clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2010-06-01 10:09 am
clevermanka) wrote2010-06-01 10:09 am
Entry tags:
ConQuesT and eye surgery details
I was off my game for a lot of the time during ConQuesT this weekend, which was kind of sucky, but ah well. Better luck next year. My energy levels were still a little low from the eye issues (and I started to get headaches), I missed a few panels because I was getting stuff done for other people, I nearly missed the mandatory Masquerade meeting because I didn't know who was taking over staffing the consuite after my shift, blah blah blah. I was in bed by midnight on the big party night (Saturday) if that gives you any idea.
Meh.
But I won Best in Show for the masquerade, so that was super awesome. I'm still waiting to get photos from other people. There is supposedly a DVD of the show making its way to me at some point. I hope to be able to edit it down to just my parts and put it up on YouTube.
I do have something for you now on YouTube, though! This is my left eye:
Here's the play-by-play, if you're interested.
00:09 - Wipe down of the cornea.
00:19 - Ink mark to center position of lens/iris (75% of people have a slight rotation of their iris and lens when they lay down. So the prescription can be slightly off if they don't note the difference between your eye sitting up versus lying down.)
00:24 - A metal device that forces the cornea to push out away from the eye. This was kind of uncomfortable. He pushed really hard.
00:40 - Another cornea wipe-down.
00:56 - This is the device that cuts the cornea. It's on a gear that circles the cornea and slices through it. It was very buzzy and vibrated a lot. This was the worst part of the actual surgery. It wasn't painful, but the buzzing was uncomfortable.
01:25 - There goes my cornea! The video is upside down, by the way. So the cornea was actually lifted up, not down.
01:35 - Another wipe down, this time on the iris.
Note: that little red blinking light? That's what I was focusing on.
02:00 - The flickering lasers bouncing around are making the cuts to correct my vision. I had four series of these for the left eye and six for the right eye. It's hard to see in the video when they turn off and on. But there are four separate laser-ing sessions on this eye.
02:28 - My cornea gets flipped back down.
02:41 - Another cornea rub-down.
02:48 - A sticky solution is applied to help lubricate and hold things together.
03:10 - More sticky stuff.
03:15 - All done! The clamp is removed. That clamp was kind of awful, too.
Much like my tongue piercing experience, the anchoring equipment was the worst. For the piercing, it was those weird clamps that held my tongue still. For this, I had tape holding my eyelashes down and the equivalent of a speculum in my eye socket to keep me from blinking. Unpleasant.
The first several hours post-op were miserable. I couldn't bear to open my eyes. It felt like someone had poured sand in them. Awful. I'm so glad I wound up with an afternoon surgery because it was only a few hours before I could go to bed. Hurray for drugged sleep.
I felt a lot better the next morning, and could get around with no problem. I tested at nearly 20/20 less than 24 hours post-op, which is apparently a good thing.
A week later, my vision is still a little off, but at least my eyes have adjusted to each other. I don't have that unbalanced sensation anymore. I still have halos and some blurriness. I'm a slow healer, though. The literature says to expect fluctuating vision for three weeks. I will probably still be healing after a month.
Meh.
But I won Best in Show for the masquerade, so that was super awesome. I'm still waiting to get photos from other people. There is supposedly a DVD of the show making its way to me at some point. I hope to be able to edit it down to just my parts and put it up on YouTube.
I do have something for you now on YouTube, though! This is my left eye:
Here's the play-by-play, if you're interested.
00:09 - Wipe down of the cornea.
00:19 - Ink mark to center position of lens/iris (75% of people have a slight rotation of their iris and lens when they lay down. So the prescription can be slightly off if they don't note the difference between your eye sitting up versus lying down.)
00:24 - A metal device that forces the cornea to push out away from the eye. This was kind of uncomfortable. He pushed really hard.
00:40 - Another cornea wipe-down.
00:56 - This is the device that cuts the cornea. It's on a gear that circles the cornea and slices through it. It was very buzzy and vibrated a lot. This was the worst part of the actual surgery. It wasn't painful, but the buzzing was uncomfortable.
01:25 - There goes my cornea! The video is upside down, by the way. So the cornea was actually lifted up, not down.
01:35 - Another wipe down, this time on the iris.
Note: that little red blinking light? That's what I was focusing on.
02:00 - The flickering lasers bouncing around are making the cuts to correct my vision. I had four series of these for the left eye and six for the right eye. It's hard to see in the video when they turn off and on. But there are four separate laser-ing sessions on this eye.
02:28 - My cornea gets flipped back down.
02:41 - Another cornea rub-down.
02:48 - A sticky solution is applied to help lubricate and hold things together.
03:10 - More sticky stuff.
03:15 - All done! The clamp is removed. That clamp was kind of awful, too.
Much like my tongue piercing experience, the anchoring equipment was the worst. For the piercing, it was those weird clamps that held my tongue still. For this, I had tape holding my eyelashes down and the equivalent of a speculum in my eye socket to keep me from blinking. Unpleasant.
The first several hours post-op were miserable. I couldn't bear to open my eyes. It felt like someone had poured sand in them. Awful. I'm so glad I wound up with an afternoon surgery because it was only a few hours before I could go to bed. Hurray for drugged sleep.
I felt a lot better the next morning, and could get around with no problem. I tested at nearly 20/20 less than 24 hours post-op, which is apparently a good thing.
A week later, my vision is still a little off, but at least my eyes have adjusted to each other. I don't have that unbalanced sensation anymore. I still have halos and some blurriness. I'm a slow healer, though. The literature says to expect fluctuating vision for three weeks. I will probably still be healing after a month.
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10 years later, I'm needing some additional correction via glasses that has nothing to do with the surgery but the consequences of plain old aging!
S~
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The eye center I went to offers corrections/tweaks to your prescription for only $300 if you get it done within the first three years post-surgery. I thought that was pretty awesome. So if I start to get aged-eye syndrome early, they can give me an additional surgery to correct that for only three hundred bucks.
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I would not trade this experience for anything, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Hope you are as satisfied.
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Your LASIK experience sounds a bit like Alex undergoing the Ludovico technique in A Clockwork Orange.
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It was the first thing I thought of, believe me.
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I'm so glad it is working out for you though.
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HOWEVER anything with the eyeball gives me the squiggies!! I'll not be able to watch your video. *heebie geebie* Having your eye held open reminds me of torture techniques involved in questioning POWs.
I was an oral surgery asst for years and have assisted in what others would call blech- the harvesting and filleting of tissue from the palate- used to suture over the root of a tooth- cutting and flapping down the whole gum to reveal the jawbone to remove diseased gum and bone- all hugely fascinating to me. I just can't stomach the eyeball thing.
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In the first link you will see the palate wound where a long strip of tissue is harvested to use as coverage for the exposed roots of the teeth. This was my favorite surgery to assist due to the intricacy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38i-xmwwQxA
Here is another root coverage that doesn't show the palate, but is really well done and easy to see what the periodontist is doing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtsLMwQhYLE
Below is an occeous (bone) "flap" surgery. Although this seems to be performed as an educational piece using a deceased animal's jawbone *sad face*, you can see how it essentially works on a human minus the cheek (and blood) blocking your vision.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pmW2wmIv_Y&feature=PlayList&p=53DFE584AC86B3C7&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=66
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