Monday, August 10, 2009

My Lasik Procedure...

Had my Lasik done on Friday (7th August) morning.... opted to have two eyes done at the same time.
Contrary to what some people say, I did NOT SEE CLEARLY immediately after the procedure.

I have to say that I was quite nervous ..... couldn't sleep from Wednesday. And as a result, when they checked my eyes on Thursday, the intraocular pressure was a little elevated. But did have a fairly good sleep on Thursday night. Mom went with me to the center at about 9 am.
After the standard brief check-up and marking of the eyes, I was led to a different room to be suited-up, hair and feet covered, face washed and then waited for my turn. There was another guy who was there for an enhancement to his right eye. I was immediately after him.

When it was my turn, doctor wanted to have a talk with me first.... apparently due to my HIGH myopia, bigger than average sized pupils etc, there are higher order abberations that cannot be corrected in ONE procedure, due to safeguards set in the Lasik machinery. So I guess perhaps in about a year's time, I would need to undergo my own enhancement. Will see...

Anyway, I was led to the chair where the flaps are to be created. Opted for the Nasa iLasik procedure where the flap is created by tiny bubbles introduced by laser instead of a mechanical blade. Of course I was scared....but the opthamalogist was quite good, explaining every single step. He was like "look at the center of the ring where there's no light...you are doing well. Okay...The lock. The laser is descending down to your eye. Do not worry. You won't see anything at this point. Don't panic....laser is active... counting down counting down... 5 4 3 2 1. Done".

When both flaps were created, I was led to the other laser machine, where the cornea is zapped into the required thickness and shape. Having the flap flipped open was quite unnerving. Though it was NOT painful at all, I could see blur shadows of the procedure. Then the laser was put to work. The scary part here was being able to SMELL burnt tissue... Yucks! Other than that, it was a breeze. I could see him closing the flap and smoothing it down.

By 10.40 am, procedure was completed. He asked me to read the clock. It was a blurr... I could only barely see the hands of the clock as everything was soooo misty. I could hardly open my eyes for the next few hours. A quick check by the optometrist, and I was sent home with my antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and artificial tear drops.

My eyes were soooo sensitive to light. Blur blur blur was all I saw. Abit worried. So went to bed. Thank goodness that when I woke up, my vision did improve. In about six hours, I could sort of watch a bit of TV albeit with my dark dark sunglasses.
The next day, I had the post-op check-up with the ophthalmologist again. According to him, the most important thing is the creation of the flap. If the flap looks good, all that needs to be done is to wait for nature to take its course... the body will heal itself. So..keeping my fingers crossed that my vision will improve significantly with time.

I did drive to SS2 to eat "tong sui" at KTZ (yum yum.......mango loh, hak lor mai, makk chok, fah sanng woo) yesterday... but eyes get tired very quickly. Read that this is normal ...during the healing process which will be between 3 to 6 months.

And here I am now....blogging about my Lasik experience.... I can use the computer, read the papers, drive, watch tv...but my vision seems to be a little cloudy still. But better the previous days. So, am hoping there would be improvements with each day.....
My next appointment would be next Saturday (15th August)....and if all is A-O-K, I fly out the next day as boys start school on the 24th August. At least, I will have a week to get their school uniforms and bags sorted out.

10 comments:

DQ said...

Wow, wow! Finally it's done! Your vision should improve as time goes by. New found freedom?

wen said...

hope u will have super vision when its all healed!!
and then tell me where u went to have it done coz my hubs also wanna have it done...
take care and try not to 'overuse' ur eyes too much, must rest rest lor..

slavemom said...

U're vy brave! I'm too chicken for such procedures. Hope the eyes r healing well n u get perfect vision soon.

bp said...

that's great, it is more convenient w/o glasses or lenses! how's the vision now?

Anonymous said...

how are your eyes now?

v

NomadicMom said...

DQ - have to say that it does feel weird. I kept thinkiing that I have to take off my lenses before bed!

Wen - Let you know how it is as time progresses

Slavemom - I'm also chicken...but then hor, -11.00 wor... Must do something lah. Anything is better than -11.00!!

bp - Better but it fluctuates. Doc did say this will happen

V - Much better lah...but still fluctuating...

thinkingmama said...

hi,

Can I know how much did it cost u to do in Malaysia?

thanks

Anonymous said...

How about your eye? Clear?



laser eye surgery astigmatism

NomadicMom said...

thinkingmama - Almost RM 10,000 for both eyes. This is the Nasa iLasik one, i.e. using "bubbles" to cut the flap instead of mechanically. Also, this package allows for "lifetime enhancement", if required. There are other packages that starts from RM 2 K per eye.

NomadicMom said...

Lasik - Not too bad. I could see and read. But think may be still a little fluctuating...

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