The anatomy of an eye
Essentially all of last month was spent in anticipation of my Lasik eye surgery, which, for a girl who has been so terribly nearsighted her entire life that even now dreams are somewhat hazy and unclear, was very nearly the most exciting event in years. So, after donning my dorky and somewhat clunky eyeglasses for the prescribed 21 day period, I went in for my comprehensive eye exam before the surgery. Now, normally 90% or so of all patients fly through this exam and are adequate-to-good candidates. Yours truly, however, as you can imagine by the pique tone that this blog entry is quickly taking on, was told that she had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR major conditions in which carrying out the surgery could potentially cause short and even long term complications.
The one I found most ironic was that I am apparently so nearsighted that the FDA has yet to approve until later this month the custom laser procedure in which could treat my prescription. The other risk factors were dry eyes, almost-too thin corneas, and the worst of which was that I have some retinal damage in the form of tears in the tissue. This I most certainly had to remedy in order to ensure proper vision, regardless of surgery or other alternatives to vision correction.
Of course, being that the main motivating factor for making any medical appointment is fear, I very hastily went in to see an optometrist on Wednesday. Lucky thing that the medical school I work for actually has a retinal institute, eh? After making note that the age difference between me and everyone else in the reception area was at least 40 years, I reconciled with the fact that I have an old person's condition. Hushed conversations all about were on topics such as daily fiber intake and the best denture adhesive. Seriously. It's apparently not just a stereotype afterall...
So, the good news is that this retinal tearing can be remedied with a few treatments with a high intensity laser. The indiscreetly ironic factor is not overlooked, regarding how I went in originally for laser surgery and ended up full circle with laser surgery, just not the kind I wanted. The procedure, called Laser Retinopexy , or Photocoagulation, uses a high frequency beam of light blasted directly through dilated pupils back into the retina. This high intensity/high heat causes the surrounding tissue to burn and scar, eventually closing up the holes in the retina. I must say though, for an outpatient procedure, the entire experience is not at pleasant. At the very first blast of the laser, I had an instantaneous headache which is supposedly normal, and with each subsequent treatment; I'd venture about 50-75 or so, my eye, which was being held open by a contact attached to an instrument that looked like the eyepiece to a telescope, throbbed. Perhaps the most disturbing was that I could see all the nerve endings in my own eye.
Regressing back to any unpleasant event in childhood, I forced myself to think "happy thoughts" in order to distract myself. Fortunately, prancing puppies and minty green ice cream kept me semi-occupied for latter duration of the procedure. Unfortunately, one treatment is not enough. I have three more scheduled, all two weeks apart. Yay for me. As a forewarning, if I by chance talk to you on one of these Wednesdays and I seem overly and uncharacteristically grumpy, please don't take offense, my eye hurts. :)
posted by Sheila @ 10/02/2005 05:03:00 PM
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