Winged Power Photography

Switching From Glasses To... No Glasses

For most of my life, I've been wearing glasses of various levels of prescription, ranging from around 2.5 through 4.0, with varying levels of astigmatism. While I had grown used to the wearing, cleaning, replacing, and finding my glasses for some two decades, I had, since around 2000, wanted to get lasik done, but I just didn't trust the technology, given what I had heard about PRK eye surgery.

Recently, I had gotten lasik, which probably explains the lack of postings... but in truth, not really. What this post is, a short recounting of what it feels like to wear glasses, as a photographer, and to switch from glasses to post-surgery. Please, take a read, if you have been wondering about lasik, perhaps this will add to your desire or detract from it.

Photography With Glasses

For most people, most devices are designed with an un-impeded face in mind. However, there is an adjustment option for many devices, like DSLR(s), which allows you to account for a certain degree of correction. This adjustment may or may not help those, whose prescription exceeds the design of the eye piece.

For me, I just looked through it with my glasses on, since the diopter adjustment really never helped all that much. This had the added disadvantage of never being quite aligned with the eye piece, and as a result, never quite getting the framing right. Worse yet, occasionally, I would get the focus off!

I found that because of this, I tended to compensate by taking extra photographs, which increased my storage requirements and just increased the post-shoot editing time required to get images out.

Glasses also fall off, get clouded, get smears, get dirty, or reflect light from your face onto the inside surface. All of these things make it hard to work with glasses, which one gets used to and just takes for granted, with time. However, they are still there, and whenever you do something that triggers one of these issues, it becomes readily noticeable.

Photography With Contacts

Some years ago, I tried contacts. The soft permeable kind. The results were pretty good, when the contacts didn't dry out and lift slightly, from when I gazed too long, or if I didn't accidentally rub my eye and cause the contact to pop out. Wow, imagine the issues, when I slept with my contacts in! Ouch. Felt like dry paper in my eyes... it wasn't fun and quite honestly, keeping to a regiment of applying cleaning solution and properly taking care of contacts, even disposable ones, proved to be a huge hassle.

Eventually, I had to stop, since it began to irritate my eyelids.

The Lasik Experience: Before The Operation

So, when it comes to my eyes, I'm quite paranoid. I took a risk with contacts because they seemed fairly safe. But when it came to lasik, I had alot of concerns. Halos, loss of vision, detached corneas, infection, floating blobs, light scatter, loss of near vision, etc.

I had heard of alot of laser vision places on the radio and passed by them regularly. However, whenever there was a discount period of $1000-$1500/eye, I would eventually find out that it was with one of the beginning surgeons, who had less than 500 surgeries under their belt. Not very comforting. The surgeon with over a thousand under their belt were usually double that price.

In the years that have elapsed, the price has come down. However, new technology has also been brought forth, driving the upper end of the price up. We now have, in addition to LASIK, LASEK, wave front LASIK, and wave front PRK. Naturally, LASEK, and the wave front varieties of LASIK cost a bit more, because they are newer.

What prompted me to do lasik was the fact that I would sometimes misplace my glasses, or drop them, or just be feeling around for them in the morning. It REALLY sucks and unless you've had to do it, it really is hard to understand. I suppose car keys are similar... but seriously, it's pretty bad.

I talked it over with my wife and we thought about it for about half a year before deciding it was the right thing to do. When the open enrollment arrived, I elected for the maximum amount of FSA(flexible spending account) and started looking for eye surgeons.

Luckily, alot of people at work were also looking and one surgeon in particular kept coming up as being good: Scott Hyver.

I was able to get a consultation some two weeks out from the date I called. The consultation process is one of the most extensive that I have ever gone through. In many ways, it is reassuring.

After the consultation, it was determined that I was a good candidate. I was able to get a surgery date two days after my consultation, early in the morning.

I opted for wavefront lasik, since it has the largest coverage area, which in turn, greatly reduces the halo'ing effect.

I also opted to do both eyes at the same time.

That very night, I began my 24 hour pre-surgery antibiotic eye drop regiment.

The Lasik Experience: Day of Surgery

The day of the surgery, I went with my wife and daughter. I was quite scared, actually! I mean... this was my eye we're talking about. However, everyone was really nice and comforting, and I got my re-examination as well as final eye mapping for the wave front process.

The surgery itself was quite interesting and kinda scary as well! However, just as you are getting used to the oddness of having something on your eye, the procedure is over. Scott Hyver performed the procedure himself, with two assistants there to help with providing support.

