Eye surgery anniversary

A year ago today I had LASIK surgery to correct my short-sighted vision. I am SO glad I had it done.

It was discovered I was very short-sighted when I was in 5th class and have worn glasses or contact lenses ever since. I've had problems with contacts - I developed an allergy to the soft lenses (dammit!) and had to move to hard lenses. They weren't very comfortable and I could only wear them about 6 hours a day, so eventually I gave up and just went back to glasses. Glasses themselves were never very comfortable either. My prescription was quite strong so even with those special lighter material ones, they were quite heavy on my nose.

Several years back I'd looked into LASIK and was advised my level of myopia was beyond the limits, but told to wait a few years because those limits were being extended all the time. Eventually I was told I could have it done, but I never did get around to it. I had the money (it's not cheap!) but I have to admit I was a bit scared of complications. I've had acute bi-lateral Iritis in the past and the treatment was six weeks of drops to fix the size of my irises. What that meant is six weeks of not being able to focus properly on anything unless it was at a certain distance. No reading, no tv, no driving, high sensitivity to light and a bit of pain in the early stages (it was too painful to even open my eyes the first day). The thoughts of not being able to see terrified me really.

Then I was diagnosed with diabetes and all I could think was that now I'd be ruled out because of that. I was encouraged to ask and I'm glad I did, because I was told it wasn't a problem. So, I booked myself in and now, I'm loving being able to see normally. It is the most self-indulgent thing I've ever done and I don't regret it.

The habits of a lifetime are hard to break though - every now and then I'll wake up and still automatically reach for my glasses!