lasik beam

2005.03.22 14.03

On Monday I went to LasikPlus to get evaluated for possible LASIK surgery. I passed even though my nearsighted vision is in the -8 to -9 range. I've been wearing eyeglasses for the last 9+ months with the goal of getting LASIK. Contacts change the shape of your eyeball and you have to stop wearing them completely before the LASIK people will give you the time of day. Lesson over. I go under the laser on this Thursday night at 6:20 PM. Fingers crossed! Not having to wear contacts is important to Spider-Man, you know. You can't be Spider-Man when a contact lens blows off or gets some dirt in it after kicking the villain's ass. Gotta think ahead.

contacts and glasses no more

2005.03.24 14.58

I'll be entering surgery in just over 4 hours. In the last twelve hours I've read about ten testimonials about people who've had LASIK. I just found out a guy I work with had the surgery seven years ago and then subsequently his wife and mom had the surgery. I've got my lubrication drops for daytime and nighttime to keep things from getting dry. I only need to pick up my Vogrex (or whatever it was) prescription from Walgreens. I'm nervous. I'm like, hell yeah, give me that valium, baby. Non-LASIK news for me includes the fact that I could have possibly gone back to Philly but it didn't work out, and that my car still has no bids. Expect an update from a foggy eyed Super Genius tomorrow morning.

my lasik experience

2005.03.25 11.43

On Monday I walked into the LasikPlus office off Hempstead and 59 in Houston, Texas. I was given the most complicated set of tests to measure my visual acuity that I'd been given in a long time. My most recent prescription was -7.50 sphere, -1.25 cylinder, 174 axis in my right eye (i.e. really bad) and -8.00 sphere, -0.50 cylinder, and 015 axis in my left (i.e. really really bad). My eyes were tested, dilated, forced to watch a DVD video about LASIK, numbed, and tested some more. Once done, I was told that I was a perfect candidate for surgery. They have three tiers available and I was recommended the second tier. The first tier used Broad Beam Technology, the second used Flying Spot Technology, and the third was Wavefront Guided Technology. I was recommended LADARVision Flying Spot. Sounds good to me. Fly spot, fly. The cost was $1599 per eye which included a lifetime acuity plan -- meaning if my eyes needed adjustments at any point in time there would be no further charge. All I have to do is get my eyes checked once a year I was given a prescription to fill for droplet antibiotics, as well as an extensive list of eye drops. I put $50 down as a promise that, yes; I would return and get my eyeballs lasered. I went home. I did some research on Google for other testimonials. Happy with what I found, I patiently awaited my surgery appointment the following Thursday at 6:20 PM.

On Thursday afternoon I bought two kinds of Alcon brand non-preservative wetting drops for nighttime and daytime, a nice pair of sunglasses, and my prescription antibiotic. I was mildly nervous but it wasn't like I was on death row. I arrived back to LasikPlus at 5 PM and met my dad in the lobby. A tall security guard that looked like Richard Moll with hair was mentioning his ''bad experience'' with LASIK and how he hoped I had a better experience. I held my hand up and said, ''Shush! No bad experience stories!'' We went into the elevator and the doomsayer was no more. After filling out papers and paying for things -- I chose the 12 months no interest financing that they offered -- I was taken to another little room to get my eyes checked yet again. I received a little black bag filled with recovery goodies (droplets, another antibiotic, protective sleep goggles, etc). I was given a tablet of Xanax and given dilating eye drops at least 8 times to make super-sure I was dilated. I was taken to the table where I'd have my procedure done and photos were taken of my eyes for reference purposes. I then left and sat in a small waiting room with the DVD player from Monday. By this time I was getting just a little sleepy. The time for surgery finally arrived. They dilated me one last time, added numbing drops, and laid me back on the table. I had to wear a little blue puffy elastic surgery hat to keep my hair in check. My left eye was covered up with a patch. My right eye was then taped back by the eyelashes on the top and bottom, a speculum was placed over the eyelids so I couldn't blink. Once in place my eye made a single attempt to blink and immediately discovered that it was a pointless act and gave up. Nice. I could handle that. I could see a red light shining directly above my eye, as well as a long bank of white illuminating lights on the left and right of the red light. Index marks were drawn on my cornea so the flap could be returned to its original position. I found it interesting that they use a special (and expensive) felt tip marker to draw this. A suction device was then placed over the eye to hold it in place. My vision slowly darkened to where I saw nothing but blackness. An excimer laser was used to create the flap at this point. I could tell I was being cut into, but since I was numbed up there was no pain to speak of. The suction was released and I could see the red light and bank of white lights once again. The doctor did some careful manipulation and eventually (meaning probably after 30 seconds) pulled back the newly created flap. At this point everything was super blurry. The only real discomfort I had was the fact that the white bank of lights on each side seemed very intense. Since I couldn't blink, I figured I'd soldier on and suck it up. They then carefully made sure I was in the best possible position before the laser went to work. Clicking and clacking noises occurred as a computerized voice indicated, ''29 seconds left'' -- ''procedure 25 percent complete'' -- ''21 seconds left'' ... until eventually it said ''procedure complete'' and I was able to relax. I could smell some kind of burning tissue but nothing disgusting. If you've ever cooked an ant with a magnifying glass -- basically this was the same smell. Maybe less anty. Anyway, the doctor then swept my cornea flap over carefully and brushed it back into place. I could then see the red laser light was much sharper than it had been before. I blinked a few times and they removed the speculum and pulled off the tape from my eyes. The procedure was then repeated on my left eye. This was far easier because I knew what to expect and I also knew it was halfway over. The only difference was that one of my eyelashes got in my eye and had to be removed. Not a problem. Once complete, they sat me up. Antibiotic drops were immediately placed in my eyes. They checked me over once again with some measuring devices in another room. I was then given my little black bag of goodies and sent home.

