There’s nothing better than hearing about the LASIK process directly from our patients! Kayla-Noel shared her experience with us in an amazing blog post, walking through every step of her journey, from researching LASIK to answering frequently asked questions after her procedure. With her permission, we’re excited to share her story below. Thank you, Kayla-Noel, for letting others see what LASIK was really like through your eyes!

To See or Not to See – LASIK by Kayla-Noel

“About a year ago, I started researching LASIK- a vision corrective surgery. I watched videos on how it’s done, saw the miracle videos where people could immediately see better, and read the reviews (both good and bad). It took a full year for me to decide if I really wanted to do the surgery or if wearing glasses wasn’t that big of a deal; heck, I’ve only been wearing glasses 8 years and my prescription isn’t that strong (both things irrelevant. If you want it, you want it).

I looked into the two big name places in town. I’ll let you know which I chose at the end, hang tight.

LASIK Plus. 2348 Nicholasville Rd. I made an appointment for a consultation in the middle of June. Consultation day; quick and easy exam. I was there for about 45 minutes. They did the typical eye exam like the optometrist who gives a glasses prescription. “Can you read these letters? How about now when they are smaller? Which is better, 1 or 2? 3 or 4”. They then dilated my eyes, looked into them and said I was a good candidate for LASIK. I could have had the operation that day; I wasn’t ready for it that quickly as we had a 1000 mile trip to drive two days following that appointment. They got me on the schedule for Friday, July 12th. $4300 to be paid on the day of the surgery.

While traveling, I researched another local surgeon.

Commonwealth Eye Surgery. 2353 Alexandria Dr. Consultation scheduled for Wednesday, July 10th, just two days before my pre-scheduled appointment for the actual surgery at the other business. A 3 hour consultation. THREE HOURS? Holy heck! This exam was far more thorough and I saw more things done here than at the last place. They pulled out my lower eye lids and placed a little strip of paper in them to measure my tear production. That was odd, and kind of uncomfortable but I felt like their consultation was making sure I was actually a good candidate. After the doctor saw me, I headed over to the scheduler’s office.

There I had like 7 million more questions.

Question 1, “you’re wearing glasses! Why haven’t YOU had this surgery, MA’AM?!” She had!; those were just blue blockers to protect her eyes from an all-day computer screen.

2. Possible infection?! That sounds scary! “That’s what the steroid drops will be for, and you also already talked about the gloves and handwashing in the back, so you seem to be a clean person; you’ll be fine.
3. Potential blindness? Like, total blindness could happen here?! I’m out! “We have had zero cases of that and these surgeons have been in practice for a long time!”

We clicked quickly and she told me her experience with the surgery. Side note, loved this scheduler; she made me feel so comfortable, didn’t care that I asked a ton of questions, and then we realized we have a lot in common, down to graduating from the same school and both knowing sign language! Clicked! Every feeling I could possibly feel was felt in that office that day. Tina calmed me and I decided to get on their books for LASIK! (Remember, this was a Wednesday consultation) They only do LASIK on Thursdays. So, “would you like tomorrow, or next Thursday so you have some time to think it over?” Well, anyone who knows me, knows I needed to do it the next day or I’d just sit around for a week and be overly anxious. On the schedule I went for the very next day! I called my husband from the office and made sure he could take off work to drive me home from surgery the following day. Rico confirmed that it wouldn’t be a problem. Alright, “Let’s do this, Tina!”

I got to the car after my consultation at Commonwealth Eye Surgery and called LASIK Plus to cancel the appointment I had in two days. They asked the reasoning, and I just said I decided not to do it. The real reason(s) I went with Commonwealth Eye Surgery:

• Their surgeons are part of the practice, and this is their business, rather than being a “chain”.
• I felt like their consultation, though lengthy, was the preparation they really needed to make sure they knew me and my eyes well enough to make this a successful surgery. Nothing felt rushed and they made sure I knew the potential side effects and dangers. I even watched a 20-minute video in their office on how the surgery is done!
• Tina, their awesome scheduler, really made me comfortable and never pressured me to get on their books. The first business wanted me to do the surgery the same day as the consultation, even after being dilated. Commonwealth Eye Surgery did not dilate me as they said every patient doesn’t need dilating and Tina explained why they’d never do surgery the same day of dilation. If the scheduler at this location was more knowledgeable about the science behind it than the other location, yeah, let me NOT use them. Thankssss.
• $3700.
• A follow up appointment AFTER surgery is scheduled for the very next day. LASIK Plus would do the surgery on a Friday and see you on Monday. If something happens and your eye flaps begin to heal incorrectly over the weekend and they don’t see you until Monday, you could be in some trouble.

