Eyeball Update

I went in for my follow up visit today. It appears that my eyeballs are doing well. They're slowly healing and my vision is better than my last visit. It's gotta be around 20/20 at this point. There seems to be no need for Lasik, which is nice. My pressure is still a little high, but I guess it's within the normal range. I'm supposed to continue with the one drop per day thing till the next visit.

From my perspective, my vision seems to be the same as last time, but all the fancy machines say otherwise. I guess I must be used to it or the correction is so slight that mentally I can't perceive it. When testing my eyes individually, my left eye seems to see clearer. However, this has always been the case because I think the astigmatism in my right eye is worse.

Overall, I'm totally happy with the results of the Visian ICL surgery despite all the prolonged issues I've been having. I'm still amazed that I can wake up in the middle of the night and look over and see my clock. It's like whoa. I don't even remember when I was able to do this last without squinting. Technology is pretty darn cool.

Visian ICL Procedure Follow Up

Yesterday was the big day - a month since my last visit to the eye doctor. If all tests came out okay, my doctor would do an in-office procedure to fix the residual issues I have after my Visian ICL procedure. The main problem is that I have about one diopter refraction in both eyes post-Visian surgery because of some astigmatism. My vision was so bad before that the astigmatism was mild in comparison and didn't really make a difference in whether I saw things clear or blurry. Now that my vision is corrected, the astigmatism is apparent.

When I got to the office I underwent about 30 minutes of testing on about four different machines. All the readings were consistent with my previous visit, so I was cleared to do the in-office procedure. I don't even know what this procedure is called. However, I have to say it was pretty quick and fairly painless. It was quite freaky though, but that's a separate issue.

Basically some numbing eye drops were put in both eyes and some clamps were used to keep my eyelids from closing. Then the doctor used a pen and some type of intrument to mark my eyes for the incisions he was going to make. After marking and double checking the marks, he went ahead and apparently made a tiny cut in each eye.

The entire process was just bizarre. It honestly felt like he made more than one incision per eye, but when I asked about it afterward they said only one in each eye. I couldn't feel anything for the most part except for the pressure on my eyeball. I had my chin and forehead resting against a machine and was looking at a light the entire time with my eyes wide open. It was so much easier to do during the Visian procedure, but I guess I was drugged up and on my back during that one as opposed to sitting upright in a chair.

Anyway, my eyes felt a little scratchy after the procedure and were sensitive to light. I was given a bottle of drops and am doing one drop per eye twice a day for the next five days. Today when I got to work I noticed that I could read some things on my computer that were blurry yesterday. Quite amazing really.

I'm supposed to go back for a follow up in two weeks. I sincerely hope this is the last of it. I don't really want any more complications. But I guess even with all this extra stuff going on with my eyes, the Visian ICL procedure was worth it. Also, despite all the trouble and weird issues that I developed, my doctor has been very good about everything. I'm sure he's tired of seeing me as much as I'm tired of going in for all the follow ups. I think I'd definitely recommend for others to look into this procedure and see if it's right for them. Now that I've had all these problems throughout the process, everyone else's experience should be problem free. I've gotta be the one in one thousand who experience them. Everyone else might as well go for it now.

Vision Update

I went for a follow up last Tuesday to check out the pressure in my left eye. Apparently it's finally about normal. After some testing and whatnot, the doc said that my vision is off by only one diopter for each eye. They both are also plagued with slight astigmatism.

The good news is that this will not require Lasik to fix and can be done in the office. He said for me to come back in a month and re-check my eyes. If everything is stable and consistent, we'll go ahead and do the procedure that same day. Upon healing, it should clear up the last bit of nearsightedness that I have. I can't wait.

This is great news! However, I suppose this means that I'll have to put off the shark dive I was planning to do with a friend in January. Hopefully she understands. Maybe we'll go sometime in the spring? My eyes should've healed by then, right?

Visian ICL - Update

I went in for another of many follow-up visits today, and because it's been about a month since I posted an update, I figured I should say something.

I've been going in about every two weeks to get my eyes checked. The pressure in my left eye is apparently still higher than my doctor would like. Every time I go in, it's pretty much the same story. I don't see 20/20 and my pressure is slightly high. At this point, I'm only using eye drops in the left eye. The right eye is normal I guess.

