Eye Trouble
This morning, on my way to the airport to pick up my dad, an eye-care advertisement over the radio reminded me of my near-encounter with lasik surgery a few years back.
I'm short-sighted with an average of 250 degrees in each eye, including astigmatism. Although this is considered not too deep a degree, I still wear either glasses or contact lenses everyday, especially when working, watching television or driving. This brings me further back to the days when I was ignorant and foolish.
When I was young, my eye sight was perfect. My short-sightedness started when I was in secondary school. Some of my classmates were wearing glasses and I found that they looked really cool, and believe it or not, I thought it was FUN to wear glasses. Thus, I decided that I also wanted to wear glasses. So when I read, I purposely put the book very near to my face, or I read while lying down, or under badly lit surroundings. As for watching television, I also tried to sit as near it as possible. I was that out of my mind! When I finally had difficulty reading what was written on the blackboard during classes, I was so happy that the first thing I did when I went home that day, was to tell my parents I needed glasses. Thinking that I would be fussed over, instead, I was scolded by them for not taking good care of my eyes. Well, I wasn't bothered about the scolding then, because I was too impatient for them to take me to an optician. My first pair made me look like a nerd. Many pairs of glasses later, I still look like a nerd.
Then a few years ago, my sis (who's also short-sighted) and I decided to try lasik surgery. We went to an eye surgeon at our local eye hospital for a check-up, and what do you know, he said we were perfect candidates for the surgery (I guess he said that to every would-be patient). We made appointments with him for the surgery, and we were shown a short video of it. That was when we started having second thoughts after watching how they sliced open the cornea, and the red beam of light pointing at the iris. Plus, I think the narrater mentioned something about a burnt smell during the procedure. My sis and I looked at each other and walked out of the room without finishing watching it. We asked a nurse more about the surgery and she was honest enough to tell us that our short-sightedness will still come back if we don't take good care of our eyes. Also, when we grow old, we'll still need glasses as the result of the surgery is not permanent. She also told us about the side effects. That was it! We decided to reconsider. We were also told it would cost us a few thousand dollars per eye. The day before our supposedly first operation, we called the doctor and told him we decided not to do it. No matter how he persuaded us, we stuck very firmly to our decision. Up till now, we do not regret not going for the surgery at all, especially after reading about operations that went wrong, and also about a lady who was blinded by it. It's not worth spending so much money to "buy" misfortunes. Of course, there're also successful cases, but we prefer to remain pessimistic when it involves the eyes.
In conclusion, I rather look like a nerd than to go blind. Eyes are windows to our soul. We must really take good care of them, and for those who are thinking of going for lasik surgery, I'll advise you to think again.