My dad and I stopped off at Chipotle for some dinner. My vision was quite foggy and my eyes felt a little sore from all the manipulation. We then hit the CVS so I could get some Tylenol PM. One of the instructions given was that I should immediately go to sleep for at least 5 hours. After settling down with my protective goggles on, I conked out thanks to the Tylenol PM. The soreness went away. I automatically woke up once at 3 AM since I went to bed at basically 8 PM. I went to the bathroom and pulled off the goggles. Pretty damn clear. Everything is close to 20/20 and the fog had subsided. I took my next dose of antibiotics, did some drops, and went back to sleep. The next morning was even better. At the moment, my right eye is like super sharp, and my left eye seems to be closing in. This is just the first day after surgery, and I understand that vision will fluctuate while the healing process settles down and everything settles down back to normal. My checkup is in 15 minutes so I'm going to cut this short. The next update will include what they do to me at the checkup. This whole process has been much easier than finding a genetically modified radioactive spider to bite me. I think.

the lasik saga continues

2005.03.28 11.30

Friday, (technically) Day One: The 1 PM meeting at LasikPlus indicated I'm seeing 20/20 out of my right eye and my left eye is around 20/40. There is swelling, however, and this is supposed to change and fluctuate over the next few days. I drove home from work today in my car without any problems whatsoever. I'm calling my right eye The Bionic Eye since it can see so sharply. Using a computer monitor has proven interesting since I'm fairly sensitive to brighter lights. I slept the first night with the goggles and didn't have a problem. I have plenty of eye drops to put in my eyes whenever necessary. The fluctuating vision isn't very different than when my contacts were dirty or fogging, so this isn't really as alarming as it may sound. The only thing different is that I could take out my contacts back then. I did not go out on Friday night since I felt I needed to rest and take things easy for the next few days.

Saturday, Day Two: Upon waking up my vision was especially clear. My vision fluctuated a bit more during the day, although I felt sure that if I had been able to rub my eyes that things would have straightened out. Must not rub eyes! I say that aloud every time I get in a situation where I would have done so (e.g. waking up, taking a shower, etc). The right eye continues to be the bionic right eye and the left eye feels sharp, although there is some minor refraction which causes me to have trouble calling what I'm seeing sharp. Still, the swelling and the healing is what I'm dealing with. I know things will change as the days go on. I administer my antibiotic drops like clockwork and rewet the eyes with rewetting tears whenever I feel like it. No pain whatsoever, though, so that's very nice. I went out on Saturday night to play pool. I sucked until we started playing nine ball. I still need a giant handicap added to make things fair. I swear that I've played less than 50 games of pool my entire life, so if I suck it isn't my fault. Went to bed around midnight.

Sunday, Day Three: Woke up around 9:30 AM. Did the drops. Goofed off most of the day. Went to lunch with my niece and dad to Buffalo Wild Wings. I've been wanting to go there since I've been back from Philly and this was the first opportunity to go where I wanted to go. Played some XBOX Halo 2 with Parker and his bro. Our network was set up with a new server and we worked out the kinks. My vision continues to improve. My left eye goes through bouts of being crystal sharp and then back to the weird refractive fuzz. It doesn't matter how far or close anything is to that eye because the refraction is consistent. Working together with my right eye I feel like I've got 20/20 vision. My next appointment is a week from tomorrow (April 4, 2005). Went to bed around 9:30 PM.

