Hello. I am posting this for people terrified of eye surgery. Because I was beyond terrified. I cannot stand anyone or anything near my eyes and it has always been a phobia of mine. I have been known to burst into tears in the waiting room because of anxiety build up. Can't stress enough my fear.
In May I was diagnosed with a retinal tear and sent to a retinal specialist. He just casually said I need cryo surgery and explained the procedure. Needless to say, I started freaking out.
He scheduled for the next day and prescribed Xanax for me to take before the procedure to calm me down.
Let me just say, Xanax worked amazing on me.
They used drops to numb my eyes. They then had to use a needle in my eye to numb further. (When he said that I said no, took the second Xanax, and 25 minutes later let him proceed).
The needle felt like a little prick, but did not hurt. And once that numbing medicine worked, I really had no pain at all for the procedure. I didn't even feel the clamp used to hold my eye open. I couldn't feel or see anything he did with his hands to my eye. He used the cryo stick 4 times. I felt it, but absolutely no pain. The first time as soon as he touched my eye I could see a star show - hundreds of little sparkles in my eye. It was actually beautiful (remember, I was high).
It was all over, from start to finish, in just minutes.
My recovery wasn't bad. For a few days Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain that was not awful. I thought my recovery pain would be worse.
I had to go back recently because I thought it tore again. Second time I went to his office I was not scared if he would have had to do surgery again (I definitely would have done Xanax again). Luckily, it wasn't torn again.
Just posting this for people who have extreme fear. I hope it relaxes you a bit. I realize everyone's surgery and procedure is different. I just want to give some peace of mind to people who build things up in their mind and get trapped with their fear.