The Gift of Eyesight through Epi-Lasik

Isn’t it everyone’s dream to have perfect eyesight? If it isn’t yours, it sure was my dream. I think my myopia started when I was 10. I personally destroyed my eyesight on purpose in the hope of wearing glasses. DUHZ!! WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?? GEEZUS. It all began when my elder sister started wearing them, and I thought how cool was that? So I put on her glasses and got what I wanted. A set of myopic eyes and of course a pair of new glasses. I was silly indeed. Especially when my family wasn’t that well to do and glasses were costly. Anyway, from the time Lasik hit the earth in a mind-blowing fashion, I always secretly wished that I had the money to go for it. But it was far out of reach and I was still young then. After extensive research on Lasik and what nots, I settled for Epi-Lasik at XXX (I won’t reveal the place publicly but would if you paid me a fee privately asked me). This surgeon and clinic had excellent blog and forum reviews. Wow! It's quite a reputable private clinic (or so I thought). It turned out really bad. If I go back in time, I will NEVER choose this fucked up clinic. No Siree!

Epi-Lasik explained with my personal experience:

A relatively new refractive surgery that involves using a blunt blade to scrape off the top cornea skin. Excimer laser will then be applied to correct your eyesight. A pair of special contact lens will be worn after surgery to protect your eyes and allow the cornea skin to self regenerate. The lenses are to be worn at all times, even when you are sleeping. The doctor will help you remove the lenses at the next appointment. Removal does not hurt and lenses did not stick to my eyeballs. Epi-Lasik is recommended for people with think corneas or has active lifestyles. I chose Epi-Lasik because I have an active lifestyle and do not wish to cut a flap in my cornea as what traditional Lasik does. I’ve heard that the flap never really seals back which I am not sure how true that is. Epi-Lasik may take up to 3 - 6 months to recover and to truly regain good eyesight whereas Lasik needs 24 hours.

When I went for my Pre-Lasik Evaluation to check if my corneas were suitable for Lasik, I was told that I had really thick corneas and am a great candidate. This implies that should there be any need for future enhancements, my corneas would be more than sufficient to cover this aspect. The nurse told me that few people choose Epi-Lasik because of the pain from recovery. She said the pain depends on individuals’ threshold for pain. I admit that at this news, I had my doubts and jitter bugs. She proceeded to tell me that I can have the surgery done immediately. No shit?! Now? Anyway, I booked it on a later date as I needed to plan for MCs and recovery period. I must say that the surgeon was nice and friendly.

I had Epi-Lasik on 3rd December 2009. It cost me 3.2 grand not inclusive of other charges. My degree stood at 400+ and astigmatism at 100+. I stopped wearing contact lenses at least 2 weeks before the surgery (prepping my eyes to make sure they are not misshaped by the lenses). On the day of the surgery, they will re-access your eyes and drip numbing anesthetic eye drops. You will be live whilst the surgery is performed. With scary state of art machine and surgeon in plastic gloves, I was apprehensive yet excited on the to-be. Lying on the operation theatre, my eye was pried open by the “machine”. The surgeon says: “Focus on the green light and don’t move, otherwise the operation might be botched.“ I did not feel any pain however I can see and feel the surgeon scraping my corneas. After surgery, I experienced blurry vision and sensitivity to light. This is expected of Epi-Lasik. I was prescribed a chunk of eye drops and a pair of sunglasses. I took a cab home and was off to sweet slumber.

When the anesthetic wore off, my eyes started to sting and water. It was pretty bad some nights as my eyes kept tearing away as I was trying to sleep.

6 months. Thats's what it took for my eyes to fully cover and have good vision. Astigmatism left on my right eye was 50. I do see light bursts on car headlights and street lamps.

This is pretty bearable. I do still treasure the gift of sight and I intend to keep it myopia-free. Good luck to all you peeps out there who are dying to go through Lasik too. My advise is to stick with traditional Lasik as I had a bad experience with my recovery precdure. It might have made a helluva difference.

Wishing you the best of luck! With Love.