I copied this from a post I wrote on another community site, so I’m just going to keep the casual tone as is...
I spent two weeks obsessively lurking in the eye-surgery gallery, kind of mentally turning myself into an amateur expert, and ended up visiting about five eye clinics in Gangnam that were either heavily marketed or very famous.
Out of those, I’m going to write about the clinic I visited last. First, I’ll say which doctor treated me: Dr. Kim Jinsun.
If I had to name one thing I really liked about this doctor, among many, it would be all the talk about corneal strengthening.
He just skipped it entirely.
I liked that part so much.... At other places they were recommending corneal strengthening like crazy lol
And as you’ll know if you go, the staff are just overwhelmingly kind. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this in my life lol
Not just eye clinics, but hospitals in general, too ㅇㅇ and I’m a bit of a hospital collector, so I’ve got plenty of data.
Before I get into the details, my specs:
Myopia / astigmatism
Right: -1.75 / -1.75
Left: -2.0 / -2.0
Corneal thickness: 521 / 522
Ablation amount: 52 / 56
Pupil size: 7.7 / 7.18
Optical zone: 6.5, target vision: 1.0
1. Clinic atmosphere
The clinic felt different from the start.
The facilities are insanely flashy, and because of that, the staff all look cheerful and happy to be working there lol Out of the five places I visited, this one was overwhelmingly better in terms of staff energy and overall atmosphere. That alone already felt good. At other places, there were definitely staff members with faces like they’d swallowed something awful.
2. Eye exam
I’d been harassed so much by the eye-surgery gallery that I’d built up a very negative view of optometrists. I’d already been to four places before this, and every place had totally different exam methods, doing things however they wanted. Some places had so few machines they barely did anything, while others did every possible test.
But that part is about the machines. What I think matters in an optometrist’s ability is this:
- Do they repeat precise measurements for specific tests that need accuracy, in order to reduce machine error? (A lot of optometrists only measure once ㅡㅡ)
- When checking visual acuity with the eye chart, do they break down the astigmatism axis, myopia, and astigmatism values carefully and precisely?
(Meaning they don’t just make a rough guess and brush it off, and they don’t feel rushed or sloppy)
- When measuring nighttime pupil size, do they properly perform dark adaptation? ---> Seriously, why are there so many clinics that don’t do this right?
Even in the military, when doing night firing, they do one minute of dark adaptation. At eye clinics, when measuring pupil size, there isn’t even any proper darkening, and even if they darken the room, how can the result be right if they measure immediately?
- During refraction, do they use not only a dilating drop (midripin) but also a cycloplegic drop (cyclogyl)?
And after giving the drops, do they wait enough time before measuring? Also, to improve the effect, do they instill the drops twice instead of only once?
Why are there so many optometrists who put in only midripin and measure in less than five minutes ㅡㅡ Is it because they’re too lazy?
Especially cyclogyl, maybe because it lasts too long, so they don’t use it?
Most of them don’t use it at all;;
- At the final consultation, do they give objective advice based on accurate facts, without being tied to their hospital’s own interests?
(Ha.... I’m really sick of hospitals trying to sell you things. Especially when their own equipment is honestly ancient, over ten years old and outdated, and they still package it as if it’s great and tell clueless ordinary people it’s no different from machines like the Amaris or the EX500....)
Based on what I’d learned from my own eye-exam experience, most hospitals really skipped at least one or two of those things.
Was it a time issue? Or were they just too lazy?
Anyway, so how was this clinic?
Surprisingly, I was satisfied with everything. ㅇㅇ Honestly, you could say this was written based on this clinic’s eye-exam method.
Two of the places I visited were free, and three charged 50,000 won each. I get that free clinics are one thing, but if you’re charging 50,000 won, then you should at least provide this much...
But this clinic really didn’t feel like a waste of money. I was so grateful I almost wanted to tip the optometrist.
Of course, even if the optometrist belongs to this clinic, there’s probably variation from person to person, right?
