shallow eyes

It is a truth universally acknowledged that i am vain, but now i have medical proof that i am shallow too.

After years of fear, i finally decided to get my eyes LASIKed. This was after many testimonials from friends who had undergone the procedure and said it was a walk in the park. Since i was told that it would be only a few more years before my long-sighted developed i thought i should get it done now to maximize the investment.

As someone who has been wearing glasses from Standard 6 and contact lenses from Form 4, i was ready to be free of the burden of groping for glasses in the dark or dry lenses after a few hours in air-conditioning. Not mention not having my glasses fog up at the most inopportune moments.

So yesterday, D dropped me off at the vision centre. When i asked him if he wanted to wait with me, he said "oh it's nothing lah. one of my colleagues drove herself there and back.". With that encouragement, i thought "ok, how bad can it be,". famous last thoughts.

when i got to the centre, i decided to check out the viewing lounge to see first hand what i would be going through. the patient seemed relax and everything was over in a matter of minutes. I was feeling better and thought, ok i can do that. However, when i was at the machine that lasers the flap is when the trouble started. They were trying to fit the round silicone suction holder over my eye ball, but couldn't get a proper grip! after multiple rounds of trying to force it into place, the doctor gave up and said that my eye was deceptively small and he couldn't proceed as the necessary suction couldn't be achieved. The silicone was the smallest size and they couldn't use anything else. He said there was something that could be done - a canthotomy to cut the side of my eye to make it a bit bigger, so the holder can get a grip. he wanted me to think about this and come back next week if i wanted to proceed. 

i was in shock when i made my way to the 'transit room' where the lockers and washroom was. no one had mentioned this as a possibility and the idea of cutting my eyelid seemed quite extreme. While i was there i called D who shot off a few questions: will it scar (no), will it hurt (yes slightly but they will inject anaesthesia first), will it heal (yes, similar to other skin wounds), can you make a larger incision so she can have big anime eyes (no). he seemed to think i should go for it. Since i was all geared up and thought that if i went home, i'd lose my nerve, i decided to go for it (after googling the term - see visual below).

 

So i got the side of my eyelids snipped and LASIKed my eyes. It took 3 hours longer than expected cos they wanted me to relax between the procedures. As if having your eye injected and (what looked like nail scissors) clip 1 mm of skin once wasn't bad enough, i had to sit through it twice. And be subjected to the 'relaxing' sounds of Lemon Tree being played on tubular bells for the fifth time.

The good news is that the procedure seems to have worked and i am walking around spectacle-less (although my blood-shot eyes are zombie-like). And if i ever need to go for re-treatment, the flap's already been made so i don't have to go through the snipping again.

Now if only i can stop the habit of reaching for my glasses whenever i get up from bed.