Since the age of 14 I have worn glasses and contacts.
Each and every morning I would wake up and squint my eyes in order
to be able to see what time it was on the alarm clock next to my bed.
I would then go to the bathroom and put contacts in my eyes.
Although the contacts allowed me to see with perfect vision it
would not last all day long. About
12 hours later I would be on the ice officiating a hockey game. By this time the contacts would start to dry out and it would
cause blurry vision from time to time during the hockey game.
When someone would yell “Hey ref, are you blind?” I was
thinking to myself, “If you only knew!”.
Contacts were a pain in the ‘you know what’ and
once the prescription for my eyes had been stable for over a year I
decided to get LASIK surgery to correct my vision.
During the past summer I had both of my eyes corrected by this type
of surgery. The process
consists of a series of steps:
1)
Appointment with TLC Laser Eye Center to ensure that you are a
candidate for this type of surgery. Some
people may have certain complications with their eyes, such as not having
thick enough corneas.
2)
Appointment with Optometrist to have your prescription taken that
will later be used by the surgeon when reshaping the cornea to allow light
entering your eye to hit the retina (back of the eye).
3)
Day of Surgery:
a.
Depending on the type of contacts that you wear you may need to
have these removed anywhere from 3 days for ‘soft lenses’ to 3 months
for ‘hard lenses’. This
allows your eyeball to take its natural shape so the laser can correctly
reshape the cornea.
b.
You meet with the surgeon who goes over what is the likely hood of
your vision being perfect depending on the health of your eyes and your
prescription.
c.
Come in 1 hour early and have your eyes dilated and then receive a
couple of freezing drops in your eyes just previous to going into the
surgery room.
d.
When lying on the table the surgeon positions your head/eyes
directly under the laser (one eye at a time).
A machine comes over your eye and provides suction on your eyeball
while a protective flap is cut from a portion of your cornea.
e.
The laser then begins to reshape your cornea so that the light that
enters into your eye will hit the back of your eyeball (retina).
My prescription required the laser to ‘hit’ my eye about 2,400
in 45 seconds.
f.
The surgeon then places the protective flap back and gently brushes
the flap to ensure that there is a perfect seal.
The negative pressure allows the patient to begin to blink without
worrying about moving the flap. The
only requirement is that the patient does not squeeze or squint his/her
eyes for the first week as this may cause the flap to move from its
position.
g.
Once the surgery is done the surgeon asks you to sit up and read
the clock on the wall. The
clock is about 15 feet away and I remember being able to see the clock.
It was 4:23pm and I will never forget that time.
4)
The week after:
a.
There are various medical drops that you must apply a few times
throughout each day for the first 4 days as well as lubricating tears that
you must apply whenever you feel that your eyes are getting dry for about
the first week after the surgery. The
key is to keep your eyes well lubricated, as this will allow the eyes to
heal properly.
b.
You also have sunglasses that must be worn for the first 4 days in
order to keep your eyes free from dust and dirt.
It also acts as a deterrent from rubbing your eyes if they become
itchy.
5)
Optometrist appointments are scheduled for the day after surgery, 1
week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after surgery in order for
any problems to be recognized and corrected as soon as possible.
Although it may seem like a lot of work you must
remember that other than your heart, your eyes are the second most
important organ in your body. So
it is well worth the precautions taken to have your vision corrected.
Vision Outcome:
I had Dr.Omar Hakim from the Waterloo TLC Clinic
perform the surgery on my eyes this past summer and within one week I was
able to see 20/20 (perfect) with a slight amount of blurriness from the
swelling in the eyes. Within
the first month, all the swelling was gone and I was able to see 20/15,
which means “what most people can see at 15 feet I can see the exact
same thing from 20 feet away”. I
can see better than perfect and this is helping with my on-ice officiating
abilities. On top of this, my
night vision is better now than it was when I was wearing contacts or
glasses.
On-Ice Vision:
In the first few games of the 2003-04 season I have
noticed an immediate improvement with my vision.
My peripheral vision is better and I am able to see sneaky players
out of the corners of my eyes much better.
I can also see greater details, particularly when a puck is high-sticked
I can now determine if the puck has in fact touched the stick or if it
missed the stick. All in all,
I don’t get any blurry moments on the ice and thus I can make better
decisions based on better vision. So
to all of you player out there, look out, I was able to see a lot of
penalties before and I can see even more now!
