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 signed numerous papers stating that I understood the risks of the procedure, as well as the side effects. In other words, if anything went wrong, I couldn’t blame the doctor. Once that was completed, a nurse gave me advil to ward off a headache, as well as some anti-nausea medication. I was happy to take both.
After waiting for the oral medications to kick in, the cocktail of eye drops began. The headache inducing drops were first in order to constrict my pupils for the procedure. I was incredibly fortunate because the advil and zofran really worked and other than being nervous, the headache and nausea never hit. The nurse also asked me if I had a history of fainting since some people pass out during the procedure. Was that supposed to reassure me?
My nerves kicked into high gear once I took a seat in the chair. I knew from all of my research that the equipment looked much like it did for a regular eye exam, with the chin and forehead straps to rest your head in, but the major difference was the attached laser. The nurse mentioned that I probably couldn’t see anything at that point, and he was shocked to hear that my vision seemed completely normal (at least for me). He proceeded to check my eyes to make sure the constricting drops were working and sure enough, they were. After a round of numbing drops, we made small chat until the doctor arrived. Once my head was securely in place on the machine, the nurse placed his hand on the back of my head so I couldn’t jump back. The doctor then placed and held a very strange lens on my eye that resembled a mini telescope, designed to focus the laser beam on the correct spots. Then the zapping began.
I’m not going to lie. It was definitely uncomfortable, and I could feel each of the zaps. Many people compare the sensation to a rubber band flicking your eye, but I didn’t think it felt like that. There were big zaps and little zaps, and it truly felt like being zapped in the eye. There really is no other way to describe it. My left eye was first and seemed to take quite a few more zaps than the right. It was tolerable, but it got increasingly uncomfortable to the point of feeling almost intolerable. When that eye was done, the doctor gave me a tissue and told me to put pressure on the eye for half a minute. I wondered if I had some bleeding, which I read was a possibility. Before I could wonder very long, we were on to the next eye and only minutes later, the procedure was done.
My vision was a complete blur. The nurse irrigated my eyes to remove some gel from the lens the doctor had used, and my vision cleared. After a few more eye drops, I was sent back to the waiting room. I would need to sit there for an hour to make sure my eye pressure didn’t rise. My eyes began to feel gritty, as if I had sand in them, but were not painful. It wasn’t long before I noticed the appearance of a horizontal white line across the bottom of my left eye. I had read about this potential side effect online, and there were many complaints about how it permanently impacted patients’ vision. The line I was seeing was very thin, like a hair, and it appeared to move up and down with my eyelid - quite annoying but not a huge deal. After my pressure check, I was given the all clear and my in-laws kindly chauffeured me back home.
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 signed numerous papers stating that I understood the risks of the procedure, as well as the side effects. In other words, if anything went wrong, I couldn’t blame the doctor. Once that was completed, a nurse gave me advil to ward off a headache, as well as some anti-nausea medication. I was happy to take both.
After waiting for the oral medications to kick in, the cocktail of eye drops began. The headache inducing drops were first in order to constrict my pupils for the procedure. I was incredibly fortunate because the advil and zofran really worked and other than being nervous, the headache and nausea never hit. The nurse also asked me if I had a history of fainting since some people pass out during the procedure. Was that supposed to reassure me?
My nerves kicked into high gear once I took a seat in the chair. I knew from all of my research that the equipment looked much like it did for a regular eye exam, with the chin and forehead straps to rest your head in, but the major difference was the attached laser. The nurse mentioned that I probably couldn’t see anything at that point, and he was shocked to hear that my vision seemed completely normal (at least for me). He proceeded to check my eyes to make sure the constricting drops were working and sure enough, they were. After a round of numbing drops, we made small chat until the doctor arrived. Once my head was securely in place on the machine, the nurse placed his hand on the back of my head so I couldn’t jump back. The doctor then placed and held a very strange lens on my eye that resembled a mini telescope, designed to focus the laser beam on the correct spots. Then the zapping began.
I’m not going to lie. It was definitely uncomfortable, and I could feel each of the zaps. Many people compare the sensation to a rubber band flicking your eye, but I didn’t think it felt like that. There were big zaps and little zaps, and it truly felt like being zapped in the eye. There really is no other way to describe it. My left eye was first and seemed to take quite a few more zaps than the right. It was tolerable, but it got increasingly uncomfortable to the point of feeling almost intolerable. When that eye was done, the doctor gave me a tissue and told me to put pressure on the eye for half a minute. I wondered if I had some bleeding, which I read was a possibility. Before I could wonder very long, we were on to the next eye and only minutes later, the procedure was done.
My vision was a complete blur. The nurse irrigated my eyes to remove some gel from the lens the doctor had used, and my vision cleared. After a few more eye drops, I was sent back to the waiting room. I would need to sit there for an hour to make sure my eye pressure didn’t rise. My eyes began to feel gritty, as if I had sand in them, but were not painful. It wasn’t long before I noticed the appearance of a horizontal white line across the bottom of my left eye. I had read about this potential side effect online, and there were many complaints about how it permanently impacted patients’ vision. The line I was seeing was very thin, like a hair, and it appeared to move up and down with my eyelid - quite annoying but not a huge deal. After my pressure check, I was given the all clear and my in-laws kindly chauffeured me back home.
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