The Joy of Contacts
 

So I switched from glasses to soft contacts because I couldn't take the annoyances, anymore. For fifteen years, I've delt with the smears, the fingerprints, the bent frames, the reflections, and all of the other joys that comes with glasses. This past week, I got a new set in and reached the boiling point when the anti-glare coating began to crack, the Flexon frames had a bend that wouldn't go away (I suppose that actually means Flexon really does work!) and the distorting/chromatic aberrations at the edges made driving difficult.

So, contacts. It took awhile for me to force foreign objects into my eyes. There is a reflex, ah...blinking, that tries to prevent it. You'd think the lab tech that was assisting me would understand this. "No, you're not suppose to close your eye!" Gee, thanks for telling me. An hour of tries later, I could see and they didn't feel all that bad. In fact, I could only barely tell that one lens was there because it is a toric. Contact lenses are really amazing.

Except that they fog up now and then. I'll blink and, magically, there is haze. Sometimes it is just a little fuzz around lights at night, sometimes it is a total, white fog that obscures vision. Blinking causes it to change and sometimes go away. It does not encompass my entire field of view -- it is a lot like getting a speck of dust in your eye. Rewetting drops will remedy it for a little while, but I find myself having to add them every ten minutes or so. Some days seem better than others, but it seems to mostly occur after five to nine hours or wear. Some evenings are miserable and, specifically, sitting in front of a computer monitor where one tends to stare is torture.

Does anyone have any experience with something similar? Will I have to change to a different type of contact lens or is this something most contact wearers live with?

I don't really want to switch back to glasses. With my ghastly -4.50/-4.25 corrections, popping the contacts out and putting frames back on my head after a solid day of distortion-free vision was hell! The "lens bend" from the glasses was so bad I nearly fell over while trying to walk! I don't want to have to re-program my brain to get used to that, again. My head hurts just thinking about it.

I tryed contacts a few years ago but quickley changed back when one day while driveing our big truck ( 65k+ ) a gust of wind came in the window poping BOTH of the contacts out and i was basicaly blind at 65+ mph , plus i am used to the protection from flying stuff with glasses. I am considering Lasic though

I went to contacts a couple of years ago. It only took having my glasses busted and mangled by patients a couple of times before I got over my fear of sticking my fingers in my eyes.

I got over that surprisingly quickly. Lasik scares me too much to even consider it.

I now also have toric lenses, but I really miss my old ones, which were one month extended wear disposables. Put 'em in, take 'em out 30 days later. Wake up in the morning able to read the alarm clock and find things. I am anxiously awaiting the development of extended wear torics, which are now my only option because my astigmatism reached a level that it needs correction so I can do things like read and drive safely.

I don't have a real problem making the transition from contacts to glasses. I have a significantly stronger prescription than you do, though. I'm -6.5/-6.5

Check with your optometrist about the "fogging" thing ... might be protein buildup on the lenses, or even an allergic reaction rather than "fog". Could resolve with a change in brand of lenses or brand of rewetting solution.

I like the Allergan rewetting drops, and also have used Blink (doc was hot on it and gave me samples) and the ones that go with my saline, which is AMO Complete. I don't have a bottle of their drops right now to check the name. In the past I used Alcon products which are also pretty decent.

Which brand of torics do you have? I have Vertex's currently. My options are limited because of my prescription strength.

I have rigid gas permeable lenses and they're great--been wearing them for almost 20 years. (I got my first set of hard lenses, pre-gas permeable days, when I turned 12.)

zippy, what kind of contacts did you have? In almost 25 years I haven't had a contact just fall out. (Gotten airborne debris attached, or blinked off center, sure, but never out completely.)

Which brand of torics do you have? I have Vertex's currently

Ah, I have no idea. I'm on the first week's trial, which was interrupted the very first day when I accidentally tore the right lens while trying to gently scrub it with my finger. I should have saved the foilpacks.

Does the solution that you put them in make a huge difference? Right now I'm using B&L "MoistureLoc" MultiPurpose coupled with Ben Stein endorsed Clear Eyes. "Wow."

The fog, I think, is associated with dryness. If I hold my eyes open and stare, I can see it gradually get worse until I blink. I'll talk to the doc about it during my follow-up.

