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Lasik or Epi-Lasik: My experience my story

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Syen’s question last week about whether she should undergo LASIK vision correction surgery prompted me to share my experience. I went under the laser, so to speak, about 3+ years ago and I thought I’d just quickly share my experience here.

Choose a reputable clinic

I was lucky. My sister and BIL had both undergone LASIK eye surgery. Then, one of my best friends told me she had her eyes done too at the same clinic they went to. So, when the time came that I decided to go under the laser, I went with the same place – Optimax. I cannot vouch for anyone else’s experience neither do I “highly recommend” or even “recommend” this place as the “to go” clinic. All I’ll say is that I had mine done there, along with everyone else I know and that’s that.

Have a consultation and think about it carefully

The clinic should give you a full and complete eye check up before you decide whether you want the procedure done. This is to evaluate your suitability as your cornea must be thick enough and your eyes must be healthy and your prescription must be stable. I would believe the best time to consider this will be when you are in your later 20s when your sight shouldn’t be getting any worse. In most cases, there are no problems. In my case, I was told that my cornea was too thin for conventional LASIK and so, I was recommended to have Epi-Lasik done. This is a procedure which I was told, is less commonly done and comes with a higher risk factor.

Lasik vs Epi-Lasik

Regular LASIK has a “flap” cut into the cornea, which is lifted, and then the lens is reshaped by laser. For Epi-Lasik, because the cornea is a little thin, they push aside the top epithelium of your eye, then laser the lens and replace the epithelium. It is then held in place with a contact lens for about 4 days for it to heal before being removed. It sounds like a long procedure but depending on how bad your eyesight is, it only takes anything from 5-20 seconds. For me, there was no “pain” as your eyes are numbed – but they will smart once the anesthetic wears off so make sure you use the antibiotic eye drops as prescribed and for the first day or two, rest at home in a darkened environment and do everything your doctor tells you to do. If you can tolerate the smarting caused by cutting onions, you should be able to tolerate the “pain”. I was over the discomfort in a day but different people will have different experiences.

There are side effects. Make no mistake. The clinic explained the procedure and side effects to me but never pushed me into making a decision as to whether I wanted the procedure done. The choice was mine alone especially as there were some drastic side effects to consider.

LASIK Side Effects to consider

Some side effects you might expect and which I experienced.

  • Dry Eyes – For the initial few months, you are recommended to use eye drops every few hours to hydrate your eyes. If you have chronic dry eyes, the clinic can recommend you a hydrating gel which helps. If your eyes are too dry, your vision will be affected too so you have to keep your eyes hydrated. I do get dry eyes now and again but its not as severe as before.
  • Pin Prick or Starburst Lights – When you look at bright lights, you could see pin pricks or starbursts like how fireworks look. It was more severe when I first had surgery and I still get them now. I’m not too fussed though.
  • Halo around lights – During the initial period, for me up to a year later, I used to see a halo around lighted objects, especially dim lights and under fluorescent lighting. I used to joke that it made everyone a Saint 😛 I don’t get it as bad anymore. Some days when my eyes get tired, it happens, but its not as severe.
  • Double Vision – This was something I experienced only on the 1st day. It was a period of adjustment for my eyes but vision went back to normal once the lens adjusted.
  • Over Correction – Due to my super crazy high myopia in both eyes, there was an element of over correction. For nearly a week, I walked around with long sightedness which made it hell to read. So now I know what it’s like to be “older” 😛 It sorted itself out within a week though.
  • Sensitive eyes – You will be sensitive to light so sunglasses are a MUST at all times! I still am sometimes more sensitive to light than I am otherwise but nothing a pair of sunnies won’t cure.

Epi-Lasik 4 years later

I’m entering my 4th year of having had my eyes lasered. I had eyesight of about 900 degrees in both eyes before surgery and high astigmatism. That effectively renders me clinically blind 😛 Now, I have minimal short sightedness of about 75-100 degrees in each eye and minimal astigmatism. Its not bad all things considered!

