I'm perhaps jumping the gun (after all, one of the potential side effects on the hairy informed consent form was "Death", just one word..."Death") but I couldn't be more happy about TLC, four days post-procedure. Absolutely over the moon.
I was referred here by my Naperville optometrist, which has an affiliation with this TLC. They were able to perform my dilation exam, and then refer me to the Westchester office where surgeries are actually performed for more in depth testing/eye mapping/wizardry. Important to note, this is a great way to do things, as TLC offers free "corrections" as long as you keep a yearly eye appointment, and this lets me make those appointments much more conveniently at my closer optometrist rather than the actual TLC facility.
At every step, people were extremely friendly and accommodating, explaining the process, the tests, what everything meant, what my surgery would entail, what kind of results I could expect, everything. One nice thing is that I always saw the same people - the same nurses (is that right right term?), the same OD, etc. Maybe they were juggling what appointments they offered to make sure the same people were always present, or maybe people just work round the clock, but either way it's very nice. The OD, Dr. Lehr, in particular is really great.
The surgery itself only takes a very short time - I will say, amusingly, that Dr. Probst (the actual surgeon) was "held up" answering another patent's questions (which I don't begrudge him at all) but while we waited for him, they laid me down on the "laser station" for lack of a better term and left me under one of the laser thingies. Now, I was appropriately nervous for this process, but not exactly freaking out...but if I had been really anxious? This would not have helped. "Here...stare in to the laser for ten minutes that could BURN THROUGH YOUR BRAIN JUST LIKE IN THAT BAD HORROR MOVIE." But seriously, not a big deal. I'm sure I could have asked to have my little bed (which swiveled under the laser thing to begin with) moved out from under the laser. I would say the total surgery time was maybe 10 minutes from beginning to end, with no pain, just a little discomfort while having my corneal flaps created. Having pressure applied to your eyeball to stabilize it just isn't something people are used to, not to mention the odd visual effects your experience during the correction process, etc. And the microkeratome is for the birds. TLC uses lasers for both the creation of the corneal flap as well as the actual corrective procedure. The thought of using a knife, no matter how precise, on my actual eyeball is terrifying...this is much easier for me to stomach. But let me stress - nothing to be concerned about, super easy, super painless, absolutely worth it. The worst discomfort I ever experienced after the surgery was similar to a mild case of chopping onions...and that went away after the nap that they recommend you take right after surgery.
It's somewhat odd that you don't (or at least I didn't) see Dr. Probst until maybe a few minutes before the surgery. No, there was nothing that his staff couldn't answer for me, and nothing that I had a burning desire to ask him, but it makes the place feel a tiny bit assembly line. Which it really isn't...it's just a comment.
I understand that everyone's experience, correction, results, etc are different, but TLC was very conservative with my recovery - they had promised I would see a large vision improvement by the following morning, and I was seeing incredible improvements as early as mid afternoon after my 8am surgery. So obviously you may not get the same, but holy cow is it cool how fast the correction takes hold. I assume that during the next week my vision will improve at the same rate, such that in a few days, I'll be able to see through walls, discriminate individual electrons whizzing about their respective nuclei, etc. In all seriousness, it's really fun to push your glasses up and realize...you're not wearing any.
The only substantive improvement? They really need to play William Carlos Williams' electronic cover (rendition?) of Beethoven's Symphony No.9, "Presto" in the surgery room. For those of you who have seen A Clockwork Orange, well...there haven't been any improvements in the methods used to hold your eyelids back. Although, perhaps it isn't a good idea for people "in the know" to be chuckling as lovely lovely Ludwig Van plays. read more