Hey! If you follow me on socials you’ll know I recently had laser eye surgery. This blog post is for those of you who had lots of Questions about my experience and Laser Eye Surgery as a whole.
The process leading up to my surgery was quite long but that was based on my decision making.
Let’s start from the beginning.
In March 2018, I had a corneal ulcer in my eye, had a week of treatment and was in so much pain. I was scrolling through Facebook a week later and found an advertisement for Laser Eye Surgery with Optical Express (Hundreds wanted for Free Consultation at Optical Express for Lasik Eye Surgery).. Me being me, saw the word free and signed up straight away, wasn’t until after reading it again and seeing it said Free consultation. (Ha!) Within seconds of signing up I received a phone call and was booked into my local Optical Express Clinic.
Fast forward a week and I’m at my appointment, they ran tests on my eyes and told me I am a suitable candidate for Laser Eye Surgery, although I asked my opticians beforehand if I could have it done and they told me my prescription is too bad. Having realise I could in fact have it done, I started making the plans for payment etc. Originally the price was around £5,000 (They have finance options available). It would take me a while to save that up so I prepared myself and told them hopefully before the end of May I could have my Surgery in time for my 21st Birthday.
My saving was horrendous and I didn’t save up the amount in time to have my surgery before birthday, so continued to save as much as possible. I also suffer from severe dry eye and this would also mean I couldn’t have surgery until my symptoms of dry eyes had lessened. June 21st I received a text “Summer Special from Optical Express. Your laser eye surgery is now available for a fixed price of £3,995. To Book your surgery reply EYES. Opt out to STOP.” Straight away I went into Optical express (to make sure it was them) and booked a date to have my surgery done. That day I paid a deposit of £400 and had my surgery date booked for 20th July, they give you a check up a day before surgery too. Upon my checkup, my eyes were far too dry and the optician and surgeon pushed back my surgery date in hopes the eye drops they’d given me will reduce my dry eyes symptoms and I was rescheduled to 2nd August. Again, on the 2nd of August, I was refused Surgery and given the rescheduled date of 17th. During all this time I was only allowed to wear glasses and not my contact lenses and if you’re anything like me and despise your glasses this was emotionally distressing.
On the 17th I arrived for my Surgery in the morning and they ran through all the same tests again, my prescription was a -10 for both eyes and in contacts I wore a -7/8. After checking with the surgeon, he said he will allow me to have the surgery however my dry eye symptoms can worsen & can be something that I will have prolonged symptoms of. At this point, I didn’t mind as I had been dealing with dry eyes from wearing contacts for a long time and agreed I am happy to do the surgery whilst also bearing that in mind. I was them placed in the waiting room along with others who were waiting to have their surgery done. On the day, they ask you to wear comfortable clothing and make sure to bring sunglasses and pain killers. It’s important that you bring good quality sunglasses that have quite a lot of shade to them as you’ll need it for the light sensitivity.
Surgery:
As I am called in for my Surgery, I was sat on a bed between two large machines, I was asked to look at the clock on the wall and tell them what I can see. At that point (with no glasses on) I could only see the outline of the clock. I was told to remember what my vision of that clock looked like and to them lay down on the bed and make myself comfortable flat on my back. A nurse then comes over and wipes my eye with cleansing wipes (you’re also now allowed any make up on the day of surgery) just to make sure my eye area is clean. She then places two different eye drops (anaesthetic & moisture) in my eyes whilst talking to me and making sure I am okay. 2 minutes later to adds another dose of drops whilst they are all preparing for my surgery in the room. The surgeon then places a suction cap on my eye to keep my eye still and to hold open my eye lids (you can watch videos of this on YouTube) and slides me under the first machine which will cut my eye flap open. I felt no pain during this and could only see the machine above me. The surgeon then slides me back out and uses a brush like flap and pulls my eye flap open, I am then put under the laser and they begin lasering my eye. During the lasering process there is a burning smell which comes from the laser in contact with your eyes which is quite daunting however whilst under the laser you can see the red light becoming clearer and clearer with vision. At this point you can only see out of one eye because they have an eye patch covering the other eye. They then do the same for the next eye. After both have been lasered I was asked to keep my eyes closed. They sat me up and asked me to open my eyes and look at the clock. Already I could see absolutely everything and it was extremely clear (this vision was still meant to be blurry and would improve within 24 hours). I was then given my sunglasses and all eyedrops and sent home to take my painkillers before the anaesthetic wore off.
The next day for my 1 day post op, I was given an eye test and my vision was better than 20/20. I had no redness in my eyes but just slight swelling, my eyes were no longer light sensitive and I had no more pain from the surgery.
Fast forwarding to present day: My eyes are still slightly dry however I only feel dry eye symptoms at night time and when I am extremely tired, my vision is still above 20/20 and I am to have dry eye checks every 2 months.
Overall, my experience so far has been amazing.
FAQ:
How much did it cost? – The surgery I had on the summer offer was exactly £3,995. I paid a £400 deposit and I am paying monthly on finance for £395 a month.
How was the experience overall? – Overall I had a great experience the team at optical express are absolutely lovely and I felt comfortable every step of the way.
What would happen if there were any complications? – Optical Express have a money back guarantee if your surgery doesn’t give you 20/20 vision, they can also repair your vision free of charge if your eye sight changes all within the first year.
Did it hurt? – Not at all, after the surgery my eyes stung for a bit as the anaesthetic wore off but nothing major.
NAIMÁH MCKIE 