LASIK Plus does offer a lifetime guarantee. If you need a “touch up” in life, it’s free. Commonwealth Eye Surgery offers free touch ups, these are actually called enhancements by the way, for two years following the initial surgery. If it’s after two years, it’s $500 per eye. That almost had me leaning towards LASIK Plus because I just like that guarantee. However, I asked both places for the statistics on how many patients require enhancements and the success rate seemed better at Commonwealth Eye Surgery.

Are you ready to ride along for the actual surgery now?

“Don’t take ibuprofen on the days leading up to surgery. Remove your contacts days before surgery. Have a driver from surgery.” Well… the surgery is in less than 24 hours, and I barely have time to do the prep but I don’t wear contacts and I’m good on the other things!

7:05 am. First surgery of the day. Rico and I arrived at 7:00, filled out a few documents, Rico swore he’d be present in the waiting room and would be responsible for driving me home. Off to the waiting room.

Immediately I was given two Valiums, a pain pill, and some numbing eye drops. They explained (which I was already told about in the consultation and by Tina, so none of this was a surprise), that the Valium was to relax me during the surgery and the pain pill was to help me make it home. The nurse said that Rico would need to pick up a prescription pain pill from the pharmacy because in about 4 hours, I’d definitely be ready for it.

I was sent back to the waiting room and given time to let the Valium do its job. The nurse told us that when she had this surgery done, the Valium hit her, and she remembered walking into a wall as she went to use the bathroom 🤣. I could feel myself relaxing but in the brain of Kayla, that made me nervous. How? I don’t know! But I remember talking to Rico about current events and news and what not and I was talking so fast, jittering in my seat, leaning close to him, and I could feel myself almost fighting against the Valium. They came to check on me and in that exact moment, I was as calm as a cucumber. She took me back to the operating room. I stood up, kissed Rico, and went off with the nurse. As we turned the corner to the surgery room, which is very close to where my husband was sitting, I turned too soon and almost ran into the wall 🤣. I’d almost done exactly what the nurse said she’d done!

I was directed to the table and positioned on to this comfy bed; imagine a massage table with the face pillow, but the back of your head lays in the cradle rather than your cheeks! They asked me how I was feeling and I told them I didn’t have feelings 🤣.

Dr. Ferguson explained every single step of the surgery as he did it. This was a pretty neat process. He had two, I think, nurses in there and you’d think this was a synchronized swim routine. Everything flowed so smoothly, and they were one heck of a team. They started on my right eye. Now, do not expect me to call anything by the scientific names or the correct tool name. The nurse placed something over my right eye, or maybe I should say IN my right eye. I image it to look like Mr. Monopoly’s monocle. Once placed, it was cranked open. Hold on, let me see if I can find this instrument on Google.

FOUND IT! It’s called a clamp.

Let’s get back to it. So, the clamp was cranked open. I heard the surgeon directing the nurses and they put in some eye drops, then this, and that, and it was all moving so quickly I didn’t know half of what was happening. Then the worst part of the surgery: the pressure. The surgeon said, “you’re going to feel some pressure. It’ll be about 20 seconds.” The pressure started. What IS the pressure? No clue. But Lord, if these folks don’t let up off my eyeball, I’m gonna scream and my husband is gonna come through that door! I tensed up, but never blinked because the eye drops at the beginning make your eye numb and you don’t have the urge to blink, and also, um, my eye was clamped OPEN! I was arching my back, clinching my jaw and clinching my fists even tighter. The nurse rubbed my arm in an effort to calm me, and was maybe even getting prepared to hold me down if I were to get up and run! I heard her say, “15 more seconds”. She counted backwards by 5s. “10 more seconds”. Lady, ain’t no wayyyyy it’s only been 10 seconds! What are y’all doing with this pressure? Are you trying to push my eyeball out the back of my head?! The 20 seconds was up and it was instant relief. I immediately forgot the discomfort. Maybe I was being dramatic, who knows. About 6 minutes later, I couldn’t see a clock, Dr. Ferguson announced he was done with that eye! Woah, that was fast. The machine lifted from my face and moved to the other eye. Clamp. Drops. Pressure. 20 seconds. Listen, I was NOT being dramatic about the pressure the first time. The second time I thought to myself, “am I physically able to cry? Will tears mess this up?” as I arched my back and played the same game again. But I swear, when he let off that pressure after 20 seconds, it was like nothing had happened; I can’t explain it! Then, it was just done! OH, maybe the pressure is the actual laser lasering.

I never smelled the burning smell that I read about online.

They helped me off the table, walked me out to Rico, and he asked, “finished already?” Out the door we went as the nurse reminded him to stop at the pharmacy on the way home.

Rico guided me to the elevator, out the door, off the sidewalk curb, to the car, and put my seatbelt on me. I couldn’t see a thing. I could barely open my eyes. My eyelids felt like they were 100 pounds a piece. I remembered seeing videos online from LASIK Plus where the people sit up from the operating table and the surgeon directs them to “blink, blink, blink” and then they exclaim, “oh my goodness! I can see perfectly!” Liars, I tell ya! Again, 100 pound eyelids. Two of them. 200 pounds worth of eyelids. Blink blink blink, see perfect?! I couldn’t even open those bad boys!

