Laser Eye Surgery

Well, I finally had my assessment today - after five days of wearing my nerdy specs. I felt really nervous, like it was a job interview, but actually everyone I saw was really nice. The upshot of it all is that apparently I have thick corneas, and small pupils, so am actually quite a good candidate for something called Lasik. There are two main types of surgery on offer - Lasik or PRK (I think) but Lasik is the preferred method - for me anyway - as it has a quicker recovery time.

I was trying to work out this morning how long I've worn lenses for - I can remember when I first tried some, walking up and down Regents Street in London with my eyes streaming, so must have been when I was working in Great Portland Street, which dates it back to about 1988. They used to put lenses in your eyes, then send you out for a walk for half and hour and check you when you got back. I went straight for soft lenses, as they were easier to wear, and over the years I've experimented with some great coloured ones (bright green were my favourite, although I had some mauve ones too) and ended up with daily disposables (which I buy here from netoptical - http://www.netoptical.com.au). Putting my lenses in is the first thing I do when I wake up, and taking them out the last thing I do at night - that is, when I remember and don't fall asleep on the sofa with them still in! In fact, I haven't even owned a pair of glasses until about a fortnight ago, when I needed to get some for my five days without lenses, prior to the assessment. I hate wearing glasses, they hurt my nose and my ears, and I hate the fact that you have peripheral vision issues wearing them. It has been very tiring wearing them since Saturday, and took me a couple of days to get used to.

My prescription for years has been -6 in my left eye and -4 in my right, although at my last eye test it had gone to -6.5 in the left. According to the consultant, the fact that (a) they are different and (b) I'm used to being 'undercorrected' by that 0.5, means that they have the option to correct one eye for distance, and the other eye for reading, meaning I hopefully won't need reading glasses quite as soon as I would otherwise, so that's what I'm going to go for. Best case scenario is that four hours after the surgery, I might even feel good enough to drive! I'm preparing myself for slightly longer recovery, just in case!

Have booked in the surgery for 23rd July - cost will be $2,600 per eye, but apparently some of that is claimable back against tax. Am still absolutely perified, but it's a relief that I can have the Lasik, and if anything needs redoing within five years they do it for free. Similarly if Ican't get on with the different corrections, they'll redo it and make both eyes the same, likewise for free.

There's an interesting forum here, that I've been reading: http://www.lasermyeye.org/forums/index.php - I think obviously this is a forum specifically for people who've had problems, so it may be slightly weighted towards that rather than the "all went well, best thing I've ever done" brigade. But it's good to get both sides of the story, I think.