Lasik Update

Well...I went into the Lasik doctor for a consultation...just to see if I qualify for the Lasik procedure in terms of the health of my eyes and my prescription.  I also wanted to get a price point to see if it was affordable. 

I have been wearing contacts and glasses since I was about 13 years old.  I remember being so self conscious about my glasses and felt weird about my contacts.  Also for as long as I can remember I have always been a nightbird and prefer staying up late so for many many years I wore those contacts far longer than I should have, or I would even fall asleep with my glasses on.  I remember a few times I was in such a hurry I would jump into the shower WITH my glasses still on my face. haha.

I checked out some reviews on Yelp and checked some overall reviews.  I made some calls and I went with the guy who had been doing it the longest and had the most procedures (over 40,000 lasik/prk procedures under his belt).  I figured what did it hurt - almost all of them were "free consultations" to prequalify you for surgery and if I decided not to get surgery then I could always just pay for the contact/eyeglass exam and fill my prescription.  But to be honest, I am tired of wearing glasses - my prescription makes for heavy glasses and the contacts I prefer are $28/box even with a discount.  In the last few years I've also been unable to wear them on high pollen days - it's become unbearable.

The place was super busy.  I guess they do all their surgeries on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  People also come in from all over the state and from New Mexico and California to get their surgery done.  The staff are super nice and friendly - and answer all your questions - they must have like 15 exam rooms at that place and only one optometrist and one surgeon.  but it's a pretty speedy process.  I was a bit nervous but I was confident that i would qualify because a few years ago I had a very good optometrist take a 360 degree picture of my eye to also check the internal health of the nerves - actually I still have it on CD.  So then it came to price.  They quoted me 4800 for both eyes which pretty much seems to be the going rate for someone with eyes like mine (myopic -4.25 both eyes).  I told the office manager and the doctor I am a poor student...is there no way that you could bring the price down and I explained about how my eyes are rejecting lenses on high pollen days and i have long study hours AND my glasses are too heavy.  They told me they would be right back.

They came back and told me they could take the price down to 2600 for both eyes including the lifetime assurance that if my eyes fail in the future (with the exception of needing reading glasses due to age)  I could get complimentary adjustments.  That provides that I can put down 1K cash.  The remainder of the balance qualified for 2 years interest free.  Lol my bestie Chef/French Teacher told me that only I could talk a doctor down in price.

Haha.  HAGGLE!  there is a good chance you can get something off or at least something free - I haggle with everyone including doctors and dentists.

So that was about noon and they scheduled me for a 430pm surgery with Custom Lasik on both eyes instead of standard lasik.  So Mom and I grabbed lunch and did a little shopping.  I must admit I was very nervous because  I've never had surgery - I've never even been in a hospital except when I was born or had stitches from a playground fall and a big wheel jump from my grandmothers 3rd story home..

They prepped me for surgery (a bonnet and some gauze around the ears.  They gave me a post op kit and a prescription for antibiotic/inflammatory eyedrops (a whopping total of 27 bucks - haha)  They put me on the table.

The procedure did not hurt.

But...it was weird.  They put the numbing eye drops. They tape back your upper eyelid.  They tape down your lower eyelid.  They put a thingamajig to keep your eye propped.  you stare at a blinking yellowish orange light - they apply a vacuum thing to hold it still, then the blinking light blacks down and you hear this clicking popping - and 23 seconds later that eye is done.  They repeat the procedure on the other eye.

The weirdest part is when they put your lens back and everything immediately jumps to focus.  Then you blink and get up and everything is slightly foggy/misty.  After 30 minutes the numbing drops wear off and it feels horrible.  Those people who do the reviews were lying - the recovery time stings.  It felt like someone squirted a bottle of DAWN liquid soap in my eyes mixed with sand.  I took a 2 hour nap in the car while I waited for my prescription to get filled.  Then we went home and I made tacos (sunglasses on) and then I lay down.  Even if you wanted to you couldn't just go about your day - the sting and ache will force you to take a nap.  I fell asleep from like 8pm to 1130pm and when I woke up I could see the television and all the small details from far away.  The good thing is the pain went away

I put on the clear eyepatches and slept the rest of the night.  I woke up in the morning and was amazed at the difference HOWEVER I did not see small letters very well from far away.  I had an appointment at 345pm the next day - but I went in at 11am because my Friday classes were all cancelled. 

My eyes measured 20/30.  I was a bit disappointed.  They laughed and said - it has been less than 24 hours.  They are expecting my eyes to be 20/15 within the week.

I don't regret it and I would recommend it to anyone.

Funny Story - while I was in the lobby waiting - i heard a couple in there talking and the husband really did not want to get it but both of them are getting it.  I could hear that their eyes were also not as bad as mine.  The husband said that they didn't really need it and as he said that he was looking at her fake boobs.  I could tell he had only recently bought those - haha.  I also heard that they were paying 4600 each for the procedure  he said it was substantial - She said,"but we got a $200 discount each."  LOL I was laughing - they got ripped off.  Ain't that something.  LOL.

Right after they went in for surgery another couple came in and the husband was totally sourfaced.  The wife also had fake boobs.  But I looked closely at her and noticed she also had fake lips.  She looked at me and said,"Oh did you get lasik too?"  I said "yes, I had my appointment yesterday at 4pm"  She said,"Are you in pain?"  I said,"No."  She then leaned on her husband and said,"I am."  I had a baffled look on my face and the husband rolled his freakin eyes.  LOL.  She looked at me again and said,"Did you get your lips done too?"  I laughed and said Hell no...

Crazy people.  Just itchin to spend their husbands money.