As Rico drove, I could identify every turn in the road; I knew exactly which stoplights we were at. Wait, honey! Pull over! I am gonna be sick, and, “I cannotttt throw up in my new car!” I knew that we were too far from home for me to just suck it up and keep riding (we actually had just pulled out of the office parking lot). I think this sickness came from motion sickness in the car and not being able to open my eyes, not from pain or medicine; I get carsick easily.

We made it home. Rico guided me upstairs, covered me up in the bed, grabbed me a water bottle and told me goodnight. We napped for about 3 hours before he woke up to go fill the pain pill prescription; getting nervous that their meds were about to wear off. Rico returned with the pain pills and a nausea prescription. He opened them and asked if I needed one. I didn’t. He asked if I was just trying to be tough and he also knows my hate for prescription narcotics; hell, I barely like to take a Tylenol. I promised him that I was fine and if I thought I should take one, I’d certainly ask him. I never needed a pain pill.

I laid there that day with no cellphone (other than the attempt to listen to podcasts- I was so tired I listened to about 30 minutes of one) and no television screen. Think this part through when you schedule your appointment. If you do the surgery at 7 AM like I did, you have ALL DAY that you must lay in the bed as you should sleep for the first four hours, anyway, but then still no screens that night. If you do a later, say 2PM surgery, you can sleep four hours straight into bedtime! The very next day, Rico went to work and I drove myself to the follow-up appointment! I told them that I could see remarkably well and prior to surgery if I’d ever left the house without my glasses, I’d turn around before the first stop sign because I’d realize quickly that I couldn’t see. Things weren’t as crisp as I imagined they should be since I was convinced by the people in the videos that they could see perfectly, immediately, and since my 200-pound eyelids had lost weight overnight, why couldn’t I see as great as them now? Because it doesn’t work that way! Your eyes underwent surgery. Each day you will see a little more crisp; be patient as they heal.

 

One day post op. Hadn’t even really washed my face as I needed to avoid getting anything into my eyes.

Fast forward. I slept with bug goggles for 6 nights to ensure I didn’t rub my eyes and move the flaps on my cornea. I used steroid eye drops for four days and artificial tears several times a day (still using those) to ensure I don’t get dry eyes. People often complain of an after effect of now having chronic dry eye. Remember the tear production test at the consultation? Maybe that told them I won’t be a chronic dry eye person. But, you should use these drops as you’re healing, either way.

 

 

At a follow up appointment 13 days after the surgery, I was asked if I had dry eyes. I said I didn’t think so. I’d not been rubbing them nor do they feel itchy. Welllll, dry eyes are a little more than that. Dr. Smith looked at my corneas and said he could tell they were dry along the bottom. “Keep using the artificial tears but everything looks amazing! We can call this one a success!”

 

 

FAQ

Regrets? Yeah! why didn’t I do this sooner?

Would I suggest Commonwealth Eye Surgery? 💯 times, yes!

Did I know anybody that had LASIK that I could talk to before I took this journey? Just my Uncle Kevin (back when I was a kid) and Tina! Both success stories!

Any cons so far (two weeks post)? Night driving isn’t the best. The headlights of oncoming traffic is pretty obnoxious and I see a halo in my eyes afterwards for a while; that will improve as well. To be noted: night driving already wasn’t the best for me.

Also, without glasses on my face, you can better see some wrinkles beneath my eyes, so, now I need a new skin care routine. If you’ve got one of those, let me know!

What am I looking forward to?

• Wearing my hearing aids comfortably without the arms of glasses in the way! I remember when I had covid mask straps, hearing aids, and glasses all around my ears at the same time. Cleared most of that up!
• Hunting season with no glasses. I still gotta stay off the scope 🤣, but working around glasses is quite a headache in itself. (Scope hit my glasses, busted my bridge, and cracked my glasses. Actually, those glasses mighta helped! lol)”

What am I going to do with all of these glasses? Donate them. The lenses can be discarded and the frames reused.

 

 

Disclaimer: The people mentioned in this blog post are real humans, not paid actors, except Mr. Monopoly who is neither of the aforementioned. I’m not a paid spokesperson for Commonwealth Eye Surgery or any eye-related product. I’m just here to share my own experience and, if you’re lucky, a few laughs. Please note that individual experiences may differ. No actors were harmed in the making of this 20/15 vision—because, well, there aren’t any actors!

Inspired by Kayla-Noel’s experience? You could be next! Call us today at (859) 765-7578 to schedule your FREE LASIK consultation and start your journey to clearer vision. You can also view her original blog post here: To See or Not to See – LASIK