Two weeks ago, the doctor took some scans and measurements of my eyes so he could take it up to a conference. He was going to show his buds and get their opinion. Today he told me that his friend from Phoenix, who has won some kind of award for doing over 1,000 Visian ICL surgeries, said that he's only had one case like me in his 1,000 patients. This is good and bad news. It's good because at least I'm not the first to experience these weird pressure problems. It's bad because, hey, I wanted to be special LOL

The plan of action after talking with other doctors is to let the eye settle itself down on its own (The other option would be to remove the lens and try a size down). I've got another appointment scheduled in six weeks to reassess things.

Interestingly enough, my doctor told me that some of his colleagues (or perhaps the Staar people who make the Visian ICL lens) said he should talk to me because of what I'm saying on this blog. Wow, who knew I had lurkers on this blog!! Maybe I should start tracking visitors and things? Anyway, the point is that it was surprising that a large company like Staar would even give a second thought to a lil' ol' blog like this. I guess that's one of the real benefits/dangers of the internet, right? People have instant access to it whenever they want it. Ah, the beauty of it all.

Visian ICL Update

Man, last week was pretty bad in terms of post-Visian surgery. I was experiencing minor headaches on the left side of my head as well as seeing stars in my left eye whenever I'd stand up from a seated position or sit up from a prone position. I found it difficult to look at the computer or read paperwork for long periods of time. My vision would become blurry.

On Friday I called up the doctor's office and asked to move my appointment up from Oct. 2. They scheduled me for Sept. 30. After work, my vision got really bad and it seemed like a gauzy curtain had fallen over my left eye. I could still see but things were obscured by this whiteness. However, when I woke up on Saturday things were fine.

Yesterday after my Hawaii Literacy class, I got home to the same situation. At this point I was pretty freaked out, and of course, started to think about the worst. My headache was back and my eye felt like it was going to pop out. I immediately went to sleep thinking it might be strained somehow and just needed rest. As the night progressed, I decided I'd call the doctor in the morning and see if he could look at it. When I woke up around 5 a.m. though, I saw that my eye was extremely red and the cloudiness was worse!

I panicked and called my dad to see if he could drive me to the hospital since I couldn't really see out of my left eye. I then called the doctor's office, which of course was closed. I called the physician's exchange number, which is an answering service. The rep called me back and told me the doctor said to come in when the office opened at 9 a.m. What the eff man?!?!

So my dad and I waited till about 8:30 a.m. and went into the office. After explaining what happened to the technician, she checked my vision and eye pressure. Next the doctor came in and looked at my eye. He said that because the iris has many layers of cells, he thinks one layer was not cleared out thoroughly and was flapping to and fro blocking the iridotomy (a hole on the outer edge of the iris that allows fluid to flow between the different parts of the eye). When I read, it seems like the flap would close up, causing a build up in pressure. This led to seeing stars and headaches.

After numbing my eye, the doctor tried to clear the pathway with a needle (I assume. I didn't actually see it coming to my eye). I suppose that didn't work well enough for him so we went over to the Surgical Suites and he used a machine to redo the iridotomy. It was basically one of those machines where you stick your chin on the platform and forehead against the bar, then look straight ahead. He aligned the laser, which I could see was a red grid-like thing, and zapped. The zap was really quick but I did feel it. He said afterward that it probably wasn't the laser I was feeling. It was probably the release of all the pressure in my eye.

We went back to his office and he checked out my eye again. He got another needle and made sure the laser got all the extra cells. He upped the number of times I need to do my drops, then retested my eye pressure and vision. I could immediately start to feel my eye getting better. He said the pressure dropped pretty dramatically since it was taken several minutes before. I could also see more of the eye chart after the zap.

Now, about four hours after coming home, my vision is definitely back to normal and clear. My eye aches a little when I move it around but I guess that's from the laser zap. The white part of my eye is still red from the stress I suppose. He said it'd go away eventually. I felt a little nauseated when I got home so I haven't eaten anything. I should be starving as I only had lunch and a Jamba Juice on Sunday and a third of a bagel this morning, but somehow I don't have an appetite. Yes, very odd indeed.

