image source: google
if only it looked that simple.
be afraid. mwahahahahahah.
ok so some of you might already know that i went ahead and did lasik surgery. it was always itw but never realized. i finally went ahead and took the plunge, mainly thanks to Significant Other. he did his lasik about 3 years ago? piece of cake, he says.
so. what you should know about lasik. i actually didn't ponder over it too much because i was afraid i would chicken out. i mean have you seen that Final Destination movie where that woman was trapped in the chair with her eyes being laser-ed until smoke emitted from her eyes and in the end she fell out the window and died? horror man. word of advice: while being strapped in, NEVER think about that particular episode. Significant Other told me his eye surgery involved no pain, only minor discomfort. wahhhh so easy of him to say. but probably different centres, different procedure, different form of pain perhaps?
i didn't do my lasik at the same place Significant Other did. the centre where he did his lasik was where two of my friends and my aunt did theirs; Significant Other was via referral. his surgery was much pricier than mine was. i stumbled across the centre through a friend. apparently many of my colleagues did their lasik there and i didn't even know, haha. it was also a whole lot cheaper, the price quoted was for both eyes. so why not?
there were steps to doing eye surgery:
1. the initial eye check
2. the detailed eye check
3. the actual surgery
4. the follow-ups that proceeded the surgery
the initial eye check was free, they basically just wanted to see whether your eyes were fit for surgery or not.
you had to pay rm80 for the detailed eye check, where they dilated your pupils and carried out more detailed tests to make sure your eyes were suitable for surgery. after putting those eye drops into your eyes you couldn't see close range for about a day or so. i couldn't stare at my PC monitor even, it gave me headache.
once you're confirmed for surgery, you had to set a date and put a deposit of rm300 to secure your surgery date. you could set for date for surgery about a year later and that would still be ok as long as you passed the detailed eye check.
on the day of the surgery (August 3rd) you had to make sure you had a designated driver to drive you back because i guarantee you're in no position to drive yourself home.
before the actual surgery they gave me a list of forms to complete (which includes the usual if-you-die-we-will-not-be-responsible-for-your-death kind of stuff). no makeup, no perfume (the lasers are sensitive towards alcohol...?). they gave me a list of do's and don'ts to follow once you completed the surgery.
basically no contact with water for 3 weeks, no swimming, no sauna, no extreme activities that could jeopardize your eyes... no rubbing your eyes, no splashing water onto your face (alamatnye, takleh basuh muka for 3 weeks HAHAHAHA).
the actual surgery? i don't think i want to go through with it a second time if i ever had to do it again. the operating room was cold i tell you. and there were so many assistants you had to wonder what the heck were you getting yourself into. after lying on the operating table with your head positioned under the laser, they covered you with a thick blanket and handed you a pillow (for comfort??). the worse part for me was when the surgeon used some sort of contraption to hold your eyelids open, the pressure i felt pressing onto my eyeballs was excruciating. i had my hands clenched the whole time... or maybe i was exaggerating, i dunno, hee~. at one point you'd lose vision (
don't panic, don't panic, the surgeon would repeat to me gallantly). once everything was in place he would tell you to look straight while they cut a flap into your cornea and blast away eye tissue. basically there was nothing to fix your attention upon so i kept getting scolded by the surgeon to look straight T__T
nothing to see over there, please look straight, nononono don't look there, please move your eyes a little to the left please, ahhh ok don't move yadayadayada... at one point i could smell something burning... @_@.
the surgery lasted about 10 minutes per eye? and the surgeon was really nice. he kept giving words of encouragement along the way, never condescending, at least it helped me la, dunno if inside he wanted to strangle me for not following orders, ouch.
and that was it. finito. 50% of vision would return within the first half hour or so, then perhaps 70-90% the following day, and it would get better and better as time passed by. they let me rest in this comfortable eye chair in this darkened room until i was confident enough to return to the world with eyes that were partially functioning, hoho.
the initial stages post-surgery was ok. heck i thought i was ok. but i was not prepared for what came right after the op. everything seemed too bright, at one point it was impossible to even open my eyes. tears kept pouring out nonstop, my nose was dripping, i was completely freaking out. i even got a big splitting headache right after. they gave me three different eyes drops for me to use for the next 2 weeks: one for inflammation, one for antibiotics, the other to replenish the moisture for your eyes. they were smart enough to give me a sleeping pill, a good one at that, because i konked out right after taking it.
that's me post-op.
much love to Significant Other for taking care of things while i nursed my wounds, lol. truly i was touched. he even helped me put on those eye protective shields on to prevent me from rubbing my eyes in my sleep (which i tend to do very often @_@
skin very loose ya? you like to rub your eyes isit? the surgeon happily tells me T___T).
ok so enough with the horror stories. i went to office with very tired-looking eyes. red spots formed in the whites of my eye so it looked like i was infected by some T-virus like in those Zombie movies on tv. my eyesight kept fluctuating, my eyes were dry, someone even told me i looked sick -___-. i was too scared to even wash my face or my hair!, using only a sponge to dab my face and silently hope that people didn't look at me and think i tak mandi seminggu. i even looked like a stranger to myself each time i stared into the mirror. i think i lost alot of eyelashes in the process of unsticking my lashes that got clumped together due to the moisturizing eye drops (or eye gel, as written on the bottle).
infected!
but things eventually improved, my eyesight is better although am not sure if it's the sharpest of all eye sights, night driving still proves slightly challenging as before this i never noticed star bursts around lights, without glasses those gorgeous halos look really obvious now, the effect lessened as time went by, but they're there.
so... i'm glasses-free! looking back i realized i looked really old with glasses. they used to be a form of protection i used to hide behind, silly really. i know some people *ahem* who have perfectly good eyesight yet chose to wear glasses (with no power!) simply because it gave them confidence. to look smarter yes, i even had that feeling sometimes. but to spend thousands for a frame when your eyes are perfectly normal? way beyond my reasoning. i've never splurged on a frame before, my lens always ended up expensive.
my eyes has now lost the redness but i realize that without glasses, dark circles look more obvious now T_T. i'm gonna hafta invest in some powerful eye cream soon. oh and learn how to apply eyeshadow now. lol.
yup... that's me now. whoever said 'stay just as you are' is mentally challenged
so, that's my story. ada beran? =D i guess i might've exaggerated a little =P~~~. you might wanna research more about eye surgery on the internet. lotsa medical terms, lotsa risks, lotsa pros and cons, it all depends on the why, how, what, when.
