Thursday, August 04, 2005
eyes wide shut
Went out to the Duluth office of LasikPlus this morning for the laser eye surgery to hope and rid myself of glasses and contacts.
I had a 10:30 appointment. Kristi dropped me off at about 10:20. The place was absolutely packed. I announced my arrival at the front desk and was told to wait. Now, I don't normally mind waiting, but there were no available seats to sit in. The whole place was occupado. Which relegated me to wandering around the waiting area and watching others receive the treatment before me.
The room where the procedure actually takes place consists of 3 glass walls in the middle of the waiting area. You get to watch as each person before you has the procedure done. A little creepy seeing someone else's eye up on a computer monitor as laser beams sculpt them a new cornea.
After about 2 hours of wandering in circles within the waiting area, my name was called and it was my turn. I got all comfortable and they taped up my left eye, applying numbing drops to the right one. Using some sort of vise grips, they pry my eye open and keep it that way as they continue to apply the numbing drops.
The next thing you hear is someone say "suction on", this is the time in which they actually create the flap in your eye so that the laser can reshape the cornea. You feel quite a bit of pressure, and even with your eye open, lose complete sight. Then you hear "suction off" and, as vision returns, you see them using some sort of device to move the flap that was just created.
You are directed to look at a red light and then you here the machine start up. Ever smell burning hair before? That's what you smell as the laser strikes your eyeball. A little disconcerting, but breath through it and move on to the other eye.
All in all, the whole thing took about 12 minutes. I noticed an immediate difference, albeit fuzzy one. Then it was time to go home, take a nap, and let the healing process begin ¶ 5:58 PM
I had a 10:30 appointment. Kristi dropped me off at about 10:20. The place was absolutely packed. I announced my arrival at the front desk and was told to wait. Now, I don't normally mind waiting, but there were no available seats to sit in. The whole place was occupado. Which relegated me to wandering around the waiting area and watching others receive the treatment before me.
The room where the procedure actually takes place consists of 3 glass walls in the middle of the waiting area. You get to watch as each person before you has the procedure done. A little creepy seeing someone else's eye up on a computer monitor as laser beams sculpt them a new cornea.
After about 2 hours of wandering in circles within the waiting area, my name was called and it was my turn. I got all comfortable and they taped up my left eye, applying numbing drops to the right one. Using some sort of vise grips, they pry my eye open and keep it that way as they continue to apply the numbing drops.
The next thing you hear is someone say "suction on", this is the time in which they actually create the flap in your eye so that the laser can reshape the cornea. You feel quite a bit of pressure, and even with your eye open, lose complete sight. Then you hear "suction off" and, as vision returns, you see them using some sort of device to move the flap that was just created.
You are directed to look at a red light and then you here the machine start up. Ever smell burning hair before? That's what you smell as the laser strikes your eyeball. A little disconcerting, but breath through it and move on to the other eye.
All in all, the whole thing took about 12 minutes. I noticed an immediate difference, albeit fuzzy one. Then it was time to go home, take a nap, and let the healing process begin ¶ 5:58 PM
