I had LASIK surgery and this is what it was like
I had LASIK surgery on Tuesday, and since posting a post-op picture on Instagram I’ve had some friends ask about my experiences before, during, and after the procedure. Because answering everyone individually would be way too heartfelt and personable, I thought I’d write a general summary of what I learned and what I went through. Maybe this’ll help some of you decide if you want to get it for yourself. This also turned out longer than I was expecting, but the TL;DR is I’m very happy with the results, and I recommend anyone thinking about it at least start the process and get a consultation.
First, disclaimers:
- I am not a doctor. I am not even close to a doctor. Nothing in here remotely resembles medical advice. This is just what I learned and how I felt. If you’re deciding to have serious elective surgery based on something you read on the internet, let me know how that vestigial tail graft goes.
- Everyone has a different experience with LASIK. Some people aren’t eligible. Some people will experience improved vision but not get back to perfect. Some (very, very few) people have serious complications. Your experience with LASIK could be totally different than the one I had.
QUESTIONS I HAVE BEEN ASKED:
What made you want to get LASIK?
I had to get glasses when I was nine years old, and since day one I’ve firmly believed that wearing glasses sucks. They get smudged, they get scratched, they fog up, you break ’em, they fall off, you lose ’em, people call you a dweeb — it’s just a total drag. When I was 13 I switched to contacts, which were less of a drag, but still definitely a bummer. They fall out, you have to remember to change ’em, you can’t open your eyes underwater, you fall asleep in ’em and wake up feeling like someone stabbed you in the eye with a salty toothpick — just no fun. LASIK represented a way to not have to deal with any of that anymore.
What was your prescription before LASIK?
I was -4.0 in each eye, which in the classic “20/20” way of measuring things means I was 20/300. I also had a medium-severe astigmatism in each eye. I know people like to one-up each other on how bad their eyesight is, so if yours is worse than that then congratulations, but I’m secure saying I had pretty bad eyesight.
What made you decide to get LASIK right now?
The biggest factor was that my eye prescription finally stabilized. Most nearsighted people experience changes in their prescription through their mid-to-late 20s, and LASIK surgeons don’t want to perform the surgery before those changes stop, because if a patient’s eyes are corrected back to 20/20 and then continue to change, the patient will just need glasses again. I’m 28, prescription hasn’t changed for a few years, and since I was running low on this year’s supply of contacts it seemed like a good time to pull the trigger.
The other factor was that a few of my friends have had successful experiences with LASIK in the last year, and hearing their perspectives made me feel better about doing it myself. Shouts to Teresa and Sarah Jean.
Were you worried about complications?
Not really. The way it was explained to me is that around 98% of people who get LASIK get perfect or near-perfect vision. My astigmatism reduced those odds to more like 96%. Even if I didn’t get perfect vision afterward, there almost definitely would’ve been some improvement. And, like any surgery, there’s always a remote possibility of complication. Obviously 96% isn’t as good as 100%, but I still felt great about those odds. Everything in life is a gamble, and as my dude Aaron Homoki says, sometimes you gotta risk it for the biscuit.
What happened before the actual operation?
I had my procedure done at TLC Laser Eye Center in Manhattan, which is where my friend Sarah Jean had it done last year. The first step was requesting a consultation appointment online, and scheduling one with the representative who responded a few days later. The consultation, which was free, involved an optician measuring my corneal thickness, confirming my prescription, taking some images of different parts of my eyes, and giving me a rundown of what was involved with a LASIK procedure. This was where it was determined I was a candidate for LASIK (some people’s corneas are too thin to be reshaped in the procedure and therefore are not eligible, and others have circumstances that mean a similar surgery with a longer recovery time called PRK is recommended). Another big part of the appointment was the optician emphasizing that there was no guarantee LASIK would give me perfect vision, and making sure I understood the risks. At the end of the consultation we scheduled another pre-op appointment to take more measurements, and a date when the actual procedure would take place. Everything in the procedure would be totally familiar to anyone who has been to eye appointments regularly for glasses or contacts.
Then came the hardest part of the whole process, which was being out of contacts and wearing glasses for the two weeks leading up to the operation. You can’t wear contacts before you get LASIK because contacts act like Spanx for your eyes (another shout to Sarah Jean for that simile), compressing them and shaping them over time. Since that shaping can affect the LASIK procedure, it’s important that your eyes are their normal shape during the surgery, and that two week period of wearing glasses allows them to recover their normal shape. For the last 15 or so years I had worn my glasses only right before going to sleep and right after waking up, so wearing them full-time again was a big adjustment. Having worn them for two weeks straight, I can confidently report that wearing glasses still sucks.
How much does LASIK cost?
I’m not going to bullshit you, LASIK is expensive. It’s probably (hopefully) the most expensive thing I’ll buy this year. All told, mine came to around $6K. On top of that, most insurance companies don’t cover LASIK, so you should expect that cost to be 100% out-of-pocket. (Apparently some union-sponsored insurance plans at least partially cover it, but I’m not part of a union so I don’t know anything about that.)