Monday, Day Four: Vision is about the same today as it was yesterday. I have bouts of incredibly clear eyesight with both eyes. Occasionally it's the left eye seeing well compared to the right, so I get to continue being patient while things are healing. I'd like to jump straight to my one month mark so I can know whether or not I'd need any enhancements done. Using the computer is increasingly easier. I now have taking a shower and not doing any eye rubbing down pat. It's back to work in the meantime. I use my rewetting drops whenever I feel like it although I haven't had any incidents where I felt like I had anything in my eye. In reading other testimonials people who'd recently had the procedure recalled feeling as if there was an eyelash in their eye itching at the cornea. I thought I felt that yesterday -- so I was diligent and didn't touch my eye. Upon closer inspection, however, I found that I really did have an eyelash in my eye. So, duh, I felt dumb. After washing that thing out everything was back to normal. My biggest concern of the day? Someone needs to bid on my car so I can get my Honda Element on!

the ebay song

2005.03.30 14.35

Nobody bid on my car, even though there were 18 ''watchers'' over the auction. I've re-listed the car here with some adjustments so I can avoid the re-listing fee. Good times. Buy my car.

Tuesday, Day Five: As far as LASIK goes, the improvements are in tiny increments. I'm very impatient. I drove the DeLorean to work thinking I'd need to help out Parker with some errands. That didn't pan out, so I left early and worked from home for the rest of the day. I sense more furniture rearranging is coming since I am not having a pleasant Working From Home experience anymore. I worked out legs on Monday although I don't feel any effect. I'm learning how to set up a DNS name server and that is proving to be interesting. I decided to use my SUPER-GENIUS.INFO domain as the name server's domain. I understand that .NET domain are the most popular top level domains used for name servers, so hopefully this .INFO stuff won't backfire on me. Bleah.

Wednesday, Day Six: I guess I'm noticing slight improvements. Fewer distortions appear on average as the day moves along. I wish I could walk outside and stare off into distance more often. It's amazing. I'm learning how to abbreviate my LASIK testimonial when people ask me about it. My nighttime goggles cracked in half yesterday. I walked across the plaza to LasikPlus and they had a new pair waiting for me. Nice people. My car didn't sell on eBay (as I mention in the beginning of this entry), so I decided I'd drive it to work today. I have a haircut scheduled at 5:30 PM and then later on I'm going to meet up with a friend from work who wants my antique cherry display thingy. I need to pick up the pace on my craigslist.org sales. I'm slacking.

eyewitness

2005.03.31 19.20

Thursday, Day Seven: Let me just get this entry out of the way. For the most part, the number of instances where things get a little distorted has been greatly reduced. There are still halos and starbursts at night, but I can tell that they are also reducing in frequency. My left eye seems to be just a little over or under corrected (I can't tell) but I'm getting used to it. If that's not the case, the left eye is at least probably swollen or still slower to recover. I can see sharply with it, but there's that slight little fog / distortion that is annoying if I am just using my left eye -- which I never do, but I'm just being detailed with the details. The right eye is the eagle eye and also my dominant eye. Together my eyes are kicking ass with 20/20 vision. The terrible 20/2000 vision I had before the surgery will never be missed, even if it turns out my left eye is going to have this slight distortion while I'm healing. It only been 168 hours since my surgery, so I realize more changes / improvements are to come. Its good times in LASIK land.

LASIK update

2005.04.08 14.00

Things still fluctuate on occasion with the vision. I had my 10 day appointment and my eyes working together see 20/20. The left eye still has a teensy tiny bit of fuzz on things that are close to me, but since my right eye is dominant I don't notice it. I know, I'm repeating myself. The starbursts and halos when driving at night are there, of course, as they will be for a while, but I'm actually getting used to ignoring them. Occasionally my eye will adjust and they go away for a second. I expect that will become more frequent as time goes on. I'm now addicted to staring off into the distance and marveling at everything that's out there given that I don't have a limit to my peripheral vision anymore. Waking up in the morning and seeing everything is the coolest thing. No more goggles, no more meds. I just irrigate my eyes 4 to 6 times a day as the doctor recommended. It definitely feels good to do that. I sometimes wonder if someone will catch me in the middle of my applying the drops and then eventually wiping away the excess with a tissue. ''Mark, why are you crying?'' I've decided that I'd tell them I'm crying because I miss the XFL.

