Retina Check

Following on from my initial Lasik consultation I was referred to an eye doctor to have my retinas checked. If you've never undergone such a procedure I can tell you it's not the most pleasant thing in the whole world. At least this time they told me to bring a driver with me - unlike the last time I'd had it done when I was still living in London when I ended up having to sit in the car for two hours before I could just about see enough to make the (luckily) short drive home!
To begin with the doctor puts special drops in your eyes which enlarge the pupils, they also sting like hell! You then have to wait for 10 minutes for the drops to take effect (basically your pupils dilate until you look like a serious drug user and can't see very well). Then back into the doctor's room for the examination. One of the side effects of having enlarged pupils is a sensitivity to light - this is unfortunate as the examination consists mainly of an incredibly bright light being shone into your eye while the doctor peers in through a special kind of microscope. Luckily the examination doesn't take very long, I spend the entire time with my eyes streaming and the doctor having to hold them open!
Once that was over I got the good news. The changes around the edges of my retina are just changes in the pigmentation from where the eye has stretched and changed shape due to my myopia, they are no indication of a predisposition to a retinal detatchment. In fact, not only am I no more at risk of a retinal detatchment than anyone else with my level of myopia (which does make me a higher risk than joe public) but in fact my retinas look in particularly good shape so if anything I am at less risk than you would expect. The doctor said he's pass on his notes to the Lasik people and if I wanted to go ahead with that procedure he couldn't see any reason why not too and thought it would be hugely beneficial to me.
So that was all good news, and just 25 minutes after arriving (and many dollars lighter in the wallet!!) I could go home. Luckily it was a foggy day so not too much sunlight about to aggrevate my blurry and weepy eyes, but I still kept them shut for most of the drive home.
I'd planned to work at home for the day anyway as I wasn't sure how many hours it would be before I could drive or work comfortably at a computer. In fact I didn't have too many problems with the computer after about an hour. In the afternoon I ventured outside to take the dogs for a walk which was ok, but typically the day long Hamilton fog chose that time to finally lift so it was a bit brighter outside and I was glad of my sunglasses.
By the evening my vision was more or less back to normal and my pupil size had reduced almost to normal size. My eyes were still stinging from the drops but that cleared up the following morning.