I had worn glasses since 2nd grade of elementary school and got the surgery when I was in college.
When I ate breakfast, my bangs would fall into the soup,
and since I ate with my face practically buried in the dining table, my dad said he couldn’t stand the sight of it lol
He often told me either to wear my glasses properly or get laser surgery.
My mom had a conservative view, saying that they were still my eyes, so it would be better not to do it.
Then one winter I got really into snowboarding, and without even putting in artificial tears every day,
I wore daily contact lenses and snowboarded all month.
I ended up getting dry eye syndrome, and while eating, tears were streaming down my face, but I was still eating with my head buried toward the table,
so my dad got extremely angry, saying he couldn’t stand the sight of it lol
The dry eye syndrome was also pretty intense, and I wanted to ride without lenses the next season, so I suddenly really wanted to get the surgery.
I got treatment for dry eye syndrome for about a month, searched for LASIK on a Naver cafe,
and chose a clinic in Gangnam with a name similar to a convenience store.
It’s gone now, but at the time they had something called a lifetime guarantee system, so I trusted that and made a reservation.
A few years later, I received a brochure saying the guarantee was gone. (What? Give it back.)
They explained that they cut the corneal surface diagonally, so recovery would be fast.
I don’t know if what I got was SMILE LASIK. I first heard the word SMILE a few years after the surgery.
I’m guessing it was probably the old type of LASIK.
My parents paid for the surgery. I remember it was in the high 1 million to low 2 million won range.
I heard LASEK was painful, so it wasn’t on my list from the start, and I went in already decided on LASIK.
I had the exam that day and had surgery right away.
My vision was -5.0 and -5.5, with a little astigmatism.
The doctor complimented me, saying my corneas were thick lol
During the surgery, when they told me to open my eyes wide and look at a certain spot, I focused extremely hard so my eyeballs wouldn’t move.
They told me to rest my eyes, but after I got home I played Everybody’s Marble all day lol Sorry, doctor, sorry
Since it was LASIK, there was no pain at all, and from the next day it was just a whole new world.
I remember the unfocused, hazy vision lasted about 3 days.
When I went for my final checkup, my vision was 1.2 in both eyes, and I think it still comes out around 1.2 now.
People say there can be glare or halos, but at night I barely felt it, to the point where I wondered, “Was that glare?”
I drive well at night too. But I’m not good at parking, sorry.
What I was most satisfied with was not having to look for my glasses in the morning,
and being freed from glasses getting in the way when exercising made me so happy.
I’m also satisfied that the pigmentation from wearing glasses on the bridge of my nose since I was a kid disappeared.
The pigmentation after surgery seems to have lasted almost 3 years.
I don’t have dry eye syndrome, but I always carry artificial tears with me.
If my eyes itch, I don’t rub them; I rinse them with artificial tears or wipe them with a wet tissue. Until now, I have never had LASIK side effects or an eye infection.
I’m leaving this review because I thought it might be helpful for anyone considering surgery.
This review is for a surgery review pursuing natural beauty.