20/20 in 2020: My LASIK Experience

Originally posted on February 1st, 2020.

MY LASIK EXPERIENCE

I wrote this article for people who are seriously considering LASIK, which I highly recommend, and want to know exactly what to expect. As a result, this is a detailed account of my experience, including my rationale for going through with it. Jump to “Procedure Itself” if you want to read about the actual surgery.

My LASIK procedure was a lot easier than I ever could have expected, and it wasn’t terrifying all. I got mine done in January 2020, at the NVISION Eye Center in Torrance (Los Angeles), CA. Amanda — whom I met during my free consultation — is the reason why I chose to go with NVISION, and Dr. Lusby did an awesome job with the procedure. The hopes of this article is to alleviate any concerns or fears of friends and family who are considering it. *Casts spell: “Dispel Fear of the Unknown”*

Disclaimer: Individual results may vary. The information herein is not professional medical advice, and merely a recount of my own personal experiences, which happen to be very positive. It is also not meant to be prescriptive nor comprehensive — for example, I don’t mention how you shouldn’t squeeze your eyes the day of your surgery since it might dislodge the flap, etc. — so be sure to read and follow all instructions provided by your medical professional + medicine bottles.

WHY I WANTED LASIK: PAIN POINTS

• When I travel, I usually stay at hostels or Airbnbs due to cost. This means there might not be enough countertop space for my toiletries, and it’s usually a hassle ensuring a sanitary environment for putting in and removing my monthly contacts.
• Having to bring glasses, prescription sunnies, contacts, contact case + solution, and a backup pair of contacts…takes up a lot of space. Some of you know I love shopping, and as a result own TOO MANY THINGS!!
• When I go backpacking or camping, I usually don’t have a reliable place to wash my hands. This means I have to bring both my glasses and swap between the two: if it’s shaded, it’s too dark to see with my prescription sunnies, and without my regular glasses, I can’t appreciate the views.
• I prefer wearing glasses over contacts since glasses don’t make my eyes as dry. But when I go skiing, I wear contacts so I can wear snow goggles…except, at higher altitudes, and with indoor heating, the air is dryer.
• My glasses have smears and are always falling down, because my face is oily and I have an Asian nose bridge.

Every time I got nervous about my upcoming LASIK procedure, I would reattribute my nervousness to excitement; I would mentally go over and envision the future state for each of my paint points above, to reaffirm my excitement.

I had scheduled my procedure in December 2019, for January of 2020 — so around 1.5 months in advance, because I wanted to use my 2020 FSA toward it. Flexible Spending Account = non-taxable money that you can reimburse yourself with toward medical expenses.

During these 1.5 months until my surgery, every time someone asked if I was nervous, it triggered me to think of my future state. Eventually, that excitement (formerly nervousness) made me resolved — I couldn’t wait to not need glasses nor contacts!!

IMPETUS FOR LASIK

I have 2 close friends, and I knew a third person — a coworker — who had gotten LASIK done. All were around 20–25 when they got LASIK. Knowing it was possible for people my age to get LASIK, and hearing them answer all my questions about it, made it feel psychologically attainable for myself.

However, it wasn’t until the end of 2019, a year after talking to my third friend, when I finally decided to schedule my free LASIK consultation. The real reason why I was seriously considering it? I was on my last pair of contacts.

I was using the hydrogen peroxide cleaning solution for my soft hydrogel contacts so that I could wear each of my monthly contacts for 2 months, instead of 1 month. Ordering contacts in the USA requires an active prescription (<1 year ago)……..and having a SoCal based Kaiser Permanente membership but living in NorCal meant that I had to USE THE PHONE, and not the kp.org website, to schedule all my NorCal appointments. (My mom works for Kaiser, I’m still under 26/can be considered a dependent, and she lives in SoCal: hence, the SoCal based membership).

So it was literally easier for me to consider LASIK than it was to try to schedule an eye doctor appointment, after 2 years of not having one. By the way, you’re supposed to get your eyes checked once a year. Note to Kaiser Permanente: Please make it easier to schedule phone appointments. Also, every time I call, my MRN doesn’t get recognized, so I have to hear the error message thrice in order to be rerouted to a live operator.

Fortunately, I knew that my eyeglasses prescription between 2015 and 2017 hadn’t changed, at least in terms of SPH and CYL, and that even in 2019 my eyeglasses still worked fine. My Axis did change a little, which indicated that the extent of my astigmatism had changed.

