The Burning Retina
Note: The following video is not for the weak of heart. If you do not like to see surgery or are squeamish about eyes, do not hit play on the video.
As some of you may know and some of you do not, I got LASIK eye surgery a week ago. I have wanted laser eye surgery since I heard about it years ago. Wearing glasses/contacts since the 3rd grade gets old quick and being as active as I am, not having contacts or glasses is ideal. The dream of playing in the ocean vanished with my vision many years ago.
I was a perfect candidate for the surgery and they expected 20/20 vision. On Tuesday of last week, I had the procedure done at a very reputable center in Hagerstown. The surgery itself is a little scary as you can see from the video above, but it was not painful. My surgery went without a hitch and before 30 minutes was up, I was on my way out the door. My vision was pretty hazy for the rest of the day which was expected. The next morning I woke up expecting a whole, new crisp world. Such was not the case. I had blurry vision. My vision was much better than before the surgery, but not 20/20 for sure. At my Post-Op visit, my doctor look perplexed and informed me that I had been under-corrected. My old -7.00 eyes were now only a -2.00. I was crushed and very scared that something had gone terribly wrong. The doctor ran some tests and my eyes looked “beautiful.” He suited me up in some glasses and sent me home for the afternoon. Over the next few days, I was in and out of the office about 2 times a day trying to get a decent pair of glasses as my vision seemed to fluctuate a good deal during the course of the day. I would wake up in the morning with almost 20/20 vision and then watch it fade to 20/50 by the days end. On top of that, I was so depressed that I was miserable to be around. I was missing classes that I needed to be in because I could not see well enough to drive to school.
Gradually, I’ve watched my vision level off a little. I now have a pretty steady vision throughout the day, although there are times when my vision seems “smeary.” The doctor feels that I was under-corrected and that the vision changes are just my eyes healing from surgery. He has been a life-saver in a situation like this. I’ve read horror stories of patients having a less than desirable outcome of their surgeries and being thrown to the wind. My doctor has seen me daily and he calls me even more. I feel so glad that I didn’t opt for the cheaper laser surgery centers as many people suggested that I should have done.
Right now, I am in recovery phase and in my lovely glasses. Contacts are not an option yet as my eyes are still healing (they cut your cornea after all) and therefore skiing and other physical sports are a big pain in my butt. But, I am relaxing a little over time and I think at the end of the day, everything will be better. Once the healing is over, I will discuss what the next steps are with my doctor. We will decide if I feel comfortable trying to fix the -2 vision or if I want to opt for contacts/glasses. I’ll keep you all updated. The video is the exact procedure that I had done, but its not me. My eyes are much prettier. 
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