After quitting my job last year, I was wondering what to do with my severance pay, then suddenly got the urge and went in without an appointment the same day. This is my review of getting everything done in the morning, from the exam to the surgery.
I had always been thinking I should get LASIK someday, but kept putting it off. Then one morning the weather was so nice that I thought, today is the day, got dressed, and went straight to Gangnam. I even looked up LASIK clinics on the way to Gangnam... I really had no plan at all..
I went to a clinic that looked famous, got a consultation right away, and had the tests done almost like a factory line, moving one seat over at a time along a row of chairs. I had worn contact lenses for about 8 years, so my dry eye was worse than most people’s, but they said I was still eligible for SMILE LASIK, so I decided to proceed with the surgery right away.
In the middle, they said that in extremely rare cases, people can lose vision after vision correction surgery, and there was an option to do genetic testing or just have the director examine me to check. They said genetic testing is more accurate than the director’s exam, but it takes some time to get the results, and they seemed to phrase it in a way that suggested I could just get it over with quickly through the director’s exam.
But what if, by some tiny chance, I lost my vision... I just waited about an hour and a half, heard the genetic test results, and then proceeded with the surgery. I was unemployed anyway, so I had time, and since my eyesight was at stake, I was worried too.
When it was time for surgery, I moved to the operating room area. About 5-6 people having surgery around the same time as me were seated in a row, disinfected, had anesthetic eye drops put in, and were seated in recliners waiting for about 10 minutes. Then we all got up in a row again, stood in a single line like playing train, went into the operating room, and waited again. One by one, each person lay on the bed, was given a doll to hold, then the doctor came in and said to keep looking at the dot in front, and the surgery was over in about 2 minutes.
Then I went back to the recovery room, stayed there for a bit, and then could go home.
SMILE LASIK is known for having less pain and a quick recovery. On the day of surgery, I did have a little pain like my eye was being pricked with a needle, but it got better quickly. My focus also got clearer over time, and my vision recovered fast.
For about a month, I couldn’t live without artificial tears. Oh, before surgery, make sure to go to a nearby ophthalmology clinic and get a prescription for artificial tears in advance. And definitely bring them with you on the day of surgery.
For me, my vision came back quickly on the day of surgery, but two days later, I suddenly opened my eyes and couldn’t focus. I got worried and sent a consultation chat, and they said it was a normal reaction and would come back soon, so I waited, and it became completely fine.
I really recommend it, strongly recommend it. My quality of life has really changed, and now I can’t even remember what it was like wearing glasses or contacts.
Vision: Before correction: 0.2 After correction: 1.2
I think I’m maintaining 1.0 now.
I think the surgery cost was somewhere in the low to mid 2 million won range.