I had received a coupon from the LASIK Vision Institute in May of 2019, so I scheduled a free consultation with them in December of 2019. To be honest, I didn’t have a good experience at their Oakland location. So I texted my high school friend and asked where she had gotten hers done, looked at the Yelp reviews for NVISION Torrance (fortunately very reassuring), and scheduled my free consultation for over winter break, when I would be back in Los Angeles with my parents.

CONSULTATION AT NVISION EYE CENTER, TORRANCE

Whew, no eye puffs at all. At NVISION Torrance, I was with Amanda the entire time for my free consultation. She measured my eyes, and since I was wearing eyeglasses, she also measured my eyeglasses. NVISION Torrance (aka Amanda) had way better bedside manners than LASIK Institute Center Oakland, which is why that, the Yelp reviews, and no pressure to make a commitment then and there made it such an easy decision to go with NVISION. Since I had developed a rapport with and had trust in Amanda, I chose to have my surgery scheduled at the Torrance location and not at the San Francisco center, even though I live in San Francisco.

I was eligible for LASIK because my cornea was thick enough for how much they needed to correct it by. My contacts prescription for my left eye is -2.75, my right eye -4.75, and both have astigmatism. When I asked what the correctable range was, it was surprisingly high to the point that when I got home, I googled how bad the eyesight of someone who’s legally blind is. I forget what the eligibility limits are but you’ll have to go to a consultation and see if your eye shape in general is eligible — don’t let an eyesight of -16 deter you from the free consultation part, at least.

PRE-OPERATION CHECKLIST

MEASURING THE EYES

After the free consultation to determine eligibility, and before the surgery itself, I needed to go in for a dilation and for my eyes to be measured again, so that those measurements could be used for the LASIK corrective surgery. I will henceforth refer to this appointment as my ‘dilation.’

Since contacts affect the shape of your eyes, and I have soft contacts, I couldn’t wear them starting 2 weeks prior to my dilation. If you wear rigid contacts, you might have to avoid wearing them for longer than 2 weeks. Reminder that this is not professional advice.

I scheduled my dilation for Thursday Jan 30, the day before my LASIK surgery on Friday Jan 31, 2020, so that my measurements could be as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

I did more measurements, similar to during the consultation; again, no eye puffs. My eyes continued to be dilated for around 6 hours before they went back to normal.

Leaving the dilation, when I put on my prescription sunglasses, I couldn’t read anything on my phone…EVERYTHING WAS BLURRY!!! At first I started freaking out, because I needed to drive to Cycle Gear before they closed, and I didn’t know how to get there. But don’t worry — at least for me, removing my prescription sunnies allowed me to better read the text and Google Maps on my phone just fine. I think it had something to do with how they said that dilating your eyes also relaxes some of your eye muscles.

Far-sighted viewing during the day was no issue with my prescription sunglasses while dilated. I had skiied without glasses the weekend before (so that I could wear my ski goggles), and realized as long as I knew where objects larger than a basketball were, and could read traffic and street signs, I could safely navigate.

CONTURA ELIGIBILITY

During my dilation, I also asked to test if I would be eligible for Contura. I wasn’t.

Contura is proprietary software that better/more precisely measures the contours of your cornea, and is optional. Because it’s proprietary, it’s an additional $600 to use it during the surgery. Since my eyesight was decently bad, and because I wanted to increase my chances of getting 20/15 instead of 20/20 vision, I went into my dilation hoping that I would be eligible.

Unfortunately, my eyes were too dry and I couldn’t open them wide enough (not sure if being Asian is related) to capture good enough images to use as data points, so I wasn’t eligible.

Fortunately, I saved myself $600. It turns out a decent number of patients at NVISION Torrance get 20/15 vision anyway, without Contura. Ultimately, I’m glad I didn’t spend the additional $600.

OTHER PREPARATIONS PRIOR TO SURGERY

Starting a week before the surgery, I needed to put preservative-free eye drops in each operating eye, around 4 times a day. Amanda gave me really good advice that I would not have figured out myself:

You can re-cap each eye drop capsule!!!!! No need to throw them away after one use. I got around 5–7 uses out of each.

It might take some effort forcing the lid back on the first time, but once the hole has been stretched out, or if you reuse a cap from a previous capsule, recapping it is no problemo.

Starting a week before the surgery, I also needed to consume 2000 mg of fish oil a day. I was taking 1 pill a day until I realized that each pill is only 1000 mg…so make sure to read the instructions for your pills and to double check your dosage.

Starting a day before the procedure, I needed to incorporate the anti-inflammatory and the antibiotic drops, also 4x a day. Since ensuring I did this was pretty important, I sent alarms for myself. For these alarms, I used the ‘Harp’ ringtone, which was gentler and different from my wake up ringtone, ‘Playtime.’

