My Lasik eye surgery experience

I had my Lasik eye surgery on Friday, November 9th and let me tell you, that was the best decision I've ever made! :) Let's start at the beginning, when I started wearing glasses. (make yourself a cup of tea, it's a long post *sorry*).

I started wearing my glasses when I was 8 years old and decided to start wearing contact lenses when I was around 14 or 15. I wore mostly glasses at home and contacts when I was outdoors. So, I've been short sighted for 15 years, last four or five years my dioptre was -7.00. I've been thinking about getting Lasik surgery for the longest, but I've heard that you have to be at least 21 years old. So, I'm 23 now, and putting lenses in my eyes became such a chore for me. And I swear my vision was worse with my glasses. Picture "shrinks", it was impossible for me to drive a car with glasses, or workout and even just walking was a pain in the arse (glasses move on your nose as you move and the picture moves as well, it is not steady, I don't know how to explain it to you the other way:)). Wearing lenses all the time is not recommended as you may know, you get dry eyes, or lenses start to bother you, you have to be careful when you swim not to get any water in your eyes, you can get defects on your eyes because of wearing lenses etc. ... I think that wearing both can be a pain in the ass especially if you travel a lot or even if you are a really busy person in general.

No more glasses!!

With that said, this year I got an opportunity to have a Lasik surgery completely for free at Clinic Svjetlost in Zagreb, Croatia (that is like one hour away with car from my home town). You just had to fill in the questionnaire (name, address, phone, why do you want to have a surgery etc.) and then they would pick one person who would get completely free operation, with consultations, everything covered basically. I wasn't that lucky person, but after some time I received a call that I can have 50% off Lasik surgery. I got a date for in depth consultation/exam, which everyone has before surgery. 

I had my first consultation in August, it was around 2 hours long, they check the shape and thickness of your cornea, pupil size, refractive errors, as well as any other eye conditions. It didn't end up well for me, since they discovered that my sight got worse and that I can't have Lasik if that's the case. But my exam was in late afternoon hours, it was really hot around that time, I spent a lot of the time on my computer and that's probably what caused worse sight. I got a date for another exam/consultation in morning hours, in the beginning of October. This one was a little bit shorter, and they discovered my sight is stable and I'm suitable for Lasik, under one condition: I had to wear glasses until my surgery and have another short consult with doctor day before surgery, to see if everything is ok. I had some defects on my cornea, because of wearing lenses a lot and I had to give my eyes a break and put tear drops in my eyes every day to help heal what was damaged.

So, I got a date for a surgery, November 9th (they do surgeries only on Fridays), and one day before I had an exam. Let's start with the exam day, as the day 1 :).

I was extremely nervous, I knew that I'm not going to be happy if they say I'm not suitable for surgery, but I calmed myself down, meditated a little and switched my negative thoughts with positive. Exam went well, everything was great, the doctor suggested two surgeries to chose from: Lasik or PRK. You can google both and see the difference, but I decided for Lasik, since recovering time is shorter and I know that I heal up pretty slowely. She told me the do-s and don't-s after surgery, how the surgery looks like and you can ask whatever you want to know. When I came home, I had to shut down my computer, not watch any TV, get at least 8 hour of sleep, eat and drink normally to prepare myself for surgery.

So, day 2, the surgery day, I had a good night sleep, I was pretty much calm in the morning, listened to some meditation music etc. We had a reservation to sleep in apartment in Zagreb, not so far away from the clinic to stay through night because you have an exam day after surgery. My mum went with me, of course, you need someone to drive you after surgery, the same goes for every exam/consultation. I packed only essentials, we took some food for dinner and breakfast, I dressed in sweatpants and comfortable sweater and we hit the road.

When we came to our hostel, the woman in charge said that she emailed me that they had some issues with bathroom and the reservation was canceled (I didn't check my emails Thursday evening, I had to shut down my computer as doctor said). I was pretty much calm down up to this moment, but then I felt like my heart is going to jump out of my chest. I had only 45 minutes until surgery!! I took 2 Persen medicine pastilles to calm me down (they are herb based medicine) and they worked pretty fast. The woman made some phone calls to other hostels and finally got one that was free. But I had only half an hour until surgery, so me and mum decided to go first to the clinic, leave our car there after surgery and go to a hostel with taxi.

We came to the clinic, we sit down in waiting room and there was a guy across the table wearing sunglasses. He was a Slovenian and he just had a surgery. He said, that you don't feel any pain, and everything happens so fast and his sister had a surgery few months ago and she's happy about it (it sounded like the are doing it for hobby :P). I don't know about you guys, but I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, and that Slovenian dude was sent to me to calm me down. I was completely relaxed after that short conversation.
Then I got some paper work where was written that surgery is not a guarantee that you won't need to wear glasses/lenses in future (reading glasses as you get older), that there are possibilities that it fails (0,5% surgeries are unsuccessful), what you have to do after surgery, all 4 types of surgeries described etc. and I had to sign each page that I agree with the "terms and conditions" :).

Then I had to wait quite some time (there was a lot of people there) until they called my name for a final exam before surgery. After that doctor briefly described the surgery again and asked me if I have any other questions. Back to waiting room, they prepared me for a surgery, I got anesthetic drops and iodine in my eyes, I had to wait about 15 minutes and then they called my name again. I gave my glasses to my mother (bye bye!) and went to a surgery room. I think there were 3 doctors/surgeons (I was excited and nervous at the same time, I didn't have time to look around :P). I had to lay down under the laser machine thing/whatever, they asked me how am I, where am I from, probably they do that with every patient to calm you down. When the surgery begins, I just had to listen to surgeons instructions. "The procedure involves creating a thin flap on the eye, folding it to enable remodeling of the tissue beneath with a laser and repositioning the flap." (source; didn't know how to say that in English, had to google it :)). And you can watch Youtube videos, how everything looks like :).
I swear it took like 5 minutes with no pain at all!! You just feel the pressure for 10 seconds for each eye and that is the only uncomfortable feeling you have during surgery.