Hopefully this is the last of my adventures with this Visian thing. I didn't go to work today but will probably go in tomorrow. I have a follow-up appointment at 9:45 a.m. It's a wonder that of all the people out there, I'd be the one to experience these issues with Visian. While it's theoretically possible, why does it have to be me?

Post Op - Eye 2, Day 3

It's been three days since I had surgery on my right eye and my vision is clearing up little by little. It's still blurry and is no where near 20/20. My left eye is now also getting blurry too. I'm not sure if that's to compensate for the right eye or not.

At my follow-up visit to the doc's on Thursday, he said to give it a while and see what happens. Swelling of the eye and residue left over from the surgery could be causing the lack of clarity. So far I don't think that's the problem.

While I can definitely see much better than pre-surgery, the clarity is not as good as I'd like. I'm not sure what else to do about it. I'm still putting in various eye drops three times a day. As far as physical pain or discomfort, there is none. Every once in a while I do feel like there's something in my eye (like dust or even like there's a contact in there) so I know my eyes are still healing. They said you'll feel this way for a while after surgery.

I really do hope that my eyes get better. At the follow up, my left eye's vision went from being 20/20 to about 20/30, which sucks. The high pressure in both eyes did return to normal though, however, I was seeing more clear with the pressure up in my left eye than I am now that it's normal. It's really bizarre. I'm not scheduled to go back in till Oct. 2, so hopefully thing will get better during the next two weeks.

Visian ICL Surgery - Eye 2

Today I went in to get my right eye done. It was basically the same procedure, except this time I had a better grasp of what was going on around me since I could see through my left eye. There weren't many patients today so I got done about 30-45 minutes early. I ended up going home to wait for my follow up appointment instead of staying at the office.

At the follow up, the doc said that the pressure in my right eye was a bit high. Same deal as my left eye. They also had me read from the screen and again my vision was at about 20/80. The only difference that I could tell between my right and left eyes post-op is that my right eyelid felt a bit fat. I'm not sure why it was swollen at all, but now it feels alright. I'm supposed to go back tomorrow at 10 a.m. so hopefully things are still going well.

After the check up, I came home and took a nap. Last time I didn't really feel tired, but this time I did. Could be old age LOL I slept for about three hours and would've tried for more except I could hear kids playing outside and I was hungry.

At this point, several hours post-op, I still can't see the words I'm typing out of my right eye. It seems that my left eye recovered faster than this. The doc said that it could be because my body's not pushing out the viscous fluid they need to use to insert the lens as quickly. Because there's still fluid in there, it could be causing the blurriness. We'll see how tonight goes though. My eye is still dilated and huge so I'm typing in the dark but the screen is still pretty bright. Other than that, things are going fine.

Visian ICL Surgery

Today was the big day. My dad picked me up at home and dropped me off at the doctor's office around 9:45 a.m. The pre-op staff of nurses quickly had me sign some forms, then ushered me into a room. They had me change into a hospital gown, but I got to keep my pants on at least so there was no mooning going on. They took my temperature, blood pressure and measured my oxygen intake. They also stuck a sticker on my forehead, above the eye that was getting operated on. That's a good thing because you don't want them messing with the wrong eye. Once that was over, they took me back to the waiting room.

They had magazines on the table (lots actually), but hello, most people aren't able to read them. They're there for eye surgery you know? Luckily for me I brought my iPod with me so I listened to '50s and '60s doo wop tunes. Around me sat numerous old people and their spouses. I swear I was the only one under 70 in the room. Then again, I was also blind as a bat without my glasses so I could be wrong.

Next the nurses started me on all kinds of drops. Every 10 minutes, they'd come by to drop more drops into my eye. I'm not sure what they all were. Sometimes they'd use two bottles. Sometimes there'd be four bottles. They weren't too bad though. There was even one that was supposed to burn a little, but I didn't really feel much.

When a seat opened up in the surgery lounge they moved me. There were about five La-Z-Boy-like chairs in this area. They gave me a blanket to keep me warm and some surgical booties to wear. I was wearing slippers so next time I'll be sure to wear shoes. It was a little hard to keep the booties on my feet. The nurses continued with the drops and also started the IV line.