Because Kaiser Permanente is my healthcare provider and they’re weird about accepting prescriptions outside of the Kaiser Permanente network, I purchased my pre+post-op kit from NVISION. I did this the day of my free consultation (Dec 13, 2019), which was also the day I scheduled my LASIK surgery. The kit included all 3 drops and the fish oils, and it was $135. I received an itemized invoice for it so I could submit it to my FSA.

DAY OF LASIK PROCEDURE

Three main reasons why the procedure was so chill for me:

• I was more excited than I was nervous
• Having a list of things to look forward to, and scheduling so far in advance helped a bit with that
• I have no issues swallowing pills the size of a fish oil capsule
• Btw: NVISION Torrance gives you Xanax and Ibuprofen to ingest right before the procedure. Both were smaller than my fish oil capsules
• I have no issues with eye drops; I don’t flinch when self-administering eye drops without a mirror, nor when others put them in my eye

If any of the above is not true for you, I highly recommend PRACTICING MAKES PROGRESS so that day of the surgery, you have one fewer thing for your nerves to get jumbled about.

During my free consultation, I was able to watch Amanda’s own LASIK video and hear her narration, so I didn’t have to ask about what to expect leading up to the surgery. I also asked a lot of questions about the procedure (how the laser tracked my eye movement and how it would shut off if for some reason I looked away), had faith in NVISION (and also that they would have thought of edge cases such as power outages or earthquakes), and my friend plus her father had gotten LASIK at NVISION Torrance.

After checking into the reception at 9:30am, I…:

• Waited around half an hour
• Had my name called to go inside
• Paid the $4,600 for my procedure with credit card
• Set an alarm for 8:10am the next day, for my 1-day follow-up at 9:30am
• Watched a video of Dr [redacted] explaining what to expect
• Had anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drops administered to my eyes by someone else
• Swallowed 1 Xanax and 2 Ibuprofens
• Had numbing drops administered to my eyes by someone else
• Met Dr. [redacted] in-person, who answered some of my questions and described the procedure to me, which I will describe in a bit
• 10:45am, Got moved to a comfier waiting room, where they put a blue disposable medical cap on my head (my hair was already in a ponytail)
• Here I passed out for 30 minutes. I was super tired as a result of not being a morning person + the Xanax
• Got called into the operating room, where I lied down
• Was reminded of important instructions: Keep your eye on the green dot, and open both eyes when told to open; close both eyes when told to close
• Had cotton pads placed above my ears to prevent drops from getting into my ears
• By noon, I was back in the car! My mom drove me to and from the surgery

During my free consultation, Amanda had shown me a video of her procedure and described what was going on, so being able to match that with the things I was seeing above my eyeball in the operating room did a lot to placate my desire to understand what was going on. Feel free to ask for a narrated video of the process during your free consultation if they have one available.

They operate on your right eye first, then left. This was fortunate for me because I’m right eye dominant, and it’s easier for my right eye to focus on things. The other eye is covered with something so that you’re only seeing out of one eye at a time during the procedure.

During the entire time, the doctor also lubricates your eyes not with eye drops, but instead by touching it with a little tool that has eye drop solution on of it.

PROCEDURE ITSELF: CREATING THE FLAP

To start, they press a device on top of your operating eye that perforates your cornea with little air bubbles, using a laser. The perforation is to allow the doctor to lift the corneal flap out of the way. At this time, your operative eye sees black and some twinkly blue lights.

All you feel is pressure because your eyes have been numbed, and because the device creates a vacuum suction seal around your eye to prevent it from moving. You still try to look as straight as possible, which was difficult for me since I had no visual reference point for my eye to focus on.

Good news is that because of the suction, your eyeball is pretty much stuck to the device.

PROCEDURE ITSELF: RESHAPING THE CORNEAL TISSUE

I had to focus on the center of the green dot, which also tracks your eye movements. Sometimes it gets fuzzy and larger, other times it’s crisp and smaller. This is when the excimer laser resurfaces your corneal tissue.

If for some reason you were to look away, the machine would shut off and everything would have to be restarted.

There’s also a weird smell when your corneal tissue is being resurfaced. The second time it happened, i.e. with my left eye, it reminded me of crispy fried chicken. I really didn’t want to find the smell of my burning cornea appetizing, because…GROSS, so I forced myself to think of something else.