(source)

After that super fast 5 minutes, doctor helped to lift me up and then I realized that I can see! But everything was blurry, the doctor described that as you are watching under water. Then she helped me to go to that room where I had my last exam before surgery and you should be able to read at least some letter on the screen. And I was able to read I think four first "pages" (with every page letters are smaller) and then I started to cry (out of happiness of course :)). She congratulated me as I was one of the calmest patients and I had to stay in that room. The nurse came in, called my mother in to the room too, gave us all post operation "rules". She gave me two pills to prevent any possible pain I might get later. I also got two types of eye drops - antibiotics and tear drops + the same two pills if pain is unbearable at night. Then I put my sunglasses to protect my eyes on and we paid for the surgery.

Like I said before, we took a taxi to go to our hostel. When we arrived, I realized that having a good, but blurry sight and wearing sunglasses at night is bloody annoying. I felt like I was drunk, that phase when you start seeing double pictures or even triple (talking like an expert, ey?). So, when we came to our room I just wanted to lay down, cover myself and keep my eyes closed. I didn't have any pain, I just felt weird tingling and I couldn't stop laughing, like they drugged me or something :). Then I felt like my eyes are really heavy, like you had a really busy day and you just want to sleep. I had to put antibiotics two times and tear drops few times that day. I wanted to take a look at my eyes, so I slowly put down my glasses in the bathroom (I suggest you don't do that) and they were so red!! and the light was killing me. All those liquids were dried around my eyes, so unappealing. I slept with my sunglasses on, because I was afraid that I would touch my eyes - whatever you do, don't touch your eyes!! or wash them with water. No anything around your eyes, it's forbidden! I didn't have to take those two pills again, I had no pain what-so-ever, but everyone is different.

Next morning, day 3, I had my top and bottom eyelashes glued together, I freaked out a little, I though it was something wrong. But my lashes were glued because of all the liquids that were put in my eyes and they dried up on my lashes, so I dropped some fake tears and slowly separated them. And the picture was almost clear, I would say 90 % better than the day before. My mum kept asking me: can you see? (she actually still does ^^). We went to the clinic, I had to read these letters on the screen again, had no problem reading them, this time I didn't cry (good girl! :D) and the doctor put out lenses which were put into my eyes as a protection after surgery. It took less than 5 minutes, I ordered myself for another exam on Wednesday and we hit the road home.

I kept my sunglasses on (they are your best friends after surgery!) and definitely no air conditioning in the car or any blowing in your face or anything like that, it dries your eyes like crazy! We came home, all I wanted to do is sleep. So, I played some CDs and spent most of the day in my bed. I slept like a baby first three days, I had nothing to do and I was bored, so I slept :P. On Sunday morning, day 4, I went with my family to president elections and grocery shopping after that (with my sunglasses, of course :)). OMG! Picture was soooo clear! I cried out of happiness when I came home, the same thing happened to me on Monday. I was just speechless and that I was able to see without my glasses or lenses was a miracle to me! :)

I kept myself entertained with listening to the music and with tweeting from my phone every now and then how I'm doing. I avoided screens in general for the first week, they just cause you super dry eyes and you don't want that. I went for a walk and for a drink on Monday already (day 5), in the evening I checked my emails on computer, but my eyes got dry pretty fast, so I had to shut it down.
First time I washed my eyes with water and got rid of nasty build ups around my eyes was on Tuesday (day 6). You can get infection from water, so I was just washing my face, avoiding eye area. Still have to be careful not to get any shampoo or anything in my eyes (I can write another blog on do-s and don't-s before and after surgery, if you'd like).

The only problem I had after surgery was that I woke up during the night with painful eyelids because my eyes were so dry and I hardly opened them, but that was just for three nights (Monday - Wednesday), I dropped some tear drops in my eyes to hydrate them. I also read that drinking loads of water help, so I started drinking more water and I think it helped.

On Wednesday (day 7) I went to see the doctor again and everything is great, my sight is 100% and I'm the happiest :)). He gave me another cream to put in my eyes before sleep. Tomorrow (23rd November) will be two weeks after surgery and I still have some broken capillaries in my left eye from surgery, but I heal pretty slowly in general. I still have a bruise on my leg after one month (no joke).
I think my sight was 100 % on Sunday already, I just wasn't used to it, because it was so clear. I think that I saw "normally" on Tuesday (got used to it). If it makes any sense :P

Tear drops I have to put in my eyes 8 - 10 times a day, antibiotics 4 times a day and cream I have to put in my eyes before bed time. Only 2 more days of antibiotics and that cream stuff :P.

I desperately miss wearing eye makeup and doing workouts, but it's so worth it!! I am so thankful to see without glasses or lenses. I couldn't be happier, so, if you want to have Lasik surgery, do it! But no one warned me that it's going to be so emotional after surgery. You have been warned :).

Hope this post isn't too long, I just wanted to share my whole experience with you, because I know some of you want to have Lasik surgery and I hope I encouraged you or you got little bit more information about it. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section or e-mail me.

• Clinic Svjetlost official page: click (you can change language to English)
• (za slovenske bralce) Če si iz Slovenije in želiš k njim na pregled/operacijo, lahko vse datume rezerviraš preko Okulist ceneje: klik