Seeing is Believing ...

... because as many of you know, I can now see properly out of my very own two eyes, rather than through glasses or contact lenses. But it is a strange experience. Most people ask me if it is good to be able to see now. And the fact is that it doesn't feel all that different. As I used to put my glasses or contact lenses on as soon as I got up in the morning, and then only take them off last thing at night, I always could see... Now I have to keep pinching myself, reminding myself that it is my very own eyes that are doing all the work, rather than a precription from the optometrist.

Of course I have been thinking about this for a long time; about 10 years to be exact. In the past when I have seriously considered it however, I always felt that the procedure was a little bit new still, and it was afterall my eyes. However when, late last year, a colleague at work had it done, and talked about the surgeon having been doing this for 25 years, I started to think that maybe he had had enough practice, and that the time had come...

All this of course has been influenced by the fact that about 3 years ago, my eyes started to rebel against wearing contact lenses. After bearing them every day for nearly 10 years my eyes had had enough. So, I've been wearing glasses pretty much constantly since. And you know what - it's really boring. I do actually have two pairs of glasses - my former and current pair if you see what I mean. But even so, it really was getting to feel like I needed to be able to change my look more regularly - except that it's not really possible when a pair of glasses (even with my very simple prescription) is about 400 euros a pop! In addition, I realised that it was limiting what clothes I wore, and what jewellery I chose. I used to chose different jewellery every day (as many of you know, I have a fair amount of it) but no, my glasses were impacting on my earring choice, and I just keep wearing the same pair of plane silver hoops.... for days on end ...!

And then there is the smog... Not that it seems like there is smog in Amsterdam - on the days were there isn't any cloud cover (of which luckily we have had quite a lot this summer) there is no obvious pollution. But we are afterall living in northern Europe, and I found that every day I had to keep cleaning my glasses - over - and over - and over again! Actually I wondered for a while whether my eyes were deteriorating, because I felt like I was looking through a film, but no, every time I cleaned my glasses I realised the film was on the lenses but not the eyes.

So I took the plunge.

And from the initial phone call to the surgery was about 3 weeks. I had no idea it would be so quick, but having decided to do it I was very pleased and excited that it all happenned so fast. I was lucky to have "thick corneas" which meant that I could have the quick healing version of the surgery. For those of you interested in the finer details - the thicker cornea meant that they could lift a flap of cornea, then do the laser treatment under that, and then put the flap back over - which massively aids healing. Anyone who has ever cut their knees knows that an open wound heals more slowly than when there is a flap of skin sitting directly over the cut. And so it is with eyes too.

It is now 3 weeks after the surgery and I have finished all the drops that I had to take (16 times a day in the first week!) and I have had two check ups, with another in a few days. The after surgery care is really very impressive - first check up the day following treatment, 2nd check up a week following, 3rd check up 3 weeks following and so it goes on for 12 months. And all included in the one price, which also included the two pre surgery consultations as well. Plus they guarantee the work, so if it doesn't quite work the first time, they will do it again. Not that I would want to, but apparently my cornea is thick enough to do it 15 times ....

And in case you are wondering, it was 2000 euros for both eyes, which if you think about the cost of glasses and multiply that by a lifetime, doesn't seem to be that much.

So now I don't have to carry multiple sets of glasses, contact lenses and assorted related paraphenelia whenever I travel. I can wear all my jewellery again (and yes I have bought some more) and its really a lot of fun.

I just have to keep reminding myself that it's because my very own eyes are doing the seeing.

And I'd recommend it to anyone.

Nicky