I considered Lasik, but I'm put off by it knowing that any mistakes are something you have to live with forever. I was also discouraged when I found out that some people have to go in for repeat procedures if their vision changes -- sometimes as frequently as every five years. That can't be fun. If anyone is going to be cutting into my eye, it better be right the first time and it better only need to be done once!

Zippy, my father wears RGPs and he's had them pop out now and then with the wind, but it is almost always when they're really dry. He has no choice but to wear the rigids, but he's gotten used to them. Seeing him struggle, though, was what made me stay with glasses for some years. All it took was seeing him lose a contact for hours above his eye, essentially inside his head, creeped me out for a long time.

If rewetting drops are solving the problem, it sounds to me like your contacts are drying out. I agree that it's worth discussing this with your doctor. There are different "formulations" of contact lenses. Some contain more water than others. Depending on how dry your eyes are naturally, some may dry out more quickly in your eye than others. The contacts that have more water in them have more water to lose, and can really dry out if your eyes don't produce enough tears. But they are more comfortable. Contacts with less water in them will hold their shape more as they get dry, but they are a little less comfortable. A friend of mine has glass contact lenses (yes, they still make them) and her lenses never dry out. Personally, I can't imagine having hard glass touching my eye, but they work for her.

Another possibility is that you aren't cleaning them well enough when you take them out at night. Like Wolf said. Are you taking them out at night? What is your schedule?

Anyway, my point is that a good opthamologist or optometrist will really fit lenses to your eyes so that they are comfortable. If they aren't working for you, you should mention it.

Thanks for the suggestions, Glatt. The water content makes sense.

These are soft weeklies. I take them out before I go to bed, give them a scrub, let them soak overnight, then rinse them in the morning. I always thought there was more to it than that, but there isn't any special "wash" that goes with these.

I would love to get contacts, but I am a chronic eye rubber. It's a relaxation "tick" for me to just rub my eyes for minutes on end. I figured that might not be the best thing for contacts... Can you rub your eyes with them in? I mean, give them a good rubbin'?

I love my glasses though... they are really cute and have little diamonds on the frame. Plus, they look really good on me. I just would like the freedom to not wear them if I don't want to.

That's all the care you need to give them ... and you don't necessarily need to rub them. Try one of the saline solutions marked "No Rub" and follow the directions.

Do not get the Bausch & Lomb stuff in the aerosol can. Awful.

I didn't know that the Ben Stein stuff came in a "for contacts" version. All artificial tears are not created equal when it comes to working with contacts. try one of the brands I mentioned above. The Allergan always seemed to be the most soothing, but the AMO Blink and Clean was acceptable.

(I had tried the visine rewetting solution for contacts and it was horrible ... I'm a cheap bitch, but I threw out the $7 bottle of drops)

I had LASIK surgery performed almost seven years ago. As Kitsune mentioned, your eyes most definitely can go bad again (technical term is "regressing,") and just this year I've had to get a pair of glasses for occasional distance reading--mostly anime subtitles. :) The good news is that repeat surgeries, if you want them, are usually included in your original price. It's like a warranty.

BUT, you can't do too many repeat surgeries because there's only so much cornea they can take off. My prescription was -9.5/-9.75 (take THAT, wolf ;)) and I hit the minimum thickness (250 micrometers, if you care) with my first procedure. But even if I do have to go back to wearing contacts/glasses full-time someday, I'll never regret doing the LASIK surgery. The difference between my "regressed" eyesight and the legal-blindness I had before is still immense.

I will say this, though: you can smell the burning flesh while the laser's actually going. It's not for the squeamish.

Do you think they'd let you put something like what morticians use under your nose? I think I'd probably freak out smelling myself burning.

Probably. They'll even give you a mild sedative I think, but you have to be fully awake and in control of your faculties for the surgery to take place.

I had Lasik done almost 6 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did and I have never regretted it. As huge of a difference as there is between glasses and contacts, the differences between contacts and true vision is greater.

Even after 6 years it still gets me when I occasionally try to adjust my glasses and realize I don't wear them. Things such as swimming and being able to see or looking over to the alarm clock in the middle of the night are just amazing things.

The actual surgery is freaky. It certainly tests your will. There are no restraints or anything to keep you still. The doctor pries open your eyes and locks them open and then comes at you with a little razor device to open up the surface of your eye. Then you briefly go blind while your eye adapts. Then the laser starts up with the clicking noises and you can feel your eyeball changing shape and smell the burned flesh. It's nerveracking.

