Eye Surgery for Astigmatism
Any type of operation on our eyes is scary. Will my eyesight be better or much worse? How safe is it? Will it hurt? Will I lose my sight? What happens in surgery? How long will it take to recover? Will I still need glasses?
While there are never any 100% guarantees in any kind of surgery, eye surgery for astigmatism has come a long way since astigmatic keratotomy and LASIK surgery is now done routinely to correct astigmatism.
Astigmatism is a refractive defect in the eye that is caused by a cornea that is irregularly shaped. This causes distortions in the field of vision such as blurring. In my case it meant that I was extremely near sighted and couldn’t remember a time in my life that I could see my fingers clearly with my arm extended. I’ve grown used to wearing contacts for 30 years but there is still always the sensation of a foreign body in my eye that I put up with and glasses never seemed to be able to correct my vision to my satisfaction.
I was nervous and excited when I made my appointment for my exam to see if I was a candidate for LASIK. Nervous because of all the scary questions and wondering if I was too nearsighted for the procedure to work and excited because what if I could have it done and really see? I was thrilled to be told that I was a good candidate and the date for the procedure was set. I was told to stop wearing my contacts 7 days before the procedure, different types of lenses require different amounts of time. I was also prescribed antibiotic eyedrops to use pre and postoperatively to prevent infection. The surgeon told me that the incidence of infection from LASIK was lower than that for wearing contact lenses and most of those were caused by poor handling and over wearing.
LASIK surgery is performed by a laser in 3 steps; the creation of a flap once the eye is immobilized, remodeling of the lens, and replacement of the flap. Sounds simple right? The procedure is performed as an outpatient surgery with the patient awake and mobile, though often sedated with a mild sedative such as Valium. Anesthetic eye drops are used for discomfort. Personally, I experienced only mild discomfort being treated with the eyedrops before the procedure. I sure was glad of the Valium though to combat my nervousness and to help me relax.
My surgery seemed to go very quickly and I was on my way behind my dark glasses in no time. A friend was with me to drive me home. I went in the next day for a checkup and was cleared to drive without corrective lenses for the first time in my life. I’m still amazed at how clear my vision is now and how relatively simple it was from the patient’s point of view.
