Lasik - David

OK. We told very few people about this, simply because it came very suddenly anyway. I had Lasik done on Tuesday! And Gladys is doing hers this coming Friday.

What happened was that we had been planning to go for Lasik some time in December, so we decided to go for a pre-evaluation at this Lasik Surgery Centre at Paragon on Monday. Little did we know that the surgery is supposed to be best done ASAP after the pre-evaluation when the data they have is still fresh, just in case the eyes might have changed slightly after weeks. So, if it was to be done before my exams, of cos the earlier the better, so that I'll have time to rest before my exams. My exams are about 2 weeks later, and the CEO (a German Chinese) assured me that it should be fine by then. So, I just booked the surgery for the very next day, which was Tuesday.

As for Gladys, as SGH requires her to give the diagnosis for any MC, she couldn't go for the op and rest based on MC. So she had to arrange it on this Fri after work as she's off on Sat, and then go back to work on Sun.

During the evaluation, we were put through a whole lot of tests. Look into this machine, hold still there blah blah. Test eyesight blah blah. There was even this part where they put some dilation eye drops and our near-sightedness was affected. After all the tests, we had a consultation with the doctor who would advise us on which kind of operation to go for, as there was the standard one (cheapest, S$2400 before GST), the Wave-front (a.k.a. customised) one (S$3500 before GST) and Epi-Lasik (most expensive, S$3788 before GST).

Gladys did some research before booking, and asked for Dr Marc Tay, supposed to be the best among the 3 surgeons there. He's a very nice guy. And indeed, he was the medical director, so should be the most senior among the three. And he IS a very nice guy. He looks Eurasian, quite handsome. He suggested standard to both of us. He explained to me that although Wave-front would get rid of my astig better, it would clear more of my cornea away, not leaving any space for me. Standard one would allow me to do Lasik in the future again in case I want to do the Lau Hua Lasik etc. Of course, I would like to do the standard one due to the "space" (as he put it) and the price.

So, anyway, Tuesday 2pm was my appointment time for the operation. My mom wasn't working and went with me. I went to the preparation room at 2pm, got ready and just waited. Was I scared or what. I was fidgeting around in my seat. The nurses were quite nice though. I should type another entry about the place itself.

Finally my turn came at about 3:30pm. I was asked to go into the operating theatre and lie down on those chair that's like those in dental clinics except it's flatter. The doctor first dropped some eye drops into my eyes, and then dropped the anaesthetic eye drops. He then started the operation on the right eye. He covered my left eye and put a plastic sheet over my right eye to pull back the eye lashes. He then put an instrument to hold my eye lids open, during which he kept apologising for the discomfort (such a nice guy). He put this suction thingy over my right eye to suck up the cornea flap, I think, and my vision blacked out. Then there was this buzzing sound, which I have no idea what was it. Perhaps cutting my cornea flap? Before I know it, he was pulling back my cornea flap. I could see it happening as he brushed the flap, but I couldn't feel a thing. After which, I was told to focus on a red light and the laser started. It lasted about 40 seconds or so, during which he kept assuring me. There was a burning smell and some tapping sounds, which he already mentioned before the op. In fact, he let me hear the sound of the laser before the op started. Soon, he was covering my cornea flap back and put a piece of zero-degree contact lense over my eye to protect the flap. Then it was on to my left eye!

I must say that it was much faster and less scarier than I thought. My left eye was more problematic though. The anaesthetic was starting to wear off and I could feel a slight pain when he put the instrument to hold my eye lids open. He apologised, asked me to bear with it just a little while and loosened the grip of the instrument. During the putting back of the flap, he took a much longer time than with my right eye. Well... My left eye was still feeling discomfort as of yesterday, whereas my right eye was feeling perfectly fine the morning after the op.

The procedure ended at about 3:45pm and I was out! I was given eye shields to cover my eyes, which I had to use for the whole of that day and whenever I sleep for the first 3 days to prevent me from rubbing my eyes. When I was out, my eyes were very uncomfortable, went red, and kept tearng. Somehow, I was the only one like that whereas the other patients seemed OK. Perhaps my eyes were really sensitive or Dr Tay didn't put that much anaesthetic eye drops as compared to others. Cheryl (the CEO), who attended to Gladys and me asked after me and passed me tissue paper. By the time Gladys arrived (at almost 5pm), I was much better already. After Gladys booked her appointment, we went off to take a cab back.

For the first day, I had to drop this anti-biotics eye drops hourly whenever I was awake, and 4 times a day for the first 10 days. And I also had to drop this Refresh Plus eyedrops every 2 hoursly for the first month or so. I think I'll do so for the first 2 weeks, and reduce from then on. The eyedrops are very expensive!

After dinner, I took a sleeping pill (we were given 3 to help us sleep for the first day as we were supposed to sleep as much as possible, and discomfort might prevent us from sleeping). I really slept quite well till about 2+am when I woke up just for a while before falling asleep again. Woke up at 6am to prepare to go for my 1st review at 8am. By then, I could see without my specs, although not to say very clear. Dr Tay removed the contact lenses, looked at my eyes and told me that there were no problems with my flaps. First day was supposed to have only about 75% vision, which I found to be not bad already.

Today, my vision is still slightly blurred, but much improved. It's supposed to get up to 90% over 2 to 3 days, and slowly recover in about a week. The fact that I could use the computer yesterday already shows that my vision is not bad already. But my left eye was still slightly uncomfortable up to this morning. It's getting better though, so hopefully nothing wrong with it. Just that it's taking longer than my right eye to heal. My right eye's got perfect vision already. Just my left eye.

Here's a pic of me on the first day when I got home after my op. The Ultraman eyes:


Here's the stuff I had to use for my eyes.


If anyone's interested in Lasik, let us know and we can share our experience.