A little dose of Me.

I recently underwent lasik eye surgery on the 16^th of February 2006 at Optimax in TTDI. The experience of undergoing this surgery is something which cannot be described but rather needs to be experienced. I first had to do a series of test which costs RM100 (i did these tests about a month ago). The tests took approximately two hours and fourty five mins. The optometrist checked my eyes for any abnormalities as well as measured the thickness of my cornea.

He then invited me into his office and explained what the procedure would be like and calculated the amount of which my cornea would need to be thinned. Lasik surgery actually thins your cornea. So, if your cornea is not thick enough the optometrist would rule out the option of you having this surgery done.

There a few types of corrective eye surgery normal Lasik, Lasek, Custom Lasik, Intralase, Epilasik, etc. These different surgeries are suited for people with different conditions. Intralase is something which my mother felt was much safer than normal Lasik. When i had read the agreement for Intralase and compared it with normal Lasik, i decided to go for the normal Lasik. Normal Lasik uses a blade called ”Microkeratome” to cut and remove the flap above the cornea. Whereas Intralase, uses wave technology and no blade is used, which makes it safer. The reason for me choosing normal Lasik is, in the agreement form it says intralase can cause redness of the eyes sometimes for a couple of days to maybe weeks. Also intralase can cause severe dryness to the eye from a couple of days to weeks or perhaps permanent. This kinda freaked me out. This was what made me choose normal Lasik, also to mention that normal lasik is much cheaper. If you asks anyone, they would say Intralase is safer, perhaps it is. Intralase would have costs me RM7200 wheres normal Lasik cost me RM4500 for both eyes.  Custom Lasik is suited for people who work at night or love night activities. It reduces the night glare. So for those who , love clubbing this one’s for you!!hehe! After having lasik done, I would have to get used to the above average glare from the sun and lights at night. Well, it gave me a good excuse to buy a really nice pair of sun glasses!!! hehe. ..well back to the day of surgery….

I went into a room where patients waited patiently as their names were called. I was given a robe to wear, my hair was covered with a cloth hair cap and my feet with a cloth cover. The assistant there then kept giving me drops to expand my pupil to a certain size. My pupils had to be dilated before the surgery can be done. She also gave me drops(anesthetics) to numb my eyes. She then sat next to me and explained the procedure of after surgery care. She provided me with a casing containing antibiotic eye drops, artificial tears and painkillers (which i didn’t take at all since I’m allergic to aspirin!) The assistant kept checking my eyes to see if the pupil was fully dilated. Dr. Chua came out of the OT after attending to a patient. He sat infront of me and another girl explaining to us what was about to happen. He calculated how much of our cornea surface he was going to remove and explained everything we needed to know. He made sure we were clear on what was going to take place. He told us that there would be a sound (laser) and we would smell something burning. He said “dont worry about all that just concentrate and look at the red light”. It sounded pretty easy. I waited a while more and then my name was called…

Before i went into the OT the doctor had a look at my eyes and used a marker pen to mark my eyes. He then got another assistant to clean my eyes. As soon as it was done, i was taken into OT. About four people were present. They made me lie down on the OT table. They then placed a plastic like cloth around my right eye first and used a clip to open my eyes. They washed my eye and then did a suction. All i had to do was to look at the red light. I did. After a while i felt like the light was fading away but i kept looking. Dr. Chua then said “cutting the cornea” . I was pretty nervous. He kept talking to keep me calm. He then said “cutting over now starting laser”. I could hear the program mentioned the time “58 seconds…..40 seconds…..10 seconds…..procedure over” It was that simple. My left eye was abit more difficult. I couldnt seem to keep my right eye open so my left eye was running about which made it difficult for lasering and the machine stopped for a couple of seconds. It took 58 seconds for each eye. Depending on how much is thinned. For the girl after me, hers would take 1 minute and 10 seconds per eye.

After the procedure, i was able to go home immediately. My mother was waiting for me. I was able to see instantly, but my eyes were burning. It felt like i had cut a hundred onions..!! I went home and lied down. I could’nt even sleep because i was so uncomfortable. I am not allowed to rub my eyes as the flap is not healed and may get wrinkled or even get lost. 2 hours after the surgery i started applying the eyes drops provided by Optimax. I kept doing this every two hours. I then took panadol and slept it over. The next morning, I could see!! i didn’t have to scatter around looking for my glasses anymore! What bliss! It’s amazing ….never would i have imagined not using lenses or spectacles anymore..

One thing about lasik is your eye condition may reoccur, maybe after a few years, but it will not be high. Probably just -100- 150. My optometrist in kelana jaya told me that he has many customers come in to get spectacles even after surgery. The thing with Optimax is, if this condition reoccurs you are able to redo the surgery absolutely free. But the question is, do you really want to thin your cornea any further? Something to ponder about. It is risky, i feel. But hey if your power was -700 and reduced to -100 i think that’s pretty good! Not wearing such thick spectacles anymore is a relieve, believe me!

Anyone interested pls visit www.optimax.com for more information.

Below is just some information on lasik from the webiste

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 19th, 2006 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Current Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.