'A Life Without Glasses' by Katharina Cramer Part 2

The "life without glasses" project is complete. I had the surgery two weeks ago and am incredibly happy with the result. The operation itself went smoothly and was more relaxed than expected. I was naturally a little nervous, but when I arrived at the surgery, I was given a sedative to keep me calm.

After a short wait, I entered the operating room, where the nurse, completely relaxed, joked with me, "You'll have to blend in with the surgical team now," as she covered my hair and shoes with caps. A short while later, I was brought into the operating room and greeted by Dr. Asani. I'd like to give a quick tip to those of you who are also planning on having surgery: "Dress warmly," because it's a bit chilly in the operating room when you're expecting an outside temperature of 28 degrees Celsius.

At first, I didn't notice it at all, as I was apparently still nervous enough, but after the first eye was done and I relaxed, I was very happy to be covered with a blanket. The table I was placed on could be swiveled. This is necessary, as you first lie under the machine where the incision is made, and then you are swung under the machine that lasers the refractive error. My eyes were numbed with eye drops, and then I was swung under the first machine.

My right eye was done first, while my left eye was taped over. They put an eyelid speculum in, but I didn't feel anything. I saw a circle of light with a green light in the middle. Once the eyelid speculum was in place, a funnel was placed over my eye and the laser moved towards it without me noticing. I just felt some pressure on my eye, but it really wasn't bad, and then it turned black with a hint of green. There were one or two brief clicks, then the funnel was removed again, I was allowed to close my eye, and it was taped over. The incision in the first eye was already finished. The same was then done with the left eye.

When both were finished, I was moved under the other laser. Again, the right eye was treated first, so the left was taped up again, and here, too, I was given an eyelid speculum first. Admittedly, this time it was a bit more uncomfortable than the first time. Under the second laser, I only saw three blurry dots: the outer ones were red and the middle one green. I was told to concentrate on the green dot. Dr. Asani flipped up the so-called "flap," which, when I write, still feels weirder than it actually was, because I didn't feel anything. The flipping up is a bit like the moment you take off your glasses; you go from sharp vision to blurry vision, but you can see something happening in front of you the whole time. I lay there and looked at the green light the whole time, then the doctor asked me to please hold very still for a moment, because then the laser treatment began. This only lasted about 10 seconds, during which the dots got slightly larger and a little blurrier. Here, I also noticed a slightly strange smell, and the doctor said, "Okay, that's it." The slightly burnt smell was a little irritating, but not a big deal, as it quickly dissipated.

After the laser treatment, my eye was rinsed. I have to say that was the best moment because it was cooled and then a stroke was carried out. After the rinse, the cornea (the "flap") was folded back and, to my delight, it was rinsed briefly again. Once the eye patch was removed, the first eye was finished. Since the whole process was so quick and painless, I relaxed and enjoyed the warm blanket that was used to cover me. Now it was the second eye's turn. When that eye was finished, which also seemed just as quick, I sat down on the edge of the couch and was allowed to take a quick look at the clock on the wall. And... I could read it; I was so happy.

Afterwards, I was supposed to keep my eyes closed for another 10 minutes and take a seat in the waiting area. I really appreciated that, as my eyes were already burning quite a bit, but I still couldn't resist the temptation to glance at my watch and be happy that I could read it. My fiancé then picked me up from the waiting room and we drove home. I couldn't see very well at first because it was much too bright outside—as I mentioned, 28 degrees—which meant a lot of sun, and my sunglasses weren't enough. I was a bit tired from the excitement, so I lay down for a while when I got home. I had to use a lot of drops for the first few days because my eyes were very dry and watered a lot.

But from the next morning, I could read everything. The first thing I did was read the ingredients list of my toothpaste, because I couldn't believe I could read such small print without my glasses. I have to say, sometimes I still can't believe it, and I'm always happy when I have that moment. For the first few days, I always had the feeling I'd forgotten something and often tried to push my no longer existing glasses up my nose properly. It's a very liberating feeling to go about my daily life without glasses. Not only are the restrictive frames gone, but I also no longer have to reach for my glasses on the bedside table. Of course, I still occasionally reach for them, but then I'm glad there's nothing left. I'm just so glad and happy that I did it and I'm really looking forward to celebrating the wedding without glasses or lens problems.

Katharina Cramer