My Implants are in!

No....not those kind of implants! My contact lens implants! The surgery was today and it went great.

First of all, I will say that I was fa-reaked out!! I could not sleep at all last night; I just kept thinking about the worst case scenario and thought I'd end up blind or something. I know that it was irrational, but I think I felt that way because ICL is so uncommon. I know dozens of people who've had LASIK, and a handful of people who've had PRK, but I don't personally know a soul who's had ICL, so I was very very nervous.

When we got there the first thing we did was pay our bill.  (They made sure to do that up front!)  Then we went up to the surgical center and got the eyedrops for numbing and dilation. Then the nurse gave me a Valium to suck on (if you swallow it, it takes much longer to take effect, but if you suck on it the effects are almost instant. It was disgusting to taste, but, boy, was it worth it!) I had to wear a hospital gown, but just on top of my clothes, mostly to keep them clean, and little foot covers over my shoes, and a surgical cap. At this point Bryan went into the waiting room and they told him he could watch the whole thing on a TV they have. (He recorded it on his phone, and I've included the video at the end of this post. It's really not too bad to watch; I thought it would wig me out to see it, but there's very little blood.)

They brought me back and I was surprised by how many people were in the room. There were probably about 6 people to begin with, and the surgeon wasn't even there yet. They laid my chair back, took my glasses off, and then swabbed a whole bunch of iodine around my eye. They started an IV, I guess with more sedation stuff. Then more numbing drops (yay!). Then they taped a big cloth/paper thing over my eye (I don't know any of the technical medical terms for these things, but I think it was kind of the same stuff as the little bib you wear when you go to the dentist, just to keep things sterile.) They also taped a black plastic cover over the eye that they weren't working on. Then they said they were putting something in my eye to keep it open. It was super quick and painless, but I gotta tell you, when I watched the video this evening, that thing looks awful! If you watch the video you'll see it...it's the metal piece that hooks under my eyelids and keeps my eye pried open. It looks terribly uncomfortable, but thankfully I felt nothing.

Then Dr. Cionni came in and got started. This is where the video begins shooting. First you can see him inserting the actual ICL into a little cartridge thing. He has to fold it up, put it in the cartridge and then I guess he reaches in and pulls it toward the opening of the syringe/cartridge thingy so that it's ready to inject. Next, you see him making 2 openings at the edge of my iris. He squirted some gel stuff (sorry, again I have no idea about the medical terminology...) in there--I don't know why--maybe to prevent infection?? Anyway, then he inserts the cartridge and pushes the ICL into my eye. You can see it unfold. (On the video there are 3 weird black dots that kind of freaked me out, but Bryan said that they're just bubbles. Also, it looks like the whole pupil of my eye is red--but that's not blood, it's just the light reflecting into my big dilated pupil.)

Next, Dr. Cionni inserts a tool that tucks the corners of the ICL under the edge of my iris, to hold it into place. Then he sucks out the gel and constricts my iris again. He uses a little sponge to sop up the blood from my eye, and he's done! Amazing! The whole thing took about 5 minutes (per eye.)

For my part, it truly was painless. I could feel an occasional tug or some pressure, but nothing terrible. The worst part was looking into the extremely bright light while my eye was dilated. Once in a while he would tell me to look up or look down a little, but that's it! Easy peasy!

Afterword they wheeled me into a recovery room where I just rested and slept a bit. About an hour and a half later they took me into an exam room to check my eye pressure. The pressure is supposed to be anything less than 20, and my eyes were 10 and 11, so they were good! He also did a quick vision test and I was already seeing 20/25! Isn't that incredible! The only weird side effect I've had so far is: when I blink and reopen my eyes I can see a little line lifting up. I guess that it's a bit of double-vision and I'm seeing my eyelid raise?? I don't know? It reminds me of when I wore gas permeable contacts and each time I would blink they would move a little bit up & down in my eye. It's not a really big deal, and I'm thinking that it will go away with time.

Other than that the only side effects I've had are: 2 of the 3 prescribed eyedrops sting my eye really bad when I put them in, but that's a tiny price to pay, and I only have to use them for about 3 weeks. And I have had some dry eye. It feels like I've been riding a motorcycle or something with no sunglasses on. Not a big deal.

So, all in all, I'm pleased as punch! I go back in tomorrow for a follow-up check. Hopefully from here on out things will just continue to get better.