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  • It definitely hurts.

  • Hi, I'm Michelle,

  • and I've been wearing glasses for 16 years

  • and contacts for about nine.

  • I was always hesitant about getting LASIK

  • because it's expensive,

  • and the idea of lasers cutting up my cornea scares me.

  • But recently, my contacts have been getting

  • really uncomfortable, and I just got to a point

  • where I was mentally and financially prepared

  • to take this next step.

  • Ideally, doing this surgery would mean

  • I could see perfectly clearly without glasses or contacts

  • for the rest of my life.

  • And that would be so amazing

  • because I wouldn't have to deal with dry eyes

  • from wearing contacts all day,

  • spend money on contacts and solution every year

  • (which does add up), and the inconvenience when I travel.

  • But first, I needed to see if I even qualify

  • for laser eye surgery.

  • So, I went to my eye doctor for a free consultation,

  • and he told me that there were four things

  • that he looks for during the examination:

  • a stabilized prescription,

  • how much treatment is necessary,

  • the curve and thickness of my cornea,

  • and how moist the eye is.

  • The good news is I am eligible for eye surgery.

  • Instead of LASIK, the doctor recommends

  • that I do something called PRK.

  • Dr. Harry Koster: Some patients, instead of having a flap,

  • have the surgery directly on their cornea.

  • That's called PRK surgery.

  • Michelle: Because my eyes were on the drier side,

  • the doctor recommended that I do PRK instead of LASIK,

  • because with LASIK,

  • there's an increased chance for me

  • to get chronic dry eyes.

  • So I decided to go with PRK

  • even though it might take up to a month to get 20/20,

  • while with LASIK it takes only a few days.

  • The next pre-surgery step is dilation,

  • which allows the technician

  • to obtain a more precise measurement of my prescription.

  • Finally, surgery day!

  • I just took some Valium,

  • and we're waiting for that to kick in.

  • Sherri, my surgical counselor, was telling me

  • how it should feel like I drank three to four cups of wine,

  • but it's supposed to calm me down and stuff like that.

  • The first thing the technician did was sanitize my eyes.

  • Then Dr. Koster added a piece of tape

  • to keep my eye open.

  • After that, he applied some medication

  • on the surface of my eye to relax it

  • as well as some drops to moisturize it.

  • Dr. Koster said this was like a little spa for my eyes.

  • While he was doing this, I couldn't feel anything

  • or really see anything.

  • Just colors of the red and green light.

  • After eye prep, it was laser time!

  • I had to focus on the green light for 10 seconds.

  • I didn't see any movement of the laser

  • or feel it cut my cornea,

  • but I did smell a little bit of burning.

  • I tried not to think about what was happening

  • while it was happening so that I wouldn't freak out.

  • And before I knew it, the surgery was done!

  • Dr. Koster added some medication over my eye

  • to prevent it from healing more than it should,

  • and he put some medical contacts on my eye

  • to protect the cornea while it heals,

  • with a final touch of eye drops.

  • Once he finished with the left eye,

  • he repeated the same process for the right eye,

  • and that was it!

  • All of this took about 15 minutes.

  • It just happened so fast.

  • So now I have to do my part

  • in taking care of this and recovering.

  • So, I just got home.

  • I'm getting a little tired.

  • My left eye is definitely feeling a little bit of sting.

  • Currently gonna take some Tylenol as well for the pain.

  • But so far, like, not too much pain.

  • So, I ended up falling asleep before I took the Tylenol,

  • and that was a big mistake,

  • and I definitely suffered the consequences.

  • So, I just woke up from, I don't know, a short nap,

  • and my eyes are beginning to hurt a little bit.

  • It definitely hurts.

  • The pain, on a scale of one to 10,

  • 10 being really painful,

  • it was a solid 11.

  • It felt like someone shaved my eyes,

  • and I couldn't do anything about it.

  • Good morning.

  • It's currently 7 a.m.

  • Man, yesterday night, it was pretty unbearable.

  • I don't know if this is normal,

  • but I also felt, like, hot and cold at the same time.

  • But today it's a lot better.

  • I also had to stick to a very specific schedule

  • of various eye drops:

  • The antibiotic eye drops,

  • the anti-inflammatory eye drops,

  • and the preservative-free artificial tears.

  • My eyes are still very sensitive to light,

  • so they're kinda closed.

  • Even, like, as I'm talking right now, they're closed.

  • I ended up eating and sleeping some more.

  • I used Siri to text a friend

  • and continued to put on eye drops.

  • Today's Saturday.

  • Last night, I felt like my eyes were really dry,

  • so that's why it's good that today I get to put in

  • the artificial tears for, like, eight to 10 times a day.

  • I also set a bunch of alarms to remind me

  • when to put in all my eye drops,

  • just in case I forgot or fell asleep.

  • For the rest of the day,

  • I was just listening to stand-up or sleeping.

  • I'm noticing that my left eye

  • can see a little more clearer than my right.

  • So hopefully within the next few days

  • they'll both be clear,

  • but that's kind of a concern for me right now.

  • By day three, I was beginning to feel a little restless,

  • because I was stuck in my room all day

  • not being able to do much.

  • But it was really nice to see some progress.

  • It's Sunday, 7 in the morning, just woke up,

  • and I can kind of open my eyes a little more

  • without needing sunglasses.

  • Not a lot of discomfort anymore.

  • My eyesight has been fluctuating;

  • sometimes, like, blurry,

  • sometimes pretty crystal clear,

  • but, yeah, it's slowly getting better and better.

  • They look pretty good, right?

  • I really wanted to wake up today and be like,

  • "Boom, oh, my gosh, I can see 20/20

  • without glasses or contacts."

  • But that's not the case.

  • It's Tuesday morning.

  • I just showered with these guys on,

  • just to protect myself from water going into my eyes.

  • And I'm going into work, but before work,

  • I'm going to go to the doctor's office

  • to get these medical contacts out.

  • First time walking outside.

  • Sun is not too bad.

  • I'm not super sensitive.

  • Michelle: After being back at work for about a week,

  • my eyesight was still fluctuating.

  • During the morning, I would see pretty clearly,

  • but then by early afternoon, my vision would be blurry.

  • When I was on the computer,

  • I had to zoom in 175% to see clearly.

  • This continued to happen for the next few days.

  • Usually, when I come home, I would take off my contacts

  • and then put on my glasses,

  • and I was really tempted to do that today,

  • but it's just so amazing

  • how I don't have to do that anymore.

  • It's officially two weeks

  • since I got my medical contacts off

  • and finally went back to work.

  • My eyesight is still fluctuating,

  • but I think I'm like 98% there.

  • It's been kind of frustrating

  • because I wanted my eyesight to be, like,

  • clear by, like, two weeks,