LASIK
1 month since LASIK
May 16th
So it’s been now 1 month since I had my LASIK surgery. In this month I had a very strict program with my drops provided by EyeStar center. I used them as prescribed. I believe that my eyes didn’t need so much artificial tears, but if the doctor says it is important you have to take them!
During my reading of the file that I received from Eyestar I noticed that they prohibit very clear to rub your eyes because the flap might move. But nowhere is mentioned how you realize that the flap actually moved. After discussing with Mr. Fred, Foreign patient coordinator, I found out that if the flap is moved, your vision decreases very much, so it would be like you need glasses again.
Everything is ok, I can see very well. I found out that there are few self-testing eye charts to measure your vision. You just have to print the PDF files and you can see for your self how well you actually see. But be careful: none of this will replace professional help! So if you feel that something’s wrong, you should see a doctor right away.
The eye check files are suitable for printing on letter sized paper:
During this month I had some small issues – few times, under my upper eye lid, I felt like some dust accumulated there, but they passed after one day.
Things that I was careful about (it might seem crazy for you, but imagine that these are your ONLY eyes):
- I was careful not to go out in winds or stay in the face of an air conditioner.
- When I went out in crowded places, I always wear my Uvex i-vo protective glasses so even if someone is not very careful and hits me by mistake, my flap won’t move.
- Took my medicine as prescribed
- Worked fewer hours per day in front of the computer
- Had 5 minutes break at each 55 minutes of work at computer
- I’ve avoided as much as possible dusty areas, barbecues, bars who allow smoking inside
This is my personal experience. Looking back, I am sorry only that I didn’t do this simple operation earlier.
Trip and LASIK Operation
Apr 28th
After I did a lot of research on LASIK, chosen EyeStar for my treatment and speak a lot with their patient coordinators, it was time to choose a way to get there. On the center page, they offer also a free service of helping you book your transportation and reservation at one of the hotels with whom they have partnership.
1. The trip
I choose to go back to Romania (now I’m in Germany) to see my relatives and from there have a trip by bus from there. I found a very nice offer of 5 days (from which 2 days are transport to and back from Istanbul) and spend there 3 days. For the overall price of 150€ I got 4 nights in a 3* hotel in old city (Golden Horn), 2* bus transport and included was a night tour of Istanbul.
What I liked the most at this trip was that it all 3 days in Istanbul were working days, so no matter what kind of complication could have occurred (because first days are critical), I still was in town, near my doctor and his clinic. I was a little obsessed by this, but hey! we are speaking about my eyes.
The trip there was quite nice, in the first day we’ve visited Edirne, with a very beautiful Selimiye Mosque. We spend almost two hours during which we saw also their Bazaar, a little bit of Turkish daily life on the streets in a beautiful afternoon.
After getting to the hotel I went directly to sleep, because I wanted that my eyes to be as rested as possible for next day treatment. During the day I had few calls from the Eyestar centre, for preparing the last minute details of my operation: confirming my reservation, the hotel and its address. They need to know the hotel because another very nice feature offered to the clients of this clinic is that they offer free transport to and from clinic, so the patient will be more relaxed. No more worries about getting to clinic in time, choosing transportation, finding routes!
2. The operation – Tests
Next day, on 15th of April, at 10 am me and my fiancé were transported with a very nice and comfortable Volkswagen Touareg to the clinic. The clinic is situated in the very hart of new city, in Taksim square.
Upon the arrival, I was invited to wear some plastic outfits over my shoes, in order to avoid dust incoming into the rooms, and waited a little. I received also a paper for reading about the operation. I was under the attention of Mrs Florentina, the Romanian patient coordinator all he time. She explained me detailed anything that it will happen and accompanied me to all checks and operation in that day. Soon, I was invited to start my ocular tests. I had a 3D scan of my retina, intraocular pressure, optometry to find out my diopters. After that, I went to a dark room to have my pupil size taken and check again my diopters with a funny device with lenses inside, mimicking a pair of glasses.
After this set of tests, I had some drops in my eyes to dilate them and again the entire set of tests. This time also the eye fundus checked by the doctor. He confirmed that I am a perfect candidate for LASIK.Another set of drops were administered, this time to counter the dilate effect of the first ones. And afterwards, lunch break.
