Those that are close to me, or friends with me on snapchat, know that I had laser eye surgery at the end of September. I really just was sick of wearing glasses, and I had a hell of a time finding affordable contacts that would fit my eyes properly (I had an astigmatism). Plus, everything is just so expensive, vision insurance included.

When I was doing my research on whether it would be beneficial for me, and taking healing time into account, I couldn’t find much on the negative/difficult side of it. So that Friday I jumped in. I took the day off work and dropped the kiddo off at Granny’s so I could nap for most of the day.

Let me go through and tell you what I was told to expect in terms of recovery:

• They told me to go home and take a nap, or at the very least keep my eyes closed for 4-6 hours. After that time frame, I would be able to use my eyes as long as I wore the (super stylish) sunglasses because my eyes would be sensitive to light. They even gave me a Tylenol PM to help with the sleeping
• I should be able to drive next day.
• I should be back to normal use within 48-72 hours

Let me tell you what actually happened, because it wasn’t that.

The actual procedure wasn’t bad. It’s a two-machine process. The first one makes a stamp around your cornea, and the second one is where the laser magic happens (I’ll spare the gory details for my squeamish friends). From start to finish, I was in the room maybe 10 minutes. They sent me home with 3 different kinds of eye drops and a bottle of Hydro Eye vitamins that are supposed to help with keeping your eyes from drying out.

When I got out of the procedure, everything was pretty foggy, which was normal. I was able to see well enough to walk out to my car where my sweet husband was waiting to drive me home. Also as expected, my eyes were really sensitive to the sunlight, even with the glasses. I kept my eyes closed for the majority of the ride home. I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t think the Tylenol PM would actually do anything, but wowwee did it. When I tried to open my eyes when we got home to go to bed, my eyelids were so so so heavy. I had a hard time keeping them open long enough to go to sleep. Can’t say I’m too upset about that part. Maybe I should look into having those on hand for nights I have a hard time falling asleep (totally kidding).

I had a pretty difficult time getting to sleep at first. My eyes were burning, and the medicated drops they put in my eyes to help with swelling and infection control were making my sinus cavity burn, which made it hard for me to fully take deep breaths. I had to actively tell myself to keep breathing, which was kind of scary. But once I got to sleep, I was able to nap for a solid 4 hours. When I opened my eyes for the first time, it was very uncomfortable. My left eye was burning, and my right eye felt like someone was wrapping it and rolling it in sandpaper. Every time I would blink, I would experience searing pain. My mind just told me to go back to sleep and it would be better in a couple more hours.

I was able to sleep for another 2 hours after that, but unfortunately when I woke up again, there was no change. My right eye was still very uncomfortable (understatement), and it was very difficult for me to see out of it. I had to wear the sunglasses even if the room was dark because my eyes were sensitive to any sort of light. The surgeon called me that evening (likely when he was done with all of his scheduled procedures that day), and when I was talking to him about the pain I was feeling, he just attributed it to a slower healing time, and it should start getting better.

I went to bed pretty soon after my toddler’s bedtime and was able to sleep for most of the night. We were supposed to go to an apple orchard the next day, so I was really hoping that things would subside at least a little overnight.

It turned out to be wishful thinking.

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When I woke up Saturday morning, I didn’t feel immediate pain, but about 3 minutes after I opened my eyes, the pain came back. I desperately wanted to take a shower to try and regain a sense of normalcy, but I couldn’t stand to have the bathroom light on. I ended up showering with the light off while still wearing my sunglasses, and for the most part, my eyes were closed. Whenever I would open them, I would try my hardest to not blink, because blinking would cause searing, scratching pain in just my right eye. My left eye had pretty decent vision the next morning, but I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face with my right eye. It was at that point that I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t think much more of it, since the surgeon had already mentioned that it would take longer than normal.

I had a hard time keeping my eyes open for long periods of time, and I found myself sitting down to rest my eyes, or resting my eyes while standing in the shade. I took a nap that afternoon, and when I woke up, it took a little longer for the pain to come back. I was happier because it showed progress. I still couldn’t go more than a few minutes without needing to take an extended blink, but I was still able to enjoy some time with my family.

Again, I went to bed pretty early and slept through the night, hopeful that Sunday would be better.

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Sunday was not better. I still couldn’t see out of my right eye, and I still couldn’t keep it open without feeling immense pain. I wore my sunglasses EVERYWHERE, and napped/kept my eyes shut whenever I could. I was really starting to feel dejected.

When I got up Monday, I felt a little energized because I was supposed to have my follow up appointment. I still couldn’t safely drive because I couldn’t see out of my right eye, so my sweet husband took time off of work to be there for my appointment. When I saw the doctor, they put me in front of a few machines after I had mentioned my issues. One machine couldn’t even get a reading on my right eye to determine what the issue was. When doing the “cover one eye” test, my vision in my right eye was 20/500. When they looked at it with the microscope, the optometrist told me that I had a major wrinkle in my corneal flap. I won’t go into the gory details on how that could have happened.

There could be a few different treatments for that. They scheduled me for a consultation with the surgeon later that week, and put a bandage contact in that eye to help with the discomfort. Literally as soon as the contact was on, my world changed. It changed my vision to 20/50 and suddenly I had no pain and could see out of that eye. It wasn’t the best vision, but I could drive and still be able to function alone, without needing a chaperone or a chauffeur.

I knew that when I showed up Friday for my consultation that there was a chance that my corneal flap would need lifted and re-placed, but there was also a chance that the bandage contact helped to smooth everything down. I was prepared for either and had taken the day off again to be prepared to nap if necessary.

When I was speaking to the surgeon, and after taking the bandage contact off, he noticed that there was no wrinkle in the corneal flap, but rather swollen surface cells around my corneal flap. It seems that the first machine didn’t fully cut some of the surface cells, so they lifted when my corneal flap was lifted, and when they were placed back down, they were swollen and didn’t lay properly.

The week with the bandage contact gave them the chance to heal without being irritated by my blinking, and when the contact was removed, I was able to see better than I was with it. My vision improved to 20/30 with both eyes, and I didn’t have any pain.

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Luckily that day I didn’t need to have a re-treat. I’m now over 2 weeks post-Lasik, and even with all of the complications that I experienced, I would still do it again. My vision now is getting better every day (it’s normal to not be perfect yet), and I’m noticing a lot of daily life improvements. I feel more confident in the way I look, and I’m feeling better about how I play and perform in sports. I feel like I’ve blocked more shots in hockey in the past two games than I have in the past two sessions. My teammates are joking with me that it’s because I can actually see.

I urge you that if you’re considering having Lasik performed, that you get all of the information on potential healing risks, that way you can make the best decision for you. Hopefully this helped you get a little more perspective on possible issues, or a difficult recovery.

Again, I would absolutely still recommend this procedure to anyone who is interested in getting it done. If you decide to go through Lasik Plus, make sure to put my name down as a referral 😉