Freakin’ Lasers!
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
I had my “procedure” today. While Rob (uncle/Dr.) couldn’t give me the heat or x-ray vision I asked for, he did shoot high intensity lights into my eyes and told me that I would be okay. While it was quick, I can’t say that it was totally painless.
The first thing they did was to put drops in my eyes to contract my pupils. After about 15 minutes, my pupils were about the size of a BB (4.5mm) or smaller. They then put numbing drops in my eye and had me rest my chin on what looked like a slit lamp. The difference is that this one also had a laser attached. He then pressed a lens to my cornea which, I assumed, magnified his view and/or helped focus the laser. His assistant held the back of my head so I didn’t flinch or move.
Next was the fun part. Once he had the spot picked out, he fired the laser. It felt a bit like what I would imagine hot pins going into your eye would feel like. He did this two or three times per eye. This really didn’t take very long…just a few minutes. I couldn’t see anything right away. As you can imagine, my eye was watering as if my face were a garden.
It’s been several hours, and I still have some discomfort. My eyes feel really dry and irritated (you would too if you had just got a hole burned through you with a laser) and I’ve got a slight headache. They said I might get a headache, as it can be a result of the dilation of my pupils. All-in-all, not a bad procedure. If it keeps me from going blind it’s worth it! If I get fewer headaches, that’s even better. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes!