R.I.P Glasses...Hello, LASIK
When those teenage years hit, I was excited to get into the contact lens life. I thought, "Yay! I could put glasses aside and just BOOP! Pop some lenses into my eye and call it a day." But the harsh truth was lenses were a pain for me. I could never get them in easily, they barely fit right, and the prescription always seemed a little off. By the end of the day when I was exhausted, it felt like I had shards of glass in my eyes from the dryness I had (and, yes, I would moisturize with contact lens rewetting drops throughout the day). I ended up dishing out cash on lenses I thought I was going to wear all the time, to really only wearing them for special occasions or when I was going out on the weekend. Glasses were still my face's best friend.
The thought of corrective eye surgery was always one that I had lingering in the back of my mind. But with those thoughts came a lot of doubts and questions: How truly effective could it be? What were the risks? Could I lose my vision? Could it make me worse than I already was? I would always talk myself out of the thought. I figured, "Hey, people live their whole lives with glasses. I'll be okay." I was anything but okay though. I felt like with every visit to the eye doctor my prescription got worse - not my actual lenses but the fact that it never felt like I could see as clear as I could have. (Turned out I was being over prescribed, but we'll get to how I found that out). The constant discomfort of my vision caused me to have constant headaches day in and day out.
After many stories, discussions, and personal deliberation, I had come to a decision: I was going to get LASIK.
It wasn't until I started working at Columbia University Medical Center where I met my co-worker that the thoughts of LASIK really started to play a bigger role in my mind. My co-worker would rant and rave about how it was the best thing she did for herself and how great her vision was. She also spoke very highly of her LASIK Eye Specialist, surgeon Dr. Ken Moadel. After many stories, discussions, and personal deliberation, I had come to a decision: I was going to get LASIK.
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My initial visit at the office was everything one would expect from a consult: some registration paperwork, an optional introductory video to the office/eye surgery process/doctor/testimonials, and finally the meet and greet with one of the doctors. Let me tell you, at this point, your consult visit will NOT be with Dr. Moadel. Literally, the only time you will be introduced to that man is the day of surgery. The good news is he's the ONLY doctor who performs the surgery. No ifs, ands, or buts. But other than that, you will meet with another member of his team for consults and follow ups afterwards. My amazing consult doctor was Dr. Lili Trieu. She was beyond friendly and incredibly sweet. She went through all of the risks and benefits of having surgery. After some discussion it was off to the back of the office we went where they kept all the fancy machines and equipment. There, she ran a handful of tests. Measurements of my eye/pupil size, depth, and pressures were taken. Once we had the results of this, it was back to more discussion. Based on my initial measurements, she recommended I would probably be getting PRK surgery vs LASIK. What's the different, you ask? Here's the easy breakdown:
January 13, 2017 - The Big Day: Surgery Day!
With all of this information, there was also the realization that perhaps my measurements were a little off because I had worn contact lenses about 3 days before. Due to this, the doctor advised I should stay away from contact lenses for a week before surgery (after I made my follow up appointment I chose to cut off contacts for 2 weeks, better safe than sorry).
After Dr. Trieu went over the pros, cons, risks, and benefits, we met with a financial adviser to talk costs and payment options. Once we determined a payment plan best for me, the financial adviser was able to set me up with my follow-up appointment: surgery day! From there, my consultation ended with one last exam: pupil dilation. This was the biggest pain as it left my vision kind of blurry when it came to seeing far items. I literally went out to dinner right after and had to hold the menu face to face at my nose in order to be read it.
7:00 a.m. - Wake up (thought I really didn't sleep) and get ready for the day; makeup free and comfy outfit of leggings, a crew neck sweater, and UGGS to keep me warm and cozy in the brisk NYC weather.
9:00 a.m. - I'm late. There's an extra crazy amount of traffic downtown due to an NYPD funeral procession and the cars are bumper to bumper.
9:15ish a.m - We've barely moved a block and are stuck on 60-something street; Desperate times call for desperate measures. Mom switches to the driver's seat of the car while my stepdad and I book it a mile and a half to the doctor's office.
9:30 a.m - We made it! I'm exhausted and out of breath. Now's a good time for a Valium!