I sometimes get a case of dry eyes in the morning when I wake up. In air conditioned environments, dry eyes can cause vision to blur so using eye drops help. Otherwise, my annual eye check ups have thus far given me a clean bill of health for my eyes so I’m happy.

In dim lighting, my vision too isn’t quite as sharp as it should be. But then I’ve always had a bit of night vision issues too. So, if you see me looking a little blur in a dimly lighted environment, its not that I’m ignoring you – I probably didn’t notice you 😛

LASIK isn’t a permanent cure for short sightedness. If you do not care for your eyes, you can risk getting back your short sightedness. So, I try not to spend too much time on the computer because it can be very taxing on the eyes. As I said, I have some residual power in both eyes but they have not been increasing drastically over the years and it does not impact on my lifestyle so I will  not go back for enhancements. Besides, as you grow older, you will still develop long sightedness.

Is it worth the money I spent?

My procedure cost RM5k+ for 2 eyes which I had done simultaneously. For me, yes it was worth it.

I started wearing glasses when I was about 8. Contact lenses and I were never friends mainly because of my very long hours at work initially – I used to pull 36 hour days without blinking an eye (pun intended :P). Due to the high power I had, I was using glass lenses which were heavy and I would sometimes get headaches from the glasses pressing into the bridge of my nose or behind my ears.

Lasik gives me the chance to live life without the hassle of wearing spectacles just to be able to see properly. With power of 900+ in both eyes, I could barely see without glasses so anything is really an improvement.

I like being able to swim and do water sports without hassle. The vain pot in me of course likes being able to wear swanky sunglasses 😀

Everyone I know who has had it (with good experiences and results) have nothing but raves for the LASIK corrective vision procedure. However, there are those who have had bad experiences who will regret ever going under the laser. You can read about those online – I did and it helped me understand just how bad the side effects can be.

As with everything invasive or life altering, there is a risk to it. Ultimately, ask all the questions you can, think about it thoroughly, talk to those who have done it, learn of the possible side effects, decide if you can live with them if they happen to you. And only then decide whether you want it. The procedure itself lasts barely a minute. The after effects can be life altering for better or for worse.

Once you make that choice, there’s no turning back.

I hope this helps someone. If you have questions, please feel free to ask in the comments and I will reply when I can 🙂

Paris B

35 Insightful comments ... Read or JOIN THE DISCUSSION

35 comments ... Read or JOIN THE DISCUSSION

  1. i have actually thought of doing LASIK before and still thinking about it. This one-eye shortsightedness is so troublesome. Right eye 350 and left is 0. Glasses are not fitted well because they made me nauseous so I am on contact lens. But long hours make my eyes really dry! I am not sure if my power will still increase now, but maybe I should wait for another 1-2 years to let the damn power stabilize first right? Perhaps by then they have some brilliant technologies already!

    Reply

    • Golly! Just 1 eye? At least I was nearly blind in both eyes – more balanced. Hope you find a solution that helps you! 1 eye means 1/2 the cost 😛

      Reply

  2. Am still on the fence with this one, but wavering towards the direction of getting Lasik done… last time they said I was too young to have the procedure (early twenties) so maybe now they’ll let me go ahead with it – my power’s been fairly stable for the past 2 years, mainly because I’ve been wearing contact lenses daily and that helps keep the power from moving. I’m nowhere as blind as you were before Lasik; power hovers between 450 – 525 between both eyes but my astig is quite high (1.75) so I’m not sure if that’s something to be taken into account. How high was your astig before Lasik, PB?

    Reply

    • Astig was about 300+? told you I was clinically blind 😛 Only way to know if you are suitable is to get an eye check up because if astig is too high, the side effects are different too and so is the correction.

      Reply

  3. Thank you for sharing your honest experience! I have really bad eyes with high astigmatism too, and like you said – practically blind w/o my spectacles. My eyes are not able to wear contacts that well anymore for some reason, so I have been thinking about having my eyes ‘laser-ed’ for the longest.

