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I had LASIK surgery yesterday morning. It's really amazing - walking out of the operating room, things are blurry but already a lot better focused. And it doesn't hurt at all, even though you're awake the whole time.

So, to start off, sometime around the middle of January I had an eye test done because things were starting to look a bit blurry through my glasses. My optician said that my script had changed very slightly, so instead of ordering new glasses, I asked him about laser surgery instead. I had gotten my latest pair of glasses around a year and a half previously, and I'd gotten the previous pair around a year and a half before that, and I seem to recall him saying that there was a slight change back then also, so it seemed that my vision was kinda stabilising. He gave me the details of a specialist in Durban, and I made an appointment for a week or so later.

The consultation was pretty quick (and expensive R1000 for the consulation). They did a computer scan of the inside bits of my eyes (R600) and then I had a sitting with the specialist - he looked at the scans and and did a few more examinations with some funny lights and stuff, and said that I would be a fine candidate. He gave me a brief rundown of what to expect and the risks involved (its not guaranteed to give you perfect vision first time around, but you can go for a touch-up procedure a few months later if you're not happy; he's never had to do a 2nd touch-up; he will not make me blind; etc). So that ended with him telling me that from his side he is happy to do the procedure on me, and I just need to decide if I want to do it, and if so, make a booking.

I thought about it a bit, and called and asked a few more questions, and made a booking for yesterday. They said they'd need to do a quick checkup a few days beforehand, so I went in on March 5. That one was basically an eye test again - they made me read letters off a chart and shone a light in my eyes a few times. Then I was given a slip of paper with a few do's and don'ts for before and after the procedure - don't wear contact lenses from abt 4 days before (I don't, so it didn't matter), don't use eye makeup from a day before, make sure you have a driver for the day, you can have breakfast, you can have lunch, allocate about an hour for the procedure itself... stuff like that.

Sometime last week I was reading up a bit more on the surgery, and I came across Waveform technology, which I had heard about a while back, but forgotten about. It's supposed to do a more accurate mapping of the surface of the eye, which results in a better result. So I phoned to ask about waveform, and they said that they only really bring it up for patients with thinner than usual corneas, or people with very bad eyesight, as it costs an extra R2000 per eye, which is a royalty fee that the Waveform people charge for using the technology. Basically, the waveform software is already loaded on their system, but it requires a smart-card to make use of it, and the smart card is valid for one use, and the smart card costs R2000. So unless they figure that someone will really benefit from it, they don't mention it. The lady I spoke to said she had had the standard, non-waveform procedure done ten years previously, and she's perfectly happy with it. So I decided to stick with the standard procedure, which cost R11500, compared to the waveform, which would cost R15500, and which wouldn't give me very much of an improvement over the standard procedure. It is a bit stressful, balancing cost against your quality of vision, but she assured me that waveform would only make a real noticeable difference if my eyes were much worse.

So my mum came to stay with me on Sunday evening, as she was the designated driver for the day. Monday morning I got up, had breakfast, showered and we arrived at the clinic for my 9.15 appointment with the laser. When I arrived there were already 2 other patients waiting to be zapped, and they were already in surgical dress. First off, they brought over a disclaimer to sign. This basically states that I've had the procedure explained to me, and the alternatives, and the risks (pretty much that there is no guarantee that the results after the surgery will be 100%) and that I've chosen to have it done.

Once that's out of the way, she brought me some eyedrops as the first round of anaesthetics. I was given a surgical cap, gown and slippers, and sat around for a bit. After a while, they brought a small valium tablet for me to take.

And then its off to the theatre. The room is fairly dark, with a bed and the machine. I lay down on my back and he adjusted my head so that my eyes were facing straight into the machine. He kept talking through the entire procedure, which was very helpful. He did the left eye first. After my head was positioned, he used a scissor-shaped thing to hold my eyelids apart. There is a red light in the machine above, which I had to constantly focus on. He sprayed a bunch of anaesthetics over the eye so I really didn't feel any pain at all. The only uncomfortable part was the next part, where he placed the microkeratome over my eye. There's a fair bit of pressure applied so you feel your eye being pressed into your head a bit, but again, no pain, just a bit of discomfort. The microkeratome fits over the cornea, and uses a blade to cut a flap in the cornea. Once that's done, the flap is peeled over, and the laser starts its work. He talks you through that, telling you how much time is remaining, and how many bursts he's using. You don't actually see the laser beam though. There is a burning smell when the laser is operating, which lots of people think is the smell of their tissue burning... but I noticed that you get the smell before he actually starts working, so it's the natural smell of the laser, and nothing to get freaked out about. The actual laser portion takes under a minute to complete. Once that's done, the flap gets placed back in position and he brushed it down again with some more anaesthetic. Then it was on to the right eye - same procedure.

Around ten to fifteen minutes after I walked in, I walked out again, with some hilarious transparent eye patches taped to my face. The interesting thing is that even though my vision was still blurry after the surgery, it was already much clearer than before. I had the surgical garb removed and met my mum in the waiting room. A minute or two later, the assistant came and told me we could go... I would feel some discomfort during the day, and it would feel like there was sand or so in my eyes, but that was normal. The most important thing was not to remove the eye patches, and not to rub my eyes at all. We had to come back around 4-4.30 for them to do a checkup and remove the patches and to give me my eye drops.

So, around 10.30-ish we went home, stopped to pick up something for lunch later on the way, and as soon as I got home, I got into bed and fell asleep immediately. I got up once or twice cos the phone rang, and then woke up around 2.30. I had lunch and chatted to mum for a while, and then we went back to the clinic. While asleep I didn't feel anything, but when I was awake, I did feel fairly uncomfortable because of the scratchy feeling. Keeping my eyes close a lot did help though. After sitting around a bit at the clinic, I went in for my checkup. They removed the patches and made me read some letters off a chart. Then she looked at my eyes with a bright light and said I was fine. At reception, they gave me a small after-care pack with eye drops to take 4 times a day, and another slip explaining what I can and can't do for the next week or so - absolutely no rubbing of the eyes, no swimming or contact sports for a week, etc. And then I came home, seeing clearly.

This morning the scratchy feeling has disappeared, and although it still occasionally feels like there's a bit of dust in my eyes, its not uncomfortable any more. I have a few moments when things get a bit blurry but after blinking a bit it clears up. The weirdest feeling is not having my glasses on any more, but I guess I'll get used to that.

So overall I'm incredibly happy with the way it turned out. I'll never forget walking out of the clinic in the morning, less than 10 mins after having the surgery done, and being able to read the number plate of the cars in the car park. Or waking up this morning and opening my eyes and being able to see stuff in my room. It's really amazing. It'll also take a few days to get used to having extra space on the bookshelf next to my bed now that I don't need to keep my glasses there any more. The most difficult part is going to be making sure I don't rub my eyes at all, no matter what. After the laser procedure, the cornea flap is put back in place, but its held in place naturally because of the ordinary moisture of the eye. Since there's no stitching or anything to hold the flap in place, it's possible to move it out of place if you rub your eyes. So that will require some great restraint.

Today I'm staying indoors all day, although I did look outside through the front door and everything is crystal clear. They advise you to wear sunglasses when going out for a while, so that will probably be my first purchase when I go out tomorrow.