Day 1Mr Fink has poor eyesight, about +9.00 in both eyes which has meant for the whole of his life he has had to wear heavy, uncomfortable, expensive glasses.
He decided to go to Ultralase and after consultations, research and testimonials, agreed to go ahead with the procedure.
Today he had his first eye done. Because of his prescription he was suitable for IOL treatment, )Inter Ocular Lens), where the surgeon makes a cut in the eye, removes the crystalline lens from it's pocket behind the pupil and replace it with a prescription one which should negate the need for heavy glasses (he may still need them for close work as the lens replacement stops the 'accommodation' or varying focus ability of the eye.) It is the same procedure as a cataract operation and it costs about £3K per eye. (Handy tip - if you're going to have this done and you or your partner work for the NHS - don't forget to mention it, you might get a discount.)
So off we went to the clinic, Mr Fink had a consultation with the surgeon, Mark Wevill (wev-ill, not wevil!) who went through the risks and expectations. He administered anaesthetic and pupil dilating drops and checked Mr Fink's eyes. We asked a few questions, one of which was, If the procedure stops the eyes ability to focus, at what distance will the focus be set? Mr Wevill said in his opinion it would be a good idea to replace the lens in his weakest eye (left, done today) with a mid to near vision focus lens and the stronger eye (right, to be done next Tuesday) would have a distance to mid focus lens. This is called Monovision and apparently easy to get used to.
Than Mr Fink was led upstairs and out of my sight, where he says the Irish nurse administered several rounds of more drops. He was laid down onto the operating table which had a deep depression for the back of his head to keep him still. during the operation he says it was impossible to see anything as the 2 lights above him were so bright they made his other eye weep! He also mentioned he could feel the surgeon putting pressure on the eye but no pain as such. After about 15 minutes he was out and recovering.
When I saw him he had his eye lid taped shut and a clear plastic eye guard taped over it for protection. With instructions not to bend over from the waist, lest the raise in pressure upset the incision and antibiotic and anti inflammatory eyedrops, we left after about 2 hours in total.
Mr Fink was troubled a little by the brightness outside, especially with the snow glistening bright white everywhere but when we got in he removed the tape, looked in the mirror, looked at me and with a big grin on his face said, "I can see you!"
I am so pleased for him. Fingers crossed for the recovery. at the moment he is not in too much pain, just what you'd expect from having your eyes pulled around.
