Getting LASEK in Seoul

I have thought long and hard about getting my eyes fixed and by this I mean LASIK or LASEK. I figured the technology is pretty advanced now with high success rates and the price having been reduced by half from 5 years ago. Korea is well known for their high tech and high quality of health care so this is a good time as any to get my eyes checked out.

There are quite a few eye care centres that I found out about but the one that I finally picked was Dream Eye Centre. I read someone's review on their blog (of which I have now forgotten the url) and they had a good experience. You can find some testimonials on their website if you pick the Korean version of the site. You won't miss it, it's in the centre and you can sort of see the subject titles of each testimonial.

First thing to note, before you have your first appointment, you have to remove your contacts for 1 week for them to do your eye examination. A good thing I called in advance! Wearing glasses only for a week was alright but I missed wearing contacts when going out.

The clinic I went to was the one in Myeongdong, they have another one in Gangnam. It's on the same street as Migliore. If you walk down hill from Migliore for about 50m, you will see Banila & Co on the corner. Dream Eye Centre is on the right. You take the lift to the 4th floor and that's their reception.

The receiption is comfortable with a row of sofa's facing the reception desk and some coffee tables with chairs around it for when they sit down with you to get your history. On one side of the reception area, they have conveniently provided 3 computers to keep you entertained in case there is long to wait. The deco is simple and uncluttered with cool tones to soothe the eyes.

I was greeted first by the ladies behind the desk who told me to wait for a few minutes. Shortly, I was 'interviewed' by one of the assistants in a lab coat who took down my history and 10 minutes later, I was taken upstairs for a series of tests which was done with no less than a dozen machines. They were very thorough. The eye exams included a check on my vision, astigmatisicm, glaucoma, thickness and shape of my cornea.

This was really the most thorough of eye examinations I have ever had. Throughout, the assistant (her name was Jiye) was courteous and warm. Her English was good and we could have short conversations in between tests. In the final part of the exams, the doctor (Dr Ha in my case) did a final check on the health of my eyes by shining a super intense light into your eyes that made your eyes water!

For me, the conclusion was that my cornea was too thin for LASIK. If I wanted to correct my vision, I had to go for LASEK which had a slower recovery period but is safer. After that, Jiye sat down with me again in a small room and showed me flash videos of the laser they use and how good it is etc etc... The pricing is as they said over the phone which is from KRW1.7mil - 2mil.

Oh, I better mention this... for one of the tests which involves them sticking a pen onto your eye to test your cornea's thickness. In order to prevent you from screaming in pain and kicking them in the 'nads, they give you some anaesthetic eyedrops. You won't feel a thing but the downside of these eyedrops is that for the next few hours, light will hurt your eyes (so bring sunglasses!) and your vision will go wonky (things will seem blurry but my vision for things up close was improved when I took off my glasses - something to do with the eye not being able to focus well).

After a brief discussion later with my OH, we decided to get it done and I returned the next day for the procedure. The atmosphere was all very calm and 'let's-not-get-the-patient-excited'. They even had elevator music piped into the room where the nurse was washing my eyes and face. So if you are girl, don't bother putting on any makeup. After getting preped, I was taken in to the OT which had a big postcard window where your companion can see you while watching from the sofas outside the room. They even have a monitor that is pointed and zoomed directly at your eye so they can see exactly what is being done.

Being the chicken that I am, I averted my eyes when I walked past 'cos I didn't want to freak myself out seeing someone else's procedure. When I laid down on the bed, the nurse was kind enough to offer me a pillow in the shape of Winnie the Pooh's face to hug (or clutch in my case) before they put a blanket over me. Then the nurse asked me if I was nervous and I said, "Yes" and she offered me some kind words which I no longer remember as the machine was being moved over me. She put a hand on mine which was comforting.

The entire procedure was over pretty quickly. They weren't kidding when they said 5 minutes per eye. I won't ruin the experience for you by recounting it in detail. All I will say is it is really painless. I was tense but not too nervous and if I had been more relaxed rather than thinking that any moment my eyes will be in some serious pain especially when they were doing the procedure I would have probably enjoyed the experience more.

Sorry I didn't take any photos as you can imagine that was the last thing on my mind. : ) Oh and when I got home, I opened my packet of medicine I discovered a small card. It was from the nurse (who spent probably only 20 minutes with me) with some sweet words of congratulations and wishing me luck as I enjoyed my new vision. I thought that was really sweet and thoughful. Sometimes it is these small touches that makes a difference.

I would recommend Dream Eye Center for anyone wishing to get their vision corrected through LASIK or LASEK. One of the best points about this experience is also that their initial eye examination to see if you are a candidate for the procedure is FREE. Their follow up visits and medication including eye drops are also included in the price.