LASIK Laser Surgery: What it's like

I wanted to share my experience of laser surgery, as I didn't feel like there was a detailed enough account of the entire procedure when I was researching for my surgery, so here is my story.

I had been short-sighted for as long as I can remember and by 2011, my prescription was as below;

Basically, the further away from zero the number on your prescription, the poorer your eyesight and the more vision correction you need.

In my case, my right eye was -9.00 and my left eye was marginally stronger at -8.50.

This is a fair indication of the level of vision I had before the op (right).

After discovering that five people at work had undergone successful laser surgery with Ultralase, I made an appointment for a free consultation at the Hammersmith clinic.

The clinic was very clean and professional and the staff were friendly and reassuring.

My consultant, Shathi, was fantastic. She explained what the treatment is and how it works. She then performed a series of tests on my eyes and explained all the test results in detail. She did not hard sell the procedure to me at all, but helped me realise that this was the right decision for me.

After a further chat about the procedure itself and the recovery process, Shathi told me that I was a suitable candidate for vision correction, and I had three options for treatment; LASIK surgery, LASEK surgery or Intra Ocular Lens surgery. They all sounded pretty intense, but Shathi said that their 'Ultra Elite' LASIK surgery option would be most effective for my prescription.

The quote for treatment came in at £4,390. I had a budget of £3,500. I was quite disappointed, as I had started looking forward to a future sans glasses.

Shathi made a phone call to reception to see if she could get me a further discount. It turned out that a cancellation had just been made for the next day at 3pm. A patient had cancelled their appointment, meaning a surgeon was available to perform my surgery. I was told I could get a 20% discount if I confirmed the surgery for tomorrow. The total cost was £3,512.

After asking mum ten times what I should do, we decided that I should go for it. I would only talk myself out of it if I dithered. I signed the papers, paid for my new eyes and spent the evening trying to avoid googling 'laser surgery disasters'.

Mum and Faye came with me to the clinic on 28th January 2012. I was surprisingly calm and collected. We had been in the waiting room for a while when a young guy came in and sat down opposite us. He was wearing dark sunglasses. I knew that he must have had surgery, as you are advised to wear dark glasses for 2 weeks afterwards. He took his sunglasses off, which is when I got a whole lot more nervous. His eyes were blood red and looked really painful. The fear must have been obvious on my face, as he said that they didn't hurt at all, although they were a little dry, itchy and sensitive to light, but his surgery had been a success.

At that point, I was called to surgery. My surgeon was Mr. Vinod Gupta. He was the most experienced surgeon, having performed 34,200 laser eye surgery procedures to date.

I went into a consultation room to meet Mr Gupta. He checked over my records and agreed that LASIK was the best option for me. He didn't have a great bedside manner and laughed off my questions about sneezing and random eye spasms.

I was then taken into a prep room, where a doctor put anaesthetic drops in my eyes and asked me to put a lovely cloth hat and shoe covers. He wasn't forthcoming with information about what would happen next. He just asked me to take off my glasses and head into theatre.

I couldn't see how many people were in the room, but it was almost pitch black and no one said a word. Eventually, a voice asked me to lie down and stare straight up. They proceeded to position the laser over my right eye.

More anaesthetic drops were then placed in my eye and the surgeons cleaned the area around it. A lid speculum held my eyelids open. The speculum pulled the lids open really wide, so was a little uncomfortable.

My eyesight then went blurry, as Mr Gupta used a mechanical microkeratome (a blade device) to cut a flap in my cornea, ready for the laser. A ring was placed on my eye, which created suction to the cornea. The pressure was intense and this was the most uncomfortable part of the procedure. The microkeratome was then attached to the suction ring and Mr Gupta used the blade to cut a flap in my cornea. Once the cut was made, the suction ring was removed. The team then lifted the flap and folded it back on its hinge, while they dried the exposed tissue.

The laser was positioned over my eye and I was asked to stare at a red light. Mr Gupta started the laser. The pulse of the laser makes a ticking sound, which was slightly unnerving, and then as the laser started removing my corneal tissue, there was a strong smell of burning. Fortunately however, it is painless.

The laser did its thing for about 20 seconds and once it was finished, the flap was put back into position.

The entire process was then repeated on my left eye. Immediately after surgery, my eyes were tender and sore, they were extremely sensitive to light and my vision was very blurry, but I could tell that the procedure had worked.

I was moved into a pitch black room and told to keep my eyes closed for 20 minutes, to allow them to rest and adjust. From now on, it was imperative that I did not rub or scratch my eyes, as the flaps were not attached to my corneas. I needed to give them time to heal. I was discharged after my 20 minute rest and was advised to go straight to bed to rest my eyes.

I went back to the clinic the day after surgery, where I was told that Mr Gupta had done a fantastic job. Despite the discomfort and blurriness, I somehow left the clinic with a 20/20 prescription.

That evening, I had tickets to go to the theatre. I thought it would be fine, as the theatre would be dark, but I was really uncomfortable throughout the performance. Firstly, it started snowing as we headed to the tube station. You are not meant to get your eyes wet for two weeks after the op and although I was wearing sunglasses, snow kept getting in. Also, it was dark outside, which meant (in sunglasses), I couldn't see where I was going.

Once in the theatre, my eyes became really irritated. The air conditioning dried them out and they felt gritty and sore. My eyes were struggling to focus on the stage in the dim light, which caused further discomfort. Going to the theatre just one day after surgery is not recommended!

At the two week point, it is hard to explain just how amazing the world looked! I was in a meeting at work and suddenly, everything came into sharp focus. I could see people's features clearly, read post it notes on desks from some distance away and the lime green colour of the office walls was almost overpowering. As corny as it sounds, it was an amazing moment for me.

There were further follow up appointments, the last of which was in July 2012. I was officially discharged.

With Ultralase, you get a lifetime guarantee. If any problems occur as a result of my surgery going forward, all consultations and resulting treatment will be free of charge.

This surgery has made a huge difference to my quality of life and confidence. I am still amazed by what I can see and will never take the experience for granted.