Firstly, please excuse any typos because I can’t really see what I’m typing. I had laser eye surgery on Tuesday and because of a genetic trait that I’ve traced to my mother, I had to have LASEK surgery instead of LASIK. LASIK and LASEK are pretty much the same but LASIK has less pain and a faster recovery time because of the way that the surgery is performed. If I was in better shape now I’d point you to web pages explaining the difference but I’ll trust that you’re savvy enough to highlight some words, right click and do a google search to find out details for yourself.
In short the difference is that a flap is cut in LASIK and the surgery is performed deeper in the eye. In LASEK, a chemical peel is used to remove a thin protective layer and then the surgery is performed on the outside of the eye. This means that you have to grow back the protective layer instead of just haling a little flap. It takes much longer and is described as hcausing minor irritation. I can say that minor irritation is pretty much like sticking fine sandpaper on your eyelids for four days. I have a contact in each eye to reduce the pain while it is healing. I cannot imagine what this would feel like if I didn’t have that in! The good news is that the pain is reducing but the bad news is that I know I’ll have the pain until they take the contact lens out on Friday. Everything is hazy and it feels like I have something in my eye (a contact, perhaps?).
I’m told that once my contact is removed that my vision will be much improved and the pain will be reduced. I will find out in two more days. Recovering from eye surgery is boring. You can’t really do anything – even sit and watch TV! I can’t focus on a book or newspaper long enough to get through a page and going out in the sun hurts so I’m kind of stuck inside. I’ve been using BBC’s iPlayer to listen to past television shows that are heavy on dialogue like Mock the Week and The Weakest Link. I’m mving into old radio shows next.
The verdict is still out so I’ll have to let you know what the end result is. Four days of pain is a togh one to take on voluntarily. If you are reading this because you’re trying to learn about LASIK versus LASEK and you’re scheduled for a LASEK treatment then all I can say is be prepared to crya lot. Not the girlie emotional kind but your eyes will just drip tears for days because they are irritated. The first 24 hours aren'[t so bad, partly because you still have supplies of the topical anasthetic to make all the pain go away but also becaus the contact lens is still fresh. Ever worn a contact lens for four days without taking it out, even just for a rinse? Life gets pretty hazy at that point.
And once again, sorry for those typos. I’m pretty good at typing and caught a couple of mistakes as I typed them so I hope that I backed up enough to correct them or else I’ll have half words all over the place.
Hope to see you soon!
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