Lasik Surgery: It’s Surgery Time!

All right, the time now has really, really come. I’ve signed the forms, I’ve taken the Tylenol PM, the doctor has markered my eyes, and I’m being led into the room where the Lasik surgery will take place. I say goodbye to Mitch, who is watching the surgery through a TV outside of the room, and head to the chair. After lying down and getting comfortable, my head is wedged between two large…things…that are supposed to keep my head from moving at any point in the surgery. I am handed two stress balls, drops are administered and….away we go!

Lasik surgery is actually done in two parts. The first part is creating the flap – that’s right, they peel back your cornea to reshape the tissue underneath. I went all bladeless, and with the numbing drops I didn’t feel a thing, no pain or anything, but it did get freaky at one point. I had a great doctor who talked to me the whole way through, which helped keep me calm and in the know, and also kept my mind focused on her words, so that was really nice. During this first part, she told me that eventually it would all go black – but only for a few seconds. So I’m in my chair, head wedged in, stress balls in hand, and one eye covered, the other under the laser that would create the flap. Sure enough, even though my eye is open (they used holders to keep the eyes open throughout) everything went black. That’s when I really started squeezing the stress balls, and a million terrible thoughts jumped in my mind – was it coming back? Would I ever see again? Would this work? Did I just go blind? As fast as it went out, my vision was back. I breathed a sigh relief –but then it was time for the next eye. Bring on the blackness and stress once again. It only took about 60 seconds in that chair, and then part one was over, and I was brought to a new chair.

The next chair was the actual Lasik surgery part, where the reshaping of tissue was happening. More drops were put in and the laser started. The doctor informed me that this part might be weird – I would hear what sounded like a chainsaw and smell burning hair. I’m sorry – what?! But sure enough, I thought Jason was running around lighting my hair on fire. That was freaky, possibly even more freaky than having a blackout moment. This part took a bit longer than the first chair, but no more than a 3 minutes. My head was wedged in again, stress balls were in hand, and I remember my doctor kept saying “And look at the green light. Go back to the green light. Find that green light. Green light!” If you couldn’t tell, I was supposed to be focusing my vision on this green light, and I don’t know if it was fear or question or what, but apparently my eyes kept drifting away. But I made it through! Less than ten minutes in the surgery room, and it was over. A few minutes of fear, of hesitancy, of who the hell is lighting my hair on fire, and it was done. A huge decision, a big leap of faith, and now it was over.

Check back next week for what happens after surgery!