~ anything from here on out is purely speculation of time as I stopped paying attention to it/couldn't see it ~
10:15 a.m - I'm met by Dr. Lili Trieu once again to take second measurement of my eyes. They look better than the first set of photos she took during my consult. "Maybe I have a chance to get the LASIK instead of the PRK after all!" Sure enough when Dr. Ken Moadel joined us and looked at the images, he agreed: LASIK IT WAS! I was beyond grateful for this because of healing time and not having to worry about taking so many days off of work. Due to my level of nerves, he also gave me a second Valium.
10:45 - 11:30 a.m. - It's time. I'm freaking out. No, literally, F-R-E-A-K-I-N-G OUT. I feel the panic attack rising but I can't let it bubble up now; it's do or die time. I'm taken into the operating room. The nurse puts some eyedrops in my eyes and lays me down on the table. In the blink of an eye (not my eye because it's clamped open) the doctor is going to town on my eyeballs and doing his thing.
In what felt like the longest 5-ish minutes of my life, that's it. I'm done. With my eyes closed I'm given some super sexy (insert sarcasm here) sunglasses and lead into a dark recovery room where the nurse then put the antibiotic drops and the anti inflammatory drops in my eyes. I sat there for some time but the pain had already set in. My eyes felt itchy, but I couldn't scratch them; burning but there was no way to relieve them. I kind of just had to suck it up and live with that pain for the next 6-hours.
I don't know if it was the remnants of my panic attack, the fear of if something went wrong and I didn't know it yet, or the fact that I was excited I had finally taken this leap in my life, but I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I started sobbing uncontrollably. The crying made my eyes feel a little bit better for a few minutes but once I was able to leave and I was in the car, that's when the torture set it.
The rest of the afternoon/night - Miraculously, I sort of fell asleep on the drive home and from there I took some Benadryl and passed out for as long as possible until my mom woke me up to put my eye drops in every 2 hours. Sleep, wake up, drops. Sleep, wake up, eat, drops. Repeat.
This was how the rest of my night went. At around 6pm I was able to be awake and sort of have my eyes open, but it was still very swollen and very uncomfortable so I opted to just peaking at things every so often. By 9pm I was over taking peaks and decided to call it a night. I had a follow-up appointment the next morning.
January 14, 2017 - Post-Surgery Follow Up
It's standard practice for the office to have patients come in the day after LASIK. This is to ensure no damage was made to the flap on the healing eye and that the healing process has begun properly. I still had some serious swelling of my eyes and redness in my eyes that made me look like a zombie. Luckily the glasses I was provided with were large enough to hide all of that craziness. When the doctor determined all was looking well with my eyes and that my vision was showing immediate improvement (oh, yeah, I could see by now with exceptions of the halo of a blur around the edges). She changed my prescription drops from every 2-hours to every 4-hours and also advised me I had to buy artificial tears to put in between the medication time to keep my eyes moisturized and hydrated. The post surgery follow up was less than a half an hour. From there I was able to spend the rest of the day out and exploring town with my family and my new eye sight (hidden behind hideous glasses, of course).
January 31, 2017 - Three Week Follow Up
My three week follow up was quicker than my initial post-surgery follow up. It took me longer to get to the office than I actually spent at the office. When meeting with the doctor, she just gave me a full eye exam to see how my vision was improving. I did have some questions and concerns because I didn't feel 100%; but she said that was normal and my vision was nearing the 20/20 area. Though I'd been putting the artificial tears in constantly through the day, she let me know my eyes were dry when she looked at them and to apply more frequently. The dryness was also a factor in my slightly blurred vision still. She also eased my concern about redness I still had in one of my eyes, letting me know it was still bruising and after effects of the trauma my eyes went through with surgery. After a quick visit, I was out the door with my next appointment scheduled for three months out - in April.
So far I've been seeing and feeling great! My eyes have healed up (redness wise, at least) and I'm seeing pretty clearly. I still have to use the tears 3-4 times a day for the next couple of months. Other than that, I've never been happier. It's truly the best thing I've ever done for myself.
