One week before Singapore went into lockdown due to Covid-19, I went to have my Lasik surgery done. It was on April 1st 2020. When I told my family that I would have my surgery done on April's Fool, everyone thought I made a joke. No pun intended. What a special day for surgery! Who would want to be the clinic or hospital right in the middle of the pandemic? I know, right? But here is the full story.
I forgot when exactly I started wearing glasses. It was probably when the doctor told me I had astigmatism with myopia during my secondary school. I didn't have any problem wearing glasses during my teenage years. Until I turned 20 years old, I started dancing and competing, and it became a problem. No dancer wore glasses on the dance floor for safety reasons, and neither did I. As a result, the only person I could see was my dance partner (I didn't know about contact lens just yet). I only learned how to wear contact lenses when I was 26 years old, and I relied on contact lenses ever since. I was able to see the audience when I performed dancing or competing. But I had to apply eye drop every 30 minutes to avoid dryness. A few times, when I went out at night and forgot to bring the eye drop, my eyes were so dry by the end of the night that I had to take the contact lenses out so that I could blink. I'm not exaggerating. Because of this, I've wanted to do Lasik surgery for nearly ten years. If you follow my blog since 2012, you'll see "Getting Lasik eye-surgery done" on my New Year resolution list since 2013.
Why didn't I do it when I was 26 years old? Well, I couldn't afford it then. It was more affordable to buy six boxes of contact lenses for $200++, which lasted for six months than to pay almost $5000-$7,000 for a 30-minute procedure. Another reason was I was skeptical. I was so afraid of the risk, side effects, and possible accident could happen. I could lose my eyesight forever. There are so many articles, comments, recommendations, blog posts on the internet. The more I read, the more I got confused. There are also so many types of Lasik surgery nowadays: LASIK (laser in-situ keratomileusis, PRK (photorefractive keratectomy), LASEK (laser epithelial keratomileusis), RLE (refractive lens exchange), EpiLasik, PRELEX. How would I know which one suits me? After months of researching, I decided to make an appointment with Dr. Tony Ho at Clearvision Eye Clinic & LASIK Centre. Lucky for you now, all you need to do is to read the detailed comparison that Dr. Ho wrote on his website to find out what option is most suitable for you.
I knew Dr. Tony Ho and his clinic back in 2013 when I worked in an advertising company for the medical industry. But he had already operated his clinic since 2001 and performed thousands of surgery every year. Many local media channels featured his clinic and interviewed him for the work that he had done. If you want to know more about Dr. Tony Ho and the clinic, you can read more on his clinic website here. My point is, if I was to leave my eyesight into someone's hand, I wanted to have a reputable and experienced doctor. I made the first appointment with the clinic to have my eyes tested and confirm my eyes were suitable for Lasik surgery. Multiple tests and a few types of eye-drops later, clinic staff said I could consider Safe Sight TransPRK surgery and Corneal Cross-Linking as an additional treatment to strengthen my thin corner. She also shared with me the pricing for both procedures. I already saw the pricing published on the clinic website, so there wasn't any surprise at that point. The pricing transparency of the clinic made it so easy for me to make a decision. That's why I scheduled the surgery date on the spot. Besides, since the whole country went into lock down, I couldn't go out anyway. It felt like the right time to have the surgery and rest at home.
On April 1st, I woke up early, had my breakfast, and went to the clinic to have my Safe Sight TransPRK surgery. I sounded like I was going for a brunch, didn't I? But the reality was, I was so nervous yet excited at the same time. I was going to make my ten-year dream come true. How could I not be excited!
When I arrived, the nurse did a few more tests on my eyes, applied a few anesthetic eye drops, and got me ready for the surgery. I decided to do Safe Sight TransPRK surgery and Corneal Cross-Linking (because I have thin corneal) on both eyes at once. Some patients did only one eye at a time so they could see after. I decided to do both because I didn't want to go through the same procedure twice. I'd rather endure the pain all at once.
