The Smell of Better Vision

by

by Slartibartfast

That’s supposed to be how you think of that burning-hair smell resulting from a UV laser burning multiple layers of cells from the surface of your cornea.  I really didn’t notice much of a smell; hope that doesn’t mean anything bad in terms of improved visual acuity.

That part, actually, didn’t hurt.  Nor did the part where they put some sort of softening agent on my eye and then scraped off the top layer or two of cells.  The hurty-bits came later on, after the Valium (which I cheerfully accepted) wore off.  I wisely (ok, after some team-coaxing from both the doctor and my wife) abandoned the strategy of doing both eyes at once, so I’m typing this while squinting through an old pair of glasses from which the left lens has been removed, which are in turn covered by a pair of sunglasses to filter out those stray bits of light that have managed to sneak past the blinds.  Oh, and the radiance from the laptop.  Bad news: I have to do this again.

Lesson learned: the ability to endure pain means nothing when the pain is in your eye.  When your eye hurts, you’re blind.  My sister is thinking of having this done; she thinks she’ll be just fine because how bad could it be, compared with childbirth.  I’m interested in seeing how well childbirth prepares one for being able to see through freshly burned cornea.

Summary: still in some discomfort, and still not seeing well out of the eye that’s been zapped.  Both are expected, but both mean I won’t be around all that much.  In the meantime, consider this an open thread.

*Although reading and movie-watching are still painful, I managed to, finally, get the WWBBD reference.  It was a "free rental" (whatever that means) at the local Movie Gallery.

22 thoughts on “The Smell of Better Vision”

  2. my wife had them both done at once. she was in serious pain for about 24 hours. couldn’t handle light, or sleeping on her side, or much of anything. yuck.

  3. When your eyes hurt, yu are blind. Yes. I have been like that off and on for five years.
    I am sorry this is being such a miserable experience for yu. Hopefully, in a day or two you will feel better and you will be able to enjoy good vision. (Then brace yourself for the next one!)Good luck!

  4. Just checking in…no, it’s not all that bad. It’s much better today, for instance, than it was on Saturday morning (even after a drop of some cocaine derivative or other).
    It is, by all accounts, still much worse than Lasik (for example). My wife had Lasik and had no pain other than mild irritated-eye discomfort.
    Not trying to garner sympathy, just to be clear. And certainly not looking for it from you, lily. It looks like you’ve had a rough time of it. I’d be interested in hearing your story, here or elsewhere.

  5. Slarti: I’m glad it’s better now, and I hope it’s completely better as soon as possible, or even sooner. I’m glad you’re back, and I’m glad it went well.

  7. I’m not sure my experience is relevant (PRK it was called, I think; they don’t seem to do it any more) but FWIW it seems you get a better result if you rest your eyes as much as possible.

  8. I had PRK (yes it is still done. The military does both Lasik and PRK and generally has better results than civilian doctors (more experience through higher quantity I guess)) and had no real problems. The drugs helped and I slept all day.
    The biggest “pain” for me was the COLD water they poured on your eyes after the laser was done. Maybe it was the extremes in temperture, but I almost jumped out of the chair.
    I had both eyes done at the same time.

  12. I must have missed this — but what did you have done? I’m familiar only with Lasik (my father-in-law had it, and I’m due to have both done next year. The new wavefront stuff even adjusts mild astigmatisms like mine in a single pass) and lens replacement (my father has had that done).
    Hope you feel better. Eye surgery is kind of cringe inducing for me, and I’ve already let my surgeon know he’ll need to offer up the valium for my lasik.

  14. Hope your visual acuity has returned enough for you to read this:
    best wishes for a speedy return-to-normalcy-of vision!

  15. I once had the opportunity to have a free radial keratomy done just outside of Moscow.
    Having a fear of sharp objects coming at my eyes from a very early age since hearing the story of Samson, and that of Louis Braille, I was more than a little nervous of the procedure as I might run screaming fromt he room when the scaple was coming near the cornea.
    Fortunately the Georgian doctor, having not enough English to explain to me the risk/benefits properly, gave me a stack of medical papers to read through. I realized that being as poorly-sighted as I am, I wouldn’t get to the stage of being glasses-free. So I decided not to do it, thankfully.
    Hope your outcome is a good one.

  17. As of right now, I have a new contact lens in my right eye, which corrects me moderately well (miracle they had it in stock; -8.5 diopters with about a diopter and three quarters of astigmatism) but my near vision still sucks, so I’m also wearing a one-and-a-half power set of magnifiers from Walgreens ($14.99) so I can read. Left eye still smarts a bit.
    I learned a little about what to expect; the guy who did my eye exam today (Lenscrafters, believe it or not) told me that PRK heals from the edge in, so you get better vision in the first couple of days than you get right about where I am, which is close to the end of the healing process. Hence, I have double-vision a little because there’s this patch of healing tissue right smack in the middle of the aperture.
    Anyway, interesting stuff. Thanks for all the well-wishing, too.

  19. I had PRK done several years ago and it’s still a miracle to me to be able to see the fish when I snorkle and not have to wish for mini windshield wipers when it rains or snows. Hang in there. It gets much better.

  21. cleek,
    Thanks. That is an excellent start and it lays groundwork for addressing some of the other arguments. In addition to being a solid rebuttal of the email she received, of course. Two of her previous posts are nice compilations of stuff should already be known, but too often isn’t.
    More links for those interested, May 2006 Visa Bulletin and a helpful site from someone with experience jumping through the hoops.
    Two quick notes from the Bulletin. First, they are currently processing: family 2A (spouse,children under 21) applications from March 2002 (June 1999 for Mexico) – and employment 3rd preference (skilled, nonprofessional) applications from May 2001, Other preference (unskilled) from October 2000. Second, the difference between processing date and current date is not indicative of wait time. The March ’02 date will only advance to April ’02 in the next month’s Bulletin if a month’s worth of applications can be processed (depends on quota). In all likelihood, these green cards will be issued in something more like 10 years.

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