Getting laser eye surgery done: The second consult
After a decade of perfect contact lens eyes eyes going back to wearing glasses fulltime was tough. Incredibly tough.
The total loss of peripheral vision, the annoyance of lenses getting dirty, being blind in the shower, oh and has anyone tried being ‘intimate’ with glasses on?!
Jesus christ by the end of the two weeks I was ready to put my fist through a wall.
The only thing that kept me going was the thought of not having to rely on eye crutches again, well at least until I was much, much older. When I woke up on the morning of the second consult I only had one thought on my mind:
“Dammit corneas you better have expanded. Or else.”
I arrived bang on time this time at the practice. Given the first consult had only gone for an hour and a half or so all up I figured I’d get it over with and then head back to work so I booked one of the first slots available.
Like the first time the waiting time was minimal and I was called practically just as I sat down to wait.
After asking if I’d been wearing the glasses only for two weeks (presumably some people try to cheat?) we started off with another eye test on the standard ‘clearer with, or without’ machine. This was just like any other routine eye test and most probably to confirm the previous results I had.
Once that was done it was back into the room with the two stools and we repeated the process of scanning and then the focus machine. This is what it all came down to, the sole reason I had been punishing myself over the past fortnight.
Had my eyes changed enough to bring Lasik into the picture?’
‘The surgeon will speak to you about the results’ I was told. So I had to wait.
The optometrist took me back into the first room and I was told that we were going to do another test of my eyes that involved two sets of drops. The first drops that were put in I believe were some kind of anaesthetic and they stung like hell for a few seconds before my eyes got used to it.
This was needed so that the corneal pressure of my eyes could be measured. The handheld machine for this has a little flat thing that presses a bit on your eye and the anesthetic numbs your eye into not feeling this.
It still looks weird seeing something ‘hammer’ into your eye at such close range but I couldn’t feel anything so it didn’t bug me.
After this was measured (only a few minutes) a second set of drops went in which made my eyelids feel heavy and gluggy. These were to dilate my pupils and effectively stop my eyes from focusing.
What this means in practical terms is that whilst you don’t lose your focus, it’s fixed sort of like in landscape mode. I was a little freaked out at being able to hold my hand 30cm infront of my face and not be able to focus on it at all.
After both sets of drops were well and truly settled (about 2-3 mins) we did another eye test with the standard machine. The optometrist said this was because sometimes the results vary slightly when the eyes can’t manually focus.
I’m not entirely sure what the practicality of this was (I was too busy looking like a stoner holding my hands up to my face and trying to force my eyes to focus on them) but I’m sure it had some significance.
With the second prescription test done I was taken outside and given a seat on a nice comfy couch infront of a dvd. The optometrist hit play and handed me the remote. For the next 10-15 minutes or so I watched a pretty detailed dvd movie on both procedures as well as the benefits and negatives of getting laser eye surgery done.
This really impressed me as they movie spent a great deal of time on the negatives which really made me feel like the company wanted me to be informed about what I was doing. Most of the stuff I already knew from conducting my own research but it was nice to have it reaffirmed and fresh in my mind.
Laser Sight get top marks for patient risk awareness in my opinion.
After the infomovie I went back to sit in the foyer and waited to be called in by the surgeon, Stephen Bambery. As I walked back he was already waiting for me (I think I must have been first that morning as the practice was empty when I arrived but a few more people had arrived now) and took me into a different office.
He opened up my patient folder and started going over my charts. He noticed I’d put ‘cycling’ in as a hobby (I kinda didn’t know what else to put) on my patient form and we started chatting about that a bit. Turns out he himself was a cyclist and did regular weekend rides.
I noticed two things about Dr. Bambery immediately. One was that he had glasses on and two his right hand was wrapped in bandages. To my relief both were explained quite briefly, although I did ask about the hand initially (I couldn’t help it).
He said he wore glasses solely to read and that the rest of the time he was without them. He also was quite honest about the fact that I would most likely need reading glasses when I got older too. I appreciated this honesty, even though I already knew that to be the case it was nice to know I wasn’t just being told positive spin.
As for his hand, well he’d just recently had surgery on it and was required to keep it dry. He reassured me he was still able to do surgery with it, he just “had to be a little more careful”.
From what I understood performing laser eye surgery isn’t quite the same as doing open heart surgery so I wasn’t too worried about his hand not being 100%. That and the fact I wasn’t due till a few weeks anyway. Yes I’ll sheepishly admit I was secretly a little glad my surgery wasn’t on that very day!
Once we’d got cycling, his hand and glasses out of the way we got down to business. My corneas had grown to over 500, it was 505 microns or so from memory which placed me in the clear for Lasik.
He also mentioned though that he just wanted the optometrist to confirm some numbers (which I figured was working out if the sum of my corneal tissue thickness plus corneal thickness was enough for any future touchups that might be needed), before he 100% confirmed I’d be ok for Lasik.
I found him to be quite thorough, despite my own research and watching the info dvd he once again ran through the common side effects and gave me a brief run down of what to expect on the day itself. He was also very upfront about the cost stating that I’d be up for $5200.
If your surgeon looks anything like this, RUN!
Again I appreciated the honesty as it re-affirmed in my mind that I was actually buying a procedure from a professional vs. a used car from a dodgy salesman.
Once we run through everything (I didn’t really have any questions at this point) he left the room to go talk to the optometrist and I once again began to entertain myself trying to focus on my hand.
I think it was only about five minutes or so (I didn’t have my glasses or contacts on) before he returned and informed me that the numbers were all fine.
At this point I’d already decided on Lasik over PRK. The flap was a lifetime liability but really, if I was going to get knocked that hard in the eye at the exact spot the flap was I’d probably have a lot more damage then just a dislodged flap.
Besides, I’ve never injured my eyes in my life surving all the crazy stuff you do as a kid so what are the chances of it happening as I get older and more conservative (oh god that sounds depressing).
So it was settled, I was to get Lasik.
We went back out to the front desk and booked my dates in and that was that. I was to get one eye done late June with the following eye early July. I opted to get my non dominant right eye done first. I figured that way on the off chance something went wrong or I wasn’t satisfied at least I’d still have a fully functional dominant eye.
The icing on the cake was hearing I could put my contacts back in until 3 days before the surgery and even then I only had to remove them from one eye (I figured I’d rather wear an eye patch over one then do the glasses thing again).
One final note, it’s a really good idea to bring a pair of sunglasses. The pupil dilating drops are effective for 2-3 hours and absolutely stop your pupils from adapting to light conditions.
Walking outside from the practice was like having been in complete darkness for a few hours and then being forced to stare into a car’s high beams.
The glare hurt like holy hell and there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily I’d brought my cycling glasses along (I rode to both consults) so I was able to go home. Had I of not worn sunglasses I would have been in for a very wincingly painful ride.
I was back in my contacts and now had a surgery date. All that was left to do now was to get on life and try not to get too excited thinking about it.
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