Relationship with eyeglasses and Lasik experience

Let me tell you a story about a boy who had eyesight problems in school and his relationship with eyeglasses over the next decade.

Note: If you want to read only about the Lasik experience, jump to Chapter 4.

Chapter 1: “Can’t accept you.”

A 10-year-old boy joined a residential school away from his parents and hometown and was active in culturals, sports, and academics. He used to partake in all contests in the school, be it an essay writing competition, elocution, solo singing, or theater!

Everyone in his family has eye-sight problems except him, and he was happy that he didn’t have to depend on the eyeglasses, given that he had seen the difficulties his family faced with broken glasses and losing them at times. He remotely felt he’d get the glasses someday, owing to family history.

During Dussehra vacation, his family took him to watch a film called Dookudu (2011) starring Mahesh Babu. The movie began, and he could read the name of the production house and the film clearly, but soon, he realized the technicians’ names were a little blurry. He contracted his eyes so he could read the credits clearly. While watching the film, his mind wandered about the visuals of him wearing eyeglasses, which upset him and caused him not to enjoy the movie. He didn’t break the news to his family then and kept it to himself, further worsening the case.

He went back to school after vacation. The problem turned ugly when he started contracting his eyes to read the things written on the board, although he was on the first bench! He realized it was challenging to contract his eyes while taking notes for subjects like mathematics and then disclosed it to his parents. The power was 1.5 and 1.75 for the left and right eye, keeping everyone shocked as this is not normal for a beginner (he forgot which one had the upper hand). He knows the reason — reluctance! Usually, people discover they have eye problems when their power is 0.5 or 1 (as per the doctor and the team).

He promised himself that day — “One day, I’ll earn enough to fund my surgery to get rid of these damn glasses!”

Chapter 2: “I love you more than you love me”

With eyeglasses, his friends and teachers perceived him a little differently. He stopped playing the game he loved the most, cricket, and eventually became socially inactive, too. In a way that helped him in his academics. He started playing Table Tennis and loved that game! With the eyeglasses, he pursued the game seriously and got an opportunity to represent his school!

He maintained the nerdy persona after school and joined a residential college for his 11th and 12th. There were no games, proper sunlight, or other activities for two years, and the focus was only on academics. He was into books, reading the material, doing homework, and writing tests after tests. The only respite for him was watching movies — at the cinema halls or on the cell phones of the junior lecturers or hostel wardens! He was a good student, and the wardens didn’t have a problem giving him their phones to watch movies. He watched Salman Khan’s Bhajarangi Bhaaijaan on a warden’s mobile phone by plugging in one earphone while his friend plugged in the other! The kind of sharing at hostels 🙂

Although this translated to an excellent academic performance towards the end of 12th, his eye power competed with his marks, and it multiplied the metric, surging to 4.5 for both eyes. Now the eyes were even!

While the incentive for studying well was good, it undermined the worry the increase in power got him into. His glasses became thick, reflecting the bond they developed with him!

Chapter 3: “You can break me but can’t live without me.”

With his relationship with eyeglasses going strong, he joined college to pursue his engineering degree. He resumed playing Table Tennis, got a mobile phone and a laptop, and continued watching movies. Though he loved to swim, his eye problem couldn’t help him do that properly. He’d run into others in the pool, assuming they were his friends, and was laughed at!

Surprisingly, with all these activities going on, with a lesser focus on Academics, his eye power didn’t increase after that! He was happy about that and started to show his true colors in his eyeglasses with reckless behavior. From college, he changed his glasses or frame about ten times! It was worse during Covid. One day, he was walking to a grocery store, and the frame had just broken! Nothing touched it — it broke by itself, leaving him speechless! Here’s a picture of a few frames he broke in the last few years!

Chapter 4: “The Separation”

He thought it was enough and planned something in parallel to get rid of the eyeglasses. He started earning in 2020, and the first thing he did was create a recurring deposit with his bank for the Lasik surgery. He was waiting for the right time to get it done.

Cut to 2024, he disclosed his decision to his family and booked an appointment with LV Prasad Eye Hospital for an evaluation. After a few tests and waiting a little over three hours, the doctor gave a green signal for his Lasik, and he was ecstatic! It’s finally happening after twelve years of waiting to get rid of something he perceived as his enemy.

He was eager to wage the war and win over his enemy. His work requires him to be in front of the laptop throughout the day, and Lasik requires him to be away from the screen for at least a week. He needed time to talk to his office and get the leaves sanctioned. The auspicious day of victory was scheduled for 17th July 2024. He was prepared — 10 days leave at work and family by his side for the first surgery of his life, ready to be liberated! Here’s the procedure (for the benefit of people who want to know about this):

After verifying the appointment at the hospital, a round of eye check-ups is done to ensure there’s no power change from the previous appointment. An attendant took him inside a room, made him wear surgical attire, and applied anesthesia drops to the eyes.