Back to the surgery, Safe Sight TransPRK surgery is an all-laser, one-step, no-touch, non-invasive vision correction procedure that does not require the eye surgeon to cut a corneal flap. The standard LASIK (cut, flap, and zap) process might have flap-related medical complications, which are my ultimate fear. Thankfully, with the new technology, no surgical devices are touching the eye at all. Clearvision Clinic uses the Schwind Amaris 1050RS excimer laser machine with a zero-latency eye tracker and the ability to track all 7-dimensions of eye movements. The procedure on both eyes was much faster than I expected. I thought I would be lying in the surgery bed for at least 30 minutes. It turned out I was there for 15 minutes or less. First, I was asked to keep looking at the blinking green eyes. Then, the Schwind Amaris 1050RS machine removes the epithelium cells of my eyes. After that, the laser machine shapes the cornea to correct the eye's refractive power. Doctor Ho placed a transparent, high-oxygen permeability content soft contact lens over the cornea to protect the treated surface while the epithelium cells regenerate. The Corneal Cross-Linking treatment took additional two minutes to complete. Before I got comfortable in the warm bed, the nurse helped sit me up, and Doctor Ho asked me to smile for a photo. The surgery was over, just like that.
Everything was smooth, fast, and simple. The only discomfort I had was having to keep my eyes wide open for a long time, but that was it. I was still able to see when I squinted my eyes. I even booked a taxi, came home by myself, and went straight to bed, hoping to get some rest.
The pain started kicking in once I laid in bed. The numbing eye drop wore off. My eyes were so sore and watery that I had to take a pain killer. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep at all. I lived in complete darkness for the first two days. Now I knew why some people decided to have surgery on one eye at a time, especially when they were alone. I didn't think I needed someone to bring me food and drink post-surgery. I thought I could manage, but I clearly couldn't. Thankfully, some "angels" came to rescue the poor girl. I'm lucky that I have so many kind friends around. One friend helped me order food; others came to the house to check up on me and set my daily eye drop reminders. Speaking of eye drops, I've never had so many eye drops in my entire life. There were four eye drop types that I needed to apply hourly on the first two days, and every two hourly the following three days. It was overwhelming. But everything comes with a price. That's the effort you put to have perfect eyesight.
Day 5, after surgery, I was able to walk around the house (with sunglasses on) and managed my routine. The eyes were less sore, but the vision was still blurry, and I couldn't see much. I went back to the clinic on day 5 to have the soft contact lens removed.
I barely looked at my phone, TV, or laptop and still wore sunglasses during the day to avoid direct sunlight. I was super diligent with my post-op care and followed the doctor's advice strictly.
- I did not rub or squeeze my eyes, especially for the 1st week. I used eye wipes to gently clean my eyes every morning and night.
- I didn't apply any makeup and eye gel or lotion for nearly three weeks.
- I didn't go swimming or do any vigorous sports activities until after four weeks post-surgery.
- I wore UV protected glasses when I went out. I still wear sunglasses now whenever I'm out of the house on a sunny day.
My eyes took longer than others to recover fully, so I had more reviews with Dr. Ho. I was a little nervous, and of course, impatient, but there was nothing I could do. Dr. Ho assured me that my eyes were healing beautifully, and that's all that matters.
Eight months after my eye Lasik surgery, I can finally share my personal story with you. I took the below 2 photos after my eyes were completely healed. Same Crystal, different eyes sight. Writing this blog post without the help of contactless and glasses makes me feel incredibly grateful. I'm so thankful for the smooth & successful surgery at Clearvision Eye Clinic & LASIK Centre. Special thanks to Dr. Ho & his team for their excellent work. I'm thankful for the friends who were there when I needed help the most. It was a dream come true to say goodbye to contactless and prescription glasses finally.
Officially crossed this off my bucket list.
Thank you so much for reading!
Disclaimer: Although this blog post is partially sponsored by Clearvision Eye Clinic & LASIK Centre, all opinions are my own.
