Here is my one month review:
I nervously walked into the Dream Eye Center in Gangnam on a hot Saturday afternoon. After a grueling 2.5 hours of exams, I scheduled my surgery for Lasek, the previously mentioned safer but more painful procedure. The exam contained every eye test imaginable. I will not go into the details, but they checked for everything, the size and thickness of my corneas, detailed mapping, and they even stuck a giant blobby looking "contact" into my eyes (which is the most uncomfortable part of the exam. At the end of the consultation, they recommended the Lasek due to my severe nearsightedness.
I should mention here that the most painful part of the process for me was wearing my glasses for 4 weeks. I had to wear them for 2 weeks before the consultation and 2 more weeks before my surgery. As I said before, I get really bad headaches when I wear glasses.
We scheduled my surgery for late as possible in the afternoon, since my tech said that I would not be able to do much or see much. It is a good idea to bring a friend to surgery as your vision is pretty bad and getting home might be tricky. As always, my best friend was there for me! The surgery was delayed because it was an exceptionally busy Saturday, which only increased my anxiety. When the time finally came, it was over very quickly. They prep me and laid me on the table. The instructions were very clear; keep looking at the green light even if it disappears. My surgeon, who spoke excellent English, explained everything he was doing in great detail so that I would be prepared. Nothing came as a surprise and the surgery flew by. After less than 10 minutes on the table, I was out in the waiting room. The first thing I noticed was how much my sight had improved, which just goes to show you how bad my eyes really were.
As Mysti and I made our way through the busy subways of Seoul, it was a great relief that she was there to help me. After this, I had another check up the next day to take the badges off and made sure that there were no infections. Then I made my way back to Dangjin alone and hoped that the pain would not kick in until I was safely home. The next few days were very boring. I could barely keep my eyes open and tears seemed to flow nonstop. On Monday, 2 days after surgery, the pain kicked in. Although pain medicine doesn't help in this situation, I took some Tylenol ER and I slept through most of the pain. When people asked about the level of pain, I said 7 out of 10. Annoying, but definitely manageable. And trust the doctors when they tell you, it only last for a day. Day 5 post surgery, I had another check up. My left eye was already at 20/16! The right eye had some catching up. So for the next few weeks, my right eye continued to improve and now my eyes are both at 20/16 without any complications. In case you're wondering about mobility, I was fine after 5 days and I left for my vacation.
On a side note: The people at the Dream Eye Center are fabulous. They were incredible knowledgeable, helpful, and understanding. I was blown away by their customer service.
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