Pre-LASIK Eye Surgery

A few months ago I decided.. "I'm gonna do it! I'm going to get LASIK!!"

So I asked around, got some good recommendations.. and chose EyeMedi Eye Center which is based out of Seoul. My friend Faith had her eyes done there a few months back, and she isn't blind, poor or distraught... so I found myself in Seoul... in the clinic... in October.

I'm still positively amazed at how simple it was.. no check of the passport, no insurance mumbo-jumbo, I just filled in a simple form.. they made a copy of my Alien Registration Card (ARC).. and BAM! I was ready to start my eye tests.

I wasn't allowed to wear my contacts for 7 days prior to the tests, to be sure they received accurate results of my eyes. I went through a total of 24 tests....

-some just staring into a machine as they measured corneas and what not

-the classic "don't be frightened, you're going to feel a puff of air"

-they touched my eyeball with a machine

-A-F-H-Z?-4?-J-uhhh-B

-1st or 2nd? 1st!.. okay, 1st or 2nd? Could I see it again please? 1st or 2nd? Uhhh, umm one more time? 1st or 2nd Uhhh I guess, 1st?

-tear check (they pulled my bottom eyelid out, hung a little thin strip of paper off the edge (it stuck out about 2 inches), and I had to close my eyes for a few minutes so that they could measure how moist my eyes naturally were... IF I ONLY HAD HAD A CAMERA!)

-video game - well sort of.. I had to stare at a dot, and click a button every time I saw colored dots appear around it

-they hooked thin strips of paper (about 2 inches long) onto the edge of my lower eyelid.. I closed my eyes for a few minutes.. and in then they measured how moist my eyes were

-at the very end, I was showed what the correction they would do to my eyes, and asked if I could see well (using the funky glasses thing seen below).. do you have any idea how nerve racking that was?! I was like.. I hope this is right.. but I'm not looking at too much in this room.. what if it's actually wrong.. and I don't get my eyes corrected enough.. or if they get corrected too much! SO MUCH PRESSURE!

What the machine looks like back home when you do the "A, G, H, E" chart check.







What the 'machine' looks like in Korea (similar) when you do the "A, G, H, E" chart check. Big difference huh?! It felt very old school, but I liked it much much better compared to the machine we use in America!!

After the tests, I was given my options for the procedures. Luckily! I was approved for LASIK .. the easier of the two surgeries (LASIK vs. LASEK). She said that my cornea was hard enough and large enough, and all of the tests showed that I didn't have diseases, astigmatisms in both eyes, and healthy eyes! Also, my glasses that I have owned for 9 years were basically the same prescription as the surgery (I've actually worn glasses since about 5th grade, and the prescription has only changed.. about 4 times!)... and I was ready to get razored and lasered whenever I would like!

There were a few things that I could add-on to the basic LASIK eye surgery, so I opted for an add-on (hehe that sounds funny) to help prevent seeing halos at night time when looking at lights. And I chose December 17th for the big day!

I had an entire 2 months to wait.. but I had a 2 week vacation and plenty of down time to relax and take good care of my eyes!

See how the surgery went in my next blog!