It has been well over three years since I had LASEK at [Clinic A] near Nonhyeon Station—so long that I honestly do not remember exactly when. My vision has remained stable without any major deterioration. I will focus on what I was most curious about before surgery.
1. The surgery itself feels incredibly quick. As with any clinic, excluding the explanation, consent form, and waiting time beforehand, it seems to be over before you have time to be scared. There really is a very strong smell of burning flesh, but while you are thinking, “Wow, is this the smell of my eyeballs being burned?” it is over.
2. During surgery, there is slight pain, stinging, and discomfort. I have a high pain threshold and actually find the aching sensation of something entering the body, like a needle, unpleasant. In that respect, this was far less painful than dermatology laser treatment.
3. Going home alone is impossible. You cannot open your eyes at all... I honestly did not think I could manage public transportation either. When I first walked out of the clinic on my own, I thought, “This is better than expected. Maybe I could get home alone if I tried?” But as soon as I got into the car, tears streamed down and I could not open my eyes, so I ended up sobbing out loud. Put on sunglasses immediately.
4. Recovery time differs by person, but on the first day, assume there is nothing you can do other than listen to podcasts. You can open your eyes for about 0.01 seconds. I deliberately stayed up all night the previous night, then on the day of surgery I kept lying down or sleeping except when alarms reminded me to use eye drops. The second day was probably the most uncomfortable, but I could open my eyes a little more, so I remember taking my dog for a walk in sunglasses with tears streaming down my face...
5. The stinging lasted for over a month, to the point that I cannot remember exactly, then I forgot about it at some point. My eyes did feel sore and dry, but it was not a major inconvenience, so I did not keep worrying about when it would get better.
6. Glare and dry eye: I drive a lot, but I think I already had glare before surgery, so I did not notice a difference before versus after. I did not have night blindness, but my nighttime vision had always been vaguely questionable, like, “Am I really seeing everything?” It does not seem to have worsened or changed noticeably.
For the first one to two years, I recommend always carrying eye drops and ophthalmic ointment in dry environments. Especially after sleeping on a plane or on dry days, my eyes felt very gritty and painful; this was actually my biggest practical discomfort. I always applied ophthalmic ointment before bed and lived with a humidifier.
Based on my experience and those around me, the best way to reduce long-term eye-condition issues, loss of vision, and phenomena such as glare is to maintain moisture as much as possible from immediately after surgery and in the long term, with eye drops and ophthalmic ointment.
It has now been about a year since I stopped thinking about it, and after caring for them that way for several years, my eyes are now maintained in a condition no different from before surgery even without any care.