I don't know about you, but I've never been to the hospital and rarely go to the doctors. I've only had blood taken from me a handful of times in my life. I was a little apprehensive about the IV needle. However, they did it right because one nurse worked on the IV and one continued with the drops. I kept as still as possible when the drops went in because I didn't want to get pricked by the needle. In the end, it wasn't that bad really.

I sat around a while longer and then it was my turn. I met the anesthesiologist who asked me a bunch of questions and then was led into the operating room. Again, because I was blind I have no clue what the drug doc looked like. I know he was Japanese because of his last name, which seems to have escaped me now. That's about it though.

Once in the room, they had me sit on a chair. They covered me with a heated blanket and reclined the back of the chair. I felt like one of those people who claim they've been abducted by aliens. There were about three or four pairs of hands around me. One lifted my arm to attach a blood pressure wrap. One hooked me up with drugs, I assume. I couldn't really see anything. One stuck that oxygen reader onto my finger. One taped my eyelashes back and covered me with one of those plastic operating sheets. Then a hole was cut around my eye so I could see out of it.

More drops went into my eyes. I assume they used some kind of plastic ring to hold my eyelids open and stabilize my eyeball. All I could really see were three bright lights above me. I could feel pressure on my eye but no pain. The doctor moved in and did some poking with the needle. Of course, I didn't feel anything at the time. I just visualized it from the vids I saw on YouTube. I couldn't feel anything when he inserted the lens. It seemed to take him a while to get it in place though. Every once in a while he would flush my eye out with saline or whatever. He said I'm a good bleeder, so apparently the blood vessels around my eye bled easily.

I gotta admit these were some tense minutes. I felt a little anxious but not too bad. I suppose it's just a natural response. It's not like there was any pain or discomfort during the process. It was probably all psychological - like I knew I was getting poked so my body tensed up. When everything was said and done, they taped a clear patch to my eye to prevent any contact. I'm supposed to wear it all day and night. Tomorrow I can take it off and only wear it when I sleep. I was wrong about it being a pirate patch though. It's more like half a racquet ball goggle.



The total procedure was about 15 minutes, maybe less. Afterward, they led me outside to a chair and offered me somethng to eat and drink. They had pb&j and juice or water. That was nice considering I hadn't eaten since midnight. They gave me brief instructions about what I could and couldn't do.

I got done around 12:15 p.m. and decided to wait for my 1 p.m. follow up appointment instead of going to lunch. I hung out at the doctor's office for my appointment but they were running late. They didn't see me till 1:20 p.m. or so and I was examined for about 10 minutes total. What a waste of time. I should've just worn the Terminator glasses they gave me and went out to eat lunch.



They tested my vision, which was still blurry at this point. My eye pressure seemed to be okay though. Apparently the vision is supposed to clear up as time passes. The doctor said I could start the antibiotics and anti-inflamatory drops today even though the instructions I got said to wait till tomorrow. I guess my eye seems to be doing okay and can handle the meds. Who knows?

Right now it's about three hours after surgery. My vision is still blurry but since the time I started writing this I've noticed that it's gotten a bit clearer. If I close my right eye (the good one with the contact in it), I can at least make out the letters on some lines that I type. When I started, it was all blurry.

I hope my vision clears up over the next 24 hours. It'd suck if after this surgery my vision didn't get any better. At this point I can't even tell if it's better or worse than before surgery. I think it's probably better but it's hard to tell with this patch on one side and the contact on the other.

Night Before Surgery

Tonight's the night before my Visian ICL surgery. I don't feel anxious, excited or nervous. I feel fine. I've felt fine since last week's pre-op check up. Hopefully this translates into a restful sleep tonight. To be honest, my mind has been stuck on researching the JET Programme more than the upcoming eyeball surgery. Ever since I decided I'm going to apply I've been a little obsessed with trying to get more information. However, I suppose that's a topic for another blog.

