting, but the surgeon assured me that the computer would lock on as needed.
Seconds later, I heard a “whish”-sound followed by the familiar sound of a cooling fan. The laser must now be powering up. An assistant announced “20 seconds of laser for this eye,” and that’s when it started going off. There was an arking-type sound, the kind you hear when high power electronics are being used. With each arc of the laser, I saw a ring of yellow light that gradually improved. This went on for the alloted 20 seconds, and then it was done. The surgeon carefully placed the flap of my eye back into position, and with a few drops, suction took care of the rest of it.
I then had the same procedure done on the other eye. Whoo! The whole procedure was entirely painless - the only uncomfortable after-effects are what I’m feeling now - a slight burning in my eyes. Thankfully I have my awesome Hasselhoff-esque shades to wear all day, and my shields at night. I’m also on a strict schedule of antibiotic eyedrops until tomorrow, with another set that will be used until next week.
My vision right now is still quite blurred. I can see distance better than up close at this point, but it’s expected to improve by tomorrow morning. I’m off to rest now!
Update: First off, welcome to all you diggers! Surely didn’t expect this story to attract so much attention - just thought I’d try to raise some awareness about this procedure.
I thought I’d also clarify a couple things.
1. First off, there was no “cutting” of the cornea by any metal object. They place a metal suction cup like device onto your eyeball, and that device is then locked into the Intralase machine which will cut the flap. This was traditionally done with a microkeratome, which I wrote about previously, and this basically is a metal blade that swings across your eye to create the flap. Intralase is both safer, and more accurate than this method.
After the flap was cut, the Surgeon used a metal rod of some sort to reach under the cut flap, and pull it away so that my eye was now exposed and they could begin using the laser on it.
2. While I didn’t type entirely with m eyes shut, I did my best to. I was advised that keeping away from staring at the TV/Computer for excessive amounts of time during the first week or so would be a good idea. I just tried to rest my eyes at any time that I could as the flap heals best while your eyes are closed.
3. I didn’t notice this before, but I have a slight amount of bruising on the tops of my eyes. It doesn’t hurt or anything, but it’s sensitive to touch. They say this is completely normal, and is caused from the suction cup like device that held my eye in spot while the procedure was being done. You can’t see it unless I lift my eyelids.
Leave a comment if you have any questions! I know I was a huge information junkie going into this procedure, so I’d be happy to help anyone else who is doing the same.
Comments
I’ve always been thinking of doing this eye surgery. I’m tired of using contact lenses and eye glasses. But I’m still having second thoughts of having it. Same with Janie, I’m also a jumpy person. It would be hard for me to stay still… Do you think I should push through with this…? Thanx
When I think of what happened to Karine Cloutier in Canada I just freak out haha,(She lost her sight after a laser intervention).
The only complication that is serious is a kind of eye infection that lowers a lot your sight and burns your eyes.
Anyways, Il wait till they get more advance into that field before doing it.
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Adam lives in Toronto, Canada and likes to make cool stuff. He sometimes even gets paid to make things for the Web.
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Hi Adam,
My name is Janie Grand and while googling info. on Lasik eye surgery, I came across your blog entry. I have Lasik surgery coming up very soon at TLC in London ON but I feel like I may chicken out! I hate wearing glasses and contacts are a pain, but the whole idea of staying still during the procedure with loud sounds, lights, scares me. Is it hard to stay still? I am a “jumpy” person, so I feel like the noise of the laser would make me jump/move….
They mentioned Adivan but you seem to indicate it didn’t have much effect…Any advice for a jumpy person?
Thanks for sharing your experiance.
Janie Grand