This year I made the life changing decision to get Laser eye surgery. My prescription wasn't particularly bad but without my glasses I felt vulnerable. To those who don't need glasses, some of my justifications may seem feeble but at the end of the day i weighed the benefits against the possible risks and cost and decided this was for me (this isn't for everyone but I'm happy to share my experience with those who may be interested).
To start let me tell the tale of when I discovered I needed spectacles. When I was 18 I passed my driving test (2nd attempt, but lets not discuss how many times I took my theory 😖), on the same day which I went to see The Spice Girl reunion in the 02 Arena, London. The weekend following I was driving my friend Ruth into town (Bromley, locally known as Brommers) when I realised I couldn't read the number plate of the car in front. I asked Ruth if she could and there the discovery was made that perhaps I should get my eyes tested. I have no idea how i did the number plate test on my test day but shockingly I passed that.....
For a number of years following that discovery I was merely a part time wearer of glasses; only really wearing them to drive. In all truth, I was ashamed to wear them. I had plenty of friends and family who do and always have worn glasses and although as a kid I was jealous that my brother wore/needed glasses, as an adult I was gutted to need them. I'm not entirely sure why I was so against them but in 2019 came the turning point where I became too scared to continue wearing them as a part timer. I was in Magaluf with my Schlaggs (how me and the gal pals refer to each other) in the main nightclub there, BCM. Twas an 18-30 holiday and everyone in the club was wearing a BCM Tshirt and a pink cowboy hat. It was my turn to get the round in from the bar and I flashed the barman my pearly whites (and nothing else, unlike many of the other 'ladies' in the establishment that night) and was served super speedy. The down point was when I turned around to seek my friends and was hit by the realisation that without my glasses, and with everyone in the same Tshirt and hat, there was no chance of pinpointing my pals. I stood there frozen and for the first time was scared by my diminished eyesight. Luckily for me, my panic was brief as my friends were "thirsty." That 5 minute panic was enough that upon my return to Blighty, I never again went without my glasses.
Other glasses wearers often asked "why glasses and not contacts?" Well i did experiment with contacts...well i wore them sometimes. I can't really say I experimented as I have only ever tried the one brand, and although I went with a fairly up-market daily lens, it always felt like something was stuck in my eye (because there was) and I could never get used to them.
This leads me onto the choice to do Laser eye surgery. I only knew of two people who had had eye surgery. One was a family friend who had had the treatment decades ago..... the other was a work colleague who wanted to share her experience as much as possible. I'd suggest everyone to do the same as I did.
Step 1 - Do your homework!!!! You should look into treatment choices out there. Since I chose to do go with Lasik Eye Surgery, an ex optometrist (who is the property manager in my company) has suggested Lens transplant is meant to be more successful with less risk (yay hindsight). Saying this I did a lot of research on Lasik and went with this as its less evasive, a very common treatment with a short recovery rate. You also can research cost across a number of companies as well as researching the companies themselves and ensure you find the company and
surgeon for you.
Step 2 - ask around. You'll find once you get asking that there are a number of people around you who have probably had the surgery. Listen to their opinions on the surgery and the aftercare. All surgeons suggest different aftercare and remember you want aftercare catered to your needs, not a generic aftercare which suits all.....
Step 3 - Book a consultation.
Don't be bullied into making a same day decision. Go to as many consultations with different surgeries as you want. I went to only one as I was happy I'd chosen the right place before I even attended the consultation.
Step 4 - Scare yourself. OK that sounds bad I know, but this is elective surgery and you should make sure you know what you're letting yourself in for. I'd recommend you search youtube for some video's on the procedure. This did scare me quite a bit BUT remember 2 really important things. 1... you will see none of what is being done to you. 2.....Its a super quick procedure (I walked out of surgery 15 minutes after walking in).
Step 5 - Make that decision! Yes or no, let the places where you attended the consultation know your final decision. "Manners maketh man"
Step 6 - Make your booking for the surgeon consult and the Op. Please note surgeons consult has a time limit, so you need to have your Op booked up soon after. The surgeon will hold the final decision on whether you're eligible for the surgery or not....Be conscious of your calender for the weeks following the Op. Ladies and some gents, you cannot wear eye makeup for 2-4 weeks following Lasik eye surgery. You also cannot do vigorous sports following the procedure for a few weeks.....
Step 7 - arrange your ride.... on the day of the operation you cannot drive yourself and its not advised to take public transport. Book a cab or get a loved one or friend to give you a lift.
Step 8 - Prepare for the 24 hours following! To start let me say I FELT NO PAIN ever during or following the procedure. I felt some discomfort from dry eye (extremely common after the Lasik procedure, but this rapidly reduced over the last month and you are given drops). After the procedure I could see.... bit blurry but I wasn't blind by any means. They ask you to wear sun glasses home and for the following 6 weeks. This is solely to prevent scarring from UV rays. Following the procedure I experienced NO light sensitivity. You will need cotton wool balls. This is to clean your eyes with cooled, freshly boiled water. One swipe per wool ball per eye. Do NOT wipe more than once and NEVER use one ball across both eyes! If one eye gets infected (didn't happen for me) it could cause infection in the other eye.
Step 9 - look forward to 20/20 vision. LESS than 24 hours after the procedure I had 20/20 vision. It was a little like looking through a Instagram filter as the edges of my sight were bright and slightly blurry, but that faded after 2 weeks.
OK so that's some suggestions. Let me tell you my experience of the procedure itself. I will be including some pictures of my eyes an hour after the procedure, so if your squeamish you may not want to read on..... You read (you better read) pages and pages of terms and conditions and possible risks. It is so important to read these all as this is elective surgery, however alot of these risks are exactly what you'd expect with any surgery. You are then read a series of questions and asked to do an on screen questionnaire. Just before the procedure itself you are asked again a series of yes and No questions to ensure you know what your getting into. Then I put blue booties over my shoes and into the surgery room I went. I was sat on a dentist style chair and apparatus 1 was moved above my head. This is used to apply suction to my eye and make the incision. It takes a minute of suction and was told at the time "your vision may go blurry".... I can tell you my vision went BLACK. That was scary but it did return as soon as suction was removed..... That is done to each eye and in the pictures at the end of this you will see it left me with some ring like love bites. These love bite rings will fade and have already mostly in the month since my Op.
After this, apparatus 2 was moved over my head. This is the laser.... Sounds scary and very sci fi right. The surgeon asks you to stare into the red light.... to which I immediately say "I can only see a green one".... the red one appeared moments later. He then warns me I may smell burning... to which you think "WTF??!!?!?!?!" and boy was that smell unpleasant. The laser itself lasted only 30 seconds and the surgeon counts me down which was such a relief. For the second eye I elected to hold my breath so as not to smell the burning as that honestly frightened me the most.
Laser over, the surgeon poured cold water over my eyes for a bit and that was it! I was taken to a recovery room where I immediately checked to see if I could see my phone etc and breathed a sigh of relief when I realised contrary to popular rumours (and rumour is all it is... no facts) I was not blind.
Its now been over 4 weeks and my vision is completely normal. I get a bit of dry eye, but I'm down to 3 refresh drops a day..... That's it!
I would really recommend this, but would ALWAYS suggest you read up. Don't be bullied and don't go off a friends recommendation.
If you have questions, I'm very happy to try and answer them.
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