Life After Refractive Surgery: My Freedom from Glasses and Contacts
March 17, 2017
Since refractive eye surgery, the aspect of convenience has been the most pleasant surprise for me. Travel has become a much simpler feat; I no longer have to worry about hauling big bottles of lens solution and extra contacts with me, and I don’t have to take my contacts out due to discomfort on dry airplanes or just because I want to take a nap during a long flight. When I would go camping in the past, contact lenses always meant having to worry about irritated eyes from smoky campfires, and trying my best to keep my contacts clean when taking them out and putting them in. Now, I can enjoy my surroundings without feeling hindered by glasses or contacts.
I can now focus on enjoying myself when doing things like hiking, wakeboarding, swimming, and skiing, rather than worrying about uncomfortable contacts or blurry vision in the water. And while I always like to make sure a session at the gym isn’t too easy, not having to worry about glasses falling off my face in the middle of a rep means my workout is a little simpler, and I can focus on what I want to achieve instead of how I’m going to see what I’m doing.
On the other hand, sometimes it’s just about the small victories. I’ve freed up valuable storage space in the bathroom by getting rid of contact lens solution bottles, lens cases, and glasses. I don’t need to worry about dozing off in contacts after a long day when I’ve got my nose in a book, or I’m watching late-night TV. Waking up in the morning and being able to see clearly still feels like a treat a year after surgery, and I don’t need to search for my glasses in the morning just so I can find my way to the kitchen to make coffee.
An Investment in Your Vision
Refractive eye surgery is also an investment in your vision. When you consider the cost of eyeglasses today, updating your frames or lenses can be very costly. In addition, properly taking care of contacts means changing lens solutions daily, properly cleaning your contacts, and throwing away old pairs at the proper time (be it daily, weekly, or monthly), and that can make contact lenses a costly option for vision correction. Investing in refractive eye surgery can therefore mean saving on vision correction in the long term. And what better thing to save for than your next glasses-free adventure?
-Clarity Patient