mike reed photo

I’ll apologize now for the really long post, feel free to skip onto the wedding, bridal or engagement posts, I won’t be offended!

So the Wednesday before last I took the plunge and after many years of thinking about I took the plunge to get LASIK.  OK I’m not being truthful, after many years of talking about it Elyse looked up and said “You’ve been talking about LASIK for years just do it already!!!”.  Wow, not the response I expected, although longtime readers (both of you) will note that Elyse has a history of giving me surprising responses.

A few years ago I went to go visit Dr. Shawn Wong (www.texas2020.com) to check out my candidacy for the LASIK procedure and low and behold I was a really good candidate, something about thick corneas or something.  Before I went to Dr. Wong I did my research (after all these are my eyes!!!);  besides the fact that I’m a photographer, I did not want to cheap out on something as important as my eyesight.  I checked a bunch of LASIK surgeons in town and Austin has a bunch well-qualified, very decorated surgeons.  Dr. Wong wasn’t the cheapest guy in town, I think just default I’d need to rule out the cheapest eye laser vendor, right?  But he wasn’t the most expensive, he was right about mid-range but what really won me over was three things:

• His personality:   He’s easy to talk to, very down to earth and was happy to answer everyone of my 1,001 questions I had.
• His support staff:  They are all rockstars, they made me feel so at ease and I can’t underscore that enough because let’s be real I was about to get my eyes cut open, lasered and then sealed back up.  I was a little nervous and they were tremendous.
• Lots of experience:  I didn’t get the exact date but Dr. Wong has been doing LASIK since the mid to late 90’s.  Point is he’s seen a lot of different cases over the last 12 plus years.  The clincher however was that he’s the one with you the whole time not a “team” of doctors.  Some of the best name clinics in town with high profile doctors work in teams, yes that doctor has a lot of experience but he or she won’t be with you every step of the way.  One doctor would do your consultation while another would do the actual procedure and not necessarily the high-profile doctor who’s name is on the clinic door and yet others will your follow up visits.  Don’t get me wrong I’m sure they are great surgeons BUT I was going to get a newer surgeon or one that had more than a decade or more of experience the day of my surgery?

The Big Day:

My appointment was set for 9:15am, I arrived and it was FREEZING in the entire building.  Apparently for surgery day they crank the air, I’m guessing it was in the low 60’s because everyone was wearing a jacket so come dressed warm!  I pay, sign something and then I get the happy pill.  They gave me a Valium (everyone gets one for nerves).  They want you relaxed but lucid do to the fact you have to focus on this little red dot during the procedure and stay very still while doing it for best results.  I’ve lived a life with glasses and contact and was non-functional without so “best results” was the goal and no pun intended, but I was going to be laser-focused on that little red dot.

Now I’ve taken my pill and then I’m lead to an exam room with Elyse in tow.  There Lori (Lori I hope I’m spelling your name right!), went over everything I could expect during my 17 minutes under the laser (oh and Dr. Wong did Lori’s eyes back 1998!)  After awhile a masked nurse (assuming she was a nurse) whom I’d never met before walked me back to laser room.  She was soooo nice or maybe it was the drugs or both I don’t know but her presence was critical, she keep me calm and was reassuring the entire time.  Dr. Wong was great too but he wasn’t holding my hand!  Next I slide into the chair, they do a quick “this is what burning ozone smells like” test, (the laser actually burns off a little ozone and creates a plastic smell).  After that my left eye is clamped open and they make “the flap”, ( I won’t go into detail, one because I can’t believe I sat through it and two it’s easy enough to Google.)  *** Very important *** the entire process was pain free from start to now (a week and half later), there was a little bit of stinging eye drops and a little bit of pressure on the eye but that was it.  OK so flap on the left eye then they remove the anti-blink clamp from the left eye move it to the right eye and make the flap over there.  Next comes the laser and time for me to focus on the red dot that by the way changes color to green at times.  At one point, and I was prepped for these in the exam room 15 minutes earlier, then right before the laser that do something (maybe it was during the making of the flap) that makes my vision go completely gray to black for a few seconds.  Now comes the blinking red light with the sound and smell of the laser, it didn’t last long, actual laser time was short.  The flap is replaced on my right eye and then they move back to the left eye and laser it, replace the flap and done.

THAT EASY.

I went home took a nap and relaxed the rest of the day enjoying my blurry, but contact free vision.  My vision was good enough that day to watch TV or surf the net (or in my case edit pictures if I wanted to).

Follow up Appointment:

The next day I drive myself along with Emma Grace and Caleb (my four year old twins) for my follow up appointment.  Drum roll…. Perfect 20/20 vision!!!  Are you kidding me?????  I’m told my vision can get even better in time after the swelling goes down.

Regrets:

My only regret is not doing it years ago, it was easy, pain free and I have perfect vision.

Things they don’t tell you till you get there:

• Halos, you’ll get little rings of light around car lights at night.  At first they were pretty bright (three days after the surgery) but have been greatly reduced since and as of last night either I’ve adjusted to them or it’s gotten even better but they are barely noticeable now.
• Eye Drops.  Holy cow, the day of I was putting eye drops in every five minutes for the first 30 minutes then once every hour the rest of the day.  The following three days I got drops every hours PLUS two more sets of medicated drops four times a day.  Yes at some points in the first four days you will be rolling with three sets of drops at a time.  Small price to pay.  A week and half later I down to one set drops every two hours or so and in about two to three months I’ll be completely drop free.

To sum it up if you’re thinking about LASIK do it if you can, I couldn’t be happy with my results after years of contacts and glasses.  Lastly  Dr. Wong isn’t giving me any kind of kick back for recommending him (and I highly recommend him), I am just so thankful I found him and his team!