Pre-Op Exam

I removed my contacts forever one month and one day before my pre-op exam.  Wearing glasses was weird for me and I hated every second of it.  Hated being blind at night and blind in the shower.  My kids always had to touch my glasses and smudge them up, so I hated the smudges that were impossible to clean.  My daughter, who is nine years old, absolutely loved me wearing glasses and was disappointed when I explained that they were temporary and soon I would not have to wear them ever again.

During this time, I researched PRK.  I was scared by the recovery horror stories I was reading.  If it were not for these, I may have opted to get PRK in both eyes because of the benefits of PRK over LASIK.  I was weirded out by the possibility of LASIK flap dislocation, but I was far more terrified of the crippling post-op pain I had read about with PRK, along with the weeks (months, in some cases) of blurry vision.  Eventually, I was comforted by the fact that I would have one “good” eye post-op to depend on.  Especially since I could only take a week off of work.  I also did not want to do two separate surgeries and so my decision to go ahead with PRK in one eye and LASIK in the other was solidified. 

The pre-op exam was very similar to the consult exam except they used dilating drops to more accurately map my eyes.  They called in the prescriptions for surgery day and gave me a kit to take home that included an eye shield, tape, and some rockin’ sunglasses.  I was instructed to bring the kit back on surgery day.  I wore the sunglasses home because my dilated eyes hated the sunny day.  Here is me being awesome in my new shades: 

The prescriptions they gave me were for three different eye drops; Ketorolac (analgesic for the PRK eye), gatifloxacin (antibiotic for both eyes), and prednisolone (steroid drops for both eyes).  They also gave me a script for two Valium to take before the surgery.  Altogether, the scripts cost me around $150, which I had not planned on, and was not totally happy about.  I wished they had mentioned the extra cost of prescriptions during the consultations, but perhaps it is my own fault for not anticipating it.