What to Expect – Surgery

On the day you come in for your LASIK procedure, you can expect to be at our office for about an hour and a half. A lot will happen on that day, but the procedure only takes about 5 minutes per eye! At the time you scheduled your surgery you will have been given consent forms, prescriptions and told that you will need a ride home after the procedure. So, remember to bring your drops and your driver that day when you come to our office.

Below are the 5 steps to guide you through this process:

1. You will start by checking in with our front desk staff. They will review your consent form(s) with you and verify your treatment information, then process your payment. Be sure you have reviewed your paperwork and bring all of the medications and eye drops you have been given.

2. Next, you will be taken to an exam room by one of our technicians.

  • She will offer you a small dose of Valium. This medication will help you to relax and remain still during the treatment.
  • Dr. Mills or Dr. Mozayeni will measure your vision again on the day of your treatment. We want to confirm the measurements previously determined and verify consistency.
  • One of our technicians will return to the room to go over your post-operative instructions in detail. All of these instructions will be verbally reviewed and given to you in written form, so don’t worry about being nervous and forgetting what we tell you. If the person driving you to your appointment will be staying with you after your treatment, it is a good idea for them to join you to listen to these instructions.
  • The technician will be putting drops in your eyes and cleaning the area around your lids and lashes with a cleansing solution to prepare you for your treatment.
  • Once you have been given instructions and prepped for the laser room, Dr. Mozayeni will talk to you for a few minutes and tell you exactly what to expect in the treatment suite.

3. One of our staff will escort you to the Laser Suite and turn you over to the care of the surgical technician.

  • Depending upon whether you are having an IntraLASIK procedure or PRK, the technician will direct you to the appropriate laser bed, position you under the laser, and make sure you are comfortable.
  • She will start by taping some gauze pads at the side of your face (so the drops we use don’t run into your ears.) We then instill several numbing drops in your eyes. From this point on, the only thing you will feel during your procedure may be pressure.
  • We then tape a shield over one eye while we work on the other – this makes it much easier for you to concentrate on the fixation light that helps keep your eye aligned.
  • If you are having IntraLASIK, you will start your treatment on the Intralase® Laser, which is the one we use to make the corneal flaps. This process takes about 30 seconds per eye. During this time, Dr. Mozayeni immobilizes the eye with a special device that creates a pressure feeling. Next the technician will help you move from the Intralase Laser to either the VISX® Star S4™ laser or the Allegretto Wave® Eye-Q Laser (just a couple of steps.)

If you are having a PRK procedure, at this point your procedure will start:

  • The technician will align you under the Allegretto Wave Eye-Q Laser or VISX Star S4 and make sure you are comfortable. You will hear how the laser sounds as the technician performs a calibration before Dr. Mozayeni begins. We start by keeping the eyelids open for you with a device you will not feel at all. Remember that your eyes are numb so you will not feel anything during this part. Many people don’t realize that when your eyes are numb, you don’t feel the need to blink!
  • Dr. Mozayeni will make sure that you can see the fixation light and that you are perfectly aligned under the laser. After a few steps to prepare your cornea for the treatment, he will move the eye tracker into position. You will hear the sound of the laser which is similar to a soft buzzing noise. Most treatments only last between 10 and 30 seconds.

4. After a few seconds of rinsing with saline, the procedure is now over. If the other eye is scheduled to be done that will happen next. You can expect this entire process for both eyes to take about ten minutes, after which Dr. Mozayeni will use an eye microscope and check to make sure that everything looks perfect before you head home. One of our staff members will escort you out of the laser suite and into a room where your eyes will be covered with clear plastic shields to protect them. You are then ready to go home for a nap.

5. You can expect your eyes to water and be sensitive to light for a few hours, so we suggest you go home and sleep through this part of it. By the time you wake up, your eyes should be comfortable and you will see the beginnings of your results.