LASEK Laser Eye Surgery Experience – 1 Week Later

I wrote this in October 2019, 1 week after having LASEK.

Growing up in glasses

I am 27-years-old and I wore glasses for 17 years. When I first got glasses, I refused to wear them. I remember squinting at the board in school trying desperately to make out the words, or just copying off the person next to me, rather than have to go through the utter shame and embarrassment of putting them on. Every time I did, I was convinced my classmates were staring at me and laughing. Oh, how a child’s brain works. Eventually, aged about 13, I realised that I couldn’t even see other pupils on the playground, or read the lunch menu at the canteen. I had no choice but to start wearing my glasses full-time, and that was that. Glasses have been a part of my identity for almost two decades, until now.

Before surgery, my prescription was -3.5 and -3.75, the classic combination of myopia and astigmatism. I had been considering laser eye surgery for a few years, mainly because of my goal of becoming a police officer. The eyesight standards for police officers in the UK require you to be able to see well enough without glasses, which was certainly not the case for me. However, even just two years ago, the idea of laser eye surgery filled me with dread, and with the cost being beyond my means, I was quite content to stick with glasses and put my career aspirations to one side for the time being. In 2019 however, that job was getting very close to becoming a reality, I had enough savings, and my anxieties around laser eye surgery were far less. So, with that in mind, I booked in for a free consultation.

Cost

I won’t go into too much detail here as the cost depends on the optician’s you choose and your prescription. I will say though, I went with Optical Express – no particular reason – and the final price I was quoted, before any discounts, was a whopping 3x more expensive than the price advertised on the website. I was definitely caught off guard. They added a £300 ‘discount’ to the total, which I believe they do for everyone so I think this is just a sales tactic, and asked me to pay a deposit there and then if I was ready to go ahead. You only have a 3-day cooling off period to change your mind and get a refund, so be warned.

Deciding between LASEK & LASIK

The initial consultation was gruelling. I went with my partner, and we were there for around 3 hours, with my eyes undergoing test after test to determine my suitability. By the end of it, I couldn’t see because of the pupil dilating eye drops, and we were starving and tired. But at least they’re thorough!

I was disappointed to be told that I may not be suitable for LASIK, which was initially my preferred option due to the “miraculous” healing times and minimal recovery – after LASIK, most people have 20:20 vision within HOURS, and little to no pain.

The issue of my suitability for LASIK was to do with one of my corneas having an asymmetrical shape, which might put me at risk of post-LASIK ectasia. Ectasia is the progressive thinning of the cornea – according to the optometrist: “You don’t want it”. LASIK involves creating a flap on the cornea, which effectively makes the cornea thinner. This does not grow back. Therefore, if your cornea is naturally already on the thinner side, or you show signs of being predisposed to a thinning cornea (which is what they seemed to be suggesting might the case for me), you will likely not be suitable for LASIK. With LASEK, instead of creating a flap, they use alcohol drops to soften the thinnest top layer of the cornea and push it to one side. The longer recovery period is due to this top layer of the cornea healing itself. In summary, LASIK makes your cornea thinner; LASEK does not.

After the appointment, I found myself going down a rabbit hole of Googling in the middle of the night, trying to find out exactly what the risks were and whether I fit the at-risk profile. What I learned was that ectasia is bad and can lead to loss of sight, and it was not something I was willing to risk for same-day perfect eyesight. So, I decided I would wait to hear what the surgeon had to say, but I was starting to accept that I would be getting LASEK.

One week before my procedure, I met my surgeon, Dr Muhammad Kazmi. He was lovely, patient, and explained things in simple layman’s terms. He told me that the issue with my cornea which had been raised at my initial consultation had actually not shown up on the scans they had done today, so I was in fact eligible for either surgery. I had been so apprehensive of the idea of LASEK recovery that you would have thought this would have been good news, however, after all my Googling, I was starting to feel quite unsure about the prospect of LASIK long-term. I still had those niggling thoughts about the risk of ectasia, and I couldn’t understand why the scans of my eyes had shown different results. The surgeon also explained that they usually recommend LASEK to people in higher risk jobs or who play contact sports as they are at more risk of being hit in the eye in the future, and the police fits into that category. So, all things considered, I opted for LASEK.

