I have had glasses since I was in fourth grade. You really should see those early pictures of a be-spectacled me, but since I try to retain a little self-respect, I won't be posting them. Suffice it to say my second pair of glasses (around 6th grade) were thick-rimmed (to hide the coke-bottle sized lenses) and tinted blue on the top and pink on the bottom (to give a make-up effect? I'm not really sure...). Anyway, at some point I couldn't stand being four-eyed anymore and entered the torturous world of "hard" contact lenses. The technical term is gas permeables, but we're real here, let's call them what they are: hellish chips of jagged glass that you poke into your poor, unsuspecting eyes on a daily basis. I carried Visine in my jeans pocket, my purse, my backpack, my car... And even then I should have bought stock in the company the way I went through their drops. Halfway through high school I had finally had enough. My parents ponied up the dough for disposables and I thought I had been reborn--this time, with good eyes.
Fast forward fourteen years or so... I don't know if you know anything about eye prescriptions, but I still wear disposable contacts for the almost legally blind. My prescription for both eyes is -8.0 with allowances for a massive astigmatism. The contacts work okay, but these days my eyes are so dry and sore that I can only wear them for a portion of my day. When I can't wear my contacts, I'm back to being four-eyed, and though my glasses are arguably rather cute I still get headaches because my vision is so limited and glasses can't allow for astigmatism. What's a girl to do?
Get Lasik surgery. Get Lasik surgery? Really? Ever since I heard of laser eye correction, I've wanted it. And now, nearly two decades after I got my first pair of glasses, I'm seriously considering it. Aaron and I have been saving for a while and the time is now. Now? Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a big, fat chicken. These are my eyes after all, and even though they're a K-car when they should be a Benz, they work and I love 'em.
I'm scared. What if I go through with the surgery and the laser slips, zapping my eyes into jelly? What if they overcorrect or undercorrect and I end up still needing glasses? What if twenty years from now they discover that people who underwent Lasik eye surgery will eventually have their eyeballs fall out of their heads? It could happen, you know. This is a fairly new surgery yet. Argh! The hideous possibilities are endless.
So, any advice? Have you done it? Do you know anyone who has? Did their eyeballs fall out? I'd love to hear what you have to say!
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now you've got me wondering. i've got astimagtisms in both eyes and i have 20/200 vision without my glasses now 20 years later than when i first go them. not sure what my prescription is, but the reason i got glasses in the first place when I was 15 was because of the astigmatisms, to help that. so now i'm just curious. is it because of your poor vision that you can't get glasses that will allow for astigmatism or can glasses not allow for astigmatisms at all. i'll have to ask my eye doctor in a couple of weeks when i go.
ReplyDeleteNikki, you should talk to Scott. He had his done in October(?) Now he likes to rub it in when I'm inserting my soft contact lenses "you're so lucky, I really miss my contacts" or my personal favorite, "it's not easy having 20/10 vision"
ReplyDeleteFor your sake I hope you find a comfortable solution!
One more thing - they give you Valium before the procedure!
Rachel
Has the word dramatic ever been used to describe you Niki???? Everyone that I have ever heard that has had it has been highly successful - talk to the Postma men.
ReplyDeleteSo far, so good. No gruesome eyeballs falling out stories. And no, Janelle, no one has ever called me dramatic... ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for glasses, Amy, I think they do correct for astigmatisms, but since I usually wear contacts (and have 20/15 vision with them) when I switch to my glasses (I can't get 20/20 with glasses no matter how hard they try) I feel like I'm squinting all the time.
Anyway, if I decide to take the plunge I'll keep you updated. I promise it'll make for fun reading. I get a little loopy on Valium!
Have a great week!
My mom had it done a few years ago, I think she went to Omaha. She couldn't see anything without her glasses, literally. She used readers for a little bit after the surgery but is doing amazing. Give her a call or talk to my dad, he's got all the info too.
ReplyDeleteNiki,
ReplyDeleteMy mom and brother have both had them done and have had good results. The only problem my mom has is that she has trouble driving at night, but she that is probably more because she is a bad driver than because of her eye sight!
I don't know much about LASIK because I can't afford it, but I do have to say congrats because I have never met anyone with worse vision than me, but your astigmatism has given you the prize! I wear soft contacts with a -8 prescription and am right there with you blindly.
ReplyDeleteI'm commenting so long after yyou posted because I've not read any blogs since Christmas and have been so busy! So now I get to go back and comment on all your blog posts belatedly.