AATB

MandK9 · March 2012

Hey, I saw you talking about LASIK in the lotto thread. I'm in the serious contemplation stages for this, but haven't actually talked to anyone who's gone through it yet. Can you tell me literally everything that's pertinent to the surgery? Including how nervous you were, how it felt, how much it cost (if you're comfortable with sharing that), how soon you recovered, etc. etc.

My eyes are a 4.6 and 5. And I hate my glasses and contacts.

Thanks in advance

MandK9 · March 2012

Hey DJ

How are you doing?

MeaghanandMichael · March 2012

MandK - I kind of want your bridesmaid dresses. As in, I love the color and want to wear it to weddings this year.

To bad out of the three I am in, two of my friends picked the exact.same.dress. different color. Whomp.

MandK9 · March 2012

DJ-- school is still epically kicking my ass, but I'm kicking it right back. Almost done with the semester, lol.

M&M-- true story: we ordered the bridesmaid dresses directly through the wholesaler because my family owns clothing stores. My sister ordered two dresses in the hopes that she would be able to fit into the smaller one by the time the wedding came. They ran small though, and we couldn't send it back, so... I have it. Haha. It makes me a weirdo, sure, but dammit it's a gorgeous dress. And... is the dress your friends picked at least attractive? That is definitely whomp-worthy.

MeaghanandMichael · March 2012

I actually don't mind it at all! It is super chintzy though so that's annoying. Although, I is a little cocktail dress with no straps, so I am not too sure how the girls with way bigger boobs than I will fare. The weird part? They are in each other's weddings.

AllAboutTheBenjamin · March 2012

OH HELLO!

I went to a TLC Laser Eye Center - the doctor there was the most reputable in my area. I first went there for a consultation; some technicians did some basic tests where they take pictures of your eye, they learn the exact shape and the thickness of your cornea, and all this other crap. Then a doctor came (not the surgeon) and looked at my eyes some more. I scheduled my procedure.

I opted for the "platinum" package at TLC, which is $1895 per eye. It is completely bladeless lasik. In this all "enhancement" procedures are included, like I explained in the other thread.

Make no mistake. I was freaking out. I wanted it done very bad, but I was always asking people about lasik - I have several co-workers who've had it done, my BIL had it done. I wasn't really feeling like I was getting EXACTLY all the information I wanted, even when I asked the people at TLC. Everyone kept saying that it wasn't a big deal, lol. Nice, eh?

For real though - it's not a big deal.

On the day of my procedure, they did a few more last minute tests on my eyes and looked at them one last time. I was given a small dose of xanax for nerves, and several eye drops to numb my eyes. Throughout the procedure they were dropping drops in my eyes, I presume to keep them numb. They also cleaned the skin around my eyes. I went in and laid back on this chair - there are two machines in there. One is the actual laser machine, with the laser that re-shapes your cornea. The other is the intralase thing, which makes the corneal flap with a laser.

I think they did my left eye first - the surgeon - who I met only a few minutes before the surgery, hehe - puts this sort of "suction cup" type thing over your eye. It sounds creeptastic, but you can't feel anything except some mild pressure. He's pressing down on your eye to keep it still while the flap is made. It takes 10 (I think. Maybe it was 20) seconds to make the flap under the intralase machine. This part is somewhat freaky because your vision goes dark during it, but it's only for a few moments.

Then he moved me over to the other machine. He used a piece of medical tape to pull my eyelid open, and then placed a clamp over my eye to make sure that I didn't blink. Then he gently pulls back the corneal flap, and you look straight up into the machine - it's a light that looks like an eye, kind of like an eye with an orange pupil with white around it. You are instructed to look at the light while it flashes - this is when your cornea is being reshaped. It takes 30 seconds and it makes a sort of tapping noise. It's SO COOL because the light is pretty blurry at first but you can watch it slowly come into focus... OMG. AWESOME.

Then the doctor repositions the corneal flap over your eye and uses a transparent, natural adhesive to be sure the flap doesn't come off your eye after the procedure, lol. Just uses this little sponge thing to brush it on. Takes out the clamp, bam, you're done. Then he does the other eye.

He told me beforehand it takes "less than ten minutes," but for real, I think I was in and out of there in five minutes.

After I was done they gave me some more drops and took me down the hall and let me sit in a comfy chair with a soft blanket in a dark room for a few minutes. That was nice, lol. Then I got a bag full of goodies (read: eyedrops, drugs and goggles) and my sister drove me home.

When I got home, I took my other dose of xanax along with two painkillers. When the drops start to wear off - which they did once I got home - your eyes start to sting a little and it's a little uncomfortable. You have to sleep with the goggles on your face so you don't rub your eyes in your sleep for like, a week. After I took the painkillers and xanax I went up to my room to take a nap, it's like a 4-5 hour nap that once you wake up from, the discomfort is gone. I remember laying there thinking that my eyes were stinging pretty bad at that point and were kinda watery, and like "How the eff am I supposed to sleep with goggles, and stinging watery eyes" and then BAM. I was gone, lol. I did wake up once to go to the bathroom but I hardly remember it, the drugs are that good. I remember stumbling down the hall to the bathroom but have no recollection of peeing.

