susan
I wore glasses for nearly 8 years and moreover, being a girl, I can tell you how inconvenient it is. At the age of 18, I was already looking to do laser eye correction, however my optomitrist insisted I wait until 2nd year of uni. So I did. And when I was in 2nd year of uni, the optomitrist told me to wait until I was past 30. After that, I had enough and so decided to schedule a consultation and maybe even surgery with Dream Eye Centre in Gangnam.
On my first day at the clinic, my allocated staff member Choo Young Jin greeted me warmly and explained the whole check up procedure in detail. I filled out some papers, waited a bit and was led by Mr Choo to a row of around 10-11 machines where a number of eye checks were performed to ensure I was the right candidate for lasek. I must say, the check ups were in so much detail! I was told information about my eye that I never knew; ranging from the size of dry area on my eye to the thickness of my cornea and size of my pupil. It was pretty releaving to know that your doctor thoroughly checked your eyes before really doing the surgery.
After the numerous eye tests, I was assigned a doctor, Dr Lee Dong Seoung. Dr Lee once again checked my eyes to confirm that I was suitable for lasek and then advised me that surgery would be carried out in 30 mins. Yay! I finally can do lasek! I was very very excited.
I changed into a gown (as instructed by the nurse) and sat in the waiting room for my turn. The surgery was very very quick. It took no more than 15mins for the doctor to do both eyes. Laying on the table, I was awake and following Dr Lee's instructions. (don't worry that you might blink because they put something between ur eyelids to make sure you don't blink)
The hardest thing about the surgery is probably having to stare at the bright lights during surgery. It was one of those bright lights that make you want to unconsciously finch and blink. But because your eyes are forced open, you have no other option but to stare at the light. For those scared of pain, let me tell you, the surgery doesn't hurt. not one bit.. you might smell something burning but no pain.
However after the surgery, there may be pain. It really depends on the person. When I finished surgery, my eyes were just watery and a bit painful for the first 2 hrs, then I was fine. The girl recovering next to me told me her eyes really hurted then. The first and second day, I was fine. On the second day, I even went out shopping the whole day. But on the 3rd day, my eye hurted the whole day.. I couldn't open them at all and it was very very watery. After the 3rd day, everything was back to normal. My eyes didn't hurt and I resumed my shopping spree.
For the following weeks, I continued to use the eye drops provided and went to regular check ups. I was told that I was recovering well and will gain perfect vision very soon. That day I look forward to.
Overall, lasek is absolutely worth it. Gangnam branch Dream Eye Centre was able to provide me with reassurance that my eyes were in safe hands. The staff were friendly and adequate after care was provided. I strongly recommend this clinic to those who want to be glasses & contact free. Even if you are not sure whether to do lasek or not, just pay them a visit and get a check up to know how ur eyes are doing.