If anyone is curious as to how it felt, feel free to contact me. I'd be more than happy to answer some questions about the procedure. It was quite pleasant, and Scott was very calming and reassuringly providing guidance during the whole procedure.

Right after, the world is an odd place. Everything is more or less in focus, but slightly blurry, as your eyes get used to all of the physical changes. You get a little pouch of eye drops, shades, and other goodies.

You're told to keep your eyes closed for the first 4-6 hours, to let them heal and to keep your shades on, as your eyes will be light sensitive for a while.

After one hour, my eyes started to REALLY water from irritation. Not bad, but it felt like really bad dry eye. Usage of the anti inflammation drops as well as the lubricating drops helped alot! Taking some pain medication help as well.

After two hours, I was just relaxing and trying not to open my eyes, as they had become quite sensitive.

At around the 5 hour mark, I was actually starting to feel normal again. That is, the dryness and irritation had gone down quite a bit and I was feeling well enough to walk around and look without much eye irritation.

By that night, I was feeling well enough to go out to dinner and enjoy myself.

The Lasik Experience: A Week of Recovery!

The very next day, I went back to work. Kept my eye drops with me, answered questions about the surgery, and basically, just did what I normally did at work.

By the 4th/5th day, I only needed to use the lubricating drops once or twice a day, instead of every few hours. After a little more than a week had elapsed, I had recovered enough that while I keep the drops with me, I rarely ever use them. Recovery is REALLY fast.

I should note, however, that your vision, while better, takes a little more effort than before to use. :) With glasses, you got corrected at a certain range. With lasik, that correction is in your eye, but your eye muscles need to work harder to switch between extremes of near and far. There is, of course, also a slight difference in strength in one eye vs the other.

My post-operation exam revealed that my right eye had achieved full 20/20 vision and my left eye was aproximately the same, but it took more effort to focus. From an original near-sighted prescription of around 3.25 in each eye, with around 0.25 astigmatism.

While I do see some halos at night, it has been getting better and better with time, as I heal. I still keep eye drops with me. But the weirdest thing is not trying to adjust my glasses, or trying to look for them when I realize I don't have a pair of glasses on my face!

Would you recommend them?

Yes, I would most definitely whole-heartedly recommend wavefront lasik eye surgery for those who are good candidates, who qualify, and who can afford the procedure.

As with any kind of surgery, always consult with your doctor or physician. It is a serious operation and you should find an eye surgeon whom you feel you can trust with one of your most precious senses: sight.

I chose Scott Hyver, because he came well recommended. He has been in operation for a number of years, has had thousands of patients, is the official vision specialist for the 49'ers, and both him and his staff were courteous, well-informed, and could explain the risks involved, without having to defer to someone else. His offices, staff, and even himself are exactly as described on his website and his marketing materials. The man is friendly and approachable and genuinely cares about his patients.

I found the staff to be extremely helpful and willing to do what it takes to make your experience as stress free as possible. They can email/page/call someone you've designated to pick you up, post-surgery. They can do the same to remind you of appointments. They have flexible billing options, are willing to split the bill however you want. They have an abundance of mints everywhere!

At no time did I feel rushed or otherwise "assembly lined" in the process prior, during, or after my surgery. When I noted that my sunglasses had suffered a crushing fate, they happily provided me with a replacement pair.

Best of all, Scott Hyver provides a lifetime guarantee of his work. If something were to happen and I need a touch up, I only need to return and it will be taken care of. All subsequent visits and exams are covered as well.

Needless to say, I am a happy customer who is enjoying his greatly improved vision.

Resources

It is often worthwhile to do a little research. :)

• Scott Hyver's LASIK
• Refractive Eye Surgery<br>A Consumer's Complete Guide: LASIK, IntraLASIK, Epi-LASIK, CK, Implantable Contact Lenses, and Other Surgical Eye Procedures ... Dependence on Glasses and Contact Lenses
• Lasik and Beyond Lasik Wavefront Analysis and Customized Ablations
• Corneal Topography in the Wavefront Era: A Guide for Clinical Application
• Custom LASIK: Surgical Techniques and Complications
• Wavefront Customized Visual Correction: The Quest for Super Vision II
• Aberration-Free Refractive Surgery: New Frontiers in Vision
• Refractive Surface Ablation: PRK, LASEK, Epi-lasik, Custom, PTK, and Retreatment
• IHME'S!! I Hate My Eyeglasses!!
• LASIK: A Guide to Laser Vision Correction
• The The LASIK Handbook: A Case-Based Approach
• Refractive Surgery
• The Complete Book of Laser Eye Surgery
• The Eye Laser Miracle: The Complete Guide to Better Vision

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