The next few weeks are tough as you have to be very careful to protect your eyes so that the incision heals properly. That and learning to "retrain" your barain to see the new way is difficult. A bunch of headaches and eye strains at first but after about 3 months they finally feel like your own eyes.

Even with all of that, I would recommend the procedure to anyone. It is just flat out amazing and the quality of life difference is awesome.

Thank you, sir. You have created a lifelong glasses customer.

I no longer have even the slightest doubt. I now have one fewer things to worry about in my life. Permanently. :bows:

My brother in law is going to get the lasik done in a few days, and he's pretty nervous about it.
I would love to get it done myself, but like others, I can't help but notice that I only have *one* set of eyes - and from what I understand, you can't grow new eyeballs back.
Perhaps I will just get one eye done and if it gets screwed up I can just go around looking like a pirate.

DITTO :worried:

I had to wear glasses from age 6. Thick bastards, too. Got soft contacts at 15 (but weird kid that I was, kind of enjoyed the act of sticking things in my eye). My vision was horrendous -- my prescription was so strong that only the dorkiest of plastic frames would hold the lenses, and they weighed a ton.

Got LASIK in 99, at age 29, and I can't even begin to tell you how cool it was to wake up the next morning from the procedure and be able to read the clock across the room. The surgery itself was cringe-inducing, but painless. My vision was better than 20/20 a month afterwards, and only recently has it regressed to 20/20 (I have to go in for regular vision tests because of the rheumatoid arthritis medicine I'm on, so I get frequent updates). If you have the money, go for the surgery -- you're in more danger of getting hurt driving to the clinic than from the surgery itself. Plus, it's cheaper than it used to be (albeit not covered by insurance), and the docs have several years' worth of experience under their belt. When I did mine, it was a new procedure with no proven track record, but it still worked flawlessly.

I hear it works great for ten years and then your eyeballs fall out.

(but I haven't tracked down which episode I learned that in)

can you type bigger? for some reason i can't quite make that out.

aww poor u! it's ok, i've never had contacts in my life since i'm "contact"phobic lol, i'm afraid of getting foreign objects in my eyes. This is a big fear for me to overcome later on. Anyhow, My friends wear contacts either soft or hard, and yes they have lots of complaints about their contacts once in a while. I do remember my freind had complained once about seeing fuzz around the light at night, but that was after she cried, and also there was tears in her eyes which produced the "fog" that slightly obscured her vision. hmmm unless you cry too?

Oh, HELL no. :eek: I'm sticking with my gas permeables, thank you very much.

:lol2:
Ok... that made me laugh!

But back to the subject at hand.... I have had contacts since I was 12 (9 years now) and there are good and bad things about contacts. I do have one question though, were the Ben Stein drops for contacts or for dryness? Because there is a big difference in what you can do with bare eyes as opposed to eyes with contacts. If they did not say "for contacts" in big letters on the bottle than they were probably the wrong ones which would explain the dryness problems. I always have to read the lable really carefully to make sure it gives me directions on what to do if you wear contacts. Usually it says to wait 10-30 minutes before putting in contacts after applying the drops.

I have noticed that when I work at a computer my contacts dry out really bad and give me headaches from trying to focus through the dry fog. I have had to go to glasses (which I never wore all the time, only a day at a time to let my eyes rest from the contacts) because I work at a computer all day long and the headaches were becoming an issue.

When I was 12 and I got my eyes checked (for the first time) I got contacts right away and didn't ever get glasses until a few years later, so contacts were what I knew from the beginning. Anymore, though, I want to get rid of both cumbersome instruments but I can't afford surgery at this time. Phooey. :violin:

Good luck finding out what is causing all of the discomfort!! :p

My sister's boyfriend just returned from getting the surgery this week. He said it was amazing.
He did admit that it was a bit freaky when the "tools" were heading towards his eye, and also he could smell burning.
Yuck.
However, his eyesight is now 20/15, and he says he would recommend it to anyone with bad eyesight.

I'm still freaked out though...... maybe I will do it..... maybe

I'm jealous... :D

Yeah, they were rewetting drops for soft contacts.