teary eyed

2005.04.15 18.14

How about a LASIK update? I think the last two days have definitely been eerie in that I almost forget I had the surgery. No more fuzz in the left eye. I'm like a hawk. In lower light conditions there are still halo issues, but nothing I can't ignore and they do seem to be reducing ever so slowly. It's been 21 days since the surgery, so I'm really happy with the outcome. Matter of fact, last weekend I got emotional while I was driving upon realizing that I'd technically been ''healed'' of an affliction that I've held for nearly my whole life. Having negative 8 (left) and negative 7.5 (right) diopters was super s**tty vision, let me assure you. I was on my way to the grocery to buy carrots. I'm using the juicer my dad bought me for Christmas (finally). Carrots are good for your eyes. I recommend tossing some apples into the juicer to sweeten up the carrots. Mmmm. My juicer is from that Jack whatshisname guy that is always blathering on during the late-night infomercials. It's a juicer. There's a lot of parts to it, but it's easy to use and easy to clean up. Put a plastic shopping bag in the fiber hopper thing to make cleanup even easier. Mmmm. Okay, so to sum up -- LASIK = good. Traffic = bad. Madonna = good. Anne Murray = bad.

last appointment

2005.07.17 18.18

Seeing as how I have way too much time to write about anything, I figure I'll give you a LASIK update. I had my last appointment for the year when I was in Houston for my court appearance. They told me I didn't have to come back until 2006. My vision is 20/15 with both eyes, so what do I have to complain about? Nothing. I need the little paper thing so I can get rid of the corrective lenses requirement on my license, but other than that, LASIK is awesome. Go get it.

no more license restrictions

2005.08.23 12.34

My errands before my departure to included hooking up my ancient fax machine so I could get proof of insurance for the day to get my car registration done, renewing my driver's license, replacing a car battery, fixing the garage door, and packing up my Media Center PC and replacing it with my older Sony which I'd leave running in Houston. The highlight was at the driver's license office. This is the same place where in December 1985 that I took my test and got my license to thrill. Right. They removed my Class A restriction which means I don't have to wear glasses or contacts when driving. That's a good thing considering it's impossible for me to do that now that I've got my 20/20 vision going on thanks to LASIK. I ended up not being able to inspect my Eclipse like I'd wanted to, but whatever. Maybe next time? I got on the plane and after only a minor delay we took off. I lucked out and got first class this time around. When I was waiting to get in line some dude didn't think I had first class and started to cut in front of me. I noticed and took a step forward, as if to say Nyah Nyah. The flight was uneventful, but when I got back into Philly some cabbie tried to gyp me into paying straight fare to the neighborhood I'm staying at. I had him turn the cab around and drop me off again. He kept saying he wanted to help me understand that Northern Liberties isn't Center City. I tried to help him understand that whether he turns left or right from Callow Hill, he's still going to have to drive the car three blocks. So it's three blocks north instead of south. Why should I pay him a premium for that? Stupid cabbies. I found a cool guy in the next cab that agreed to take me home for the standard $25 fare. My coughing and hacking only kept me up until 2 AM. Not bad. There's more, I'm sure, but this entry is already as big as my deckfer.

9 month update

2005.12.09 15.43

Now that winter has set in the moisture in the air is nearly gone and my vision has had a slight change as a result. I was aware that getting LASIK during the winter is the best time to do it because your vision is slightly poorer during the cold dry months of the year and thus a correction will be more accurate. In the daylight I can still see 20/20 for the most part but in interior lighted conditions and at night my vision is definitely in the 20/40 range along with a slight touch of decreased sensitivity to contrast. When my next meeting comes up with LASIKPLus I intend to have a touch-up done on the right eye to sharpen things up. I can handle the nighttime starburst as long as the light source is nice and sharp. Still, I'm curious to see if my vision will improve again once winter is over. Considering I couldn't see a thing before the surgery, I can easily accept the caveats. I drove two hours in the pitch dark the other evening so it's not as if I can't function. My over-corrected left eye was actually a really good thing since my left eye is still the stronger and crisper of the two. Good times. Vision Simulations has some image simulations that come close to demonstrating the night time goofy vision that I get. My starbursts are more like example #2. Here's an example of the subtle ghosting and contrast loss you get during dim light and indoors. FYI, All of these examples are WAY worse than anything I'm experiencing, so don't let me scare you off from LASIK. I'm still happy I did the surgury and would do it again in a heartbeat. If you had really poor vision to start off like I did prior to getting the correction, you'd completely understand the give and take involved when compared to not being able to see a thing before (without glasses or contacts).

article about lasik

2005.12.12 12.42

The AP newswire has an awesome article about LASIK now that it's been available for 10 years. The guy they interviewed for the article had the same procedure that I did. I never lost a pair of glasses, however, so that part is all him.