Since I tweet and blogged about my lasik eye surgery, several friends and Facebook friends have asked me many questions. You can read about my consultation here in my old post on lasik. So, let me repeat what I have mentioned over at Twitter, Facebook and on this blog.
Remember that you can get professional answers from Optimax. The first consultation is free and you have the liberty of asking all the pertinent questions. However, I bet many of you also want to hear from me whom had undergone the custom all-laser-lasik, right? My answers may not be very accurate but they are my real experiences and opinions.
1) Is it painful?
Terence said he has no bola (guts) to undergo lasik eye surgery eventhough the costs of spectacles are very expensive. He has reason to be apprehensive because we are talking about something delicate like our eyes.
Well, one of the reasons people are afraid of lasik is the myths and old wives tales they heard from people. Now, the custom all-laser-lasik involve very high tech machine operated by qualified eye doctor. The doctor doesn’t use any knife to cut, ok?
You will be given eye drops to numb the eyes during the short time when the lasik surgery was carried out. After the numbness goes off, I felt a slight stinging, very much like how our eyes feel if shampoo goes in accidentally.
I returned home and took a nap. When I wake up, there is no more stinging sensation.
2) What exactly did they do during surgery?
I changed into their surgery attire. The nurse cleaned the surrounding areas of my eyes. Then, the doctor came out and explained what she is going to do for me. She asked me to relax, cooperate with her and everything will be over within minutes.
Then, I was taken to the room where the lasik is to be carried out. I lied down on a recliner chair, with a silicon pillow. The doctor was sitting near my head and her soothing voice instructed me what to do. There are several people around to handle the machine as well.
With Dr. Lee telling me to open my eyes and focus on a green light, I merely do nothing but just that. Look at green dot. She used something to hold my eyelids open but I can continue blinking my eyes. You know what? A lasik is a lot less tense than a visit to the dentist. They use the same chair, the dentist sits at the same position. But lasik is painless and there is only a slight buzzing sound.
The doctor brought something close to one of my eyes. It was placed very near and I heard her saying it is a suction. I believe that’s when they cut the cornea flap open.
This only takes a very short time. I was still asked to look at the green light. At some point, it turned dark and then, bright but the doctor continues to talk to me to look at the light.
Next is the lasik. Since I have the custom all-laser-lasik, what this machine does is to specifically treat my eyes according to the exact corrections it needs. I must confess that I was a little surprised with the slight smell of burnt thingie. But it is just a short while, like within seconds. If I remember correctly, one of the nurse said 25 seconds and then, at 15 seconds, she repeated again.
3) What happened after surgery?
The whole episode of lasik surgery merely takes 10 minutes at the most. But there were adjustments of the machine and etc. When it was over, I could stand up and walk to the next room already. Vision is already so clear!
I was asked to lie down for 30 minutes but I think less than that time, I was already on my way home. No red eyes, no swollen lids, everything looks normal.
They gave me a bottle of antibiotic eye drop, artificial tears eyedrop and an eye shield to be used only at night. There are some do’s and don’ts which are very simple things like no contact sports like kick-boxing, swimming for a month, no eye make-up for two weeks, no driving for 24 hours and avoiding smokey and dusty places.
The moment I got into the car driven by my son, I was already texting with my handphone. I could see perfectly, incuding the tiny words on my mobile phone.
In conclusion, with the modern machines available at lasik centres like Optimax, lasik is no longer the scary mystery that you always thought of. It is a breeze to undergo lasik and it is almost painless. The moment you got down from the surgery chair, you have normal vision already.
As for the cost, it is hard to say how much each individual’s lasik will be because each of us have different needs. My surgery costs a little bit more because I need several corrections and mine was the custom lasik. However, normally prices start from about RM3K per eye for customised lasik. The best thing is you give Optimax a call, arrange for an appointment and find out yourself.
