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I was terrified of an eyeball injection

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Re: I was terrified of an eyeball injection

#2

Post by danpalmer »

As someone who isn't far off this level with regular injections in regular places, I have a lot of sympathy for the author. Based on my past experience I'd expect it to take me a couple of years to get to the point of being able to do this, and I have no real anxiety about my eyes.

Well done to the author for not giving up.

Re: I was terrified of an eyeball injection

#4

Post by tnjm »

I wonder if some people cope better with knowing less. If the procedure for removing the stitches from my eyeball had been explained in advance, I'd still have them now.

Going in, I'd imagined the best possible outcome. This, of course, didn't bear much relationship to what followed.

No doubt some people would have steeled themselves first given more information. (And perhaps been more stoic!)

Re: I was terrified of an eyeball injection

#5

Post by draven »

I have a lot of sympathy for the author. I've been thinking about getting LASIK (or SMILE as it seems to be gaining popularity in France) since friend got it and says it's life-changing, and since I've started considering it I sometimes have nightmares about the procedure.

I already had some minor surgery with local anesthesic and I didn't have any anxiety, but there's something about having something done to the eyes while fully awake that I find frightening.

Re: I was terrified of an eyeball injection

#8

Post by inetsee »

I have diabetes. My glucose control at home is fairly good because almost everything I eat has a nutrition label, and I can calculate somewhat accurately exactly how much insulin I need to take. When I travel, eating in restaurants regularly, I have to make wild ass guesses as to how much carbohydrate I'm consuming. On a recent trip I had some health issues, including a significant spike in my glucose readings. My A1C went from 6.9 to 8.4 and I had noticeable vision problems. I went to my ophthalmologist and he told me that I had serious retinal bleeds, and I would need injections in both my eyes. It was serious enough that he gave me the first injection in one eye that day, and the second injection in the other eye the next day. My ophthalmologist is very good and I trust him implicitly. The procedure involved antibiotic drops in my eyes, anesthetic drops, and betadine on my eyelids before the injections. The needles used were very small gauge (they looked like 32 gauge). I didn't feel any pain; just a slight feeling of pressure.

If you have a good ophthalmologist, nowadays there is little reason to fear getting injections in your eyes.

Re: I was terrified of an eyeball injection

#9

Post by wccrawford »

draven wrote: post #5

I have a lot of sympathy for the author. I've been thinking about getting LASIK (or SMILE as it seems to be gaining popularity in France) since friend got it and says it's life-changing, and since I've started considering it I sometimes have nightmares about the procedure. I already had some minor surgery with local anesthesic and I didn't have any anxiety, but there's something about having something done to the eye…

I had ICL and then Lasik as part of the same planned procedure, and I had the same thoughts beforehand. The doctors actually made it sound worse than it is.

For ICL, they'd say things like, "You'll feel a little pinch" before they did something, and I barely noticed that anything was happening.

For Lasik, it was nothing. The most uncomfortable part of the procedure was while they were prepping me, and even that wasn't anything worth talking about unless you have some phobia.

It's been a few years now and I barely remember anything about the procedure beyond the room layouts and remembering thinking it went much easier than I expected.

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