Another attendant cleaned the eyes after 5 minutes with a dark liquid with both eyes closed. Just before he went into the operating theater for one last time, he contracted his eyes to see the time, which was 2:34 pm.

The doctor talked about the process during the surgery to make him feel at ease, which certainly helped him. For his procedure (he doesn’t know the exact name of the procedure), they open an eye, apply pressure (no pain) on it, and pass a laser into the eye. Soon after that, the same process is followed for the other eye. The entire process is finished within 20 minutes.

After the surgery, the doctors check both eyes by passing light (I don’t know what that test is) to ensure everything’s alright. He was back to the room with a wall clock, and without a need to contract his eyes, he could look into the clock clearly, which read 2:54 pm. The attendant there gave him dark eyeglasses that were prescribed for one week. He came outside wearing those and met his father with a weird feeling. He could read everything written on the wall posters there!

He was happy and got instructions for the next week: 3 eye drops — 4 times a day, no head bath, no face wash, and no screen time! He was prepared for everything and went back home. Then came the tears. After the effect of the anesthesia drops faded away, the eyes started paining, and there was a waterfall of tears rolling down his cheeks incessantly. It was a little tricky, but the pain is inevitable here only for a short period. He slept for some time, and he wasn’t in any pain by the time he woke up!

Chapter 5: “Thank you!”

He was with his family for the next week — his heaven, quite literally, surrounded by his loved ones. After a week, he got rid of those dark glasses too! After a few days of getting rid of the glasses, one day, while walking alone on the terrace, he pondered — “Did I hate those eyeglasses?”

He realized that the dependency on the eyeglasses made him feel vulnerable, and he hated that feeling of dependency and vulnerability! He wanted to be independent of everything, not relying on tangible things to live. But is it possible for a human-like him to do that?

He tried to delve deeper into his thoughts (yeah, he is an overthinker, too!) and found another feeling deep down — Gratitude! Yeah, they were with him for all the crucial years of his life (given what he did in his teens)! The image that the eyeglasses added to his character helped him avoid all the unnecessary things. Does he have any regrets right now for having to wear those eyeglasses? He doesn’t think so! And he says, “Sincere thanks to the eyeglasses for providing me clear vision 😀”

After Lasik, his friends are still getting used to watching him without glasses, and they often mention, “Looks like you’re missing something today?”

Over the last twelve years, his eyeglasses have always been with him. They were part of him and added a layer to his character that came across as decent (or innocent or, at times, reticent) for people!

So, that’s my story about eyeglasses and my relationship dynamics with them over the years. Surgeries induce anxiety, and it did to me as well! I was slightly in a panic mode the day before surgery and on the day of surgery, but with family around me, it didn’t impact me much! After the surgery, as I couldn’t use social media, my cousins and friends called me to check in on me. My love and gratitude to them. It feels better when you realize your loved ones surround you and they take care of you. I wrote this blog to thank them all — my family, cousins, friends, and colleagues. Tapasi, Suresh, Yitzhak, Hemanth, Meeha, Ashwin, Praneeth, Deekshith, Ranadev, Gowtham, Vridhi, Jishnav, and Gayathiri. Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

Chapter 6: Resurrection?

No, there’s no Part II to this! There’s no cliffhanger towards the end. Recently, I got blue cut glasses (zero power) to prevent headaches while watching the screen for a prolonged time.

Another question most of my friends asked me was, “What did you do for the one week after Lasik, given you were away from the screen, books, etc?”

I was with my family, and my sister was with me throughout. I slept, meditated, and listened to podcasts when they were away for work, but I was having conversations with them when we were together. My sister and mother had the patience to clarify many questions troubling me about the societal pressures women go through and gave their perspective without getting annoyed. You realize how much you’re loved by your family when the need arises, and I’m lucky to have this support system. My sister took a break from work to be with me until I recovered. She was always there with me throughout the period, helping me with everything — including changing the songs on Spotify for me. Towards the end, I questioned myself — would I reciprocate the same care and love towards her if the roles were reversed?

I did check my phone for a few minutes — less than 10 minutes per day to change music, open podcasts, etc. My sister and my father were helping me book the cab, etc.

And what about the activity I most look forward to is watching the cinema on a big screen? Yes, I did that, too, after three weeks of Lasik. I was having a bad day and went to watch a film. I was there, watching the movie titles without glasses after almost twelve years, and saw this appear in “An AR Rahman Musical” ❤️and I was excited!! The man I developed love over these years and watching his movie after getting the surgery done! The movie was Raayan.