I ended up fixing my problem with a couple of different things. First, I switched to different rewetting drops ("Blink-n-Clean" per Wolf) and different solution (no more Bausch and Lomb -- I can't remember the name of what I switched to at the moment). Just this switch ended up making a pretty massive difference, but I had already asked my doctor to give me a different trial on the problematic lens. He moved me to a slightly more expensive lens and the difference has been very dramatic -- my vision is a lot better than with the previous lens and I don't get the fogging problem at all.

You're right about sitting in front of the computer screen! Sitting at work and gazing into the monitor made my contacts haze over with dryness. Awful. On this fourth day of the new trial, everything is working out much better, though.

You blink less often when staring at the computer. Blinking usually keeps your eyes more moist naturally, and also makes the contacts spin and resettle on your eye.

Just remember to blink!

Easier said then done... :mg:

I wear Proclear Toric lenses as I have nearsightedness and astigmatism. These do the job and I don't have a problem with them. They are made to have extra moisture in them, thus, allowing the lens to fit properly, especially since torics have to stay level.

Good Luck!!!

Just to add my vote for laser eye surgery. I had mine done at the end of June and have perfect vision in my right eye now (from -3.25). My left eye is currently -0.75, so I have an appointment in November to they can check it again. If it gets any worse they will operate again.

I have to say I don't regret having the surgery, but am keeping everything crossed I don't need a correction. I was disgusted by the smell (why don't they warn you?!) and I did suffer intense pain and swelling for 3 days afterwards. If I knew how to attach an image I'd show you a pic of me 2 days after surgery - I look like I've done a few rounds in the ring

Want to hear the most bizarre part of it? I bought my eye surgery on eBay. The guy who owns Optimax in the UK is an eBay fan and sells off last minute slots in his clinics at a reduced rate. He says it keeps his staff busy & his clinics full and people who can be flexible about when they have the surgery get the same service at a discount. I am rather looking forward to being asked "Where did you get your laser eye treatment?" and answering "eBay actually".

i had 2 procedures done on my left eye. the first one was PRK circa spring of '97 and sonofabitch it hurt like hell. that reduced my vision from 20/400 to 20/200 in my left eye. after that i waited until the LASIK proceedure was perfected and had my vision corrected to roughly 20/30ish in both eyes, doing the proceedure only on one eye at a time for the "just in case" factor. i only wear glasses to drive and fly. i highly recommend the LASIK proceedure, it is really nice to wake up and be able to see not only the alarm clock but the TV as well. but i would recommend doing only one at a time. old school i guess. i know they've perfected the proceedure even more since but i'm always a little cautious about my eyes......

For me ... a little cautious is wearing contacts.

A lot cautious is not letting some guy who assembly lines patients approach my eyes with a laser.

nuh-uh.

nope.

no.

what frustrates me about contacts is that the doctor perscribes by the BRAND, not by what your vision calls for. I wanted to switch to overnight contacts, but would of had to make another appointment to do so. ARG!!!

There are differences in fit with the different brands, even with different types within the same brand.

Now that I have to wear torics I've missed out on a lot. No color contacts, no Wild Eyes, and worst of all, no overnights.

I had 30-day lenses. They were awesome.

Contacts
 

well i have been wearing contacts since a long time now
and i really love them
no more teasing from friends and all
and also ther are very comfortable
i had certain problems in blinking in the beginning but now i am all right with them

Pray for me.

I am the designated driver and hand holder for SWMBO who will go under the laser in the morning. That's not strictly true--she's strong, I'm the one who'll need the sedative :shivers: Anyway, wish her and me the best, please. I'll report back tomorrow.

Ooooh definitely let us know how it goes!! I am still too scared to do it myself, so I need all the stories good or positive so I can make up my mind for sure.

Good luck - I hope it all goes perfectly!!

Make sure all the lights are off when you get home. Keep the house as dark as possible for at least a couple of days.

Since you're paying for this, does that mean you get the pygmy goats?

Ok, short story: It works, totally worth it.

From the start, MrsV has endured contacts, and tolerated glasses, but wasn't happy with either one. Locally, King and Mockovak Lasik laser eye surgery clinic offered a "free" seminar. Turns out the seminar was indeed free and really just for information. But MrsV was a motivated qualified potential customer and the clinic's outreach earned her attention. She attended the seminar during my time in BSL.

