My Eyes! The Goggles Do Nothing!

A “no-prize” for whoever can tell me where the title comes from. ☺
Another “no-prize” for whoever can tell me where the “no-prize” comes from. ☺

For about four years now, I’ve been debating whether or not to have laser eye surgery, so I wouldn’t need to wear glasses anymore. My prescription was quite high, and my glasses were weighing down heavily on my nose, leaving scars. I had a check up four years earlier at the Asian Eye Institute (AEI) here in the Philippines to see whether or not I’m qualified for laser surgery. Unfortunately, the doctor (Dr. Robert Ang) told me that my cornea is too thin, and it was not possible for me to do LASIK. LASIK is the process where they slice a flap from your cornea and insert a lens underneath. The process is painless, and the next day, you’re back to normal with no pain or after-effects. I know several people who have gone through it, and none have ever had problems with it. The other procedure is PRK, where they shave off your cornea until your vision is clear. The down side to this procedure would be that your cornea would be even thinner, and it’s easier for your eyes to get infected. Also, the pain will last a week, and it will take about 1 to 3 months to heal. The advantage to this would be that your eye is stronger, and you don’t have to fear the flap being loose and the lens being pushed out of place. So there are good and bad sides to both. The doctor said I was able to do PRK, but my cornea would be even thinner, and he can’t account for all of the astigmatism, as they’d have to shave off more than is possible. So, I decided to hold off on the operation, hoping that in the future, they would have better technology that I could take advantage off.

The future is now, and unfortunately, still no better technology for laser surgery. Just more precise calculations. Well, after talking it over with my parents, I decide to do it. My mom wanted to have it done as well, but wanted to see my results first. Anyway, last Thursday, we went to the AEI again for the check up. And they told us to go back on Saturday for the 3-hour check up, where they will see if I’m qualified. So, Saturday, we go back, and it does take three hours. They put a lot of eye drops on me, and checked my eyes with the machines, and had me rest for half an hour. At the end of the exam, Dr. Ang tells me the situation is still the same as before, but their laser is more precise now, so there’s less risk for me to do PRK. I still can’t do LASIK. And we told him that we will go ahead and schedule the PRK for Monday. He gave me a short list of things not to do on that day, and sent us off.

So, Monday morning, we head to the gym for a light exercise, and a bath. My appointment was for 12pm, so we had a small snack before we went to the doctor’s office. Once we got there, they made us wait a few minutes, which gave us time to pray. After that, I was called in. They gave me a locker key, then asked me to go inside their changing room. A male nurse there helped me take off my shoes and put on the hospital gown and head cap. Then, he took me to the waiting area outside the operation room, and had me sit in a Lazy Boy to await my impending operation. It was quite a wait, and after a while, I had to pee. I tried to hold it in, but realized I couldn’t, and asked to be shown to the washroom. When I got back, it was more waiting, but there were two others waiting beside me, also in lazy boys. Finally, they called me in, and with a deep breath, I walked into the operation room, where Dr. Ang and a few nurses were waiting. There was a big bed at the far end of the room, and a machine hooked up to it. They told me to lie on the bed. There was a slot where my head would rest. They assured me that the operation would not hurt, then dropped some anesthesia onto my left eye. They covered my right eye with a bandage, as they would be doing the operation one eye at a time. Then they put this device, which was attached to an arm attached to the machine, on top of my eye. The doctor kept assuring me the whole time that it wouldn’t hurt, then began brushing my eye, and poking at it. Good thing the anesthesia worked, and I felt nothing. Finally, it was time for the laser. The device on top of my eye, emitted a red light and a green light, both blinking. That was it. The doctor said I would smell burning, and I did. They did it four times, a few percent at a time. The first time was 24%, then 48%, then 73%, then 100%. I’d say it took about a minute or two. Not that long. I did smell burning, which was probably from my eye. The doctor did some further poking and stuff, then put a contact lens with no prescription on my eye to protect it from infection. Then, they bandaged my left eye and opened my right eye and did the same thing. After the operation, they had me walk out of the room and wait in my lazy boy again. The next patient was shown in. I had to wait until the next patient was done, and the doctor came out to check us both, then said we were ok. The nurse gave us some drops, and instructions as to what to do and what not to do. We were scheduled to see the doctor the next day for another check up. Surprisingly, there were no pain, and I could see relatively better, even with the goggles they gave us to wear for protection.

After the operation, we went out for lunch, and had a walk around. I didn’t feel any pain, just my eyes being tired, so I took a nap. I felt so confident that I was ok, that I decided to go to a meeting we had that night. At first, it started out ok. People looked at me weirdly because of the goggles, but no pain so far. Then an hour into the meeting, excruciating pain! I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and they kept watering. I had to step out of the room into the dark several times to recover. But I couldn’t take it anymore, and my good friend, Justine, offered to drive me home, which I agreed to. Once we got home, I immediately went to bed, and tried to fall asleep despite the pain. Sometime in the night, I finally did. The next day, there was still pain, a little subdued, but it was still there. We went to the doctor’s, and he dropped some anesthesia and loosed the lenses a bit, after which, I was fine. But once the anesthesia wore off, everything was so bright, it was blinding, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. We once again went back home where I tried to sleep it off again. The third day, it was a little better, and I could open my eyes a bit, and use the computer for about a minute or two before it would hurt. But close to night time, I was able to see in bright areas without glare or pain, but after watching some tv, it was back, so I went to sleep. This morning, I’m able to see in bright areas, and use the computer long enough to surf the web, and type this post up. Hopefully, it will improve as the day goes on. We’ll see what happens tomorrow when I go to the doctor’s to have the contact lens removed.