LASIK: I've done it!

Hello hello, it's my 5th day after my successful LASIK surgery!

So sorry for the delay in this blog post as I wanted to stay away from facing the laptop for long hours.

It feels so awesome and free without the need of glasses / contact lenses! No need to worry if the glasses fog up from the air-con, contact lenses being too dry from wearing too long and the time taken to put them on.

This is how I feel.. The amount of happiness ❤ Photo from last Malacca trip

Let me bring you back to my journey on the surgery day, February 6..

6.00am

Got up from bed feeling blur and sleepy, definitely not enough sleep. Can feel my eyes are so dehydrated from the lack of sleep. Time to shower and prep myself. Put on some comfy warm clothes and blow dry the hair, all done. Then, wait for the boyfie to come pick me up and go to the center together.

6.50am

We arrived and saw a car with the sticker "Vista" on it waiting for us. The driver definitely blasted the air-con for some while as it was coooooooold in there or maybe it's just me that's afraid of cold. He was friendly and welcomed us warmly, chit chatted throughout the journey while assuring me that the surgery would be okay and there's no need to feel overly nervous for it. 

7.45am

Supposed to reach the center by 8.30am but we got there way earlier. Pretty surprised as it was quite heavily jammed up at the highways. The center is located right inside of The Curve. The office wasn't open yet but he was so nice to make a call and get the staffs to open it for us to wait inside.

8 something in the morning

We just sat around, playing with the phone while waiting for the nurse to arrive. The place was pretty comfy and on the side of the long registration table, there was one platform with more than 10 trophies on it. I guess you can say that's how trust-able they are in the industry. They have free chargers for iPhone, Samsung and HTC users, free WiFi and a coffee machine for self-service (awesome plus points for patient's company). Then, the nurse came and took me around for some eye checkup before the surgery. Followed up by signing the consent form and making the payment for the procedure.

9.30am

'Ms Yvone? You are up for the surgery, please follow me.' This is when my heart started beating a little faster. After reading the consent form with all the things you might have to expect after the surgery, my mind was having a party on its own jumping at random thoughts. Before that, the nurse asked the boyfie if he wants to see how the procedure is carried out, he nods and they would lead him into the room once I am prepped for the surgery. 

In the room..

It's like entering an operation theater seen on televisions, where there's 3 sections,

1. the area to clean and prep, 

2. the waiting area, and

3. the operation theater.

Firstly, you have to remove your shoes and put on their provided pair of slippers. Then, remove all valuables or unrelated things to be keep in the lockers. The only thing I had was my spectacles. Then, they would require you to put the surgery cap on and wash off your facial products and have a clean bare face. Already the room was freezing cold, I had to wash my face with a running tap of cold water some more.. Oh, 'Clean and Clear' cleanser is provided for you to wash your face. After, they will give you the surgery dress and feet covers to put on while explaining the prescriptions of the given eye drops.

Next, into the waiting area. It was colder in there and I was a little shivering already even though I wore long sleeves and leggings. The nurse saw that I was fidgety so she asked if I needed some anti-anxious tablet to calm my nerves. I nodded and she gave me half a tablet. Few minutes later, another patient came in. Her turn is scheduled to be right after mine. The nurse then swab some antiseptics around the eyes and on the lids while we were waiting for the doctor. About 5 minutes later, I heard someone was telling, 'Doctor, this is your first patient of the day and we may begin in a while.' and I swear I heard some laser zapping sounds from the theater when they opened the door. Probably they were warming up the machines or something.

While I was just easing my mind off..

Time for the surgery!

