Robert had Lasik done awhile ago, so long ago now that he has to wear glasses again, which is apparently a thing that happens. He would occasionally wear glasses anyway, for their intimidating effect, which was powerful enough to work on me even though I knew they were props. He told us about the process, which he found beyond odd: the laser man talked to him the whole time his cornea was off, complimenting him on the brilliant color of his iris, now unencumbered by its protective scale.
He told me that story when I first met him, too long ago to even remember when that was exactly, and I’ve probably thought about it one or twice a week ever since: a man who is always in some way unsatisfied with the human eyes he sees, who knows that there is some undiscovered color beneath those shells, a shell he knows is easy, so easy, to pull away.
There’s a 30 minute television horror episode in this one, somewhere. Assuming that they still do those. On cable, maybe? Yeah, probably on cable.
Used to watch surgeries back when cable channels played that kind of thing. Eye surgeries were the ones that really weirded me out and it was for that reason. Something about the patient being alert, just… got to me.
Horror? Not so much. I’m one of those who’s had Lasik so long ago (1997) that I need glasses again, for reading – entirely a function of age. Yeah, it was kind of weird at the time – they gave me 15 mg of Valium prior to the procedure – but going home, sleeping it off, and being able to see in the morning – after 30+ years of being legally blind (-9.5 diopters) but for corrective lenses? Frickin’ bliss… I had 4 – 5 years of not needing visual correction at all – I can honestly say it’s been totally worth it…