Getting back to the Visian prep, I've been instructed to drop antibiotics into the eye that will be operated on (left eye). This started on Sunday and I'm doing one drop three times a day. That's not too difficult if you time it out at breakfast, lunch and dinner. I started on Sunday and today's my last day. Tomorrow I'll probably resume the drops and add an anti-inflamatory drop after the surgery. I already received the two drops as well as a regular re-wetting drop when I went into my pre-op visit. I was also prescribed another bottle of antibiotic drops, which I picked up at Straub last week. I believe I'm supposed to be using it until all the drops run out. This will repeat next week when I do my other eye.

Prep for the surgery is almost non-existent. I was instructed not to eat or drink anything after midnight tonight and make sure I have a ride to pick me up after the surgery. Since I don't need to be at the doctor's office till 10 a.m. and they said I won't be able to leave until about noon, I figured I'd better eat up tonight. I went out with my brother and his fam to CPK at Ala Moana. We had the spinach and artichoke dip, Chinese chicken salad and the cheeseburger pizza. Everything was delish. Hopefully that'll last me until noon tomorrow.

Tomorrow I also have a post-op visit at 1 p.m. to check that everything is okay with my eye. They'll be checking the pressure in my eye. I suppose if it's too high, that'd be bad. Other than that, I think I'll just need to keep my pirate's patch on for the rest of the day and continue wearing it each night when I go to sleep. I don't have my pirate's patch yet but assume they'll give it to me before letting me walk out of surgery.

I hope this surgery works well and I come out of it seeing 20/20 or better. That would be wonderful. Having needed vision correction since the fourth grade and wearing contacts since the fifth grade, this will be a great relief and provide a certain amount of freedom. I'll definitely post an update tomorrow night with any news. Wish me luck!

Look Into My Eyes

I made it through the eye exam. It ended up only taking an hour and a half. I guess that's because the tech who was doing some of the tests was so quick. The guy I had before was too slow.

Anyway, I can't really see what I'm typing right now because my eyes have been dilated. The computer screen is too bright despite the fact that I have all my curtains closed and sit in a semi-dark room. It was a bitch trying to drive home through squinty eyes, but you do whatcha gotta do. At least I only live about 10 minutes away from work.

Here's a pix of my dilated eyes. You can just see the brown ring (iris) around the black center (pupil) starting to come back. Disregard the weird slanted angle and semi-cocked eye look I have. I had to use my laptop's camera to take the pix and wasn't sure where I was looking. I also had to balance the laptop in one hand and push my mouse button with the other to take the pix. I wasn't getting enough light with the laptop on my desk but couldn't really open the curtains.



So back to the exam. I came a few minutes early, and like last time, the receptionists were gossiping again. Unlike last time though, the waiting room was empty. I waited a few minutes and was taken in by the tech to run some tests. I don't exactly know what they all were for, but suffice it to say there were a lot. I assume they were checking my eyes for health, mapping them out electronically, measuring the pupil sizes and all that good stuff. Some of it they did at my pre-screening and some of it was new.

After a bunch of "look at the red light," "look at the orange light," "open . . . okay and blink . . . and open . . .," "put your chin here" and "can you read that for me?" I was done. The eye doctor came in and took a reading of my refractive error (meaning, she basically got my prescription). Then the surgeon himself did some tests and readings. He shined a bright light into my eyes and measured my eyeballs with a caliper. That caliper thing isn't for the faint of heart as I'm pretty sure he was touching my eyes with the metal. However I can't be positive since my eyes were numbed and dilated at the time.

After a quick review of the surgery schedule, brief instructions about when and how many drops I needed to put into the first eye (my left by the way) and paying my bill, I was done. Again, I felt the tech, doctor and surgeon were nice. The receptionists were, I suppose, your stereotypical front office staff. They gossiped when the boss isn't around but got down to business when he walked in the door. They weren't really attentive to me at all. The coordinator was brisk, again, and it felt like she was rushing me, again. She definitely doesn't have a good rapport with patients . . . or at least this patient. But whatever, she's not doing my eyes so I can live with her.

