‘To see is to believe’

What a sight! I craned my neck even further, dazzled by the brilliant colors and figures of Michelangelo’s fresco paintings on the Sistine Chapel’s vaulted ceilings. There they were — God creating Adam, Biblical prophets, saints, angels and nude figures — in bright Tuscan colors that have been brought back to all their glory by a remarkable restoration. I was so awed I couldn’t speak.

But even more than a sudden surge of admiration for the Renaissance painter and what are considered some of the world’s greatest works of art, I couldn’t speak because I was so overwhelmed by what I was experiencing — I was reveling in the gift of sight and all that it offered me. You see, just a month before this awesome experience, I couldn’t see anything clearly beyond a foot away from my eyes. With a grade of -5.75 on my left eye and -5.62 on my right, that meant I was as blind as a bat without my contact lenses or my eyeglasses. See those blurred pictures that come out when you photograph objects which you failed to focus on properly? Well, that’s how the world looked to me without my glasses or lenses on.

I started to become myopic (near-sighted) when I was about 14 years old. I first wore glasses and then about two years later, switched to contact lenses because I found glasses to be cumbersome while playing volleyball, basketball and other sports. I tried hard contact lenses which was relatively okay, except that with dust or particles or a sudden gust of wind, my eyes would turn red or itch. There were also times when a lens would suddenly fall off. I vividly remember when I was a teenager and we were having a disco party. A hard lens fell off and in a panic I asked everyone around me to stop dancing and that the lights be turned on just so we could all look for that one missing lens!

Soft contact lenses, which I wore by the time I was in college, were better. However, I couldn’t swim comfortably because I had to wear goggles — which I didn’t like — if I wanted to dive or swim below water level. Since we live by the sea, this became an inconvenience for me during summertime when it was so much fun to swim. I also liked water-skiing and you can imagine what pains I took to make sure my lenses didn’t fall off while I splashed around in the waters.

Besides those inconveniences, goodness knows how many contact lenses I had lost or inadvertently ripped while cleaning! The ritual of daily cleaning was something that, I admit, did bore me. And the lenses, cleaning and rinsing solutions also meant money spent through the years. Then after the cleaning I had to make sure I had glasses by my bedside so that if I woke up at night or the next day, I wouldn’t — again — be as blind as a bat.

In recent years I had heard about breakthrough corneal procedures to restore a 20/20 vision but I didn’t give them much thought. But I had become so fed up with having poor eyesight that one day, when my friend Rosa de Sequera suggested laser surgery on my corneas at Shangri-La Mall’s American Eye Center, I guess I was ready for it. The prospect that I could — at last — see clearly so excited me. Anyway, Rosa told me, she herself had had corneal surgery there and was now enjoying 20/20 vision.

All Or Nothing

Rosa added that just like any patient at American Eye Center, I would have a comprehensive check-up and orientation/briefing before the procedure. Fine, I thought. This would either convince me or deter me from proceeding with surgery. My mindset when I headed to the Center was that I wanted to have all my questions answered; I told myself that if I were not 100 percent convinced, I wouldn’t go through the procedure at all.

The procedure I would undergo — if ever — would be the Laser-assisted in situ keratomilieusus (LASIK). This uses the Excimer laser technology that in turn employs the LADARTracker. Remember President Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars space program? NASA had developed a tracking technology aimed at destroying possible enemy missiles or satellites. Ophthalmologists in turn found the technology applicable to the movements of the human eye. In brief, the high-speed, radar-based LADAR tracking system is so fine-tuned, it can track eye movements during eye surgery so that the laser beams used for slicing the corneas can be accurately positioned. This means greater accuracy or such a slim margin for errors.

As Dr. Jack Arroyo Jr. explained, "The human eye moves at a rate of a thousand times per second. Previously available lasers functioned only at a speed of 80 times per second. LADAR Vision’s radar laser tracking technology is capable of speeds 4,000 times per second—400 percent more than what is required to track the eye."