When I got back, we talked about the different options, and the different costs. She scheduled an evaluation. This was no small deal, since it was about 20 miles from our house, and the evaluation included procedures (eye dialation) that would prohibit her from driving herself. It took about half a day including the exam and the paperwork giving her her treatement options and payment options. We brought the details home and talked it over.

She was *very* excited at the prospect of having her 20/200 vision permanently corrected to 20/15. Sounds like a miracle to me. I have good vision, so I don't experience the hassle of lenses and glasses in the same way, but I think I get it. The questions we had were: Do we want to do this? (yes) Do we want to go with lower cost less detailed laser or the more expensive finer grained laser? (more). Do we want to go with the basic, extended or lifetime "warranty" plan? (lifetime). How would we pay for it, free financing for 12-18 months, cash, credit card, savings, etc (still in flux).

So an appointment was scheduled for today (the appt was made one week ago). During the last week, we had to have a prescription filled for a optical antibiotic. We brought this little bottle to today's appointment. We arrived a couple of minutes late (traffic) but were promptly seen by a finance intake person, a peppy young woman who helped facilitate our payment and paperwork. We had to sign in a couple of places, for the money, the insurance waiver (not a medical procedure, but a "cosmetic" one), and label used as a name tag, to be applied above the left breast, upside down.

We had previously decided to go with the simple laser and the extended plan. The simple laser removed only a uniformly thin layer of tissue under the cornea. But any astigmatism, which is the result of an unevenly curved cornea, would remain, since the vision correction with the simple laser would leave these microscopic bumps and hollows intact. The eye would be able to focus better, refract the visual image more closely to the retina, but any abnormalities would remain. The other laser (the epi-lasik, I think) removes less tissue overall. It does this by mapping the topography of the cornea and the removing only tissue from the high spots and leaving the low spots untouched. It worked in a grid pattern of about 10-12x10-12 spots over the area of the iris. The spots overlapped slightly.

Back to the nice finance/intake lady. The prices were arranged McDonalds style, with the upgrades in laser ascending from left to right, and upgrades in length of service ascending from bottom to top, giving a grid of six choices. We had tenatively settled on the simpler laser and the middle service level, leaving one upgrade in each direction. We asked a couple of questions and decided on both upgrades. The original price was $1399/eye. The upgrade to the fancy laser was $1499/eye and the upgrade from the one year of free adjustments ($500/eye thereafter) to a lifetime of free adjustments was $1699/eye. We raised our limit by $300/eye, but I never felt pressured to do this. But then I might be induced to buy the all weather undercoating too, who knows. Our total was $3398.

The lady then brought out a little kit with the supplies for MrsV's eye care over the coming days and weeks. She has to take her antibiotic and another topical anesthetic 4x/day, five minutes apart. The artificial tears are minimum 1x/30 minutes today and every couple of hours thereafter. She also placed a nighttime tylenol on top to be taken as we left, as the numbing solution would only last about 30 minutes past the end of the procedure. There were nice looking high coverage dark sunglasses included, to be used liberally. Also included was a set of goggles, ski goggles style, but much lighter construction, and clear. These were to be used during sleep, no touchy! She even demonstrated, stewardess style, the method for putting them on, strap in back of head first, then carefully hold goggles out and bring down.

MrsV was instructed to rest her eyes, even sleep if possible for the next day. No computer, reading, television, sewing, driving, etc. No eye work. Questions? Ok. Moving on.

We were escorted to a small waiting room with three other patients and their drivers. She was given a surgery rooom style hair net and booties, and instructions not to do up her hair in any kind of ponytail, etc. The reason was to have a stable base on the back of her head, not some wobbly ponytail. She was offered juice, snacks, etc. Thanks. After we had waited about ten minutes, Dr. King walked in in his scrubs and introduced himself, asked how she was doing, and offered her a sedative. I don't remember the name. Little white pill under the tongue or with water. I thought it sounded like a good idea, but I decided to let her have it. The doctor left and said he'd return in a little while as the pill took effect. Ten minutes later, she was buzzing a little, whee! That passed soon and the nurse/assistant came in and escorted us next door to the surgical suite.

The suite was a large room, not brightly lit, like a slightly dim office. In the room was another woman sitting at a bench near a machine with a cushion long enough to lie on. I did not go in, it was not necessary to do so to watch since the entire wall was made of glass. Everything was visible. My attention was directed to a large television monitor, where I could see what the surgeon would see. Boy, would I see.