Trust me, lasik is really something that liberates. I am so happy I can now see the time on the wall clock the moment I opened my eyes in the morning. When I go to bed, I don’t have to be bothered with taking out my contact lenses. If I need to take a nap, I don’t have to wake up with painful, dry eyes when the contact lenses were left for too long.
Most of all, I am relieved that I won’t run the risk of having bad eye infection that could lead to cornea rot like what happened to me before. I also seem to have clearer white part of the eyes because there is no contact lenses to give me blood shot eyes.
So, I am extremely happy with my lasik at Optimax. You can follow Optimax on Facebook too.
Eh, mention your name got discount ar?
Ok, after reading this, I am going for it. Every year I change my specs, can already do the procedure many times over. The only fear holding me back was ppl saying its not 100% lah, still must wear specs lah, going blind lah, can see Elvis lah (ok, I made the last part up, LOL).
What was the xanax for lah?
Apa nama – Too bad lah, I not influential enough but please do mentioned that you read it on my blog lah. No one has 100% eyesight one lah. You only 30 plus, do lah. But when you reach mid 40s, you may have problems with reading, old flower eye. Then, mah wear reading glass or do corrective lasik lor. Going blind is paranoid people says one. Nowadays, the machine so modern where can happened lah. Can sue one, don’t worry LOL. Xanax half tablet to calm a person down. You know lah, some people balls shrunk mah, me no need one lah, but they give me say Xanax, I fast fast take and SMS you since I know these are like sweets for you mah.
Ok lor. I update you after I visit them.
Half a pill???? I was popping 6-10 pills a day. Tolerance level was so high back then. Laid off 2+ years liao. Happy pill.
Wuah, got prescription somemore? Send me some, so I don’t go road rage again mah. You know me, right? I can take spanner and get down from my car and …..
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!
Wah liao.. Very detailed explanation. Kekeke.. My friend went for lasik some years back & also gave a very detailed explanation on the procedure. Back then, it cost RM5,000 as she had astigmatism as well. It was 10 minutes long but from the way she described it, it was like a 2-hr movie. Kekeke…
I still have some stocks. Like 300+ pills, you want ar?
Anyway, you said you can still blink your eyes. Wouldn’t that affect the laser’s ray? Tell me more. I am just curious about that part.
Is there no pain? Why some ppl tell me must rest for like few days for vision to be clear. I m cuntfused. Tell me what you can.
I paiseh wanna ask the doc lah.
Wuah, send me some, can get high one or not ah?
They put one dunno what on our eyelid so the lid won’t close. But our eyes naturally will try to blink. I did say they put a suction on the eyeball for a few seconds, right? That time, the green dot disappeared, come out bright sparks type and then, dark a bit, then clear again. All the while, the doctor will soothing tell you it is normal lah, over soon lah, what is hapenning lah, so I just keep focusing on the green dot lor. The laser’s job is only mere seconds so during that time, the suction will hold our cornea/eyeball firmly lor. Our head on the silicon pillow so we are not likely to move. And anyway, the doctor is monitoring closely so not like our head will move.
No pain, I can tell you. Cos they numb the eye already with eye drops. Customised laser means, they open the flap of the cornea, then, the laser re-shape the eyeball (like polishing it nicely likedat) exactly like how our eyes should. This is the difference between customised and normal laser. With customised one, we immediately see clearly already.
Last time they got lasek (note the ‘e’) which involves less high tech stuffs so our brains need to adjust to get clear vision. Now, you get down from the chair, can see clearly already.
You how to cuntfused cos you got none. LOL
Oh ya, you can email me with all the concerns and I can forward it to the doctor for her/him (Penang one is a lady doctor, others I don’t know) and they can answer you one by one.
Anyway, I prefer to do it in centres like Optimax than hospitals cos the environment is more relaxing. Mine one is at the shopping complex. If go hospital, feels like so medical likedat.
Difference between customised and normal laser. Different results ar?
Diffrent price oso.