Credentials

While that fact did impress me, another consideration also helped convince me to try the procedure. You see, whether it is for myself or my family, I have always believed that any surgical procedure is only as good as the doctor who performs it. While training and credentials are important, one oft-overlooked consideration is how many of the same kinds of surgery a doctor has performed.

"It is one thing to have been merely trained, it is another to have performed the surgery many times," explained Dr. Arroyo, head of the American Eye Center, a graduate of BS Zoology and Medicine at UP. Dr. Arroyo had his residency training in Ophthalmology at the Philippine General Hospital. Then he trained with Dr. James Salz at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Eye Institute where he obtained his Fellowship in Keratorefractive Surgery. He is a Diplomate of the Philippine Board of Ophthalmology and a member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, among others.

Under Dr. Arroyo, the American Eye Center has become the country’s premier ophthalmic laser center for the correction of near-sightedness, far-sightedness and astigmatism. With over 15,000 procedures performed, the Center boasts of the largest clinical experience in Southeast Asia in both photorefractive (PRK) and laser-assisted in situ keratomilieusis (LASIK).

As Dr. Arroyo also explained to me, not all who would like to have corneal surgery can have one. "Among the outright disqualified," he said, "are those with keratoconus (cone-shaped lens), autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, those with a history of dry eyes and cataracts (the latter have to be attended to first), and those still below 18 years old because their eyes are still not stable."

I had to forgo wearing contact lenses for a week before surgery so the normal curvature of my corneas would be there by the time I would have surgery. The preliminary screening and various eye tests (refraction, contrast sensitivity, pupillometry, retinal screening and cyclopegic refractions) done on me showed that I had no other eye problems and that I was indeed qualified for the surgery.

After all these, LASIK Counseling was given me for any further questions I might have. I was given antibiotic eye drops to be instilled thrice a day for three days prior to surgery.

Without A Hitch

After signing a consent form, I finally underwent surgery without a hitch. The entire procedure was performed and recorded by Dr. Arroyo on a VHS tape which was given to me right after the procedure (I later showed it at home to my family just to explain exactly what I had undergone). Dr. Arroyo told me the Center does this for all patients.

I lay comfortably on my back and except for seeing bright lights flash before me I can say I did not experience any other discomfort. It was over in less than 20 minutes and my eyes were covered by gauze patches for about the same time. My eyes were then re-examined to determine the alignment of the corneal flaps. Since mine were aligned correctly, I was allowed to go home.

At home — because I had been told I might experience discomfort for the next three hours — I slept for five hours straight. That night, when I first opened my eyes, I just sat and stared out the window. How beautiful it was to see the silhouette of a leaf bobbing against the moonlight! I wondered if people realize how truly valuable the gift of sight is.

I dutifully followed up on the days I was told to return for check-ups, and dutifully applied the antibiotics, steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs I was supposed to use. Fortunately I did not experience any of the low-risk adverse effects that can arise from the surgery (based on the Center’s experience, among them, less than 0.01 percent risk of infection during the post-operative period and night glare which is usually transient and diminishes over time). Since undercorrection and overcorrection can also occur, in some cases additional surgery may be needed to enhance the initial results, or glasses and lenses may be required.

I have shared here my own personal experience with LASIK surgery fully aware that with any surgery on any part of the body, the response and results will differ on a case to case basis. I believe that if you feel that LASIK surgery may be beneficial to you and enhance the quality of your life, you have to ask as many questions or learn as much as you can about it, and check out the skills of the doctor you will choose to perform it.

As for me, my experience has proven to me that to see is to believe — to believe in the miracles that modern medicine can do, that is.

(Editor’s Note: The above account is not an endorsement of any medical procedure, just the author’s narration of a personal experience that has been most "enlightening" for her.)

(For inquiries on the American Eye Center at Level 5 of Shangri-La Plaza, EDSA cor. Shaw Blvd, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City, call tel. no. 636-0762 or fax no. 638-5837)

(E-mail the author at annmondo@yahoo.com)