Salam,
& hi after a rather long hiatus..
And ever since I've been mulling over merging my experiences in form of a blog post of sorts, to share with friends & family around the world.
Can't remember my life (style) without glasses -- as far as i can look back. Had them as constant companion since i were a second grader.
And my vision just went downhill deteriorating from there. Thats all I can remember.
Not to mention how & what I felt growing up as a sporty child, not being able to play soccer or cricket without breaking my spectacles ever so often.
No amount of fish, fish oil, carrots, carrot juice yadayada could improve or even halt the hyper-myopia.
Well, sometimes, you can't beat your genes.
Some seven seconds single session of laser in each eye, & 7th day post op later, my vision? is 20/20 !
:)
With a minus 8.5 Diopters in my left lazy eye, & a minus 7.25 in my right to begin with at pre-op.. this new visual acuity I've got now, is nothing short of a born_again_miracle.
So long specs..
I went for LasEk instead of a Lasik, since a) my doctor prescribed that for me, b) i really didn't want any cutting or thick flaps in there, c) LasEk is cost-effective, d) & even though the downtime is a day or two longer than Lasik (with discomfort sensations, since unlike lasik there is no desensitization / denervation), the prospects of corneal flap not placed right worried me.. & i simply didn't want to take any risk in eye-matters.
 |
| just_remove_glasses [before after. um.. well not really, but you got what im tryna say :] |
The doc laid out the whole thing infront of me in simple words, & I opted for the former.
LasEk is basically the same as PRK, but 'acidically' different in that it doesn't involve corneal epithelial (covering) loss, unlike the PRK where the surgeon removes it.
Rest of the procedure is just the same. Both being surface procedures. A new addition to them is epi-Lasik.. growing in popularity for having no flap & zero post-op discomfort (but again slower visual recovery than Lasek / PRK in first few days, according to the studies).
Dr. placed Mitomyocin drops in my eyes prior to that terse laser procedure, since studies have shown the use of MMC as potential safety against haze caused by UV sunlight exposure in the long run.
Hence, the name M-Lasek.
The Dr. is quite experienced, with around ten thousand surgeries the world over, & some thousand surgeries in KSA alone, to his credit.. with a 99.7% success rate record.
He has prescribed wearing sunglasses, & Vit C intake twice daily for 3 months, which regardless is a healthy routine, anyway.
Any strain while working, you ask?
Nill. None. Nada!
"First night would be a rough night", the Dr. warned. And right he was.
My spouse gave me a grading scale, asking me every time I felt discomfort, "Pain? Grade it from 0-10."
My reply every time, all through the night, was: "Um..no not pain, just discomfort. I'd rather grade it 1."
Except for once in the middle of the night, where i woke up from my sleep, with an annoying dry pricking pain in my upper eye lid & a throbbing type in my upper eye ball, & announced in an anguish:
"hey, its 5 now! or maybe 6.. "
Needless to say, it vanished as soon as my consort comforted me with steroid drops which my Doc prescribed earlier.
It got better from there onwards.
The doc didn't prescribe any oral or topical (drops) pain killers, though. He did, however, place power-free contacts just as an extra protection for my corneal epithelium, which fell off by the time we reached back home in a limo :/ That, i suppose, contributed (if not precipitated) more to the short lived anguish i felt the first post-op night. (The next day i got them on, once more from him, only to be removed on 5th day post-op.)
On the 2nd & 3rd day post-op, there was some vision fluctuation, & ofcourse strain.
I increased my notebook's font to tackle that issue.
Not anymore, though.
As of today, 7th day post-op, no strain, no discomfort no watering.. FalhamduliLLah.
Improvement?
If I say: cent percent! , that won't be a lie.. at all.
a 100 percent, indeed.
Cost?
Some 4,800/- Saudi Riyals. Cost covered, though partially, through HR-medical wing at my office.
How many working days lost??
Zero.
Yup, you heard that right.
I underwent this 5 minutes (PKR) LasEk-MMC procedure last Wednesday. And Wed is start of weekend here in KSA. Next two days were off.
Come saturday (3rd day postop), I could even drive.
Fun fact:
LASEK is an acronym of:
Laser (which itself is an acronym of: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) Assisted Sub-Epithelial Keratectomy.
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