Dear all
I would like to share some good news with all of you regarding the Lasik operation that I just did on the 21st July, Wednesday. I first got to know about Optimax in March and after hearing some friends who went and came back with success stories, I decided to do it. After fixing the appointment, I was told to abstain from contact lens from minimum 2 weeks, better if it can be a month. I have been a contact lens person all along for the last 11 years, everyday. i have shortsightedness of 500 degrees each eye and between 25 to 50degrees of astimatism for both eyes as well.
I first did my eye examination in Optimax on 28th June 2004. During the examination they did tests alike to optician when you do your eye checks. On top of that they have precision instruments that test the thickness of your cornea, responses to puff of wind...... It took about 2 hours. My pupils were dilated with the aid some some eye drops to facilitate the testings. Dilation is a process where by your pupils are being enlarged by medicinal help, in this case, the eye drop, temporarily. This dilation will last for anytime between 2 days to 3 days depending on individual and it is not permanent. I advise you to bring laong a pair of power sunglasses to minimise sunlight glare or at least some form of shades. Go with someone rather than on your own. After certifying that I am a suitable patient for the surgery, I went home to wait for the surgery scheduled on 7th July. I must warn everyone that the eye examination dates are not dated until minimum October. So you have to try your luck to book an examination date. I paid RM$3700 for everything inclusive of consultation, medication and surgery. That converts to about S$1630! This amount is for a pair of eyes for Lasik! Whereas in SIngapore, it's average of S$5000 to S$6000 for a piar of eyes inclusive of the above.
On the surgery day, 7th July, I went to Optimax as scheduled, I waited until noon time before I was told to rescheduled to come back for another appointment. The reason being the machine was unable to calibrate to the requirements. I figured that it was professional of them to inform me of the on-goings rather than to allow me to go ahead with the surgery with any room for errors. As we have heard or talked about before, we all aould have exclaimed at some point of time the facilities in the medical scene in Malaysia being ill equipped and unprofessional...... I beg to differ. This clientele base in Optimax is mainly Singaporean. I see many expatriates visiting the clinic and I spoke to 2 of them before, both giving positive responses as well.
The surgery was rescheduled to 21st July 2004 and at this point of time I was still having fear and second thoughts of pulling out. I have already paid in full was ready to forfeit the 5% penalty in the event of not getting the surgery done. Upon arrival, some similar eye tests were done to me as on eye examination day, my corneas were marked out by Dr Chong for the laser to be cut. Following that, I was brought into a pre surgery room to change into some surgery garments. A nurse cleaned up my eyes and applied an anesthetic eyedrop. In about 10 minutes, I could feel my eyelids and eyeball becoming numb but I was still as per normal without spectacles. I was the first patient for the day, my surgeon was Dr Chong. He was very reassuring and gives clear instructions exactly what I should do. The Lasik machine is not as bulky as I thought. it was bout the size of an x ray machine ot thereabout. There is a bed where you lie down, the head goes into a contoured pillow where your head is restricted to move in any direction. A surgeon blanket is placed over my face with just one exposed. A ring tape is used to hold back your eye lashes. I was told to focus on a red spot. A suction cup was used over my eyeball to prevent it from moving. at this point, I was tense and very, very worried. When vacuum was appiled, my right eye blacked out momentarily. I clenched my fists slightly to ease the tension. The cutting apparatus moved in to cut the cornea. This process took about 4 seconds. I didn't feel any pain at all but I could feel the cut. Following this, I could see the red light but it was very scattered. The laser was moved in to position to prepare for the removing of tissues at the position where the cornea was flipped open by Dr Chong. The laser was a blue intermittent light source and when it hit onto my pupil area, there was a burning stench but bearable. There was no pain felt at this point of time too. After the laser process was completed, saline was used to wash the area and the cornea was allowed to be covered back in place and left to set in 2 minutes. During these 2 minutes, I could see that the equipments and ceiling looked much clearly than before the operation. When 2 minutes was up, all the apparatus was removed and I was taken to rest in the pre surgery to rest for 5 minutes before continuing with the left eye. When I got down the bed, I could figure out words about 1 cm in height at about 3 metres distance with slight difficulty. I could feel that my right eye was slightly swollen and the path where the saline and tears flowed was damp to the back of my head. After resting for 5 minutes, I was brought in to perform the operation on the left eye. It took about 10 minutes for each eye and the entire process took about 30 minutes.
After the surgery, I was brought to a resting room to be rested on a large plush couch. I was given a quilt to cover myself with as it was a little chilly in the room. My eyes at this point of time was continuously tearing and had a slight sting. I could open my eyes only for maybe 1 second before i had to close them again. But it was after the right eye completion that I knew I made the right choice to follow through. I was advised not to drive on that day and have someone to accompany me back home. I drove and I tried to comtinue to drive evene after resting at the clinic for an hour. Before we left, Dr Chong did another simple eye examination to make sure that the cirnea was in place. All was well and I went off to do some grocery shopping, met up with friends and had lunch. It was only until about 3 hours later that I felt very comfortable to open my eyes completely. The vison I felt was maybe about 50% improvement by late afternoon. By nightfall, vision was extimated to be around 80% good. At night, I experienced glare and halos when I was driving on the road. I wore some tinted glasses to minimise this. This will not be permenent as I was told. I would advise again not to drive on surgery day and even eye examination day as it is unsuitable to drive in those conditions. I went ahead cos my wife was not confident enough to handle Malaysia traffic conditions.
I was scheduled to return for follow up the following day. I went back did some more eye checks and I was told my vision was about 70% good. It will be some time before it stabalises. anything from 1 to 3 months or maybe even longer for some patients. The medicatoin includes eyedrops that are to be used for a prescribed time and some painkillers and sleeping pills to be taken when necessary. This is definitely one surgery that I would recommend you to do if you are bespectacled or have to go thru the tiring process of cleaning your contact lens or even purchasing daily lens on a regular basis. It is worth it. Call up on your own to find out more informations, clear doubts or request for appintments. The address and contact is
Optimax Laser Eye Centre
Level 22,Office tower, City Square, JB
tel: 07-2782522, Fax: 07-2782523
Look for Jaime or Agnes. They are very friendly and ready to answer your queries.
Last I heard was there will be a price hike if you book your appointments after 1st August. The hike will be at RM$500 per eye, or RM$1000 for a pir of eyes. that means, you'll end up paying about RM$4600 for a pair of eyes for Lasik. In additional to that, there will be a newer process of Lasik which will be customised for individual according to cornea eys. It'll be beneficial for patients like myself who has got large pupils. If you like, you could put me as your referral. Just tell them Leser yeong introduced you and if they ask for my contact number, it's 96922541. Hope this short write up is beneficial for those who has doubts about Lasik.
Disclaimer: I am in no way related to Optimax except that I have been there to perform Lasik on my eyes.
Regards
Lester
