Preface

This is an account of my laser eye surgery, it is very detailed with actual photos and video of my surgery. The goal is to give a true to life account of the surgery and the days after the surgery. If you are squeamish at surgery, don't read below. If you are going to have it done, this should step you through the full process and explain the amazing science behind it.

It should also be noted there are many different types of laser eye surgery.. this is just one of them.

I'd also like to say thank you to Darren Chan for shuttling me to the doctor and back and taking these awesome pictures and videos.

The Day Of

05:30

Time to get up, shower and eat last meal.

06:30

Two hours before surgery - take the first set of Antibiotic and Steroid eye drops.

08:15

At the doctor's office - last barrage of eye tests. I was offered a Valium of course I refused because "I'm a man". (we'll come back to this)

After not being allowed to wear contacts two weeks before the surgery, I'm pretty happy to get it over with.

The room behind me is where it all happens, two big machines with lasers. As you can see I have a hair net to keep my hippy hair out of my eyes. (if you look close enough you can see the light reflecting off my bald head through the net)

The first laser vaporizes a thin layer of the eye to create a flap out of the protective outer cover of the eye. This flap gets folded back and exposes the cornea.

The second laser does the sculpting of the cornea.

09:27

A suction cup is placed on the eye. Once the suction is turned on the view fades to black starting from the outside. Just before I totally fade to black, I can see the laser move in to position over my eye. Then it's all black.

And here you can see the laser vaporizing that layer below the surface of my eye, creating the flap. (My favorite picture) It used to be that they would just burn right through this protective flap and it would take longer to heal after surgery.

Next the suction cup is removed, and the eye-lids are held open with a spreader. From this point forward I can see everything that's going on. While the flap is still in place it's only slightly cloudy.

Some markers are drawn on the eye next.

Now the flap is being lifted up and folded back. Once the flap is off, it goes a blurry that can't be explained in the english dictionary. This is where it hits home, this is the real deal, and someone is screwing around with my vision.

After the flap is back (to the right), the doctor sets up the laser to lock on and track movement in my eye.

And here it is.. the big kahuna. That blue dot is "the laser" doing its thing, burning away part of my eye to reshape it. From my point of view at the time, I see several short burst of blue light like a strobe in a smoke filled room. Maybe a dozen or two very fast flashes. The sound is the same as the electric starter on a stove, one "tick" with each blue flash.

The last step is putting the flap back in place, which was bugging me pretty bad.

Just as they were positioning my second eye under the second laser, I called a time out for five min. to get a Valium. I had no idea it came in chewable form. If you are offered Valium before your surgery, dont be a hero TAKE IT.

The following videos are the entire second laser for my second eye. They are very graphic, as in medical school graphic. Just before the full length video they gave me some eye drops that stung a bit, so that's what the whole beginning part is all about. Honestly the smaller one is the better one to watch.


Small edited video of the right eye. (66 Megabytes)


Full unedited video of the right eye. (114 Megabytes)

09:33

After it's all said and done, you get to wear cool goggles and sun glasses.

10:00

Back home, sleeping. Very sensitive to light. Had to read labels on the eye drops with the door to the bathroom closed. The light from under the door was enough to read by.

12:30

Hadn't used the bathroom in 7 hours. Couldn't turn on lights to see by. Valium was clouding my logic. So I felt my way to the bathroom stood over the toilet and made my best guess. Now if you are a woman you're thinking "Ugh Men! Why can't they just sit on the toilet?" Looking back I could have also used the sunglasses.

14:30

Vision good enough to read clearly but with bad halos. Checked my email without using the sun glasses. Big mistake, darn near burned an image of hotmail into the back of my eyes.

16:30

Can't sleep, and gun shy about bright lights. Just laid in bed listening to Cash Cab on Discovery Channel.

18:00

Mythbusters came on, and then it dawned on me. I can put sunglasses on and watch some TV. Vision about as good as cloudy contacts, with fleeting images that are the sharpest I've ever seen. Still some pretty cool halos around the TV though.

20:00

Can watch TV and walk about with lights on without sunglasses. Vision about as good as a new pair of contacts or glasses, still funky halos.

The Day After

Drove myself to doctor's office for follow up visit. Everything checked out perfect. 20/16 in the left and 20/16 in the right. (Thats two lines below 20/20, bet you didnt know there was anything better than 20/20)

Very obvious halos around the brightest lights. Sunglasses a must outdoors, worked the whole day staring at computer screens with no issues.

Two Days After

Best vision of my life, hands down. Wrote this page. Slightest halos around bright lights. Money well spent. If I had to do this every week to see this good, I'd do it, no doubt in my mind.

HOWEVER, night time is another issue. The halos at night are about twice the size of a car. Driving at night is a big issue, almost impossible to drive at night since its very hard to judge distance of anything.

Four Days After

The left eye felt perfect upon waking up. Right eye still feels.. bloated and hurts. Pretty much no halos with the left eye, still getting better with the right eye.

Its finally possible to walk outside without sunglasses, but I used them before the surgery.

One Week After

Both eyes only slightly sore, still feeling dry. Vision is wonderful, and i wont shut up about what a difference it makes to see THIS good. I joked that I would see a hawk flying in the sky before he could see me. No need for sunglasses during the brightest of days even.

Night-time halos are shrinking ever so slightly.

One Month After

A checkup at the doctors office finds my vision has improved to 20/12 in both eyes. (three lines smaller than 20/20) No more dryness, even in the middle of the worst drought in Georgia history. No soreness at all. Friends and family are getting tired of me going on and on and on about how much better my vision is.   

Night-time halos are still improving, pretty managable now.

Three Months After

Vision is still 20/12 overall, doctor attibutes it to the cutting of the flap by the laser instead of mechanial methods. None-the-less my results are still much better than average.

Night-time halos are an non-bothering issue now. In fact the halos are more of a enjoyable side-effect that you usually only see in photos. Did I have night-halos before the surgery? No. But they are well worth it.

My bragging aside, ask yourself, can you imagine having better than 20/20 vision? No contacts or glasses will ever fix defects in the roundness of your eye or the speed in which light travels through your lens. So even if you "only" get 20/20, why whouldn't you do it?


Was it worth it? YES YES and YES.