3. Lunch break
Me and my fiancé wanted to see this famous street in Istanbul,İstiklâl Caddesi (Independence Avenue). When I exited the clinic, I realized that a pair of sunglasses would have been a good investment. I was tearing a lot, at some point I couldn’t look around, but only down. My luck was that I wasn’t alone there, in the fast circulation of Istanbul. Cars are usually traveling with 60 Km/h and red light is not so well respected. So it is not so easy to cross the streets of Istanbul. Finally, we got there and had a very nice walk, had a traditional Döner Durum and get back to clinic in one hour.
4. Operation
When I was back, I got the papers to sign and also paid for treatment. Also. included are 3 sets of drops: one bottle of anti inflammatory ones, one of antibiotic and a pack of artificial tears along with written instructions about the proper way to take them. Was around 15:30 when we were announced that we will have to wait for another half of an hour for sterilization of the laser room to be finished. Finally, we went upstairs(also the persons who wanted and not only the patients) around 16 and invited in the waiting room. It was very comfortable, with a big plasma screen to which we saw a relaxing documentary about animals. I was the third patient in row and Florentina invited me and my fiancé to preparation room, I had been dressed in a surgery outfit like you can see in medical TV shows, the one that you get first with your hands in and it is closed in the back. Then the outside skin of my eyes were sterilized and I got into the laser room.
Then, everything was moving very fast. As I was laying back comfortable under the laser, the operation started. They’ve put on my face a adhesive sterilized plastic and extracted a portion right over my right eye. Then, a clamp who kept my eyelids open was inserted. It wasn’t the very nice, as it was kind of hard on my soft tissue under the lids. But it was very useful as it keeps you from blinking. The next step was attachment of the suction ring who guided the microkeratome. Very fast, the flap was created. I sensed a small tingling while the microkeratome cut, but it was bearable. Then the surgeon asked me to look into the red light and not to try search for it if I didn’t see it any more.
Then the laser started. I saw like a right angle pair of parenthesis created from outside of the eye to inside and when all was done, remained was a small transparent dot. The parenthesis were grayish and quite thick. I also sensed a smell of burning skin, but I knew that this was normal. The laser wasn’t so loud as I understood from the papers that I read. Also, because my right eye involuntary moves, tends not to stay in one position and moves itself when not assisted by the left one, the laser stopped like 2 times during its normal operation.
Then the area was cleaned with some drops and with a small brush(I believe) the doctor put a flow of air on my eye, dried it a little bit and then put back my flap in place. What I didn't like was that I saw a lot of things moving very close to my eye and I was a little frightened. But I tried to stay as still as I could. The right eye procedure finished when the adhesive plastic was removed from my face
The next eye was the same, but the laser didn’t stopped at all. For each eye it took like 5 minutes to complete. My fiancé from outside was able to look through the door’s window to me and also to the main panel of the device. We also could had make photos (it is allowed), but we forgot our camera on the floor below. What was interesting in her story is the fact that she didn’t realized that I was operated on my first eye until they passed to second one. Pretty fast, isn’t it?
After completing the procedure to my both eyes, I raise from that bench and I went to the post-op room, where it was a nice couch and relaxed for 10 minutes. I could see correctly at more than one meter away, but close my eyes couldn't focus well. Afterwards, I went to the waiting room, where I could see very good to the television. It was a 40 inch plasma TV and I could see very well from about 4-5 meters away. I also noticed that my view was a little whitish, like when you turn up the luminosity of your television.
5. First post-op
After going downstairs, I went to a first post-op verification, where my surgeon checked the alignment of the flap. Everything was ok, and we were transported back home by the same nice driver. I was so happy that I could have seen without my glasses!
When arriving in hotel room, around 18:00 I put on my first set of drops and went to catch a short nap before my Turkish evening. But when I tried to open my eyes at 20:00 I couldn’t. I felt pain in my eyes, was very fatigued and decided that I’ll skip that evening. It turned out that I didn’t miss anything because it was just a pale flavor of what it was supposed to be, from what I heard next day.