The next day or so your vision is somewhat cloudy. Kinda how it looks when your contacts are really dirty? And night vision is a trip because lights all have this nasty ass glare around them. I still see a little bit of a glare around lights - it goes away very gradually.

I got my lasik done on a Thursday and was back to work no problem by Monday. You have to take a couple different kinds of eye drops for a week and then have artificial tears on hand for a few months afterward, just to help with dryness.

Try not to be freaked out by anything I've written - because for real, it's no big thing. You cannot feel a single thing during the procedure except for the pressure during the making of the flap. I'm not even 100% done with my vision correction (getting an enhancement on my left eye this summer) and I'd still recommend it to anyone. it's the BOMB.

If there are any more questions you have feel free to ask. I know exactly how scary it is because I mean, it's your sight, so it's a big deal. But I went in there freaking out (the xanax they gave helped a little, but I was still trippin) but I came out laughing, like "Seriously? THAT WAS IT?" I've wanted lasik for years and I can't believe I waited this long.

AllAboutTheBenjamin · March 2012

Wow that was long. Lol. Sorry.

MandK9 · March 2012

Thank you thank you thank you! I don't even have time to read it right now, going to work, but I will read the crap out of it when I get home

AllAboutTheBenjamin · March 2012

For sure! You can FB me too later if you have any more questions.

allisong23 · March 2012

Did someone have a negative LASIK experience lately? Didn't they go in to schedule it, but when they arrived for the procedure, the surgeon wouldn't do it?

MandK9 · March 2012

Well, H accidentally took my car keys to work with him, so uh, not going to work.

So, for real, I got a tad queasy when you talked about the flap. Lol. I know, I know, but I'm a wimp. Anyway, that seems doable... Okay, and as for putting the pain on a scale, have you ever had a corneal abrasion/scratch? Or... worn a torn contact lens? Ooh, or have you used ClearCare solution (an acidic contact solution that neutralizes after 6 hours in contact with charcoal)? If yes to any of these, can you tell me comparatively how much it hurt? Not during, obviously, since you said you didn't feel anything but pressure, but after, during the healing?

Me on Xanax would be fun. I've never taken any class of psychoactive drugs.

AllAboutTheBenjamin · March 2012

My sister had a corneal abrasion about a week before my lasik - and she was in miserable, excruciating pain. Her eye was swollen as hell, too.

Post-lasik sting is annoying at the worst. And you get to sleep through it, lol. No big

I did use Clear Care solution but never had any pre-six hour accidents, haha.

MandK9 · March 2012

Ooh! Another question. Do you have to use any sort of extra vision correction post-surgery? I've heard some people still need weak reading glasses or something. And that would irritate me.

AllAboutTheBenjamin · March 2012

That kind of depends on your age, really. You're in your 20s I presume - but pretty much everyone needs reading glasses at a certain point in their life. It's just what naturally happens to eyes. So, someday, around 40, 45ish, I'll need reading glasses to READ. But nothing else. I'll still be able to see everything else just fine.

The freedom that this procedure gives you is pretty life changing. I'm in love with it.

AllAboutTheBenjamin · March 2012

Plus - you can buy reading glasses someday for like, ten bucks. Imagine all the money you'd save on contacts/glasses in the next 15ish or more years? The procedure is totally worth it.

MandK9 · March 2012

I legitimately can't imagine waking up and just... seeing. Insanity, I tell you.

Thank you for all the info! I'm 25, and I feel like now is the perfect time to do this, so I get the most "life" out of it.

ETA: Oh yeah, and definitely agreed about the savings. It seems like it's not, because it's all up-front, but I don't have vision insurance, so I have to pay approx. $300 for a year's worth of contacts. Plus eye exam, and a new pair of glasses every few years...

allisong23 · March 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_aatb-77?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:eff29b1c-00ba-4bcf-b047-c76c01cc763aPost:f97a927a-2fba-4ec1-9566-fc3c093e41ed">Re: AATB</a>:
[QUOTE]Well, H accidentally took my car keys to work with him, so uh, not going to work. So, for real, I got a tad queasy when you talked about the flap. Lol. I know, I know, but I'm a wimp. Anyway, that seems doable... Okay, and as for putting the pain on a scale, have you ever had a corneal abrasion/scratch? Or... worn a torn contact lens? <strong>Ooh, or have you used ClearCare solution (an acidic contact solution that neutralizes after 6 hours in contact with charcoal)?</strong> If yes to any of these, can you tell me comparatively how much it hurt? Not during, obviously, since you said you didn't feel anything but pressure, but after, during the healing? Me on Xanax would be fun. I've never taken any class of psychoactive drugs.
Posted by MandK9[/QUOTE]

That is the worst pain ever. It makes me want to claw my eyes out.

MandK9 · March 2012

Me too, Alli. It ruined my whole day when I made that mistake. No wonder... I put acid in my eyeballs.

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