ALL ABOUT AARTHI (RT)

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Penang
mum of three angels

Monday, March 7, 2011

The LASEK experience (Part 2)

The first week of post-LASEK was frustrating. Yep, extremely frustrating.

Why? Mostly due to the fact I had the bandage lenses on my eyes, which became very very uncomfortable, you know the gritty feeling one has when dust or tiny particles are in your eyes. Very uncomfortable. No pain, just plain uncomfort.

Sleeping time was worse, I needed to put on these see through goggle-like eye protective cups over my eyes so that I don't accidently scratch my eyes. Because of that, I could only sleep on my back with most movements restricted!

Morning after I wake up is especially uncomfortable as the bandage lenses have been there for hours and hours, so my eyes were really dry (those wearing contact lenses would know what I mean) and it took a lot of artificial tear drops before I was comfortable.

Another reason for frustration is my vision was not really good. Can't watch tv, can't read, can't do house work or cook (for fear of dust and oil). Basically confined to the house, on a week long MC and the best part, no small limbs climbing all over you but unable to partake in any enjoyable activities! Well, anyway I was supposed to be resting my eyes. The only exciting thing that ever happened was when I needed to put the artificial tears in my eyes every half an hour.

So, what did I do? Talk-lo! Called everyone whom I know and chatted with them. I think some actually got tired of me calling them, he he. Sorry guys, but me so boring! And I also curi curi surfed the net, when my vision was not foggy! The fogginess was due to the temporary lenses that I still had on.

Somehow, I managed to pull through the loooong first week. During that time, there were 2 more visits to the doc, one a day after and the other on the fifth day. On both days, my doc told me - no dear, you can't take the lenses off, still not healed well. Finally, on the Friday after the surgery, after almost 163 hours of wearing them, the bandage lenses were taken off. I was so relieved that I now could see more clearly!

The next day was even better. We went out for breakfast (my first meal after a week cooped in the house) and wow! I just felt that everything was so crystal clear, the colours were so vibrant, bright & sharp! Maybe all these years I have been wearing glasses and lenses, my vision is always through either the glasses or contact lenses which somehow filtered out the brightness? Whatever it is, I was sure happy!

My vision one week after the surgery - right eye 50, left eye 25. 6 weeks post-surgery - right eye 50/astig 100, left eye 0/astig 25. Approximately at 10 weeks - right eye 50/astig 75, left eye 0/astig 0. Still need to wait for another 3 months before my vision stabilizes to find whether the surgery was 100% successful.

Oh, my sight pre-surgery was - right eye 800/astig 100, left eye 800/astig 125. Pretty high, huh? And been shortsighted for almost 28 years; contact lenses for 17 years.

During the last 3 months, my vision had been fluctuating. Sometimes very clear and sometimes not so clear but can still drive, use the PC etc, nothing that prevents me from going on with my daily routine. Vision is slightly affected by dark lighting. So, I made sure I had bright lights on and the windows open during the day for better lighting.

Having the artificial drops really helped not only for the eye dryness, but also to heal the eyes faster. Coincidently, my vision is always sharper immediately after the drops. I used up almost 4 boxes of 36 vials of the drops in 2 months time!

The major change came after the Chinese New Year break. I had a wonderful 4 days break at my parents' place with no TV, no books, no PC and I guess all these and just looking out at the windows at the greenery all around gave my eyes the much needed rest.

I could feel a drastic difference after that where, low lighting & eye drops didn't affect me as much as previously. In fact my usage of the drops went down so much, it was only one-two drops per day. So, guess good rest is very important for better and faster healing.

So far, I am glad that I had gone for it. It has tremendously changed my daily routine.

Shall post further in another 3 months.