I've got an hour to kill before I head out to work.  Instead of using that time to watch videos on youtube, I thought, why not blog.  I'll got a ton of stuff to blog about too (recipes, festivals, updates, etc.)  I've been taking advantage of the warmer fall days and going out to festivals and such.  This past weekend was gloriously warm. Sadly, I think those days are now behind us.  The days are getting shorter and it is getting dark earlier.

It's the end of September.  I feel like this has been a long month.  That means I did a lot.

The leaves are already starting to change colors and even started to fall.  Last year, this came pretty late. It sure does worry me because I am not ready to brave the cold winter.  I hope Autumn will linger around longer.

Things are so much brighter these days!

These were some of the eye drops I used after having PRK done (picture below).  I wore those blue things to sleep for the first 5 days after surgery.  And those lovely solar shields whenever I went out. I just recently started wearing my regular sunglasses again.  It's been about a month now and my right eye is 20/20; my left still has some acellular cells that need to slough off.  It's not quite 20/20 yet, but totally functional.  I have my next appointment in 2 weeks or so.  

I got to admit, things appear much brighter now than they did before.  Like the sun seems so much shinier.  Makes me think if I was in the dark all this time.

I'm back!

I have been MIA these days for two reasons.  I had PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy) done on my eyes, so I can almost see 20/20.  The other reason is I been working temp jobs here and there.

What is PRK?  It is a type of refractive surgery to correct my myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism.   Some people do LASIK instead of PRK.  My doctor recommend PRK for me and so that's what we did.  Apparently, I have pretty tight orbital fissures so PRK is best suited in my case. PRK is also the first type of laser surgery for vision correction. The differences between PRK and LASIK are: healing time, procedure time, how the procedure is done, and cost. There is no flap done with PRK, rather the cornea's entire epithelial (outer) layer is removed  and the excimer laser corrects the refractive error.  At the end, they put a contact lens in and a few days later, they take it out. 

It's been a little over 2 weeks since I did the procedure.  I have not blog of late because I was waiting for my eyes to get comfortable looking at a computer screen.  My left eye isn't 20/20 yet, so things aren't crystal clear yet.  With PRK, the healing time is longer.  On a positive note, my doctor said I am healing very fast.  That's a good sign.  My eyes still get sore so I frequently use artificial tears.  

Prior to having the surgery, I had to fill a prescription for antibiotic drops that were crazy expensive. In addition, Restasis is also recommended to prevent haze. There are other drops that I also used to reduce inflammation and etc.  Post surgery, I slept and kept my eyes close.  I wore these bug eye protection for sleeping and solar sunglasses when I am out. I am so blessed that my husband took care me post surgery. He's such a sweetie pie.  Timing was just right too because he just finished a project. 

I started seeing patients again and it was definitely tough on my eyes, but manageable.  I had a good week or so to rest them up. I have another follow up this week.

I would definitely recommend PRK or LASIK if you are thinking about vision correction. Just make sure you have someone to take care of you afterwards, it will make life easier to get stuff done. Being free of contacts and glasses is great.  I no longer have to worry about buying contacts, contact solution or glasses.  In the future, I may need reading glasses, but that's much later on.  For now, I am enjoying my new found sight!