A Miracle of Sight

In case you missed the Facebook memo, I recently had what I would undoubtedly refer to as a miracle of vision: Lasik eye surgery. The only ones who will truly be able to identify with me that this is indeed a mind-blowing thing to have happen to you would be the ones who currently wear glasses or contacts to correct a vision impediment and know just how blurry things used to be.

How bad exactly were my eyes before the surgery? Well, I couldn’t read clocks on walls, see details in faces, read a sheet of paper over around 60cm away . . . the list goes on.

So I trudged down to Auckland with every expectancy of hearing “we’re sorry, but you aren’t eligible for Lasik as your cornea is such an odd shape” (my optometrist told me there was a high chance I wasn’t suitable for that reason), or “your prescription hasn’t been stable for the last year, so we can’t do it.” Yeah, you know, have low hopes so they can’t get crushed. Foolproof plan.

But, much to my extreme excitement, I was eligible. The laser treatment itself takes approximately 20 seconds per eye to cut a flap in the cornea and then the reshaping of the lens takes about another 25 seconds. The whole thing is over in under 15 minutes. The real waiting around is during the the talks they give you beforehand and the extensive tests they have to run on your eyes.

I guess the question people probably want to know is how painful it is. Well, you have to keep your head precisely still while a large disc is pushed into each eye, one at a time. You then stare at a red flashing light and everything goes extremely blurry — your head having to remain very still during this — while they cut the flap in your cornea. Overall I wouldn’t call it painful as such, but more highly uncomfortable and incredibly unnerving with the stress of knowing your eye is literally being burned open.

The other question would have to be, is it all really worth it? All I would reply is: without a doubt.

You have no idea.

During surgery:

After surgery:

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