Glasses, Lasik Surgery, Glasses

Welp. I’m officially getting older.

That, or my magical powers of seeing 20/20 have worn off.

Yup… you can now call me four eyes because I just picked up a brand new set of glasses yesterday. I got my first pair in elementary school, but gave them (and contacts!) away in 2008 when I got LASIK, or laser eye surgery.

Have I ever talked about that on the blog before? I really don’t think I have. We’ll get to that in just a minute.

Lunch

First I wanted to share a last minute dinner idea that came together on the fly last night that I reheated for lunch today.

Al Fresco Spicy Jalapeno chicken sausage, spinach, green peppers, carrots, 1 package of Chicken Ramen noodles + gluten free spaghetti.

It even seemed super weird to me, but turned out to be really, really good. Instead of going the traditional tomato sauce route, I was trying to be creative and attempted to make one high in sodium Ramen noodles package a little more nutritious.

I realize the sodium content didn’t change, but when you compare it to a regular serving of plain Ramen noodles, my version definitely wins.

To sum it up, I started by heating up the chicken sausage and softening the vegetables while cooking the gluten free noodles. I added the pre-packaged Ramen noodles in to the same pot as the gluten free noodles for the last few minutes, then drained them.

I put everything in one large saucepan, mixed in about half of the Chicken seasoning package, then tossed it all in a little bit of grapeseed oil.

I told you… it’s totally random and weird, but somehow it worked and was too good not to mention. I am beginning to think I am actually better at putting these kind of on-the-fly meals together than creating real recipes. Go figure.

Glasses, LASIK, More Glasses

Anyways, back to the eye talk.

To catch you up and make a long story short…

As an Orlando Magic Dancer, we partnered up with a lot of businesses in Orlando and traded appearance hours for services to cross promote companies. During my very first year on the team, I got ZOOM whitening on my teeth and LASIK surgery on my eyes completely free. I know… squeezed in between two trips China, it was a rough an amazingly awesome year.

After my surgery and hours at the LASIK Vision Institute were completed, they just so happened to be looking for help in the office and I ended up working there for the following summer.

I really loved that job. I got to talk to new patients, make them feel comfortable about the surgery, wear scrubs, play Friends on repeat in the lobby (<- um, best perk ever!), and even trained to test eye sight improvements on the fancy machines.

LASIK Surgery 101

In case you aren’t familiar with the surgery, it is a relatively short procedure you are awake for (with numbing drops!) that reshapes your cornea by laser incisions. The surgery was created for people who are nearsighted (me), farsighted, or have astigmatism.

About ninety-six percent of patients will have their desired vision after surgery, and enhancements can be made later on.

Most patients experience a strong discomfort for 24 to 48 hours, but the restoration of close to perfect vision is immediate.

For me, once the numbing drops wore off, the pain was crazy and close to unbearable for several hours. It literally felt like cats were scratching my eyes out and all I could do to comfort the pain was go to sleep and cry to produce tears when I was awake.

Eventually, the pain passed and I woke up the next morning seeing perfectly. That blew my mind! In the end, it was all worth it.

Why I Need Glasses Again

To be fair, I chose to get the surgery done before I really should have.

Doctors recommend waiting until you are at an age where your vision is stable (usually around 25) and doesn’t fluctuate very often. My eyes always go back and forth on prescriptions, but considering the surgery was completely taken care of, I decided to go through with it anyways at the age of 22.

For years, my vision was perfect. I felt free from stress or worry about carrying glasses with me or having enough contacts with me when traveling. It was amazing!

About two years ago, I started noticing some side effects like sensitivity to sunlight, glare, seeing halos, dry eyes, and difficulty driving at night. I put off going to the eye doctors since I wasn’t sure where to go since we moved and to be honest, didn’t want to know I needed glasses if that was the case.

(Add the glare of ice and snow into the mix and I’m done.)

So, against my better judgement, I put it off a year. It wasn’t until about six months ago that I really wanted to get checked out, and after all this time of putting it off I finally went to get an exam last week.

I explained my history of glasses, contacts, and surgery to my new doctor and he went through all the standard testing procedures. As it turns out, my left eye is completely fine, but my right eye is not. Working together, they can make out letters or signs if they are close enough, but on it’s own my right one can’t really do that much.

As scary as that may seem to some, it doesn’t really freak me out. I grew up with fluctuating eyes and figured that wouldn’t change just because I opted to get LASIK surgery.

I have a lifetime guarantee on the surgery, meaning as long as I get my eyes checked annually, I can elect to get another surgery free of charge.

But… that probably won’t interest me for at least another few decades. Until I’m ready to go under the lasers again, I’ll be sporting these bad boys mostly for driving, watching movies or seeing anything far away.

I chose these Michael Kors frames, which I just realized were supposed to be in the Men’s department. Awesome.

Regardless, I really liked how they fit and the cute dot details.

I am thankful our insurance covered the majority of the cost, and after picking them up yesterday, I can’t believe I ever went that long without them.

Just for fun, I had Scott try them on and he was in awe at how different even a slight prescription makes. He has never worn a pair of prescription glasses, so has never really known what they can do to help your vision.

I laughed when his response was, “Whoa, taking them off makes it seem like I’m wearing goggles. That’s nuts.” Welcome to 20/20 vision, my dear.

Needless to say, after years of talking about it, I finally got him to make an appointment to get checked out as well. Ha! Wifeys always know best.

So that’s my story. I had glasses/contacts for close to fifteen years, got LASIK, and seven years later I can still see great, but need glasses to avoid squinting, prevent headaches, and to see a perfect 20/20.

If you have any specific questions about the surgery, healing process, or anything discussed above feel free to leave a comment or contact me via email at hwglamour@gmail.com!

See you bright and early with tomorrow’s Friday Favorites link up!

Questions of the Day

• Have you ever had LASIK surgery? If so, how long ago and how is your vision now?

• If you wear glasses or contacts, would you ever consider eye surgery?