So I can’t say for sure... but if you’re curious who my optometrist was, leave a comment and I’ll tell you. Honestly, I’d built up so much distrust toward optometrists that I thought someone younger wouldn’t be able to do it well, but I didn’t expect someone who seemed around my age to be this good.
They checked everything I listed above really carefully.
3. The doctor in charge
I heard the reason this clinic is so popular is because of the director, Dr. Go whatever. But I wanted LASEK soon, so how could I wait a whole year lol
So I was looking for another doctor, and my selection criteria were like this:
- Strong credentials. --> Prefer a fellowship-trained doctor over just a board-certified specialist
- Someone who specialized in the cornea, since this is LASEK
- Since experience matters, a doctor with some years under their belt
Surprisingly, the person who met everything was Director Kim Jinsun. Of course, that doesn’t mean the other male doctors lack skill,
but I still thought a female doctor would be more likely to listen carefully if I worried about side effects lol (The users on this gallery recommended the other male doctors a lot)
Especially the fellowship-trained cornea specialist part --> that stood out to me as a huge differentiator and really drew me in.
In the end I got examined, and the conclusion was total satisfaction. I came in with a bunch of questions, saying I was kind of hesitant and had many things to ask, and she answered everything one by one without making me feel rushed at all....
I was so thankful... I really worry a lot about side effects
Q1. I understand the side effect people complain about most is overcorrection. Can’t this be prevented somehow?
--> Yes. I know that well too. That’s why I never do overcorrection; I always do exact correction. So the corrected vision is set to 1.0. That’s better.
Q2. But people are greedy, so if you set exact correction to 1.0, wouldn’t it be disappointing if regression happens later? What then?
--> If it’s overcorrected, people really struggle. It interferes with daily life too much. So I absolutely won’t make it too strong. And the more cornea you remove, the more regression can happen, but you won’t be having much removed, so it’s fine. And re-operation is also possible, so there’s no problem.
Q3. Should I worry about keratoconus?
--> Yeah, you’re totally fine
Q4. Between the EX500 and the Amaris Red, the doctor especially seems to recommend the EX500 to people a lot. Which one is right for me? I heard the EX500 is good for people with large pupils. Then is the EX500 better for me?
--> That’s right. But with your pupil size and your visual prescription and ablation amount, there’s almost no difference whichever one you choose, so honestly either is fine. But I recommend the Amaris Red.
Q5. Why?
--> Usually, the reasons people choose SMILE instead of LASEK are pain and recovery time, and the Amaris Red is better than the EX500 in terms of recovery speed and pain. So for eyes like yours, the Amaris Red seems better.
Q6. I heard LASEK can cause a little night blindness?
--> Yeah, in your case it could happen because your pupils are fairly large. And glare will probably get worse too. But it’ll return after six months.
Q7. I heard the optical zone is important. My pupil size is 7.2 to 7.6, so how big will the optical zone be? Can’t you make it 7?
--> A bigger optical zone isn’t automatically better. If the optical zone is larger, the ablation amount also increases, and the quality of vision can drop a bit, so you have to be careful. So 7 is too much, and I’ll make it 6.5.
Q8. I want to get a perm. Can I do it before surgery?
--> Yeah, before surgery it doesn’t matter.
Q9. I know doctors are split, with some being positive and some negative, about corneal strengthening. Do I need corneal strengthening?
--> No, you don’t need it. It’s often done together when the cornea is too thin, the ablation amount is too large, or the shape is bad, but in your current condition, you don’t need it. If needed, it can also be done separately later. And even if it’s done together, there aren’t side effects, but it does hurt a bit more and takes a bit longer to recover. So you don’t need it.
There were a few more questions besides these. Small stuff.
Honestly, I asked questions for almost 15 minutes, and she answered everything without even the slightest emotional disturbance... Where do you find a doctor like that, damn lol She’s god-tier, seriously
Conclusion: go to this clinic. Just do it there. ㅇㅇ I strongly recommend it.
I hope they contact me after seeing this.
Anyway, I ended up scheduling the surgery with Director Kim Jinsun.
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The conclusion is that it’s the best. No side effects at all, and my vision came out to 1.3 If you have questions, leave a comment