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Which Way Do I Turn?

How many times can one person have their eyes dilated in a given week? Apparently, quite a lot! By my one week post-op visit, I had already been back to the doctor several times. I was excited to hear that my vision was still 20/20, but my flashes were not only making me anxious, they had my doctors concerned, as well. The surgeons didn’t feel that I was having a typical post-op recovery. Just the day prior, I had an episode where the vision in my right eye went completely blurry, which was followed by a subconjunctival hemorrhage in the same eye that evening. Fortunately, the “hemorrhage” sounded and looked worse than what it actually was - just a popped blood vessel. I, however, was convinced my eye was bleeding. My doctor advised me to continue monitoring my symptoms, which according to her should steadily diminish. If my symptoms worsened, I needed to be seen right away. The trouble was that I was as unsure if “worsening symptoms” would be easy to identify and I was already feeli...
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Milestones and Hurdles

The first thing you need to know after Visian surgery is that light is not your friend. I have never been so light sensitive in my entire life! Even with sunglasses on in the dark, it felt like the world was just too bright. I managed to sleep for quite a few hours after returning home from surgery, which was much needed. I hadn’t slept the night before in anticipation of the surgery. My eyes felt a bit gritty when I woke up, but I wasn’t in any pain. I needed to follow a strict regimen of eye drops to prevent infection and to reduce inflammation. The antibiotic drops were prescribed for a week, while the steroid drops were to be taken for a month. I had typed up a chart in advance with the exact regimen I needed to follow so I wouldn’t miss any drops or forget which I had taken. I didn’t want to risk any complications. The first night, I saw halos around every light source. I know this sounds weird, but they made the lights look really beautiful. Despite that, I hoped they wouldn’...
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Surgery

Leading up to this day, I wasn’t nervous about the surgery itself. The long term risks, however, had me quite rattled. The new floaters I had experienced post iridotomy reminded me that this surgery was not without risk. I honestly started to feel paranoid every time I saw flashing lights, wondering if it was an issue with my eyes or just the environment around me. My greatest fear was ending up with an undiagnosed retinal tear that developed into a retinal detachment. As I sat in the surgical waiting room, my anticipation was growing, and I was  starting to get nervous not only about the risks, but about the surgery itself too. I knew they would be giving me some kind of oral sedative,  and I debated whether or not to take it since I often have a sensitive stomach and  didn’t want to get sick. Nevertheless, taking something to calm my nerves was sounding more and more appealing as time went by.. When I was finally called to prep for surgery, my husband wasn’t allowed...
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A Bump in the Road

I was instructed to begin inserting steroid eye drops four times a day for four days. I wasn’t prepared for how the drops would feel after the procedure. I began to feel like I had multiple eyelashes in my eyes. Worried that something was wrong, I looked up the side effects of the drops, and sure enough, a foreign body sensation was one of them. I resigned myself to dealing with the discomfort and tried to distract myself. Though the sensation was gone by the next day, the white line from the iridotomy was not. The white line has been visible under certain conditions, particularly in dim light and when I’m looking down. For the most part, I’ve been able to ignore it. Unfortunately, my other side effects haven’t been as easy to ignore  - recurring headaches and nausea. Since I wasn’t quite sure if this was a delayed reaction to the constricting drops or if I should be concerned about my eye pressure, I debated calling the doctor. Of course, it happened to be the weekend. I didn’t ...
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On the Road

In order to have Visian ICL surgery in the United States, you must first have a surgery typically reserved for glaucoma patients called a Laser Peripheral Iridotomy (LPI). In short, this means you need to have two holes lasered into the iris of each of your eyes at the 11 and 1 o’clock positions. The reason for this is because the implantable lens will block the flow of vitreous fluid (eye fluid), which will cause extremely high eye pressure and result in glaucoma. By creating these holes, the vitreous fluid is rerouted so the pressure in your eyes remains normal. My LPI was scheduled for August 9th, and I was feeling fairly nervous before the procedure. If you go online and look up peripheral iridotomy (which I don’t recommend doing), you will find many horror stories about the pain and side effects. Since I had spent plenty of time reading these stories, I was definitely questioning whether or not this was a good idea. At the eye center, I was whisked up an elevator where I signe...
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The Starting Line

I have to admit, when you begin to research Visian ICL surgery, the risks sound pretty terrifying... retinal detachment, cataracts, vision loss to name just a few. So why go through with this? I have asked myself that question quite a few times. I can’t say that I don’t have doubts. Although the chance of experiencing these side effects are slim, the ramifications are significant. However, being legally blind without contacts or glasses for the majority of my life has also been no picnic. I’ve lived with not being able to see my alarm clock or any other objects that are not 2 inches from my face for a very long time. I can’t see much of anything without my contacts or glasses. What upsets me most though, is not being able to recognize the faces of my own children across a table from me without corrective lenses. Ultimately, this is the greatest factor in my decision to move forward with the surgery. I chose my eye surgeon based on the recommendation of my regular eye doctor, as wel...
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The Journey Begins

I’m guessing if you’re reading this right now, you are beginning your journey to better vision like me. My journey began several years back when I decided I didn’t want to live with the burden of contacts or glasses anymore. I had been hearing many ads on the radio about lasik and excitedly made the call to schedule my first appointment. With a prescription of -10 in both eyes, my anticipation and excitement were really high... until the consultation. After the most thorough eye exam I had ever had in my life, the doctor delivered the news. I was not a candidate for lasik. My prescription was too high and my corneas were too thin. “What if you correct my vision and just make it the best you can,” I asked. “You wouldn’t be happy,” he refused. I was flooded with disappointment. The doctor proceeded to tell me about an implantable lens that could be placed in my eye by another surgery center, but I barely heard the words. What I heard was “more invasive, slightly greater risk.” I walked...
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