You see, our vision gets blur when our eye’s surface (aiyah, I lazy find the correct term lah) get distorted. So, with customised one, they will scan your eye properly, study how much to correct it, where to correct it and etc. So, it is totally customised for your eyes only. So, the vision is definitely clearer.
And ermm..actually I am not sure about the non-customised, I guess it is like generally only, sort of like wearing spec, we all have the lens more or less ‘cut to standard requirement’ likedat lor. hahaha, I may be wrong but that’s the idea lah.
What the surgery done in Penang or in KL? If in Penang, which hospital?
I check out the Optimax web site, but nothing is mentioned about it being done in Penang.
Any age limitation boh?
Got one 70 year old very “oi leng” lelaki ask me to ask you 🙂
RO – All the better. Cos they will also check for cataract and glaucoma. No age limit one for those old ones, but depend on the eyes lor. However, they do have a minimum age because our short-sighted problems only settle after a certain age. Too young cannot also.
Penangite – They have centres all over Malaysia.
Penang one is over here :
Unit 8-1C,8th Floor IP Tower,Island Plaza
118,Jalan Tanjong Tokong 10470
Penang
Malaysia
Tel : 604-890 3002 / 3003
Fax : 604-890 2005
Business Hours :
9.00am to 6.00pm – Monday to Saturday
Please do not hesitate to contact us by
Email : penang@optimax.com.my
And the list of all their Optimax centres are on this Contact Us page. They also have Brunei and Singapore centres. You look on the left side bar where the countries/state in Malaysia are status, click on it and you can find out the email, address and phone.
I think I am feeeling a bit better abt lasik after reading your Lasik post. Recently I can’t focus on my armpit hair liao… I think short sighted and I want to continue my embroidery hobby. Thanks for sharing Optimax Penang contact info, we can come to Penang to do Lasik and holiday at the same time.
Lilian, you make it sound like a shopping trip. Go to the shopping centre, have the lasik done, son fetches you home, husband returns from work.
boys and gals, i just visited Optimax to get a free eye check, they call that Optimax Total Eye Screen. it is the basic one to sort of find out you are suitable or not but not 100% accurate though . After the brief eye check (without dilation 1 so its faster) they will consult and advise you bla bla bla… you may ask all the questions you want then ask for promotion price / discount if any.
Hey Lilian, I bet you are enjoying your perfect eyesight! I had Lasik done more than 5 years ago and I must admit that is the best thing I have ever done to improve the quality of my life! Never have to search for glasses again the minute I wake up and no more cleaning of contacts and buying all those solution stuff. I think I also save money in the long run although it was quite expensive to do it then. 🙂
This is really so much more comforting than reading another person’s review in a different blog few days earlier.
I am going in for a consultation this coming Wed (with full pupil dilation) and scheduled the surgery 2 days after. Really can’t wait for my x-ray vision for 2010!!!
yo, LC
long time no post in yr blog and i ‘c’ now u have yr eyes lasik-ed.
i have 3 ophthalmologist friends, 2 wear glasses and none would want any corrective surgery done to their eyes.
it doesn’t matter if it lasik/lasek/laser, the truth is this method is still relatively new and not enough data has been collected to shows the incidence of its potential long term complications. Apart for the immediate side effects like pain and infections which we all can tolerate. the chance of glaucoma and worst still detached retina would be substantially increased following eye surgery.
in my opinion, this is akin to cosmetic surgery and will become very common but tht does not take away the fact tht it’s still invasive and not without complications. it’s not a must-have surgery for all those who wear glasses. until more data is available, I prefer my glasses, even my wife says I am more eng-tou with glasses…lol
whatever choice u made, u hav yo live with your decision.
Happy 2010
oops…. I forgot to say tht, I am not an ophthalmologist and i am not giving out medical advice here. you have got to do your own research and discuss with yr doctor in details abt yr expectation.
Hi Lilian,
Thanks for the contact information and the address. I will check them out and see if I can also claim from insurance for the procedure.