6. Next day after operation check
Next day, after using drops, I was driven to the EyeStar Center and received a test from my surgeon. Everything was ok, so I was taken back to the hotel.
My vision at starting the process was:
- left eye –4.50
- right eye –5.25
After the operation :
- left eye: 0
- right eye –0.25
- vision: 20/20
My close-range reading was still problematic, but the doctor assured me that it will be better, the brain needs to readjust from seeing through glasses to normal vision.
That was all with my LASIK operation!
Next and the final part in this series you can find out how am I feeling after 1 month.
Or you might want to go back to the Trip and LASIK Operation?
Discussions with EyeStar Patient Coordinators
Apr 22nd
After setting my “eyes” (kind of strange to say that isn’t it) on a company that does LASIK, I started to use a very nice feature of their website: instant messaging with the Patient coordinators. First I discussed with Mr. Fred, who was more than happy to clarify all my doubts and respond to all my questions. Then I was impressed that they had a Romanian native speaker in their team and I continued my discussion with her.
Usually, I read on internet articles and later asked them about what I’ve read, in order to create an educated opinion. Frankly, to allow someone to cut your eyes you have to really trust that person.
I’ve learned a lot about the LASIK process, but also some facts on my own:
1. You should really prepare a pair of sun glasses. You’ll use them in the lunch break, after you had your eye fundus inspected. This inspection requires also to have dilated pupils, so they’ll pour few atropine drops. When you’ll want to go outside, your eyes might go crazy and you’ll tear like hell (at least I did).
2. Have someone with you – this will give you more confidence if you’re an emotional type and also will help you during the time when atropine is still in effect. I mention this also because in Istanbul the traffic is different than everything that I saw. Both cars and pedestrians don’t care of red semaphore sign. We wanted to see and eat in the lunch break on the most famous street in Istanbul,İstiklâl Caddesi (Independence Avenue). So I had to cross a few large streets in full mid-day light – imagine doing this with your tearing eyes and cars passing by you having around 60 km per hour.
3. It is better to stay at hotel in the first evening after operation. I asked and got permission from Cezmi Kahvecioğlu, MD to go in that evening to a Turkish evening. It supposed to start around 21:00 and I thought that I can make it. After the operation, I was driven by the EyeStar driver back to hotel (around 18:30), I put on my drops and go to a quick nap. But I wasn’t able to get up at 20:00 because when I tried to open my eyes I couldn’t do that because they burned quite bad so I went back to sleep.
4. If you want to also visit a little bit of Istanbul you can use a very nice protective pair of glasses, shown below. 
They are actually professional protective glasses made by Uvex : i-vo (they are around 10-15 €). They will protect your eyes in the first days and also make me more comfortable in crowded areas, where someone can easily hit you by mistake. Can be adjusted in several ways and are very comfortable. But keep in mind to have ALWAYS with your eye drops. Especially the tears are important in first days, as you go outside it might be recommended to put more times per day the artificial tears if you feel your eyes dry.
5. I strongly recommend that you have your shower / head hair bath in the morning of operation. This way you’ll avoid being extra careful not to get shower gel in your eyes.
If you found this useful we should move forward to the Trip and Operation article.
Or you might want to go back to the My own LASIK experience?
Research on LASIK
Apr 22nd
When starting such an important process as LASIK surgery (on which your sight is affected) it is crucial to get as many information as you can. You might want to bing it, to Google it and also ask your friends about it. Also discuss with professionals! You never know when you will find someone who already had it and can give their own personal impression.
I found a lot of information on the Softpedia forum, in an interesting article How to "Fix" Your Vision? and a very large list of discussions (in Romanian). I read a lot of advices pros and cons like:
- All about vision: “Choosing the right eye surgeon probably is the single most important step you can take to decrease any risks associated with LASIK. An experienced, reputable surgeon will make sure you are properly screened and let you know up front if you aren't a good candidate for LASIK eye surgery.”
- Presentation of LASIK on Wikipedia
- More about Lasik Technology
- after the surgery I found out the FDA’s opinion on Lasik – it can be fully read under Home > Medical Devices > Products and Medical Procedures > Surgery and Life Support Devices : here ( excerpt from their site: Food and Drug Administration is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services and consists of centers and offices, which are listed in menu at left. The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, products that emit radiation, and tobacco products.)