From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank all of the people at New York Eye Specialists for making my LASIK experience so informative, calm, and easy. For being sweet and compassionate and helpful. From the front desk staff, the the financial advisors, to the nurses, and doctors. Lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Ken Moadel for giving me freedom to see the world in a whole new light with no discomfort and without being tied down to glasses anymore. ♡
10:45 - 11:30 a.m. - It's time. I'm freaking out. No, literally, F-R-E-A-K-I-N-G OUT. I feel the panic attack rising but I can't let it bubble up now; it's do or die time. I'm taken into the operating room. The nurse puts some eyedrops in my eyes and lays me down on the table. In the blink of an eye (not my eye because it's clamped open) the doctor is going to town on my eyeballs and doing his thing.
In what felt like the longest 5-ish minutes of my life, that's it. I'm done. With my eyes closed I'm given some super sexy (insert sarcasm here) sunglasses and lead into a dark recovery room where the nurse then put the antibiotic drops and the anti inflammatory drops in my eyes. I sat there for some time but the pain had already set in. My eyes felt itchy, but I couldn't scratch them; burning but there was no way to relieve them. I kind of just had to suck it up and live with that pain for the next 6-hours.
I don't know if it was the remnants of my panic attack, the fear of if something went wrong and I didn't know it yet, or the fact that I was excited I had finally taken this leap in my life, but I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I started sobbing uncontrollably. The crying made my eyes feel a little bit better for a few minutes but once I was able to leave and I was in the car, that's when the torture set it.
The rest of the afternoon/night - Miraculously, I sort of fell asleep on the drive home and from there I took some Benadryl and passed out for as long as possible until my mom woke me up to put my eye drops in every 2 hours. Sleep, wake up, drops. Sleep, wake up, eat, drops. Repeat.
This was how the rest of my night went. At around 6pm I was able to be awake and sort of have my eyes open, but it was still very swollen and very uncomfortable so I opted to just peaking at things every so often. By 9pm I was over taking peaks and decided to call it a night. I had a follow-up appointment the next morning.
- my Snapchat story from the day of surgery and a little from the morning after -
January 14, 2017 - Post-Surgery Follow Up
It's standard practice for the office to have patients come in the day after LASIK. This is to ensure no damage was made to the flap on the healing eye and that the healing process has begun properly. I still had some serious swelling of my eyes and redness in my eyes that made me look like a zombie. Luckily the glasses I was provided with were large enough to hide all of that craziness. When the doctor determined all was looking well with my eyes and that my vision was showing immediate improvement (oh, yeah, I could see by now with exceptions of the halo of a blur around the edges). She changed my prescription drops from every 2-hours to every 4-hours and also advised me I had to buy artificial tears to put in between the medication time to keep my eyes moisturized and hydrated. The post surgery follow up was less than a half an hour. From there I was able to spend the rest of the day out and exploring town with my family and my new eye sight (hidden behind hideous glasses, of course).
January 31, 2017 - Three Week Follow Up
My three week follow up was quicker than my initial post-surgery follow up. It took me longer to get to the office than I actually spent at the office. When meeting with the doctor, she just gave me a full eye exam to see how my vision was improving. I did have some questions and concerns because I didn't feel 100%; but she said that was normal and my vision was nearing the 20/20 area. Though I'd been putting the artificial tears in constantly through the day, she let me know my eyes were dry when she looked at them and to apply more frequently. The dryness was also a factor in my slightly blurred vision still. She also eased my concern about redness I still had in one of my eyes, letting me know it was still bruising and after effects of the trauma my eyes went through with surgery. After a quick visit, I was out the door with my next appointment scheduled for three months out - in April.
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So far I've been seeing and feeling great! My eyes have healed up (redness wise, at least) and I'm seeing pretty clearly. I still have to use the tears 3-4 times a day for the next couple of months. Other than that, I've never been happier. It's truly the best thing I've ever done for myself.
From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank all of the people at New York Eye Specialists for making my LASIK experience so informative, calm, and easy. For being sweet and compassionate and helpful. From the front desk staff, the the financial advisors, to the nurses, and doctors. Lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Ken Moadel for giving me freedom to see the world in a whole new light with no discomfort and without being tied down to glasses anymore. ♡
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