Today marks the one week milestone in my quest for glasses-free vision. To say that my eyes have been the focus of my life the past seven days would be an understatement, and a bad pun.
Focus The literature about LASIK surgery indicates that post-operative vision could fluctuate daily for three to six months. I’m here to attest to the daily changes in my ability to focus clearly. My near eye still only sees about eight or nine inches out from my face. Once or twice, when staring in an “unfocused” manner I was able to see clearly with that eye well past the eight inch barrier. So far I haven’t been able to sustain that range for any length of time.
The far eye seems to be adapting faster than the near one. Which only makes sense as it only had the astigmatism removed and a slight farsightedness taken away. Objects less then three feet away (and more than a foot) are blurry but manageable. I do have clarity at distances, except at night when there are halos around everything. Driving after dark is a surreal experience and not one I enjoy right now. I’ve been using the amount of haloing as a measure of the healing process of the incisions. Hopefully the halos will go away, meaning the incisions have fully healed.
Patience My fears that my vision will be like this permanently have made it extremely hard to be patient. I have to go reread the post-op documentation on the LASIK site every so often to assure myself that my vision isn’t ruined forever, but rather that I am only at the beginning of a six month process. One week down, twenty-three to go.
Drops and Shields Today I get to stop wearing the eye shields at night. While the tape-to-your-face ones are surprisingly comfortable, I’ll be glad to get rid of the gummy residue from my cheeks and forehead once and for all. As for the medicated drops (a steroid for swelling and an antibiotic for germs) I was supposed to use them four times a day for seven days. Two calls to the LASIC center yesterday did not generate a return call, so I don’t know yet if I should (can) continue until the bottles are empty; or if I should stop today.
Overall I am still pleased that I took this step, but I am anxious for the near vision to develop fully. Not being able to see a computer screen without hunching forward and peering at it myopically is not what I had in mind for the future. Hopefully the next week will see improvement in my arms-length focal range.