Overall, the exam went fairly quickly. Looking forward to next week's surgery. So the plan is for me to start using these antibiotic drops three times a day beginning Sunday. I don't use any on the day of the surgery, which is Wednesday. I don't eat or drink anything from midnight on Wednesday morning. I show up at 10:00 a.m. for surgery and the whole thing takes a couple hours. I guess they need to re-check your eyes, dope you up and let you chill out before the surgery. The surgery itself only takes about 15 minutes. That's how long it took when I watched it. Then I get picked up at noon, grab some lunch and come back at 1:00 p.m. to check the pressure in my eye. I come back on Thursday for a post-op check up. If all goes well, I repeat this thing the following week for the right eye.

T Minus 90 Minutes

Well, I've almost made it through the four days worth of wearing glasses prior to my eye exam for the Visian ICL surgery. Wearing glasses completely sucks. I didn't realize how sucky this would be . . . well, because I haven't worn glasses 24/7 since I was 10. This is truly a slow torture.

My eye exam is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. today so I just have about an hour and a half before they start their tests. I think I can manage to hang in here at work for that long. But, I cannot wait to put in contacts tomorrow. Hallelujah!

Visian ICL - Pre-Comprehensive Exam

Back in June I went in for some consultations on corrective eye surgery. I was able to watch both procedures live, which was pretty cool. The Lasik surgery was extremely fast and looked painless. The Visian seemed a little longer, although it was definitely less than 15 minutes.

I decided on the Visian ICL procedure over the Lasik because I feel more comfortable that it isn't permanent. Hopefully I'll never need to undo the surgery, but I like knowing that it can be done. With Lasik, once they blast your eye with the laser, the cells don't grow back. I mean, on the off chance that there's an eff up, you'd be screwed. With Visian, they can remove the implant and you can go back to how you were pre-op.

Anyway, my comprehensive eye exam is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. This is when they will do all the elaborate measurings and readings of my eyes. If I remember right, they said it'll take two hours. Once this is done, they can order the lenses. The surgeries are scheduled for the following two Wednesdays (only one eye at a time).

Because of the exam on Tuesday, I have to wear glasses from now till then. This is supposed to allow your eyes to return to their normal shape. I guess contacts of any kind reshape the surface of your eyes if you wear them for too long. I've had contacts since the fifth grade so I guess that's sufficiently long enough. On a positive note, I wear soft lenses so I only need to remove my lenses a few days prior to the exam. If you wear hard lenses, you have to take out your contacts for a couple weeks, I think.

If you're like me and never wear your glasses outside of your house, wearing them now is like a slow torture. I keep telling myself that I'll never have to wear glasses again, but the next four days will be a killer. Since I'm not used to wearing glasses more than a couple hours at a time, this should be a painful experience for me. Even now, after wearing them for only a couple hours, they feel extremely heavy. At least I only have to wear them for two days at work though.

Eye Ballin'

My reaction to watching the Visian ICL procedure is this:

- It looks safe enough.
- The procedure seems quick enough (probably 15 minutes under the knife).
- It seems like you have quite a bit of waiting to do once you're at the office. You have to get so many drops so that your eye dialates and numbs up.
- Pain factor should be minimal as they do have an anesthesiologist on staff. Don't know if they just numb your eyes or if they numb your brain with some drugs too.
- I didn't get to see inside the surgery suite, but I suppose it's sanitary. All the staff wore gowns, hair nets, masks and booties.
- There were a ton of old people there (getting cataract surgery I assume) and they seemed to be calm. No heart attacks or anything while I was there. If they can do it, I can do it, right?
- The doctor seemed quite confident after surgery. Seemed like it was all easy peasy.

My next move will be to confirm that I want to go through with it and try to figure out the best time for me to go in. My schedule at work is crazy for the next couple of months so I don't really want to try it during that time. I think September will be safe.

Visian ICL Case Study

Tomorrow's the day that I get to watch a live Visian ICL surgery. I'm kind of excited and nervous at the same time. I'm into the CSI/NCIS-type shows so it should be awesome to look at an eyeball up close while they poke something in it. But, I'm a little nervous because just the thought of something getting shoved in my eyes gives me the heebie-jeebies.

In any case, it should be educational and give me a good idea what goes into the procedure. Hopefully they let me talk to the patient before and after the surgery. Not sure if they'll do that though.

