- Wanderlustts
Experience at LASIK MD Downtown Toronto
If you’ve been keeping up with my blog post, you’d know that over the weekend I went to get LASIK. I’ve been wearing glasses since grade 6, and contacts since grade 10. It’s just been a huge hassle because my eyes were always getting infected (I stretched out the lifespan of my contacts…bad idea guys don’t do it haha). On top of having a pretty high prescription, I also had an astigmatism, which made things a little distorted, and also made contact lens much more expensive. I really just wanted to get things over with so I went in for a consultation on January 25. I went in at 11:15AM and went through a series of test to determine if I am a candidate for the eye surgery. I had my eyes measured out and had pictures of it taken. I also had to take an eye exam. Afterwards the eye doctor placed a few eye drops and numbed out my eyes. They also poked around my eyes for a bit with this machine, though I felt absolutely nothing at this point. I had to wait about half an hour for the other eye drops to take affect, and during this time everything became very blurry and hard to see up close. They also made my eyes extremely sensitive to light as I noticed on the way home (you need someone else to drive you back home).
Throughout this, there were multiple people that fully and carefully explained the entire process including the different methods, the process, and everything else in between. After confirming that I was a candidate, they went through the options that I could choose from, as well as the price for each. This varies based on a number of factors including prescription, thickness of your eye’s surface, pupil dilation in the dark, etc. I went with the Advance Custom Wavefront LASIK with Keratome. I was given the option between that and the Advance Custom Wavefront All-laser LASIK. I was told that the first option involved a blade, and although it sounded much scarier, the aftermath of the surgery would sting a little less (and also it was significantly cheaper). Overall the consultation took about 2-3 hours. It could possibly take longer if you go on a busier day, but I went on a Monday and there was literally no one else in the room. Besides the tests conducted, the place itself was nice. I had mines done at the Downtown Toronto location and everyone was really friendly and informative. They had free wifi, comfortable couches, and cookies/an espresso machine.
Fast forward three weeks later.
I arrived and I noticed a lot of people this time around. All the couches were pretty much occupied and I noticed further back there was a darker room for people who just finished the surgery. There was a lot of waiting, but it wasn’t too bad. I was quickly called into the first room, where an eye doctor went through another eye exam with me, just to ensure that the prescription and everything did not change. In the second room I got my eyes measured out, and photos taken again. After I had everything confirmed, I just had to wait. I was given a sedative to calm me down (optional), which actually didn’t take much affect even after a half hour. I still felt super nervous going into the surgery, although I noticed that it took an affect on the way home when I had a really hard time keeping my head up and staying awake. For the surgery itself, it was a little different from what I imagined. I lied down on a flat surface (similar to the ones in tattoo shops), and had my eyes directly faced a green light. My surgeon Dr.Lam was really great and made the whole process very comfortable, despite me being very anxious about everything on a regular basis. I was given a couple eye drops to start with and had my eyelids tapped on the top and bottom. Following this, they had something insert into my eyes to keep it staying open. To be honest, this part was a little surprising and slightly uncomfortable, but not unbearable. While this happens, my vision for that eye goes black for a while. During this I hear a laser making three cut (the flap), and a strong smell of burning hair surrounded me. My vision comes back at this point, and I feel the doctor open up the flap in my eyes. While this happens, everything is extremely blurry and it felt very strange knowing a layer of my eye was lifted.I heard a couple more sounds, though nothing uncomfortable happened, and the doctor lowers the eye flap back in place. Immediately after he placed something over that eye and works on my left one. During this, he tells me that the left eye is known to feel a bit more, and it certainly did feel more uncomfortable to me. The same process happened for the other eye and that was the surgery. Everything was blurry (though significantly clearer than my vision before), and I had my eyes examined once more. Where water was trapped in my eyes, the doctor would poke it out, and I’d have these tears streaming down my face it seemed haha. The whole process was under ten minutes. It was over way before I had the chance to even start worrying about it, which is great because I worry about everything. During this time, I sat in the dark room wearing my glasses. I was given three eye drops (the first two stung really bad, more uncomfortable than the surgery itself haha), but as time went and I used it at home, the discomfort disappeared. I had my eyes examined one last time and was told that I was done! The staff were really amazing, and I wish I had taken a picture with my doctor, but I was just feeling so dazed at the time it completely slipped my mind. The whole process itself took a while, and I was there for 4-5 hours. I booked a follow up appointment to come back the next day to make sure everything was in order. There is a guideline that they give you at the end, telling you about the do’s and don’t’s and instructions for following your eye drop schedule.
Overall, it was a really great experience. Everyone was super knowledgeable and friendly. I really appreciated the staffs effort in keeping their patients calm and informed. The process itself was long, but you could tell that everything was quality by the effort they put into taking care of you. The surgery itself was not bad, completely painless and only slightly uncomfortable (but uncomfortable from just the surprise of it if anything). I absolutely recommend anyone who’s looking to get LASIK done. Today is day four for me, and it still blows my mind how clear everything looks when I wake up haha! I hope this blog post helped explain the process for people who were considering LASIK or was wondering about other people’s experience. Feel free to send in any questions you have, and I’d try my best to answer them!