soulscape

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Well today, my windows got medicated and sliced and lasered. After having thought about it here and there for a few years, I finally went and received Lasik eye surgery. The surgery occurred at approximately 3pm today and now, at 1am, I am sitting at my friend’s kitchen table typing this.

At the beginning of this year, I heard a presentation at work about medical flexible spending accounts. These FSAs are a way for you to specify an amount of money to be taken out of your paycheck, tax-free. For example, having chosen $1,500 (I believe that’s the max) to be taken out for 2008, I get a little bit of money taken out of every paycheck, equaling $1,500 by the end of the year. Then, when I spend money for medical expenses, I get reimbursed from this spending account. The benefit is that the money is tax-free. The catch is that I HAVE to spend $1,500 on medical expenses in 2008 or I lose that money. Long story short, I made the decision to designate $1,500 for my FSA.

A couple of months later, I’m at Clearview Eye and Lasik Center in San Diego getting a consultation, and they recommend the Intralase Lasik procedure for me. Even after a few discounts, the procedure’s total price is much more than the $1,500 in my FSA. But, I know this is a top-notch facility which uses the latest technology — my friend and ex-roommate is himself an optometrist that used to work at this very center. As some of my friends agreed, it’s worth it to go with a higher-priced option when we’re talking about eye surgery. Also, I qualified to make the balance of my payments, interest-free, over 12 months.

I agreed to do it. So for a week, I had to forego from wearing my contact lenses. Instead, I wore a pair of glasses loaned to me by Clearview. So all week, friends and co-workers asked about my wearing glasses (I hadn’t worn glasses in over a dozen years). I also received numerous compliments about the glasses, which made me wonder to myself, “Why am I spending all this money on Lasik?”

I was reminded of my dislike for glasses though, once the frame started leaving marks on the bridge of my nose. I also disliked the feeling of total blindness whenever I had them off, such as when I first wake up in the morning. Anyway, let me continue onto the procedure.

Today, I arrived at Clearview a little before 1:30pm. After a bit of waiting and signing some forms, I made the $1,500 payment (which I will be able to reimburse myself from my FSA). I had already been approved for the financing, so the balance of the fees will be made in monthly payments by me over the next 12 months. I then went thru a “continuation” exam. They had to re-check my eyes again, since the previous week’s exam results were probably affected by my having worn contact lenses (wearing contact lenses affect the shape of your cornea). This is why I had to wear glasses for the last week.

After that, I was given some anti-anxiety pills. These pills, besides keeping me relaxed, also were supposed to help me be able to focus my eyes better during the surgery. Two different kinds of eye drops were put in my eyes. I believe one was to numb my eyes, and another was an anti-biotic. Iodine was used to disinfect my eyelids. I then had to put on a funny head cap, much like a shower cap, over my head, and similar wraps around my shoes. An eye patch was also put over my right eye.

That was pretty much the extent of the operation prep. After another ten minutes or so of waiting, I was asked to come into the operation room. The surgeon was in there, as well as an assistant. I lay down on operating bed/table and was given a stuffed Shamu to hold during the procedure. Then the psychedelic experience began:

- Some more numbing eye drops were administered into my left eye.
- The operating bed was swiveled so that my head was underneath one machine to my right.
- Some sort of device was “suctioned” around my left eye, probably in essence holding my eye lids open while at the same time helping hold my eye ball in place. There was some pressure felt on my eye ball, but it wasn’t too bad at all.
- I was asked to look up into the machine at a blinking red light. I believe during this time the machine was evaluating and confirming the measurements inside my cornea.
- Then I was swiveled to the left under another machine. I was asked to continue to look straight up and was told I might see a ring of lights. I did…sort of. I was also told my vision would be really blurry at this point because there would be a lot of gas bubbles on my eye. From what I had learned the week before during my consultation and from what I read, this was when a laser was used on my cornea to precision slice the top of my cornea, creating a flap. My vision at this point was very cloudy and psychedelic — remembered I had an eye patch over my right eye and couldn’t see through that.
- Once again I was swiveled over to the machine on the right. I was told to once again focus on the blinking red light above me.
- From having watched a procedure last week, I knew now that the surgeon would use an instrument to lift the now-cut flap open, exposing the inside of my cornea. She kept reminding me to focus on the red light and repeated, “perfect, perfect” as I did so. Basically, an infrared laser at this point was shooting down at my cornea, reforming it to correct my vision based on the measurements they had taken during my exam.
- Once the laser was done, the surgeon lifted the flap back over my cornea, and used another soft-tipped instrument to ease it back into place. She also probably placed some additional eye drops to begin the healing process. I had been told the previous week that the flap would begin healing within minutes. One of the more interesting moments was, as she lifts the flap back in place, my vision was instantly clearer.
- After a few moments, the surgeon takes the eye patch from my right eye and places it over my left eye.
- The whole process begins again, this time on my right eye.
- Once the right eye is done, they ask me to sit up and look at the clock on the wall. I can clearly see that it’s about 3:12pm.
- I’m informed that it’s normal for my vision to be a bit cloudy for a bit, which it is, but there’s no denying my vision is also a lot better.
- The surgeon takes a quick look at my eyes using an instrument.

After that, I leave the operating room where another assistant gives me a Vicodin pill to take. She also hands me a bag that contains: 1) Goggles for me to wear for the next week when I sleep (to print me from rubbing my eyes, which would be very bad), 2) Sunglasses, as my eyes might be light-sensitive for a few days, 3) additional Vicodin pills for pain (I also quickly find out they make you drowsy), 4) anti-biotic eye drops to prevent infection, 5) steroid eye drops to prevent inflammation, and 6) non-preservative eye drops in case of dry eyes and irritation.

I am instructed to go to sleep right away for four hours. It’s important for me to rest and keep my eyes closed for those four hours to promote the healing of the flap on my cornea. It’s not hard to do, and I fall asleep soon after getting to my friends’ Melvin and Anna’s place. I wake up after about two and a half hours, and they put some grapes and a banana next to my bed, along with water. I devour the banana and grapes. Realizing my eyes feel irritated and unsure I can fall asleep again, I take two Vicodin pills. Indeed, I fall asleep another two hours. At 8:30pm, I get up. Soon my friends come home and we hang out a bit, then end up at Denny’s for a late meal.

I can see fine already. There is light irritation with my eyes, a feeling similar to when I used to wear my contacts and they would get too dry. While sitting in the passenger seat of Melvin’s call, on the way to Denny’s, I could see that my night vision at this point is not perfect. Lights have a large glowing halo around them. I can read street signs to an extent, but they are a bit blurry. Regardless, I see them well enough where I can definitely drive. This would have been out of the question prior to the surgery (without glasses or contacts).

I’ve heard that it does take time for my vision to improve, but that eventually, many people experience 20/20 vision or better after these procedures. I do hope that’s the case — 20/20 vision would be incredible — but I must say the immediate results are pretty impressive. For the next seven days, I need to use the antibiotic and steroid eye drops four times a day, and the Vicodin and non-preservative eye drops as needed. But hopefully, after those seven days, my eyes will be fully healed, and the results will even be better.