My eyessss! My eyessss!

Technology is amazing. One day you’re blind and the next day you can have better than perfect vision (after shelling out thousands of dollars for someone to cut holes and burn your eyeballs with lasers, of course).

I never thought I would undergo eye surgery while wide-awake; the concept always freaked me out. Last week, however, I found myself in a hospital gown and cap with a Korean nurse wiping my face with brown disinfectant, asking me what type of music I wanted to hear in the operation room. It was actually happening- I was getting LASIK!

It all started with a free consultation at the Dream Eye Clinic in Myeong Dong (Seoul) that consisted of 1.5 hours of eye testing to make sure I was a good candidate for the surgery. Five days later I returned with Jason in tow. I knew what would happen to my eyes during the surgery, and to be honest I was pretty damn nervous. I get really queasy when it comes to medical poking and prodding of my body. The last time I donated blood I literally just laid on the table and cried while the red stuff was pumped out of my veins. Imagine my nerves when they used a can opener to open my eyeball (I actually have no idea what the tool looked like). Good thing they gave me a stuffed animal to hold on to during the surgery.

The entire surgery took approximately 10 minutes, and yes, I was wide awake the whole time. They do anesthetize your eyes so you feel absolutely no pain, and they put some sort of liquid in your eyes that doesn’t make them dry out. I could, though, distinctly feel the pressure they put on my eyeballs during each step. And, of course, I could see everything! Shout out to Jason who stood next to me and watched the entire process through a close-up video screen without making gasping sounds. I could not promise the same discretion if I were in his place, that’s for sure.

After 10 minutes of holding back the shakes, I was finished! My doctor was pretty awesome; he spoke to me very calmly during the procedure and reassured me after each eye was finished that it was successful and that I did a great job. The trip back home with Jason was a tad miserable, though. I could barely open my eyes, the dull pain was coming in strong, and everything was blurry. When we got home I slept for about 3 or 4 hours and felt completely fine when I woke up. The next day I went back in to the office for a post-surgery check up and had 20/13 vision ALREADY! What?! How?! Magic!

Granted, I do have to put eye drops in every 2 hours and I can’t wear eye make-up for 2 weeks. The upside: I get some super sweet eye shields to wear when I sleep. They’re kind of awesome. Jason has to shoo the crowds of men off that gather around me when I wear them, so who wants dibs when I’m done with them?

Random Thought of the Day: I heard (2 days after the surgery) that some women experience vision changes after having a baby, thus making pre-pregnancy LASIK basically worthless. Can anyone confirm or deny this vicious rumor? If it’s true, then I may have made an expensive mistake. Oooopsies! (NOT PREGNANT, just thinking about the future…)

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