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Sunday 5 February 2012

1 week on...





Hi all,


So it has been a week now since i have had my eye laser surgery and it has gone all smoothly and i can see! The picture above was taken on the day of my surgery, that is why i look so dishevelled and afraid, it is because i genuinely was terrified. 


So let me tell you what happened. I went in for my treatment at a very packed surgery at Optical Express in Harley Street. It was clearly a busy day for eye surgery as there were many people waiting to get it done. I was taken in first for my eye check ups again, the same ones that i had done when i went in for my consultation. They were just checking to see if my eyes were okay and if my prescription had any changes since the last time i had seen them. After that i was taken in for my surgery. While i was waiting for my turn, they cleaned the area around my eyes and placed anaesthetic drops on my eyes. These stung a little. 


Then i was taken into the surgery room. It is rather intimidating with its big machines. I was told that they would use two lasers on me, one to cut the 'flap' first layer of skin on my eye and the other to correct my cornea. I didn't feel a thing during the procedure. They do place a rubber ring inside your eyelids to hold them open but you never lose the sensation that you are blinking. When they cut the flap, you do also get a strange smell of burning chicken. The second laser was the big noisy one which makes loud and clicky sounds. Your eyes do go black when they use it and then your vision starts to come back slowly and it feels as though you are wearing misty glasses. The whole thing lasted for about 10 minutes, after which i was taken into a dark room to recuperate.


You do have difficulty opening your eyes for the first 10-15minutes or so and even if you do, your eyes are incredibly watery. I did have mild headache afterwards so it would have been useful to take painkillers with me. I was driven home after the surgery but please note, take someone with you who doesn't talk so much, my mum made me want to jump out of the car. When i got home, i literally went to sleep for 6 hours as my eyelids were so heavy and after i woke up, i could see.


For the next 7 days, i had to take eye drops and wear goggles in bed and avoid getting any water in my eyes. The next day i was totally fine to go to the check up by myself and it was all plain sailing from there on. I had 20/20 vision and the only downside was that my eyes were a little sensitive to bright lights. That does wear off after a couple of days and by the fourth day, i was only wearing sunglasses during the day and night as a precautionary measure. I do think that the surgery is definitely worth it and i would recommend Optical Express. They do have  a great service and the staff are reassuring and answer any questions, regardless of how silly they may seem to you. It is pricey but if you can afford it, i would say go for it!


Sanoobar :)