The procedure

While I had looked up as many accounts of LASEK experiences as I could find online, I hadn’t looked up any pictures or videos of the surgery itself, because I was worried it would put me off. I knew that I would be in surgery for around 15 minutes; that the lasering itself would only last up to 30 seconds for each eye; and that my eyes would be anaesthetised so I wouldn’t feel a thing. People online mentioned slight discomfort when the speculum was put in, a feeling of pressure on the eye, and then there’s that old chestnut that you often hear – that you can smell your eye burning. I had also read that if you felt you might be anxious, you could request a mild sedative, however, when I asked the surgeon about this, I was told that this wasn’t an option as they need patients to be alert and cooperative.

These things didn’t exactly fill me with reassurance, but I continued to remind myself how quick and painless the procedure was going to be. Getting a filling at the dentist takes longer and involves pain and discomfort, but the idea of it doesn’t make people squirm as much, simply because it doesn’t involve the eyes. Compared to many other ops and procedures, laser eye surgery sounded pretty straightforward. In fact, the prospect that I was dreading the most was the recovery period, which for LASEK patients is longer and more uncomfortable (sometimes even painful) than for LASIK patients.

I was in and out of the clinic within 40 minutes, with my partner in tow as designated driver and designated moral support. Before the surgery they checked my consent forms, and I had a quick pre-op chat with the surgeon. He reminded me that while it might be MY first time, he had done this thousands of times. I asked him when his last procedure had been, and he casually said: “oh, about half an hour ago”. I found this strangely comforting. He said they would call me in for the op in about 10 minutes. While I waited, the nurses/technicians chatted to me, my partner appeared completely unfazed, and the atmosphere was so relaxed that I felt very calm and didn’t have a chance to really think about what was going to happen.

Next minute, I’m being ushered into the operating room, a male staff member asks me to take off my glasses, gives me a hair cap, and a female staff member asks me to lie down. At this point, my composure is suddenly replaced with a rush of anxiety and adrenaline, and I say: “I don’t know what I’m doing!”. What I meant was: “Help, I don’t know what I’m doing here and I just want to run away!”, but the staff member thought I was just confused by her instructions and asked me to lie down again. I did as I was told. The male staff member gave me two foam stress balls. Lying there, staring at the grey ceiling with the laser machine to the right of my head and the two staff members bustling around me, my heart raced in my chest more aggressively than I’ve ever felt before. I really wanted to get up and leave. But I grit my teeth like the grown up that I’m supposed to be and took a few deep breaths. It was too late anyway; the male staff member was busying himself with cleaning around my eyes and putting in eye drops. He told me the second set of eye drops might sting (I think these were the anaesthetic drops) but I felt nothing and that made me feel a little better.

The next part was a bit of a blur, quite literally. The laser machine was positioned above my head; a patch with holes (imagine a colander for your eye) was placed over my left eye; and I was asked to focus on a blinking red light above me with my right eye. The surgeon placed the speculum to hold my eye open, and I barely felt it at all; it wasn’t even uncomfortable. They told me to blink normally, because the speculum stops your eye from closing but your eye needs to feel like it’s blinking, rather than straining to stay open. I think more drops were put in, which might have been the alcohol drops to soften the top layer of the cornea. Then (this was the only part I didn’t enjoy; from a squeamish point of view) I was able to SEE the top layer of my cornea being moved to one side with an instrument. I couldn’t feel a thing, and my vision was hazy, but I did give the stress balls a good squeeze during this bit and focused on my breathing and staying still.

There were countdowns going on in the background, and the next one was the countdown to the laser being activated. The laser is very noisy, but very quick. I felt quite amazed as they counted down for the laser to finish in “3-2-1” – hearing it power down and thinking: “wow, that’s one eye fixed”. It is worth mentioning that while your eyes are being lasered you DO smell a strong ‘burning’ smell, however, this is actually something to do with the laser ‘disrupting the molecular bonds in your cornea’ – there is no heat involved. I have no idea what this actually means, but I was prepared for the smell, so it didn’t bother me much. Anyway, more eye drops and a bandage contact lens put in, speculum removed, colander patch on, and over to the next eye. The procedure on my left eye felt much quicker, but I think it was because I knew what to expect this time.

Before I knew it, I heard a staff member say “routine procedure, all fine” and I was being asked to sit up slowly and then leave the room. I don’t even remember taking the hair cap off. I walked out smiling sheepishly to where my boyfriend was sat just outside, and we were led into a side room. We were left for a few minutes, then a staff member came in and went through the aftercare instructions with me, which I barely heard a word of, so I was glad to see my partner nodding attentively. I suddenly felt nauseous and clammy, which I think was a response to the adrenaline rush and anxiety, so I put on my new non-prescription sunglasses and we headed home.

It has now been 8 months since my surgery, so I will do an updated blog post on the healing process, how I am now, and whether it was worth it!