Yes, Finally decided to get rid of my spectacles.Got my laser surgery done over a weekend. The procedure Doctor chose for me is called TransPRK(No touch technology). I will not go into the details of the procedure because I know people who want to get LASIK or laser surgery done will anyhow do their PHd in this on internet before the operation :-D.
So first let me give some reasons why I wanted get rid of my glasses.
On my wedding (Yes, I know 3 years ago), my sister and my friends somehow stole away my specs because I chose to wear them even on that day. So I had to manage 2 days without specs!! I know -1.5 is comparitively less power, but for a person like me who wore specs 24X7, I thought it would be difficult to manage without them. And the worst part was during the reception where I was unable to indentify my own close friends who were sitting a little far from the stage. Soon after all the events were done, first thing I did was to grab my specs from my sister. What a relief!!
Let me come to the next reason. Now a days I have started taking my 2 wheeler to office. So obvious reason is while wearing helmet.
One more is while watching TV. Some interesting program on TV and I suddenly reach up to my glasses to watch TV.
And another reason is whenever I felt like wearing sunglasses, I had to compromise with my clear vision.
So now starting off with the actual treatment/operation details.
A week before the operation, I went to the hospital and got all tests done. Then came Saturday(25-Aug-2012) when my surgery was planned.Went there by exact 9AM but the entire hospital was busy in promoting 'Netradhaana'(Eye donation).A rally was arranged including school kids along with the famous kannada film actress Taara(Yes I saw her from very close). This was to bring awareness about Eye pledging/donating. So when all the staff came inside, it was 9.30AM. Again some formalities, Bill payment, some more tests and then they cleaned my eyes and eye lashes with some solution and then they dressed me up for operation. They also gave some sedatives before the operation. They did this for 3 other people and kept us waiting.
Now they took one candidate in. After 5 mins they took me also inside the surgery room. When I went in I saw that first candidate getting up from the operation table already and she was given a black protective glass. Now was my turn. I lied down on the table, my face below the laser machine. The Doctor asked me to stare at the green light that was in the machine and I did so. The Doctor kept my right eye wide open by pasting something(I dont remeber what it is called) on my upper and lowere eyelids. Then he put some eye drops liberally. I kept on staring the green light, then there was some sound from the machine, probably the laser was hitting my cornea. As this sound continued, my vision on the green light was no more sharp, it became blurr and the small green light was now kind of spread like a colour splash. Believe me, it just took around 30 seconds or even less for this to be done on one eye. Now after laser, they liberally put some more solution and put a bandage contact lense on my cornea to heal. They freed my right eye now. Same procedure for my left eye. I came down the table and was given a black protective glass.And within less than 10 mins I was out of the surgery room and I saw another guy waiting for his turn already inside the room :-D. I felt it was some kind of production unit, imagine the softdrinks packing factory that we saw in TV which will send bottles one by one after fitting the knob on the bottles.
An attendant led me from the surgery room to outside and I sat there. Then the lady who had cleansed our eyes initially came and took us to another room where all 4 of us had to get post-op instructions from her. We got our kit with instruction sheet and then we drove back home. Had no pain at all but my vision was blurry. Came home, had lunch and slept off. Because of the sedative I slept for most of the day. My hubby had to administer eye drops every hour on the first day which he did religiously. Whenever I woke up, now I was experiencing so much pain in my eye. I was feeling as if a handful of sand was put into my eyes.Could not even open my eyes. So first day was horrible. This continued till second day afternoon. Till then my son had not come near me. I think kids understand everything. On 2nd day afternoon I opened my eyes and called him Nishu, I cant forget that scene, he came running to me and cuddled up beside me saying amma amma.
On second day, the pain had gone but eyes were sensitive to light and I slept for most part of the day that day also. My eyes got better on third day. Better not in terms of vision but only in terms of pain. Vision was totally bad. Everything was blurry,cloudy. On top of this I was asked to wear protective glasses continuosly for 2 days even while sleeping. No TV, no computer, no texting. For 3 days it was horrible and boring. After that, there was no pain but no clear vision also. For atleast 10 days I was not supposed to wash my face, take head bath, cook,do pooja using agarbathis.Got my bandage contact lense removed on 6th day. Doctor said everything was OK. But for me there was no clear vision.
Then again I came to know that for TransPRK, it needs atleast 2-3 MONTHS to get normal to more than normal vision. I took a week off from work and started to work after almost 9 days. My hubby dropped me to work on first day to work. It was horrible at work. I had to struggle so much to work on computer. Then 2nd day I rode myself with protective glass and helmet glass covered and it was manageable. Now it is almost close to 2 weeks after my surgery. Still no clear vision but it has definitely improved a bit. One habit that I have developed post-op is to read everything on the road side and test if I can read the smallest letters comfortably. But no, still not able to do that but I can see some improvement compared to my initial post-op days. I also browsed on internet and read many people's comments and positive results and a bit relieved that vision will improve gradually. So with no worries I am just waiting.
Now no need of those protective glasses when inside work or home, but need to wear them outside. So planning to get a pair of nice and fancy sunglasses. You know these protective glasses are no fancy ones and it is embarassing to wear them outside.
