Had my LASIK done yesterday (Friday the 29th) and went in for my day-after post-op this morning. I'm already at 20/25 and they expect it to just get better this week.
In terms of some of the other comments I've seen regarding difficulty scheduling, wait times, etc. I personally experienced none of those. The only "wait" was them waiting for me to calm down before the actual procedure. They'll wait until you feel ready. But otherwise, my appointments ran exactly on time, communication was great, and I think my wait this morning was MAYBE 5 minutes.
Anyways, on to what you probably want to know about. The procedure itself (with a long-winded lead-up and explanation incoming).
They'll first do a consult where they check your eye health, corneal thickness, current vision, presence of any astigmatism, etc. They were very thorough here so that immediately put me at ease.
Day of the procedure, they have you sign a waiver (which if you read every bullet point, will probably scare the shit out of you, but that's just how things go these days. If there's a one in a bazillion chance something could happen, they have to disclose it). Anyways, I signed it and they took me to a back room to wait, which is when they gave me my valium. I'm the biggest nervous Nelly of all time so they took extra good care of me, Irina made me tea, they gave me vibrating pillows (I never even know those were a thing) and every person I interacted with was so kind and reassuring. Even Dr. Cutarelli (who I've heard has a mediocre bedside manner) went above and beyond for me at least. He knew I was nervous, made some fun small talk about our home towns and football, and told me he'd make it as easy as possible.
Well, they suggested I go back to see if I was "ready" yet from a Valium standpoint, had me lay down, and then I proceeded to have a meltdown befitting a 2-year old getting a shot... but worse. I proceeded to sob and was just inconsolable. Everyone was so nice, told me it was ok, and lead me back to the waiting room to give me more tea and time to compose myself. They also let me take the giant "doggie" stuffed toy back with me. (Yes, I am a grown ass adult, in case you're wondering at this point).
Anyways, I composed myself after some (significant) internal struggle, I went back in to tough it out. They were so nice, I still had my dog stuffed animal, they gave me a blanket, and made sure to give me extra numbing drops. On top of it, Irina (SHOUT OUT TO IRINA SHE IS AN ANGEL ON EARTH) , who is the Financial Coordinator and doesn't do the actual procedure, came over to the surgery side since she heard I was having difficultly. She offered to hold my hand and talked me through it the whole time. The other ladies (whose names I forget and I feel terrible about) were so nice as well, held my shoulder and tapped on my leg so I knew they were there.
The actual procedure took less than 3 minutes per eye. The right eye which was first went as smoothly as you'd expect for getting your eyeball cut and lasered. The left eye was slightly more uncomfortable. That could have easily been because I cried so hard it messed with the numbing agent. But still, as painless as you could expect considering what's happening. I know so many people say it's easy peasy, and I guess it was, but if you're anxious like me, I won't sugarcoat it. It's definitely weird and mildly uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, it only takes 6 minutes of your life. If I can do it, you can. I assure you. If you ask the folks at the office, I would imagine I was the biggest meltdown they ever encountered. So again, I'm positive you can do it if I was able to.
Afterwards, went home with the eye shields and slept for about 4 hours. Woke up and I COULD SEE AGAIN! IT WAS A MIRACLE! Also, no itching, no burning, nothing. It's wild. Of course, you still have to be very careful and use your eye drops and eye shields diligently, but seriously, my eyes don't feel like anything happened to them. At all. At this point, the only bothersome part is the tape on the eye shields left burny marks on my face that are irritating. Legit - the tape - is. the. worst. part.
Anyways, that's my long-winded explanation. Hopefully that covered anything you'd be curious about. Thank you Dr. C, thank you to all the kind staff, and above all, thank you Irina! I literally couldn't have done it without you! read more