    Reply

  4. Good morning Paris 🙂
    I personally have imbalance power to both of my eyes (the difference is more than 2.00)…but since I knew LASIK is not permanent, I kinda gave up on that. It gives me an excuse to wear different style of glasses, yay 😀 Talking about vanity here…

    Reply

    • Nope Lasik isn’t permanent but I still went for it anyway since any reduction is better than the myopia I was having 😀 Glad you are looking on the bright side of wearing glasses 😀

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  5. i remember you called me about my LASIK when you were going to do it. And I was happy for you having it done as I am happy with mine too. I thank you for this post as I had no idea what is Epi Lasik. I never bothered to look into this subject after mine’s done (dated back in 2002!)

    I am bookmarking this post just in case.

    🙂

    Reply

    • Yep! I remember talking to you about it too 😀 Once you have it done, there’s no looking back coz there’s no need to unless you run into problems 😀

      Reply

  6. 900++?? Whoa. That’s something. I’m for this procedure though my power is too low to go for it (at about 150). While clearly there are side effects, I think the restoration of sight is quite close to priceless.

    Reply

    • Hmm? I thought anything from 100 and up was a prime candidate for lasik? I know of people will about that power doing it and they told me it was a procedure that lasted just 2 seconds for them!

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  7. i have myopia of about 800 each eye and astig of 125-200 per eye too! and im gg for intralase lasik this friday. hope it’ll turn out alright! the only side effects i heard fr my doctor was the halos though. i never had a dry eye problem though ive been wearing contacts for 8 yrs! and im only in my early 20s and now im undecided if i should go ahead with the surgery, after reading your post…

    Reply

    • I never had a dry eye problem before – it only came about due to lasik and its one of the main side effects anyone will notice. If your doctor tells you you’re ready, you should be ok. Halos are one side effect. Pinpricks come along with halos. The rest were what I was also warned about but it was quite mild for me. Good luck!

      Reply

  8. Thank you for sharing your experience with Lasik. Can’t believe it was 900+ with such improvement afterwards. Mine is 650-675 so now am a little more optimistic. My sis is like 1000+ so she’s saving up to get Lasik done in a couple of years. Both our glasses itself cost like $700+ a year so this one-time procedure seems really worth it.

    Reply

    • You’re welcome and I’m glad it helped you. My glasses were expensive affairs too (especially the better looking frames, multi-coat, super thin lenses etc) so all in all, its not too bad 🙂

      Reply

  9. Hi PB,

    its really nice of you to share your experience here! i had mine done 2 years ago and since then i’ve never regretted! I had the same problems with you when i wear glasses and putting on contact lenses has caused my eyes to get infection regularly… getting Lasik done was the best choice! I still remembered flaunting off my eye makeup when i went back to work after that.. for me, side effects were gone within a week, but subsequently my eyes tend to become dry easily but that does not bother me.

    Reply

  10. Thanks for sharing your experience! My myopia’s only 325 / 400 so I’m waiting to see if it goes up any further (still in my early 20s) before doing Lasik. Besides, the tech’s getting better and better every year, n since my power’s not high, no rush lah. Did Epi-Lasik cost you more than what normal Lasik would’ve cost at that time?

    p.s. when ya get old, it’s presbyopia (lou fa). Long-sightedness is something even kids can get.

    Reply

  11. Hi Paris, thank you for the info sharing 🙂

    I did Epi lasik too and my myopia 900/ 1100 before the lasik, now come to the third week after the treatment, but my vision still blur for the far distance
    May i know how long you take for healing?

    Reply

    • For short sight, it took me up to a year before my vision stabilized. As I have noted, its not 100% clear. I have some really crappy days when its all blurry. But I do have good days when its sharp too. Its only been 3 weeks so be patient and follow the doctor’s instructions and use eye drops religiously. Good luck!

      Reply

  12. I’ve just done my LASIK 2 weeks ago on both my eyes @ Optimax, one eye sees very clearly. Seemed like the short-sightedness is gone for that eye but my other eye still have some residual power.. still some blurness and its causing me problems trying to read and to look at the computer screen.
    I seriously hope this is just a phase, its been 2 weeks and its still the same.. *pray*
    Anyone has similar situation like mine?

