A cold breeze blows through my hair as I ride along on my Honda Activa. It has been my partner-in-action for the last five years. I loved riding in the chill of the evening breeze, the moments just before the rain hits the ground, with music playing in my ears. But even with all my love for the rain, it is still a nightmare for me to ride while it is raining. That is because I wear glasses and have worn them since I was fourteen years old and I hate them.
In the decade that I adorned spectacles, I have seen really how disruptive they can be. The power in my eye was -3.7 and -3.2 approximately, which means that I have difficulty seeing things that are far away. I don’t mean like 10 or 20 feet; I couldn’t see clearly past two. Imagine watching cable on the box-like TV that the government gave away for free that one time and multiply it by ten. That’s how bad I saw things.
Fourteen is a bad time to start wearing glasses. There were a lot of goofy mishaps like washing my face with my glasses on and getting them smudged when a friend tried to play the ‘guess-who?’ game with me. It sliding down my nose every time I bent down to tie my shoelaces was the worst.
A few years down the line, I’m at college. My eyes have sunken into my skull and I have ever-present dark circles; not to mention the ugly mark that the frame leaves on the bridge of my nose. It wasn’t flattering, to say the least.
I don’t like sticking things in my eye, so contact lenses were not really an option. Over the years I had gotten used to the glasses until the time when I really wanted to get stuff done. As I turned employee from student, I also had money to indulge in things I loved doing. I was really into boxing and swimming, both of which demand that I don’t wear glasses. Without them, I couldn’t recognize the person on the other side of the pool and couldn’t gauge how far or fast the punch was coming.
Recently, I decided that I would get my Lasik surgery done and free myself from wearing glasses for at least the next decade. I failed my first safety test and had to wait for a simmer period of 3 months. At the end of the 3rd month, I took the test again and went to the doctor. He said that they had come up with a new test criteria that I was falling behind on, but my eyes passed all the tests from last time. He said I can wait for another year and try again or I can go ahead with the surgery. I was not going to give them another chance to invent another parameter that I need to pass, so I went ahead with the surgery.
The day of the surgery arrives and I am so excited but nervous at the same time because I know I am going to be awake for the entire procedure. I was given anesthesia drops for my eyes and ushered into the operation theater. I walked in and the chill of the room hit me like an avalanche. I saw another patient climb down the bed and I was asked to take her place on the bed. The doctors were in scrubs so I didn’t know if my doctor was in the room.
One of the doctors asked me for my name and what language I was comfortable with. Then a nurse offered to cover me with a blanket if I felt it was too cold which I was grateful for. It was all over in ten minutes. The doctor covered my face with a plastic sheet with a hole at the eye position. Then I felt a cold metal pressing down into my eye socket. Then another metal was used to hold my eye open. Then I heard something that sounded like a drill, which the doctor stated he was going to use to cut a thin filament from my cornea. If you think the drill going over my eye was scary, the fact that my head was not held in position with anything was scarier. I could have moved my head at a critical time and no one could have stopped it in time. But thankfully, nothing like that happened. The surgery was over and the doctors placed a protective glass-like contact lens in place of the layer they cut out. It was to be in my eyes for the next three days.
As I walked out of the operation theater, I was thrilled at how sharp my eyesight was. I could read the letters on the board at the other side of the room. Everyone who got their surgery that day had a broad smile plastered on their face. That bliss lasted for only half hour, post which the irritation started. I was warned about the eye irritation and the runny nose post surgery, but it was nothing compared to what I felt. It was like somebody threw sand into my eyes and set it on fire. The level of irritation gradually decreased and by the third day I could ignore it and go about my work.
On the fourth day after the surgery, I went in to get the protective contact lenses removed. It was relatively smooth sailing after that. I just had to sleep with safety gear on my eyes for the next two weeks so as to keep me from accidentally rubbing my eyes in my sleep.
It is more than a month later now and my eyesight is pretty good. I have no vision problems and whatever blurry vision I had before is gone. The doctors have said that I have a 6-6 vision and that they see no problems for now. I have been given eye drops for dryness and I am to continue using it for six months.
I cannot begin to tell you how great it is for me right now. I wrote this piece so that I can voice my experience and in turn help anyone who is looking to do the same. Maybe Lasik surgery doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it was a very important decision for me and one I am glad I made. I was going to better myself for me and not for anyone else.
I end with this: No matter the change you want to see in yourself, make sure that it is something you do for you. Also, make sure that you absolutely want to.
Feel free to ask me any questions you have about my experience with Lasik surgery 🙂
More than meets the eye 