Royalty free stock image from dreamtime.com

This is a part of a series of articles I’ll be posting soon with my experience with Clearvision, Epi-Lasik, and my understanding on laser eye surgeries in general. The other posts are not done yet, but I’ve been updating this with every appointment and new experience, so I thought I’d just put this up first. The articles will include:

Clearvision Epilasik Experience 1 – The Pre-Evaluation
Clearvision Epilasik Experience 2 – The Surgery
Clearvision Epilasik Experience 3 – The Recovery (This post, only one up at the moment)
Clearvision Epi-Lasik Review
Lasik vs Epi-Lasik
Why I Choose Epi-Lasik
Things To Look Out For When Selecting a Laser Eye Operation

Enjoy, and feel free to comment/ask questions via the comments section below or my contact form.

Do like my facebook page and twitter account to stay updated as well!

31/12/2013 – Day 1

Happy New Year… and new eyes hopefully!

Things were quite ok for the first 15 minutes after I came out of the clinic today. It was really cloudy and I felt a little vain, so I opted not to wear the Kim Jong Il sunglasses.

For the next 2 hours though, eyes started to hurt a bit. Ok, maybe hurt is not really accurate… it’s hard to describe, but I think my friend said it best when he asked, “felt like your eyes are stinging from thick smoke yea?”. At this point of time, a part of me went ‘what did you get yourself into…’ because the prospect of having stinging eyes for at least 1 week terrified me. Not because of the sting, but because of the boredom I may have to go through… coz no computers, TV, games or books?? Oh dear.

But, something strange happened after 2 hours. The stinging disappeared!

Awesome

Vision was surprisingly clear. I expected worse to be honest. The most amusing thing is how things look at night; Perfect round spheres of blur at all points of light. Not really a halo… more like a smudge, like some cheap 80’s ghost special effect.

01/01/14 – Day 2

Woke up to a clear-blur day. Also, because I’m dropping eye drops practically every few hours, I felt like I didn’t really need to use the eye lube – so I decided to not touch it until I need it (instructions say every 3hrs or as required… and it’s not required for now). Pretty easy to spot public bus service numbers.

02/01/14- Day 3

Interesting. Things are very, very blur today. I find myself reading about 3 inches away from the monitor and my phone. Also have trouble picking out bus service numbers until they’re like 5-7m away from me.

03/01/14 – Day 4

Marvelled at how beautiful flowing/splashing water looked in the shower. For those of us who’ve worn glasses our whole lives, noticed we never really had ‘HD’ vision when taking a bathe?

06/01/14 – Day 7, Follow-Up 1

Everything’s fine and the next stage of healing should start soon according to the Doc. Eyes stung a little bit after the protective contact lenses were removed (like something went into the eye) but it goes away after about 15 minutes.

Told the nurse I didn’t need the eye lubricant, which meant I save $20+. FML, which is another anti-inflammatory agent to replace Pred Mild was only $9+. Thank goodness for moist eyes I suppose.

Note – experience will vary. You may have stinging eyes that lasts from days to weeks. Guess I’m very lucky.

08/01/14 – Day 8

Slightly clearer, much easier to read things off the computer monitor.

09/01/14

Friends note that I look like shit. Retaliated (feebly) that they’re not used to my new handsomeness.

16/1/14 – Day 18

Walked into a public washroom today. I saw someone and in my head I was like, “ohh… nice ti…SHIT”

Godamn morning haze-blur.

18/1/14 – Day 20

Used the last drop of Pred Mild. Time to switch over to FML. Life’s still good, no worries.

20/1/14 – Day 22

Interesting, today’s a little more blurry than usual.

21/1/14 – Day 23

Slightly better. Noticed that eyes sometimes behaves like a large aperture lens – Close objects are clear, while things behind them have a creamy bokeh (background blur).

23/1/14 – Day 25 – 2nd Follow-up

Doc says everything’s healing fine. The usual advise to stay away from bright sunlight and to wear shades whenever possible (which I haven’t been doing really). Reminds that it takes about 3 months to recover fully. Prescribed Lotemax ($21+), a scar-preventive drop to be used after life gets better when FML finishes. Scheduled to follow-up 1 month later.

Got more feed back from friends that my eyes look tired. Downside to not wearing glasses reinforced – eye bags are now unleashed in its full glory onto the world.

Oh yay.

8/2/14 – Day 41

Last drop of the anti-inflammatory agent FML used, will start with the anti-scarring eye drops tonight. This to be used twice daily, so I’ll drop once when I wake up, and once just before I sleep.

On a side note, I did notice these 2 days that things are a little blurrier. The result of more epithelial tissue growing back I assume?

Oh and by the way, Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

28/2/14 – Day 61 – 3rd Follow Up

Ah. Learnt that it was a mistake for me to not use the eye lube. Wounds require moisture to heal, and things are still blur because the surface is dry, even though the readings show that my degree should be down to ‘Zero’. Secondary school science; An uneven surface (caused by dryness, like dry skin), will cause some light to enter at wrong angles yea? Also, best to avoid strong sunlight, etc.

I guess it’s it’s still ok to skip the lube during the initial period (again, only if you don’t feel pain, etc, please don’t do it just so that you can save 20 bucks) because there are so many drops that they’ll help moisturise the eye anyway. When the time comes for you to use 1 eye drop at a time though, start using the lube.

Remember the latest drop only needs to be used twice a day. I’m to switch back to another bottle of Pred Mild after this finishes, but instead of 3 times a day like before, it would be dropped twice a day, so lube it up!

Was a little concerned about the need for eye lube in the future and Dr Tony Ho was reassuring, reminding me that my eyes are still going through the healing process, which should take 3-6 months.

Also, because appointments are only covered up to the first month, I had to be charged for consultation this time, which is $50. Total cost for today, $62.06, with the $8 Anti-Inflammatory Pred Mild and 7% GST.

Next appointment will be 1 month later. If I used the lube, it might have been 2-3 months later instead. XD

24/3/14

Lost count of the days. Sorry =.=

Anyway, I noticed that things are starting to get a little blur. Previously, it was clear with a touch of astigmatism, but now, it’s blur, as in require glasses kind of blur. I’ve to wait for buses to get pretty close before I can make out the numbers clearly. Nothing serious, vision still works for everything else. They did say vision quality will fluctuate during recovery. The other eye drop finished to I’m back on Pred-Mild, but once a day this time, I wonder if this has anything to do with it.

27/3/14 – 4th Follow Up

This time, the tests showed that there was some ‘power’ in my eyes, meaning there’s some ‘degree’ in them. All previous follow-ups showed no power, in other words ‘perfect’ eye sight. This is actually in line with what I’m experiencing. Remember my last update where I said things were getting a little blur?

No prescription this time, just told to carry on with the eye drop and lubricant, with the next appointment set 6 weeks later.

I’m still on my first box of lubricant. You’re technically allowed to use 1 tube for 2 days, for hygiene reasons, but because I’ve only got half a box left, I decided that I’m going to stretch each tube to 3 days by dropping it just once a day. So, to keep things simple, I’ll put the lube on when I wake up so that the eyes are lubed for the day, then I’ll put the other medical eye drop at night before I sleep, since the body heals when you’re at rest.