Wednesday, June 17, 2009

LASIK: Two weeks later

In the last two weeks, I have seen Dr. Lockhart three times (not including my surgery). He says my eyes are doing great, and I now have 20/15 vision. What does that mean? Some comparisons:

To have a pilot's license, one must have 20/20 vision. To drive a car without corrective lenses takes 20/40 vision. 20/80 is where you could be considered for special assistance. 20/200, you're legally blind.

My laywoman's explanation: The 20 represents what a "typically"-sighted person should see at 20 meters. The second number represents my visual acuity. The higher the second number, the worse your sight is. So, 20/15 vision means that I could read something at 20 meters that a "typical"-sighted person would need to move 15 meters away from to see. My sight is better than typical. If a person is 20/80, that means that, what a "typical"-sighted person can see at 80 meters, that person would have to move to 20 meters to see.

Basically, my surgery was a huge success. I still have my regimen on drops, but they are now decreasing in frequency. The Refresh drops I use about 2 x an hour, and I am alternating Pred Forte and Decadron every other hour until this weekend, when I can decrease that to every two hours. I am also still placing Zymar in my eyes 4x a day, but that will end soon as well.

Things are not necessarily as crisp as I had thought they would be with my new vision, but I think that's mainly because I have not been resting my eyes a whole lot. Also, I guess I believed that people who could see without lens corrections saw as well as I did with my contacts in. Probably not the case. I can drive, see the TV, shave my legs in the shower, etc. all with my "new eyes." I am very glad I took the plunge.

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