My Lasik journey: pre lasik

Hai guys!! I know I know, I'm such a bad blogger these days. I was supposed to write more often after my exams but I had too much on my hands during my hols LOL...I think I practically went out everyday for the past month hehe

Anyway, the reason why I've been missing for the past week is because I underwent Lasik!! Yes, my very first surgery of my life!

This is going to be long so it'll be divided into a few blog posts hehe...This will be a detailed account of my personal journey with Lasik. And no, I'm not writing a review or an ad for anyone. This is to share my story so that those who are contemplating Lasik in the near future will be prepared on what to expect. This is probably my most personal experience I'll ever share in my blog.

And so the story began....hehe I was wearing specs ever since I was 5 years old! Yes, so freaking young! I'm always that nerd girl with glasses in school whose glasses look so heavy it does not seem to fit a small petite girl. Reason why my glasses were heavier than anyone else's is because my power was so much higher than anyone at that age. My power escalated every year and I couldn't do anything about it because one thing is due to my genes as well as my whole family wear specs.

Yeah, if only I was this cute in glasses, I wouldn't be complaining.

Up until Form 3, I decided to wear contact lenses. I felt so much better with contacts because I couldn't feel the heavy glasses pressing on my nose. I was way more comfortable with contacts as well and have been wearing it for 8 years til now. My power has now escalated to 1000+ with astigmatism FML!

I have always been toying with the idea of Lasik ever since it was first introduced. I mean to not wear specs/contacts forever would truly be something I would like to achieve. And it was top on my bucket list! And when I finished my studies this year, I thought, that's it, I'm doing Lasik by hook or by crook. It's now or never. I have a few months of holidays so I can have enough recovery time.

There are so many Lasik centres you can choose from so please choose wisely. I researched a lot and was looking at all the websites for Lasik such as Optimax, Vista, Advance Vision, ISEC, Tun Hussein Onn, etc but I finally chose Excelview.

I was a hardcore contact lens user. I even wore it for naps and I wore contacts for long hours. It's because I was hideous in specs >.< But before you can go for the eye checkup to determine whether you'll be suitable for Lasik, you need to lay off contacts for at least a week or two! Gawd, that was torturing LMAO!

 Day 1: Almost couldn't survive in specs already haha

I was almost blind while bathing, no eye makeup, and that heavy thing on my nose bridge was annoying!

Friends who have not seen me in specs in ages found me looking a bit weird LOL

It's different you see when you're in specs and when you're in contatcs. After being a hardcore contacts wearer, to just change to specs, it's a bit of a change in lifestyle haha I was wearing that heavy specs for 9 days!! To make it even worse, I had three job interviews in that week!! Of all the days of my life, when I'm in specs, I had job interviews with a career prospect -.-

I was thinking finally I'll imprison myself at home but no, it happened to be one of the busy weeks haha..And so happened I was in Mid Valley for a meeting, I scheduled on that same day itself for an appointment with Excelview, situated at 2nd Floor, South Court of Mid Valley, just below the cinema. One of the reasons why I chose Excelview is because they conduct FREE eye checkup. I heard that for those with very high power, there is a very high chance that the cornea is thin and that Lasik would not be suitable. For other places, you'll have to pay around RM200 just for eye checkups. I did not want to pay for the checkup only to then find out I'm not able to do Lasik anyway. 

So, I went to Excelview and did the checkup. All the people there were super nice and super patient! Tell you the truth, I fell in love with that place the second I walked in =)

It was quite a small area but very clean and very nice.

The consultation room.

If you brought someone, don't worry about them getting bored. 

There's lots of magazines to read there hehe

My checkup only took half an hour. It was pretty brief, I don't know why other places need 2 hours. If someone could enlighten me what are the procedure at other places, it would be helpful =) Well, luckily for me, the consultant told me the good news: my cornea is thick and I'm suitable for Lasik!! YAHOO!! I literally wanted to jump for joy hehe I can have clearer vision without aid =))

One thing good about the consultants there, they don't get paid by commisions, so you don't have to worry about them pestering you doing Lasik once you're suitable for it. My consultant, Ricole was super nice. She explained everything I needed to know and never once pushed me for it. Of course, this is a huge step for me and I needed to discuss with my family first and see a suitable date for the surgery. So, I didn't make any commitments there and then and went back home with a file of information given. But I really liked the environment and if I'm going to do Lasik, I have set my mind it'll be at Excelview.

Anyway this is a very simple explanation of Lasik.
Lasik is basically using laser to reshape the cornea which has grown steep. And the laser time for one eye is around 1 minute only! I was told it's a 100% success so there's nothing to worry about.

Only three simple steps and you're done! It's as easy as 1,2,3 hehe

There's a likely chance the doctor couldn't correct my vision to be perfect because of my extremely high power. That's a risk I have to take and although it's a safe procedure and everything is likely to go well, there's a lot of post lasik treatment you have to adhere to and there's also side effects of dry eyes, glaring, etc. And of course Lasik is an irreversible procedure!

The package most suitable for me is the Tissue Saving Lasik which costs RM5,000 for both eyes inclusive of eye drops and post lasik checkups. It was on promotion otherwise it would have been RM5,600. Different people would be advised on a different package.

And so I went back home and discussed with my parents and all and was doing my second guessing here and there and being nervous about it. Yes, I've been wanting to do for quite some time and when I'm actually deciding to do it, all those second guesses came pouring in. I mean of course there's some risks involved and what if here and what if there...but everyone around me gave the green light. Everyone told me to go for it and so the next day, which was a Friday, I decided to book the Lasik surgery for the very next day, Saturday. I know it seemed rush but there were a lot of factors to be taken into account. I needed a driver for that day, I needed someone to take care of me and I didn't want to have more sleepless nights for the coming days so since I was given the green light, I just decided to just go for it and everyone was free on that particular weekend so everything was set!

I'm not supposed to be facing the computer so much post-lasik, so it'll be continued in my next post =)

Til then!

Surgery day!