PROCEDURE ITSELF: EYES WIDE OPEN

Each eye only takes around 3–5 minutes. It was quicker than I thought, and I had no issues with not blinking — there are forceps that prevent your eyes from blinking, so all you have to do is relax. The Xanax, lying down, and looking at the green dot in the distance helped.

The only time I twitched was with my left eye, and I think it’s because I focused on what was right in front of my eyeball instead of looking into the distance, at the green light yonder. *insert Gatsby reference here.*

DAY OF: RIGHT AFTER THE SURGERY

They added eye shields to my face, and I got a photo with Dr. [redacted] which I’ll receive later. On top of the eye shields, they put on the curved sunglasses they had given me that day, and I also received 2 sleeping pills. I offered me another Xanax because I was able to walk in a straight line after the first one, and I took it. After my second Xanax, I needed my mom’s help to maintain my walking balance.

My eyes had generated mucus so when I opened my eyes, my eyelashes were stuck to my face, meaning I couldn’t open my eyes all the way, and I also couldn’t smile that much since I didn’t want my cheek movement to tear my eyelashes off. Until the next day, I didn’t realize the stuck eyelashes was a result of my own eye mucus, and not something they had administered for my own healing process.

They told me not to squeeze my eyes shut, to keep my eyes closed for at least 5 hours since my eyelids would act as bandaids, and to avoid reading or looking at things close up. I also couldn’t shower. But I was able to eat lunch and watch a bit of TV, and all of that day, I didn’t respond to anyone on my phone and only made video (as opposed to text) updates for my Close Friends on Instagram.

After my mom drove us home, I wolfed down my lunch, then fell asleep for 5–6 hours. Every now and then, my eyes felt like they were burning so my eyes would tear up, and the tears would make things a little better. Then I woke up to the smell of food, ate dinner (moreso out of boredom rather than hunger), and then took a sleeping pill to help me fall asleep.

1 DAY AFTER THE SURGERY

Since the clinic couldn’t be sure whether my vision would be fit for driving, my mom drove us to and from my 1-day follow-up on Saturday, Feb 1, 2020 at 9:30am. I recognized some of the patients there from the previous day. Only my left eye felt like it was burning every now and then, at which point it would tear up and things would feel better (an improvement from the night before, when both eyes were tearing up).

They took off my eye shields, wiped the mucus off my eyelashes and told me that it was my body that had generated it, and administered eye drops.

They checked my eyes: my eyesight will fluctuate for around 3–6 months, but at the time I was almost 20/20 in each eye, and almost 20/15 with both eyes. They told me I could now shower, and then sent me home, reminding me to wear sunglasses.

At this point my left eye had improved, so with the eye shields gone, I was able to preemptively add lubricating eye drops whenever I felt that my left eye was going to feel like it was burning.

For the next 7 days, I have to add eye drops 4 times a day (antibiotic, anti-inflammatory), the lubricating ones as needed (I’m noticing it’s around once every hour), and continue consuming the fish oil capsules until I’m done with the bottle. At my 1-week post-op they’ll determine whether I still need to take the antibiotic or anti-inflammatory drops.

During the 1-week, I’ll also be sure to remind them how my 1-month follow up is currently scheduled for in San Francisco, because almost everyone at NVISION Torrance has expressed concerns that the SF location is either already closed, or might possibly close lol.

1 WEEK AFTER THE SURGERY

Day 2: Eyes aren’t that dry! I’ve only had to lubricate once every 2 hours, as opposed to once an hour.

It’s still the day after the surgery, so I’ll update this as needed. But the scary part is over — knowing what to expect during the surgery itself!!

If you’re considering LASIK, I recommend writing down my name as a referrer since when I wrote down my friend’s name, I (as the new patient) got a discount for having been referred by her.

9 MONTHS AFTER THE SURGERY

I haven’t updated this in a while, but I am so so glad I got LASIK!! I thought the biggest benefits would be when I was traveling. But actually, the biggest benefits have been the daily convenience of not having to deal with glasses or contacts. I’ve really loved not having to remove my contacts when I’m tired at night, nor keep track of where I put my glasses. It’s been amazing not having to deal with slippery glasses that I have to wipe with a lens wipe every few hours because my face is so oily. I also don’t have to plan out when I wear contacts based on the activities I’ll be doing or how many photos I’ll be taking or how many times I’ll be changing my clothes.

In terms of dryness, my eyes stopped being dry after a few months. Now, the only time they’re dry is when I wake up (and I haven’t been blinking aka lubricating my eyes in a while), or when the air is really dry!

2 YEARS AFTER THE SURGERY

I don’t notice any dryness anymore! Not even right after waking up.