Today is Friday, March 30, 2007 and it is exactly 2 weeks since I had my LASIK eye surgery.

To celebrate the success of my eye surgery I went out and bought me a brand new Lexus IS 350.

OK, I did not really buy it to celebrate, but I did get one yesterday after 3 days of intense dealer hopping here in Orange County.

After great deliberation I finally decided that Breakwater Blue was the best looking IS350.

Today I went back to the Lexus dealer so they could swap the chrome rims for the brushed aluminum.

Today - my 2 week anniversary photo with my new car.

That's me at the dealer this afternoon after they swapped out the rims.
Boy, the chrome sure looks better than the brushed aluminum! Huge difference!

I figured right now - 2 weeks - would be as good of a time as any to start documenting the events and happenings from my LASIK surgery. Starting with the day of my surgery onwards. I need to write a well documented record! After all, every day that passes gets a little cloudier and the details will fade, so I better write while everything is nice and fresh!

OK, well... I'll go back to the day of the surgery and chronicle the events. I'll even add a few pictures and a video to show how professional I am at this web journal writing stuff.

I think what I'll soon be doing is break off the personal stuff like this LASIK and car buying and start me a new blog so I can keep MikeLiebner.com as the "Internet Marketing Blog". In the meantime I'll do this under the category of California Living.

Recap: On March 16th, 2007 at around 10 AM or so I had my LASIK eye surgery. Elective corrective LASIK and it was really a piece of cake. Looking back over the past 2 weeks makes me realize how easy it has been. If you're considering LASIK I say go do it! It's great!

So, let's travel back to Friday the 16th of March, my day of surgery (exactly 2 weeks ago from the writing of this blog post).

Just minutes after surgery my friend Linda drove me home and dropped me off. It was a 30 minute ride and I was wearing those goggles. It had holes punched in them and the tape kind of obscured my vision. After getting home I gave my dog Milo his insulin shot at 12:30 PM (yes - he's high maintenance) and then walked him briefly. Yes, within an hour or so of my surgery I was walking my dog. That's amazing.

I came back after a short walk with Milo and made myself a microwave frozen meal for lunch and then laid down on my bed with the goggles covering my eyes (important not to touch or scratch eyes). I had been given a valium back before my surgery had started. Within a few minutes of laying down I was asleep - it was 5:30 PM and when I awoke I had to remove the goggles and put 4 drops in my eyes - 5 minutes apart from each other. I then walked Milo again, came home made dinner and laid down on my couch to watch tv (they said it was ok to watch tv).

I still had those goggle things on but was daring enough to remove them for a bit - I was curious how well I could see the tv. I was amazed that the same day of my surgery I could see the tv perfectly with both eyes. About 5 to 7 feet from my eyes to the tv approximately. I was already happy at that point as the biggest concern coming out of eye surgery is how well will the vision be. While it was fluctuating quite a bit (blurring a lot) and I was still drugged, the vision thing was pretty darn good right out of the box. In fact, the very next morning, less than a day after surgery - I actually drove myself to my follow up examination.

The day after the LASIK surgery, shortly after I returned from the follow up exam.

That totally blew my mind! I drove myself less than 24 hours after surgery! I had a backup plan of course as they say that 30% of LASIK patients need someone else to drive them the morning after to the follow up. I knew I could do it because earlier that morning - less than 24 hours after my surgery I was walking Milo around Newport Beach (with my goggles) and I could see perfectly! Well, maybe not perfectly, but pretty darn good! There was a lot of blurring and fluctuation the first few days, but in general I could see great without the need of glasses. So I drove myself the 30 miles to Mission Viejo and had my follow up exam. It was foggy that morning and treacherous a few times during the ride - not because of my eyes but because the visibility from the fog was so intense. Dr. Ghosheh did the follow up exam - said my eyes looked great and told me I had better than 20/20 vision.

It was still blurry now and again and the halos were intense at times but in general my eyes were seeing as good or better than with my contacts or glasses. I was told there would be a lot of fluctuation the next month or so and that my vision had not fully settled in. I was on a regimen of taking 4 eye drops 4 times a day. After returning home from my follow up exam I briefly turned on my computer and checked my email. I was curious what it'd be like on the computer. I must admit it took a little adjusting as one eye was better for close up than the other. I have since learned that the more I use the 2 eyes together the better they'll be at both short and long ranges. That next day after my follow up exam, I went ahead and showered and drove to Denny's for dinner. It was Saint Patricks Day and Newport Beach was buzzing with lots of drunk people filling the streets, even as I drove to dinner around 5 PM. I saw lots of folks falling and barfing, right there in daylight in public.

I can still remember vividly sitting in Denny's and looking out the window and marveling at how good my long distance vision was. As you can see in the picture my eyes were still quite red that day after but it blows me away how I could do almost everything just as normal.

Video from Day # 5

The morning of Day 5 right before my walk with Milo

This shot is from Day 5 at sunset. Milo and I took a long walk to Balboa pier and caught the sunset.

On Day 6, which was Thursday, March 22nd I went in for another follow up exam. The doctor told me I could stop doing those eye drops 4 times a day. No more eye drops except for the tear drops. I also made a great discovery. I found out that my eyes were fluctuation and that if I put in eye drops it would help me focus on closer objects. It was kind of a breakthrough as I did not realize my eyes were blurring because they were dry. Adding the tears would help me blink and focus. It was like a miracle because now when I have blurring I add a drop to each eye and I can see perfectly. I also learned that much of the vision adjustment is the brain getting used to the new cornea shape. It will keep improving for a few months.

Well, today is Day 14 and at this point my eyes have adjusted quite well. Not 100% perfect all of the time, but the 2 eyes are working better together than ever. It keeps improving.

All in all I am very satisfied with having done the LASIK eye surgery with Dr. Ghosheh. It's been a great experience. It has hardly impacted my life at all, except for providing me better vision with less hassles. I still sometimes will reach to push up my glasses. Also sometimes I think I need to go and take my contacts out. Then I remember that I no longer wear them. It's usually pretty exhilarating when I realize this. No more glasses or contacts!

OK. That's it. Documented for history! LASIK is a good thing - if you can do it - I say go do it!

Update 2-1-08 - All is still well and my eyes are terrific! I have adjusted to seeing close up on my computer and it is just as it used to be. Also the halo effect has lessened and some times does not even exist. All in all I am still thrilled with my eyesight!

---

Mike Liebner Internet Marketing Blog