Among others, FDA presents the main risk factors associated with this operation:
- Blepharitis. Inflammation of the eyelids with crusting of the eyelashes, that may increase the risk of infection or inflammation of the cornea after LASIK.
- Large pupils. Make sure this evaluation is done in a dark room. Although anyone may have large pupils, younger patients and patients on certain medications may be particularly prone to having large pupils under dim lighting conditions. This can cause symptoms such as glare, halos, starbursts, and ghost images (double vision) after surgery. In some patients these symptoms may be debilitating. For example, a patient may no longer be able to drive a car at night or in certain weather conditions, such as fog.
- Thin Corneas. The cornea is the thin clear covering of the eye that is over the iris, the colored part of the eye. Most refractive procedures change the eye’s focusing power by reshaping the cornea (for example, by removing tissue). Performing a refractive procedure on a cornea that is too thin may result in blinding complications.
- Previous refractive surgery (e.g., RK, PRK, LASIK). Additional refractive surgery may not be recommended. The decision to have additional refractive surgery must be made in consultation with your doctor after careful consideration of your unique situation.
- Dry Eyes. LASIK surgery tends to aggravate this condition.
Because during the research I also looked for centers, I found out that in Istanbul there is a clinic named EyeStar or its Romanian version who uses the latest lasers(Wavelight Allgretto 400 hz eye- Q) and technologies to improve vision:
Our laser, the Wavelight Allegretto Wave Eye-Q 500Hz/400Hz. is the newest, fastest, and most advanced FDA-approved eye laser platform on the market. It is reputed for the most precise outcomes, and the highest level of safety and patient comfort.
Another argument pro was that a former colleague ,with whom I’ve worked in Alensa, had the same LASIK for myopia in this clinic and she was very happy about her choice. Also I liked very much their care for their clients: lifetime warranty for the operation, included transportation to and from the clinic, help in your native language (native English, German, Bulgarian, Japanese, French, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Spanish).
Next, I’ll present to you the Discussions with Patient coordinators.
My own LASIK experience
Apr 19th
In this series of articles I will present my own experience with LASIK. All started around 4 years ago when I was so disappointed in wearing gasses in winter time. Any time when I went from freezing outside to the warm of a shop, by example, my glasses become full of condensed water. If you have glasses you understand what I mean, if not, think to the car’s wind shield in winter, full of water drops and you’ll get the picture.
This isn’t just about winter, but also the summer. Imagine that you go to the beach and go for a swim and when you want to go back to your blanket, you may find it quite hard because you’re short-sight.
This all convinced me to search for a treatment. My cousin did a LASEK operation and although she had very good results, she suffered a lot of pains. I was quite scarred because of this, because such a pain can make your life quite bad – it makes you nervous, irritable, not focusing well – I presume you understand the problem.
Each one experience is unique, so I don’t pretend that I have the ultimate answer to “Is the LASIK the best for me?” or “Will I see perfectly after?”.
Disclaimer: This is ONLY my experience and I will not accept any responsibilities of your actions following my story. Please ask a doctor opinion for professional facts and response.
The entire process (the research more than the operation itself) took a lot of time for me because I am a real internet digger and wanted to understand very well the procedure. Not to mention that my eyes deserve the best treatment. I’ve searched a lot on Internet and forums – I also want to underline the importance of informing process. So I’ve created several articles who (hopefully) get you a clear idea of how I tried to get an educated decision:
- Research on LASIK topic and other people’s experience
- Discussion with the clinic’s personnel
- Trip and LASIK Operation
- I’m after a month now!
This article will be read also by Cezmi Kahvecioğlu, MD, the doctor that performed the surgery, and Mrs. Flori Vladeanu, Foreigner Patient Coordinator, who helped me understand in Romanian the entire process. If they consider that there are some additions / clarifications / mistakes I’ll insert them into the article, so all of you, my dear readers, to have the best experience when reading this article.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy this. For me it is a good experience and by now I’m satisfied with the results.
Read the next part, Research on LASIK article.
