Lovely eh. Had to take it without flash because that might have been painful. Oh and also they tell you to put tape in a X over your eyes (two bits of tape) but I've found I'm fine with just the one. Less tape goo on your face the next morning!
So then woke up early and dozed for a while. It was amazing to be able to look at my alarm clock without my glasses. My left eye was still feeling a tiny bit gritty - no worse than normal wearing of my contact lenses though. And my eyes were both bloodshot. My left eye is the worse one for this, with patches either side of my eye, the right one just has a bloodied patch between the pupil and the inner corner of my eye. These look far worse than they feel.
My first check up appointment at Ultralase was at 9.55 and yet again I caught the train. I would have been fine to go alone but my family being my family decided someone needed to go with me. So I took my mum.
I got to the clinic and was given a certificate to confirm my lifetime guarantee. How's that for a satisfaction guarantee? If my eyes deteriorate and need retreating Ultralase will treat them completely free. As far as I know no other laser eye surgery provider does this beyond a set period of one year. The condition is that I have my eyes tested every two years at any optician I choose.
I was seen almost straightaway, and wasn't in there for more than five minutes. All that happened was I looked at the eye chart one eye at a time and read out the line I could. My right eye could read the driving standard line and the left eye could read two lines below that one. As the opthomologist explained to me, my vision is not really the important thing at this stage, it's all about how my eye is healing. He looked at my eyes with the microscope and told me that if it wasn't for the redness he would not be able to tell I'd had anything done. He said they were healing perfectly.
The redness could apparantly take up to 6-8 weeks to fully disappear, although it will be far less noticable after just one week. Seeing how it had gone down a little just overnight I fully believed him. So after confirming that I was taking my drops at the allocated intervals and checking if I had any questions I was sent on my merry way.
I did have one question: Whether I needed to inform my doctor that I'd had laser eye surgery. He said that there was no medical or insurance reason why I would, but in the interests of keeping my doctor informed I might like to just mention it whenever I am next in there. I think I will do. It can't hurt.
It was just gone 10am when I came out. I was due for more drops so my mum helped me put them in before we left. Being a nurse she told me I shouldn't put them in before the consultation because they would make my eyes slightly blurry. She's right you know, I have noticed that for up to 30 minutes after the drops the vision is a little more unstable. I say unstable, but this is still 100% times better than the vision I had with contact lenses. With contacts, I was never able to blink without feeling the lens on my eye - mainly because of my astigmatism - but now I get good vision without anything on the eye. Woo hoo.
I went out for lunch with my parents and grandmother when we got back. We went to a little country pub and I noticed that limited light and the mirror behind the bar made my vision a little hazy. I could still see everything but it took me a little longer to focus. After that we wandered around a garden centre and after that I was quite tired. I went home and had a nap.
I've got to say I am pleased with the results but I'm not letting myself get too excited. Resting my eyes and recovering well is my priority at the moment. It often feels like I'm wearing new prescription lenses that my eyes have to get used to. Using my eyes to concentrate on anything for any period of time gives me a dull headache. And although I'm quite comfortable typing this and closing my eyes regulalry - I wouldn't be happy if I had to go back to work without a few days to recover.
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