Zapping the peepers

A few weeks ago, my sister emailed me to say she did the LASIK thing and proudly proclaimed that she could see.
The wife decided she would take the plunge too (something she had been mulling over for the past few months), so yesterday we headed off to the Magill Laser Center for her evaluation. After a couple of hours of doing things to her eyeballs and checking the status of her vision, they pronounced her a good candidate for laser surgery on the eyes. She’s going to get her eyeballs zapped next week.
The evaluation is pretty interesting. First they check the shape of your eyeballs, then do a standard vision evaluation just like going to your regular optometrist for an eye exam. Another nifty camera type device is used to measure the diameter of your dilated pupils. Eyedrops numb the eyes for a pressure test followed by a little probe thingy that’s used to measure the thickness of the cornea in several different spots. More eye drops are used to dilate the pupils and paralyze the normal focusing reflex (temporarily). While you’re waiting for the drops to take effect, there’s a nice little promotional video about the eyeball lasering process. Another vision evaluation is done by the opthalmologist once the eyes are suitably dilated at which point you can ask the doctor whatever questions are brewing in your brain. Finally someone else reviews all the pre and post-op procedures and schedules a time for the procedure.
When everything was done, the lady who did the last part of the consultation asked when they’d be seeing me there. Unfortunately my vision is crappy enough that I wouldn’t be a very good candidate for the laser thing. Just as well I suppose. I think I look pretty weird without glasses anyway.