IGX

A few people asked me about my experiences with this, so here it is.

My workplace finally got a decent discount program on vision items, and we also have a Flex pre-tax medical plan that gives you a debit card with the full amount right at the beginning of the year. Those two things made it attractive enough to take the plunge.

Plus this summer I had a brief but alarming experience when I lost my glasses in a water park and realized just how blind I was without them. I have two boys to look after; fuck that.

I had it done on Jan 3. I had PRK (the older procedure, with no corneal flap) instead of Lasik because I had a whopping prescription plus "thin-average" corneas. Many many tests the day I was evaluated, then the day before surgery, and the day of. Ditto on Day 1 after, Day 4, and 7. Soon I'll have the 1-month followup.

I was in the laser room itself less than 10 min. They gave me a Valium right as I was walking to the laser; apparently this is to help ensure that you pass out and sleep afterwards.

I don't know if I could recommend it to someone who is really "squicky" about their eyes. My wife says they'd have to knock her out. They put in numbing drops so you literally cannot feel any pain at all. Each eye is done separately. They tape your eyelashes out of the way, put on a "Clockwork Orange" speculum, and then use this metal ring on a stick to hold your eyeball still.

The surgeon did something with a spatula (I think she may have been removing my corneal epithelium), and then I stared at a red dot while they did the laser re-shaping and counted off the (30-something) seconds. Then a rinse, more spatula fun, another rinse, install a "bandage contact lens," switch eyes and do it all over again. Honestly, the ice-cold saline was the most "painful" part.

My wife drove me home, I slept all evening, took the next day off. The day after that I was fine and driving. Slight fogginess, slight photophobia corrected with some Russian Mobster Sunglasses, nothing bad. A week of anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drops. The contacts came out on Day 4 after they verified that I had a complete epi again.

They warned me of pain, soreness, whatever. I never felt it. I never felt like I had dry eyes either, but I kept using artificial tears until I ran out after 10 days or so.

Since then the corneal tissue has continued to reorganize and every 3-4 days I notice that my vision is better by another notch. I haven't had my 1-month followup, so I don't have a hard number on my vision yet, but it's quite good.

I was a little surprised that it's so popular, given how "icky" the procedure seemed. I didn't mind it, but I'm the sort of person who looks into a gash in his own hand and says "Hey, a tendon! Cool!" I didn't ask how many people freak out on the laser bench. I assume some do.

The only thing I'd do different is that I'd probably do one eye at a time. That's mostly because of my job, which is very visual. It was a pain to deal with at work for the first week or so.
The other downer is that for the first few days I kept reaching up to adjust my glasses and poking myself in the eye because they weren't there.