Consultation
First impressions, and tests
The Medical Center is easy to get to (minus traffic) right off a main freeway in Minneapolis.
Their office has this meditation / modern feel to it, open and lots of wood.
The staff wear matching black uniforms, and were friendly enough..
For the most part the rooms were clean and well laid out..
The unisex bathroom however was a mess, it was strange that no one thought about taking the trash out.. ever.
Arrived at 3pm and filled out some forms, then they took us (Rachael was with) back to the 1st room.
The small room had 3 different testing stations, 1st the old school cover your eye and read the bottom line test. With and without glasses.
She then read the prescription off my glasses and thankfully they were not too far off.. It was an old prescription and I order my glasses off the internet..
Then it was the which is better 1 or 2 test, along with which is more in focus test.
There was an A on the wall to test your dominant eye..
Next was some numbing and dilating eye drops..
The drops felt kind of gummy and apparently worked right away because the next test was glaucoma and cornea thickness tests.
They don’t do the puff of air in the eye anymore it was just something that got really close to it… But not as close as the cornea thickness measurement tool which I think actually touches the eye.. Did not feel a thing thanks to the drops.
The next station was something that looked like a vertigo inducing machine, with a spiral pattern and flashing lights I think it was scanning the cornea..
Then another prescription check with dilated eyes.
After all those tests we went to another room to watch a DVD about them and their services.
It explained all the aspects of who what when where how etc..
Next we moved to a 3rd room, that looked more like a dentist office setup.. but black..
Here I had a few more eye tests, which were tough since I couldn’t see very well thanks to the drops.. Another set of ‘read the bottom line’ and ‘which is better’..
One of the Doctors spent a long time explaining everything again, and fielded questions, and told me what surgery would work for me.
He said due to my cornea thickness and prescription that I would have to do PRK in one eye and Lasik in the other.. That way they could still correct the thin cornea if needed in the future..
He explained that with PRK it is more uncomfortable and takes longer to heal, and that your vision will get worse before it gets better while healing.. But both have the same result.. Kinda scary but it makes sense… It is ultimately a scab on your eye…
The nurse came back in to answer more questions and schedule a date.
I set it up for a week from the exam.
The ride home was bright.. The drops they use for dilation last a lot longer than normal, in fact they lasted about 6 hours on me..
Next week the Procedure