Lasik

Yup... little 'ole me got Lasik last week. What a crazy experience! We knew we were going to try to get it this year, so we did the whole flex spending account thing. Only thing was that I had to wait until I was done nursing Tyler for 3 months before they could do Lasik. So here is my Lasik story...

I originally went to an Optometrist here in Layton. He was so nice, and it was so much cheaper- plus it was practically in my back yard where I would have it done. Only problem was, is that he told me I wasn't a good candidate for Lasik. He didn't even think it was a good idea to do PRK on me :/ . 

Disappointment set in. 

It had been set in my mind I WAS having Lasik, and I had been told before that I was a great candidate- what in the world happened?! Here were the problems: 1. I had not had my contacts out for an extended period of time making my eye cornea on the left not thick enough. 2. Okay, well I guess that was the only problem. HAHA.

So while going through this process of trying to figure out what to do now, I wanted a second opinion - and I was willing to try this time by leaving my contacts out for 5 days prior to the evaluation. - Which meant wearing my glasses - . AHHH. Okay, so they weren't that bad.. but when you have a prescription as high as mine (-8.50) you can't see SQUAT around the outsides of the lens. This then led me to many times stubbing my toe, poking myself straight in the eye with the mascara brush, and multiple headaches.

But let me tell you this. It was all worth it.

So to get back to where I left off, I then decided to get evaluated at Hoopes Vision in Draper, UT. I figured they were known for doing TONS of Lasik surgeries, they would know for sure if I was a good candidate. They did 3 times the amount of scans to check your eyes to make sure you are a good candidate. And I figured since it WAS my eyes, it was best to go with the best. They said I was a great candidate, and the only thing slightly off was that I had a astigmatism in my left eye. But since they now had a laser called IntraLase, that wouldn't be a problem at all.

Know, I have a VERY hard time with ANYTHING coming close to my eyes, I was quite nervous. I couldn't even put eye drops in my eyes with them open!! haha. But the whole process wasn't very scary at all. AND IT WAS SO FAST!

They first brought Trent and I back, they checked my vitals and made sure I knew how to use all of the eye drops for after the procedure (lots of eye drops for 1 week). They then brought me over to the surgery suite, which was surrounded by glass so Trent could watch, and laid me down on the IntraLase table. He took a soft spongelike round thing and put it around my eyelids to keep them open. I then just looked straight up into a circle of lights which then went black. They then counted to 8.. and then that eye was done! Maybe felt slight pressure, but barely anything. 

After the flaps had been made on both eyes, they put me in a massage chair and waited until they were ready to do the laser. - During this time Trent was making comments about how PRK must be done with acid and it was freaking all the people out. It was pretty funny!

They brought me in for the laser and had me focus on a red light. I am glad I wasn't too sure what they were doing, because I wasn't bothered at all during this point ( they were pulling back the flap at this point- ahhh) . The laser itself went for only 18 seconds per eye. The second the flap went back over my eye, I could see!

They sat me up right after the procedure and asked me if I could see Trent. I immediately started crying. I couldn't help it. Something deep inside me was just amazed that my horrible eye sight could be fixed in that short amount of time. It was amazing to me. I COULD SEE!

On my way out the doctor joked that I probably wouldn't even need to donate my glasses considering people in 3rd world countries probably didn't even have that high of prescription! ha!

The next few days to be honest were actually quite hard for me. My eyesight was fluctuating  quite a bit, and they eye drops stung my eyes every time I used them - which was ALOT. Trent's cousin had Lasik the same day and was walking around without his sunglasses claiming how beautiful the world was - and I felt horrible. Haha.

They told me the next day that I still had fluid behind my left cornea which was why the world to me looked very smudged, and that my vision could fluctuate for up to 2 weeks. 

But now my vision is amazing, and it's crazy to me how I can just wake up and view the world as it is. It's been wonderful.. and now I am only a week out - but I am SOO happy I had it done. I wouldn't change it for the world :)