Lasik Consultation New Patient Paperwork: Fill & Download for Free

I had Lasik about 10 years ago. You will be awake during it, but you’re not going to feel a thing. They put drops in your eyes and let it take effect before they even think about doing anything. These are the VERY LONG Lasik posts from when I had it done (from Livejournal)EVALUATIONWe went up, I signed in at 11:15 and handed the receptionist my papers (I had to bring 3 pieces of paperwork in, which included a release, a general and patient history form). In exchange they gave me a paper with all 10 tests they are going to give me on the sheet (I'm going to try to identify the tests for you).(slight edit removing sentence about daughter)…About 15 minutes later they called me and I went with the tech. We (the tech and I) nearly ran into each other as someone darted out of the first room.Tech: I like your brakes, you must have just gone to Midas you stopped on a dime!Me: Normally I just continue and run into things at home! I slide. *smile before I see the machine* Uh ho.Tech: Its not going to blow air into your eyes if that is what you are thinking.Auto-refraction Part 1 and PupillometryI was set up at this weird machine as we were talking about eye surgeries, like Dad's detached retina and how he was scaring me from lasik. And the tech asked if I knew the symptoms of detached retina just in case since my eyesight is worse than his. I said I did and she told me a few more just in case.At the machine, I see this hot air balloon coming into focus right before the following conversation.Tech: You will see a...Mel: *flash of bright light comes on totally surrounding the image of the balloon and scaring the shit out of me as I jerk away from the machine* Shit!Tech: bright light...Mel: Thanks for the warning. Man what an afterimage!Tech: Sorry about that.We then had to repeat the test for this eye (since I jerked away) and then for the other. Then off to the next machine! But before that, she gave me a very brief description of that machine and how it worked.Corneal Topography/Mapping + Wavefront MeasurementsI think we used the OPD Scan machine, but I am not sure and I wasn't 100% sure that it all this, but by process of elimination I figured it did both. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't the world's best experience because of what it did and how many times I had to do it. You put your eye against the scanner and they scan your eyeball with this really really bright light. It looks like a xerox machine in the way it acts. Of course the light is so bright, much much brighter than the Autorefraction that if you don't blink there is seriously something wrong with you. You know how if you stare into the sun you get that green circle where the sun is? Imagine that but over your entire eye, you can actually see the light where the scan went over. Apparently, I did very well on this test because the only reaction I had was blinking and a head jerk, which is normal. A lot of people get weird on this test. This test took me about a million times before they got a clear picture because I kept blinking. I accused the tech of trying to blind me. For more information about the pictures that were taken please see the section on the consultation section.Next machine!Auto-refraction Part 2 and PupillometryAuto-refraction 2 was similar to part 1 and I even said "Didn't we already do this?" Apparently the only difference was this gives you 3 blinking LEDs which are not very bright.Next test!Normal Doctor stuff: Auto-refraction Part 3, Manifest refraction, eye dominance, intra-ocular pressure (glaucoma test), pachymetry, and Cycleoplagic RefractionNext we went into a normal doctors exam room where the tech and I spoke a little about various eye things, we confirmed allergies (PCN and Latex), Age, etc. I told her I *would* be getting a sedative because I get jumpy with some tests. She then looked at the auto-refraction 1 and 2 results and confirmed my prescription by having me do the "Which is better 1 or 2" thing (manifest refraction) as well as a little bit of reading off the normal eye charts (auto-refraction part 3). Unlike the usual 10 minutes and reading off multiple lines for each eye, I only had to do one line of each of the following: left eye, right eye, and both eyes. The tested which eye is the dominant one by having me tell them if the Z disappeared. Turned out I was right eye dominant, which makes a lot of sense. She also took my glasses for a few minutes and tested their prescription just in case because I mentioned that I saw clearer with my contacts. She returned with my glasses and some coverings for the equipment she was using. Next up was the Glaucoma test, they didn't use the normal ways of doing this. I asked if they were using the yellow drops because I hated them though they were still better then the puff of air. She said no, and since I don't like the yellow drops I will definitely not get them. She hates the air puff too and she wondered who thought that was a good idea. I told her that my hubby prefers that test, but he is a freak anyway. They touched a pen-type thing called a tonometer to each eye after they put numbing drops in. Then they took a different piece of equipment and first asked if I knew when I was going for the surgery if I was a candidate (she needed to know in order to know if she should dilate my eyes before the cornea thickness test). I told her