MrsV sat on the bench, then reclined and a cushion was placed under her knees. Her head was at the business end of the machine, of course, and the assistant began to prep her, while the nurse that escorted us from the waiting room began to work on the machine. MrsV was given a large stuffed dragon to hold on her tummy as a comfort and to keep her hands occupied. MrsV's eye makeup was taken off, not that she was wearing any, but her eyes and the surrounding area were thoroughly cleaned, and a clean white gauze pad was placed over her eyes. Then the surgeon walked in.

He sat at the third stool in the room, at her head, looking down at her upside down face, in postition to read her name tag applied earlier. Everyone except MrsV wore a surgical mask. She told me later that there was plenty of dialog in the room, but I heard none of it. The gauze was removed from her right eye first, and the assistant applied some clear tape to her eye, taping her eyelids w-i-d-e open. I think at this point, or before, the anesthetic was applied, because that tape looked damn uncomfortable. It started very low on the eyelid, where the eyeliner would be applied and gripped and opened and stuck down. Then a pair of metal retractors were inserted over the taped edges of the eyelids. She told me this was the most uncomfortable part of the procedure, especially the lower ones. I have to tell you, it looked painful. Her eye was as wide open as it could be without tearing something.

Starting with the eyelid tape, I watched the rest of the procedure on the monitor. After the retractors were put in :shivers: a small rectangular plate with a circular boss on it was mated to the retractors. The circular boss had a hole in it about the size of her iris. Think Borg. The next thing I saw was a machine with a flexible shaft and a complicated set of locking cams on the end placed over the protrusion on the plate. Then the device was locked in place, and slowly it arced back and forth once, then it was unlocked and taken away, and the frame removed from the retractors.

The next step was very smooth and quick, and I only understood for certain when I watched it repeated on the second eye: her cornea was lifted off her lens and flapped "upward". The machine I saw arc back and forth once was the thing that cut her cornea from her eye. The cut was not complete. Imagine standing looking at your eye. Look at your pupil. Imagine a clockface superimposed on it. The cut was in a plane parallel to the iris and extended from 12:30 aaalll the way around to 11:30, leaving a small, "1 hour" hinge at the top of the iris (cornea, actually, since the iris is behind the cornea). Back to the table. The cornea is "flapped" toward the doctor, revealing the lens of the eye. The outer surface of the cornea is super duper smooth like a shiny drop of water. The inner surface of the cornea exposed by the cut is more of a matte finish, but still kind of shiny from the wetness. At the beginning I could see the catchlight reflection on the outer surface of her cornea from a red (laser) and green (another laser) light, but now that catchlight was gone.

Things were moving quickly, and from the time the surgeon had sat down to this point was about two minutes. Now that the top of the cornea was out of the way and the middle was exposed, the laser ablation began. I could hear nothing but I imagined a popping sound corresponding to the flashes of blue-green light at a pace of about 4/second. These little flashes were small, like I said, about 1/10 to 1/12 the diameter of her iris. The pattern of flashes was not regular, but all over the grid, like a disco dance floor, or whack-a-mole. Pop pop pop pop pop for about 10-15 seconds, then a break for maybe several seconds then again. Pop pop pop pop pop pop. Again I couldn't hear anything, but it felt that way.

Cont'd--

The next thing I saw was some forceps gripping her cornea and "flopping" it back into place. The forceps disappeared and into view came a white foam wedge on a stick. Some wetting solution (probably saline) was applied to her eye and the surgeon used the little foam wedge to smooth out the cornea, so it sat neatly and symetrically in the area from which it was recently removed. When I asked the doctor about this part later, he mentioned he was making sure it fit into the "gutter". Imagine a dome, now slice off the top and set aside. On the round area on the top of the remaining base, remove some material, but not from the edge. When the top of the dome is replaced, it will want to settle into the very shallow "cup" made by the removal of the material. Settling the top of the cornea onto the base of the cornea and tucking in and smoothing any bumps or wrinkles or irregularities was a critical part of the process, since this is the very window through which the light must pass and bend on it's way to the retina. A hand made mistake here negates all the technical benefits of the procedure. This is one area where the human skill of the doctor's steady hand and good vision (he's a customer of his own service, going on five years) pays off.