I was trying to figure out when was the best time for me to do this should I decide to go through with it. I've got a bunch of events coming up in July and August at work. I'm also doing six weeks of golf lessons at KCC. (I would truly hate to have to wear glasses and try to hit the darn ball. It's difficult enough to hit it without the visual impairment!)

I was thinking September would be the best time so that none of this stuff conflicts with the three weeks needed to get this surgery done. It takes about five doctor visits, including follow ups, in that period of time to get it done.

Jury's out till tomorrow.

Scrubbing On Up To The East Side

Actually, no. I'm not scrubbing in on a surgery, but I am getting to watch a real live Visian ICL get implanted into someone's eye.

Let me back up. In researching this LASIK and Visian ICL thing, I asked the patient coordinator if I'd be able to watch a procedure be done. Luckily, while I was in the office last Thursday I got to see a LASIK procedure. I stood outside the operating room (if you can even call it that) and looked through the window. (It was very Grey's-like if you ask me). Everything went well and it was so quick. This technology nowadays is amazing.

Today I got word that I'll be able to watch a Visian procedure be done. Apparently there's no window to peek through, but I'll be able to watch a monitor showing an up-close look at the eye. This should be good enought to see how the lens is inserted into the eye. I think it'll look very CSI.

I've already watched a bunch of ICL procedures on YouTube, but it's not the same when it's live. I also think it's good to see it being done by your own personal surgeon, ya know? I want to watch the patient go in blind and watch them come out going, "Hot diggity dog, I can see!!!" That would be the best outcome. It's suck if the hobbled out still blind in immense pain . . . or maybe not walk out at all.

Still, I think I'm just overanalyzing this and letting my imagination run wild. Sure there are risks with every surgery. The only way not to take risks is to stop living. Risks are unavoidable. If I take this risk and get either the LASIK or ICL done and leave the office without the need for corrective lenses, I think it'll be worth it.

Lasik vs. Visian ICL

Yesterday I went to two consultations to see if I might be a candidate for doing refractive eye surgery. I had already gone to a separate informational meeting to learn about it, but this was a full-on screening where they check your eyes and get your prescription.

It turns out I'm a candidate for both Lasik and Visian ICL because of the structure of my eyes and my prescription. From what I can tell, there's a limit to how myopic your eyes can be for Lasik to be effective. If your eyes are too bad, then Lasik doesn't work well (and I think is not approved above a certain diopter). Once you get up into the higher diopters, Visian is more effective. In my situation, I'm stuck between the two options so it's my personal choice which procedure I do.

So what's the difference between the two procedures?

Most people are familiar with Lasik. In this procedure, they use a laser to cut a flap with a hinge in your eye. The use another laser to shape your cornea, which enables you to see better. Then they close the flap and allow the eye to heal.

The Visian ICL (implantable collamer lens) is a lens that is inserted into your eye in front of your natural lens. Together they allow you to see better. Because the lens is within the eye, you can't feel it like a regular contact lens. It's supposed to be permanent, like Lasik, and requires no care at all.

Both procedures cost a pretty penny. Visian ICL costs about 1G per eye more than Lasik. But, Visian ICL is also reversable - the lens can be removed from your eye if a problem occurs. Lasik is permanent - once they laser off those cells, those cells are goners.

Lasik is the more popular option as it has been in the U.S. for a longer period of time. It seems like Visian ICL is the newer technology and will, at some point in time, replace Lasik. It was just FDA approved a couple years ago (although it has been done in Europe for many years).

I'm not sure which surgery option I'm more comfortable with. I'm also not sure how much I want to spend on this. I could always continue to wear contacts. Oh, but the hassle of it all just sucks. Once I pick a procedure, I'll also have to select a surgeon. There are a couple other refractive eye surgeons in town, but I don't think they offer Visian ICL.

I'm also concerned about the side effects and potential complications that may arise due to one of these surgeries. The worst case scenario is that I could go blind because of some kind of infection. Now that would truly suck. However, people with contacts may also get eye infections from bacteria that could lead to vision loss too, I suppose.

Guess I just need to do more research on the two options to see which is a better fit for me. Anyone have any experience getting Lasik or ICLs? The more information I have, the more comfortable I will probably be to make a decision.