maybe next week and then she said ok and put the dilating drops in which are supposed to last 48 hours and then she started touching me with the thickness measurer. I jumped the first time and she asked if I could feel it, I told her I couldn't but I saw her touch me. When she touched it, I could see the cornea warp and it looked like I was seeing underwater. She did the right eye 10 times, and then started on the left. She had to do more than ten because she started going off center. Apparently a lot of people pass out as they do the thickness test.Then she took me to a waiting room to let my eyes dilate. I spoke to a few people in the waiting room after I had been there for 45+ minutes. I was getting bored since I no longer could write nor could I see anything because of the drops which were slowly screwing up my vision. One person was looking into enhancement after having lasik 6 years ago. I spoke to her about 5 minutes then she was called. Then another woman came in and we spoke for 10 minutes before I was called back into a darkened doctors exam room. Cycleoplagic Refraction was next and it was basically manifest refraction but with very dilated pupils so they could see if there was any change in my vision. Measurements were taken and she left. After that I waited... and waited... and waited for about 45 minutes. I kept busy eavesdropping on the next room which had one of the different surgeons in it and he had HIS lasik done 2 months ago so I took this as a good sign.ConsultationEventually I was moved again to the real doctors exam room and they pulled up cornea pics which were awesome! I watched that (and the screensaver showing what all the different cornea problems and how they would appear) for another 30 minutes and eavesdropped on the next room until the doctor came in. Apparently the reason I was waiting forever was due to him pulling a double shift because his colleagues are all on vacation.(EDIT OUT GRAD RESEARCH TALK)Then we looked at my numbers. -4 in each eye, 20 intraocular pressure (normal ranges from 10 to 21), above average corneal thickness (which is actually a very good thing because it gives the doc lots of stuff to work with), and no diseases. He commented on my excellent ocular health and explained the corneal pictures that the tech took. I thought those pictures were absolutely the coolest eye pictures that I have ever seen. Apparently my entire eye is near-sighted (no kidding!), but there is exactly one dot (it appeared in black) which is where I see 20/20 all the rest of it was very high (it was reddish/orange) and that represented my nearsightedness.Then we went over some side effects: dry eyes and glares/halos. He told me I'd need reading glasses when I am in my 40s. I said that is to be expected. He said that by the time I need those glasses there will be a new treatment for that anyway so its no big deal.And I asked two questions.1) How far can my eye move before the laser shuts off?A) 5 microns (a micron is 1/million of a meter, or about 1/20 the width of a human hair)2) Can I get information about the corrections from surgery in case I need to have other eye surgery down the road (like glaucoma, cataracts).A) Yes, but I have to remind him the day of surgery and he will give me a copy of everything.He then asked when I wanted this done. He said the earliest he could do me was tomorrow, as in Tuesday! I think I surprised him with the look on my face. I wasn't expecting that. Apparently some people want everything done at once. So I told him there were days I couldn't do it, so he brought me to the scheduling person and I grabbed Frank and we scheduled for next Tuesday.The scheduling person gave me a prescription and a weird pair of sunglasses and we went home after buying some red cellophane to put on the computer screen (see I did learn something from Astronomy class!).Aftermath36 hours after the eye drops were still in, I am still walking around with sunglasses (my blue ones) in back of my glasses and I am still using the cellophane on my computer screen. My pupils are still dilated as all heck but we are getting better. I really did not know that pupils could get that big. I look like I am on drugs or somethingI only hope the surgery goes as well as the evaluation.SURGERYOperationSo we go into the operating room, the chair was similar to how I was expecting. It was a horizontal dentist's chair. I even made the comment "So it does look like a dentist's chair!" They told me to hand over the glasses (they'd put them in my postop bag) and get on the chair, actually it reminded me of being abducted by space aliens. The chair? Yea. So I hop on. "Come back until you can feel my hand on the back of your head." I move up and up, I swear to god I felt like there was no end to this chair. I hate being short and yes I mentioned that too. FINALLY I felt the blasted hand and I relaxed. They stuck something that felt like a few cotton balls or something on each side of my face. They told me to uncross my legs (the ankles were slightly crossed) and my arms (they were both on my belly.) They still didn't like my arms (they were on the arm rests) and they moved them again to just off the rests. They put the hair thing on (and made me take out my hair), then they moved me more.They then had me open my eyes really wide and they put in something that felt like liquid ice. I kid you not that is the best way to describe it. These things were