But! There are ways to make that price hurt less. My first and biggest piece of advice would be that if you’re planning on getting LASIK in the next year, and your employer offers an FSA as part of their health plan, max that shit out. While your insurance company won’t cover the procedure, the purchase qualifies for FSA dollars, which means you can spend pre-tax money on it. My FSA dollars covered about half the cost of the procedure.
On top of that, there are a few other ways to knock some dollars off the final cost. Many places offer a referral discount (so if you’re also thinking about TLC maybe tell ’em Duncan sent ya). Since I told them that Sarah Jean referred me, they took $400 off the price. I’ve also heard that some places offer a discount if you have vision insurance (not that the insurance will pay for any of it, they just offer a discount if you have it at all). TLC doesn’t do that, but if you’re going somewhere else it can’t hurt to ask.
What happened the day of the procedure?
My appointment was scheduled for noon, and I was told to expect to be there between two and three hours. My general experience with medical procedures is being told to not eat anything beforehand, but in contrast to that I was told to make sure I ate a big breakfast (you got it, guys). The first step once I was there was signing several pages of releases and paying for the procedure (Protip: Call your credit card company ahead of time and let them know you’re going to be having LASIK to make sure the charge won’t be flagged and declined. Even though I did call beforehand, the charge was still declined and I had to call Visa and spend ten minutes working it out while a surgical tech looked on pretending to not be annoyed). Once that was taken care of, I met with the surgeon doing the procedure for a final check of my eyes, took 10 mg of valium, and was told to wait in the waiting room for a half hour while it kicked in.
The procedure itself took maybe 20 minutes total. I put booties over my shoes and a surgical cap over my hair. A technician helped my onto a surgical table, put numbing drops in my eyes, put a blanket over me (was pretty cozy tbh) and sterilized my eyelids with iodine.
From here, I’m just going to write what my objective experience in the operating room was. If you’re curious about what actually happens during a LASIK procedure, I’d recommend reading the wikipedia article. If you’re squeamish and considering LASIK, maybe wait until the procedure is over to read the specific details, since it can sound kinda gnarly.
WHAT I EXPERIENCED
Starting with my left eye, they put a brace around my eyelids to prevent me from blinking, and continually put in drops to keep it from drying out. They pressed a clear cylinder over my eye for about 20 seconds and had me look directly at a bright light above me (the pressure from the cylinder was the only uncomfortable part of the procedure, and even then it was only mildly uncomfortable). The surgeon then wiped my eye several times with a tool, my vision blurred and dimmed, and the surgeon had me look at a second light for about 20 seconds. I smelled an odd smell, the light turned off, the surgeon wiped my eye several more times, and taped that eye closed to repeat the process with my right eye. Everything happened close enough to my face that I didn’t have a great idea of what was going on, and I was pretty relaxed the entire time (some of that is definitely thanks to the valium). When both eyes were done, they had me sit up almost immediately, made sure I could see, and had me walk to a recovery area where I laid back for about 15 minutes with my eyes closed. From there they got me in an optometrist chair to look in my eyes, gave a final OK, and sent me home in an Uber. All told I was there just over three hours.
What’s the recovery like?
The rest of the day following the procedure is kind of a drag. You’re supposed to go home, keep your eyes closed as much as possible, put several different kinds of drops in your eyes every hour, and keep a dorky-looking eye shield on at all times you’re not putting in eye drops. I got home around 4 PM, and spent the rest of the day listening to stand-up comedy and having my girlfriend describe what was going on in King of the Hill episodes to me (Sarah, I still can’t believe you did that, you’re the best). You go to sleep with the eyeshield on, and the next morning go to the LASIK center for a follow-up appointment to make sure everything has started to heal correctly. The putting-in-eye-drops and sleeping-with-the-eyeshield routines continue for about a week, you’re not supposed to do any exercise in that time, and you’re supposed to wear sunglasses whenever you’re outside, but other than those details life basically returns to normal. I was at work less than 24 hours after the procedure.
In terms of how my eyes feel, the best word I have for you is “tender”. They sting a little, but the drops help with that quite a bit. Most people who have LASIK have some degree of dry eyes in their first month, but I’m told that should diminish as time goes by. I’m also seeing some halos around bright lights in the dark (think car headlights at night), but those are also expected, and are supposed to diminish as I get further out from the procedure.
What’s your vision now?
Results from the morning-after follow-up indicate I have 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other, with no discernible astigmatism in either. Those could change as things continue to heal, but I’m pretty happy with the results for now (that’s an understatement, I’m hype as fuck about it).
So that’s it? No more glasses forever?
No more glasses for a while. I’ll likely still need reading glasses once I hit my 40s, but it’s possible this could resolve my nearsightedness for the rest of my life.
Would you do it again?
In a heartbeat.