    Reply

    • 2 weeks is too early to tell 🙂 I had long sight for a few weeks till things settled and mine took a year to stabilise. I hope yours settles soon. Till then hold off reading and computer for long hours as it’ll cause unnecessary stress. 🙂

      Reply

  13. Hi

    I had Epi-Lasik @ Optimax around 4 years ago. The procedure was painless, but recovery takes longer than expected basically out of action for around 3 days, you can’t open your eyes for 2 to 3 days as they know they’ve been damaged.

    Vision was perfect for around 3.5yrs…recently went to the Optician, who says my eyes are beginning to regress…code for going back to old prescription. Know have to wear glasses for driving and watching TV…old prescription was -3 & -3.5 back to -1 and -1.5. They don’t tell you this when you get it done that there is no guarantees that it will not regress. Eyesight still better than what it used to be so would say it was worth it, but I’d like people to know it isn’t always permanent.

    Thanks

    Reply

  14. Hey, I’d EPI-Lasik 3 weekd before for my myopia -3.5 for both eyes. My left eye sees cleary though some halos in night but my right eye is not perfect. Its blury, seeing halos in night. In your case when you stoped seeing halos ghosts aroung light? Were both eyes of yours out of whack for few weeks if yes how many?

    Reply

  15. Thought I would chime in my two cents to share my experience. I had my Custom All-laser Lasik done at Optimax TTDI end of August, so it has been around 1 month + 1 week post-operation. I think I am one of the lucky ones where I have had little side effects. Be warned though that everyone’s recovery rate is different, I’ve definitely heard of a lot of people who took much a long time to recover and have a lot of side effects.

    The first day post-operation was quite a pain, as mentioned by ParisB – my eyes were tearing up non-stop and they really were painful. My eyes were also very sensitive to sunlight, so I had to wear sunglasses even in the house. Things started to look much better on the 3rd day. Tearing was gone, and I actually didn’t have bloodshot eyes (one big concern of mine before I went for Lasik since I didn’t want my colleagues questioning me about my scary red eyes). My night vision has been surprisingly very good too with no halos.

    I had 4.25 and 4.5 shortsightedness as well as 150 and 200 astig prior to this. My one-month post-op check-up shows that my right eye currently has 0 shortsightedness and astig whereas my left eye has residual of 50 shortsightedness and 50 astig. Not perfect, but I consider it good enough and I am happy. Dry eyes are unavoidable from Lasik and could get quite uncomfortable at times in air-conditioned setting, but it’s not something that couldn’t be solved with artificial tears.

    I wore glasses and contact lenses for a good 15 years before my contact lenses started to irritate my eyes, so I have been considering Lasik for quite a while before taking the plunge. Price was of course a concern (my total was RM7776 for both eyes), in addition to the side effects, but after doing tons of research online as well as interviewing friends who have done Lasik at both Optimax and Vista, I went for it and I’ve not had any regrets since. 🙂

    Reply

  16. Hi, I came across to ur website about these epi-lasik treatment.. I did my eye checkup a day before, and its similar to what u’d mention, high power of 900 approx and assigm. of 200 and cornea being too thin, not a suitable candidate for laser treatment.. the staff never told me much about epilasik but he offered ICL (implatable contact lens ) instead… i wonder do u encounter the same back then? However ill be meeting the doctor for assesment coming weekend.. hopefully everything’s okay.

    Bytheway, it’s been approx 4 years ? how’s your eye currently ? all good ? o.O

    Reply

  18. Wew i know this post is like 6 years ago lol but i do have a question. My eye power also around 900+ for each eye and i considered myself blind too @@. Before u having the lasik, did u having a very dizzy headache and sometimes just looking at computer screen bout 5 mins also give u a headache. Is like u feel like to vomit urghh. Were u suffering this too?

    Reply

    • Hi, I’m afraid I didn’t experience anything like that. You may want to have it checked out by a doctor just to be sure it isn’t something more serious than just myopia

      Reply

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