the coldest things I have ever put in my eyes. It took maybe 20-30 seconds before I could open them again. Those were the numbing drops and I made a few comments about how I didn't think I could get them back open and the nurse said she could get them open. Eventually I was able to open them and they put some more drops in (not sure what that was exactly.) Then they had me close them again and wipe off the top part of my eye. They all loved my long eyelashes because apparently the guys usually have them, not the girls. I said I didn't know if Dad had then, but Mom was sort and my grandmother's was long. Then they covered my chin (totally random I know). They had me open the right eye and added some more numbing drops under each lid and then put in the speculum one lid at a time. Really you can't see it, so I don't know why everyone freaks out about it. The doctor brought an apparently hand-held device over my eye. To be honest I just barely saw that too. But I looked at the red and green lights (there was one of each) and then I heard them call suction and slowly the vision started to go away but was NOT LOST COMPLETELY. During the entire time I could see the green light just barely and I could hear the thing cut the cornea and I watched it move. It was only when it moved did I see the green light even slightly changed. Then the suction thing was removed. Dr. Waring moved the flap out of the way and my vision went slightly weird. Think opening your eye underwater and that looks kinda similar to how I was seeing. I heard the laser say "I'm ready Doctor" (I swear to god that is what it said. I felt like I was in a Scifi movie and I mentioned that). They said, just keep an eye on the light. And I heard about 4 or 5 zaps taking less than 10 seconds total if that. There wasn't a countdown as I was told to expect. Waring moved the flap back where it should have been and smoothed it out some, but at no time did the laser turn . Then they covered the eye with some clearish half goggle type things and then worked on the second. It went just as fast. When the left eye was done, they took the speculums out and got all the stuff off me. When I sat up everything looked hazy (think like you have just been crying with contacts in) but I could definitely see an improvement. They led me to post-op.Post-opI sat there for maybe 5 minutes with my eyes closed and then the Doctor came in and looked at my eye and I was pronounced ready to leave. It was only 1:55! IN and out and everything in less than an hour! I went out with the doctor and had him remember to xerox my corrections and I put on my sunglasses. I called Frank to come and get me and like 15 min later he showed (he was expecting MUCH longer before he had to be back.)Going homeI kept my eyes closed until we got to Eckard's (about 1 to 1.5 hours) and Frank dropped off the script. Since it would take 20 min we went to Taco Bell and that is when I put in all my drops for the first time carefully reading the directions (and yes I could see pretty well. My guess... 20/30?). I had some light sensitivity and for a few minutes I felt like there was something in my eye. I also tasted metal from the steroid drug. Of course there actually WAS something in my eye, a grey hair. Frank removed it and that was about it. My right lower eyelid hurt a bit but I ate my taco and went back in the car. Eyes shut back to Eckards and got the pain meds (I sat down in the store, with sunglasses and everyone stared at me). Meds were $5 ($4.95). Eyes shut back in the car (Now 3 hours after surgery) and I get home and take a nap. I think I could have stayed up since it didn't hurt or anything (I start to wonder why I got the meds anyway). I slept until about 8ish (3 hours). I didn't see much of an improvement but I did notice a hint of halos and glares (though I had it worse with my glasses). I stayed up spoke to some people on the phone, watched an hour of TV, drops, then went to sleep with the sleep shades.Next DayWoke up at 3:30 am, there was some improvement. I did some HW. Then waited for everyone to get up.. 6:30 is when everyone else got up. We were out of the house by 7. (There was a lot of frost). We waited for 20 min, then fought with traffic making us late by 30 min. Go there, sign in. Was asked how I slept by a surgical nurse I said wonderfully. Another person asked how the vision was, I said ok.Later, the orderly asks if I am Ms. Binning (I think), I said no. He asked if I would like to be, I said no.Next person up was me though.He asked about the vision, I said everything was ok. I told him I was I was expecting more pain since outside of the right lower lid there was none.. He said he could arrange for some ;) I declined. He asked if I used my drops this morning and I confirmed it. They made me read the line chart and I read 20/20 at the moment. I waited for the doc and I saw him. He said I see 20/20. He checked my flaps and everything was ok. He wrote that in my chart, said congrats, shook my hand and told me to smile, then told me to give my chart to the front desk. I did. I left. All this for a 5-10 min appointment. I called some family told them 20/20 without glasses.So from 20/400 to 20/20 in less than 24 hours, that is pretty cool. Only one burst capillary, which cleared all ready. No pain after the operation. Not much of anything.It’s been several years. I’m 20/20 in right eye, 20/15 in left. BEST thing I’ve done for myself.