First the doctor greeted me 'good morning', asked how I feel and reassuring me that this is a small surgery that would be done in just a nick of time. Lying on the chair in the operation theater makes everything more surreal and then it hits me, "This is it, after this no more glasses and contact lenses!". He started with covering my right eye and before he begin, he asked if I'm okay and my reply was, "I'm okay but I'm a little shivery because it's cold in here." Then, he asked the nurse to cover me with a blanket, instant warmness. So, he placed the suction thing over my eye, it's like a plastic piece and then I know.. I'll be losing vision for few minutes while the suction is on to create the flap (watched the animated video before during my briefing). I have to focus on a blinking red dot and then the nurse says, "Suction on..". You'll feel a minor discomfort as though your eyeball is being pulled and then shades of grey would slowly crawl in till you see nothing. That's when I don't know whether or not I am actually still focusing on the red dot as vision's zero. Felt a slight prick on the eyeball and seconds later, we are done with an eye. Then, he moved on to the right one. Same procedure and minutes later, we are moving to the next station to start on the laser! While I got up and open my eyes, I can clearly see there's a layer of skin on my eyeballs and those are the flaps created.

Second machine, the nurse placed a pillow and it's used to grab my head in place. This time he started with the right eye. Covered the left eye and then I have to focus on the blinking red dot again. He taped both my upper and lower lashes and inserted a metal piece to open up the eye, it's pretty uncomfortable. Next, drops of liquids are dropped onto the eye and he opened the flap for the laser procedure. The moment the flap is removed, my vision dropped almost instantly as all I see is blurriness. Slowly tilting my head until my eye is at the perfect position for the laser, the nurse started chanting, "Tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking...  and 48 seconds counting down.. 35.. 25.. 10.. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..". Throughout the whole laser procedure, I can see the laser beams jumping on the cornea like some performance, very pretty I must say. LOL!

After that, he said, " Gimme a minute to close back the flap yea". Several eye drops and sweeping on the eye and, voila! One eye done and moving on to the next one. It definitely felt less than 10 minutes for the whole procedure and I really feel good throughout it as my doctor was great! He says encouraging words the whole time like, "Okay, Yvone, you are doing good. Very steady, doing very well", you know things that calm you down and gives you courage. Once finished with the procedure, I can barely open my eyes, my lids were so heavy. And apparently their anti-anxious tablet was sleeping pill. Together with my lack of sleep, it started to drown me with extreme sleepiness. And they actually take a photo of you with your doctor after the procedure for memories! Yay for that!

After the procedure, the nurse would check your eyes and you can go home already. I tried real hard to keep my eyes open but I can't and I was walking swinging left and right, a little like a drunkie. Thank God for the boyfie being there the whole time and taking care of me ❤ Also, I'm really glad for the free shuttle service as I get to rest comfortably on the way home while the driver was chit-chatting with the boyfie to keep him company. I could barely talk or move, sleeping pill effect. And, you will feel a stinging sensation with ultra sensitivity to light for the next 5-6 hours after the surgery. Be sure to put on your sunvisor the whole time and get plenty of rest.

Every patient would be provided with this med kit bag for the post-surgery care..
1. Sunvisor (indoors - first 24 hours and outdoors - one week)
2. A pair of eye shield together with the tape
3. Alcon's 5ml Vigamox (medicated antibiotic eye drops)
4. Alcon's 5ml Maxidex (medicated anti-inflammatory eye drops)
5. 4 boxes Alcon's Systane Ultra artificial eye drops
6. A flyer on the steps to apply the eye drops and dos-and-don'ts
7. They even prep a timetable for you to apply the eye drops

My Robocop/Mother of All Flies look for one week

My overall experience was AWESOME and so far I am enjoying every second of it!

Definitely worth the price in exchange for this piece of freedom!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

If you are interested to see how the surgery is carried out, this video would explain all. I think my surgery was the exact same one as mine was also done using 'Intralase' and 'Custom Lasik'. Skip to 4.10 minute for the procedure. Be warned that it might disgust you a little, boyfie said it was yucky to watch my procedure.

I hope this blog post would help you readers out there who are interested in going for LASIK.

If you have further questions, do leave me a comment, I wouldn't mind to share my experience (:

Till then.. 

Much loves, xoxo.