On July 12, 2019, I had an operation for my hyperopia. I decided because I am just a mess with my glasses, they always end up broken some way or another, and in the long run it costs. Plus, the idea of getting rid of glasses is appealing.
To be honest, I initially came to see Dr Donate because I wanted to get implants. Implants fixes hyperopia and add a UV protection feature which appealed to my biohacker side. But after a full eyes check up, I learned that my cornea is too thin for implants. Oh well, LASIK will have to do.
Anyway, so the first step of the operation is to take an anxiolytic pill. Non negotiable, even if like me you were not stressed out by the operation. The idea was to make you less restless during the operation. Indeed, as you’ll see in the video below, you are not put to sleep during the operation. You have to be awake to direct your eyes to help the doctor work on the eyes.
So when we arrived at the clinic, I took an anxiolytic pill before waiting in the waiting room. In this room, a video of the explanation of the procedure was looping in a TV. Details that must be quite anxiogene for some people I imagine.
After about 15 minutes of wait came my turn. I had to put on a gown, was welcomed by the doctor in the operation room. I lied down on a bed, and the nurse put a device to keep my eyelids open. The procedure then went very quickly; first you have to fix some lights, while the doctor cut a flap in your cornea and lift it. You can feel when its happening because then your vision becomes extremely blurry. Better not have a power cut at that time! Then the laser does its magic somehow, then the flap is put back in place and that’s it. Less than 20 minutes and it’s down.
Then I was given sunglasses and eye protective cases, and with my wife we got back home. The doctor insisted that I take a taxi because I would not be able to open my eyes on the way back. Well it was actually not that bad, the eyes were hurting a little bit but I was able to see well enough to go back by foot.
The next few days were not bad, it never really hurt. You have to put drops in your eyes every hour or so, which is a pain, for about on week, then you slowly decrease the amount of drops.
The post op visit, 3 days later, showed my vision was perfect and the cornea healing correctly.
The best part in this adventure was the joy of seeing clearly without glasses. It is really an amazing feeling!