Once he was satisfied with the result, a clear solution was poured into her eye and also a creamy white solution. Then a large light blue jelly-like thing was placed over the whole iris. I learned later this is a contact lens. It's purpose is like a bandage, to physically stabilize the wound. When we return tomorrow for the five minute followup, the doctor will remove it.

The next step was the removal of the retractors :aaahhh: and the removal of the clear surgical tape :relief:. The process was repeated with the other eye. The only difference was I could not see the flashes as well, and during the clean up there was a little blood. I later learned it was from a small cut on the eyelid from those damned retractors. The amount of blood was miniscule, not enough to form a whole drip. But when my wife's eye is filling a 24" television monitor, I did get a little Clockwork Orange vibe. She's really okay, though.

In ten minutes it was all over. She sat up, shook the doctors hand and walked out in to the "recovery room". We sat together and talked for about ten minutes. She said she could see better already. Her eyes looked really rough, like crying or tired or drunk or smoked out all together. But with all that hardware (and medicine) in there, there was good reason. She said it was a little foggy, but not unfocused. Success! The doctor came in after a few minutes, asked how she felt, do we have questions, etc. He asked her her to sit at a vision microscope an he checked his work. He pronounced her fit to leave, and we did.

We had lunch on the way home, and the Tylenol was making her sleepy, so we went home. I could tell the medicine in her eyes was beginning to wear off, she said they were stinging (NO rubbing!!). I helped tuck her in on the couch and helped her with her first round of eye drops, gave her the phone and the remote for the tv (to LISTEN ONLY to her soap opera) and went back to work. I did get a call an hour or so later, and we decided that another pain pill was a good idea. Rest is important, and pain inhibits rest.

We have a regimen of eye drops every hour it seems for the next thirty days, and the healing will continue for three months. She can expect gradual improvement during that time, over and above the dramatic improvement she's seen already. On the way home, while the drugs were still soothing her eyes, she said "I can't believe I'm not wearing glasses." Her vision, in the first minutes after surgery, was comparable to her corrected vision. I think a case for "miracle" could be made.

As things progress, I'll keep you updated if there's anything dramatic to report. But after today's success the only thing dramatic worth reporting would be negative. Possible, of course, but if everything goes as planned, the only thing to happen will be the donation of a couple of pairs of glasses to the local Goodwill.

Oh.

hmmm

[eyes winced in a sympathetic fashion]
no. still not decided yet.... let us know how she feels in a couple of days. [un-wince....kinda]

As promised, poor phone camera pictures.

Pic one -- The suite.

Pic two -- On the bench cuddling with dragon.

pic one -- retractors holding lids w-i-d-e open.


pic two -- cornea cutter baseplate in place.

pic one and two -- cutter in place and moving across

The top of cornea is being lifted off the base of the cornea now.

pic one and two -- The cornea is out of the way and the laser is doing its thing. Notice a couple of things: there is a faint ring surrounding the pupil, about in the mi ddle of the iris. This is the edge of the cut. Also notice the pattern of small bluish spots in both pictures. This is the laser blasting away. The pattern is different in both pictures, three in the first and two in the second.

pic one -- Second eye, cornea intact and in place, smooth reflection from center of pupil to edge of iris.

pic two -- Second eye, top of cornea off, rougher reflection, cut edge shining, laser spot showing.

pics one and two -- Swab being used to carefully smooth the top of the cornea back onto the base of the cornea. You can see the white tip of the swab red with blood in the second picture.

pic one -- Before, a little nervous.

pic two -- After, very happy!

oooohh.....no

I am definitely not ready yet.

$3400 buys an awful lot of pairs of glasses.

I think I would need full leather restraints, not a toy dragon.

:chills:

Awww, what's wrong you guys? Suffering from a little aichmophobia, or is it that tiny possibility that the doctor could sneeze and you'd end up irreversibly blind for the rest of your life?

Note:

I did a little fact checking about the anatomy of the eye, and as a result, corrected several posts accordingly. The cornea is the clear bulging part of the eye in front the eye. It is shaped like a flattened drop of water on a horizontal glass surface. The next structure is the iris, the colored part of the eye that leaves a neat hole, the pupil, through which light passes. That light then passes through the lens. I mistakenly described the lens as between the cornea and the iris. That mistake is now corrected.