lasik 101

as some of you alrdy know, i had lasik done on my eyes on monday afternoon and i'm happy to report that things look good (and clear) at the moment.
there were two main reasons i decided to go ahead with the lasik procedure:
(1) i did not want to wear rigid gas permeable contact lenses all my life because they do have a molding effect on the cornea of which the long term effects are not known
(2) working on a microscope and playing football with spectacles are a pain
so yea here's a rundown of the lasik procedure which i have to say is pain-free but a wee bit uncomfortable at times:
step 1 is the evaluation session that takes a few hours and determines whether you are suitable for lasik and which procedure is suitable for you. so the clinic will run you through a series of tests, most of which are done by any eye doctor (if you have seen an eye doctor before) or even your optician. one of the tests includes the dilation of your pupil to ascertain the refraction of your eye at its natural (relaxed) state. there is no pain but there will be some temporary blurriness and sensitivity to bright light. at the end of the evaluation the doctor will recommend the appropriate surgery technique to take.
now on to the surgery itself. anaesthetic eyedrops are applied to numb your eyes. next the doctor will use sticky tape to tape ur eyebrows back before placing a speculum between ur eyelids. this device keeps ur eyes open and prevents blinking but the process of putting it in causes some discomfort. next a suction ring is positioned on your eye to steady the eyeball. pressure will be applied through the ring and it gives a sensation similar to the pressure you feel in your arm when ur blood pressure is taken. so u will feel like ur eyeball is being lightly squeezed. once this is done, the flap will be created (mechanically using a microkeratome in my case). this step has no pain involved but is rather interesting from the patient's point of view, which is akin to being at the bottom of a well with a transparent hemispherical cover. when the flap is lifted, it looks like the cover has been opened and flipped open (i dun think im doing justice to this with my tepid description). so after the flap is flipped opened, the laser treatment will begin and it feels and sounds like you are being shot at by a machine gun as the laser goes about re-shaping your cornea. the flap is then replaced and smoothened over by a sponge gauze before the instruments are removed from your eye.
post surgery, one should rest (i.e. sleep) as much as possible to allow your eye to recover. the steroid eyedrops must be applied as prescribed to stave off bacterial infection (one big cause of failure) and the eyes should be kept moist as much as possible to promote recovery.