I finally went for my consultation for Laser Vision Correct this afternoon! My appointment was at 130pm and I arrived 10 minutes early at the Refractive Surgery Centre. Registered and waited for my turn to start all the tests.

First was the Visual Acuity Test and I was made to see some red spot in a machine. A puff of air blew right into my eyes and it irritated me for a while. After that I had to read some Snellen Charts which had alphabets or numbers of decreasing size. I had to read them from a distance of 6 metres.

Next was the Pre-Assessment consultation where a staff was briefing me though what LASIK was about, gave me some guide book, warned me about the risks and then got me to sign some consent form to perform the surgery.

What followed was the Eye Assessment where the nurse had to check how thick my cornea was. This time round, the machine that I looked into showed some red spot and then Mount Fuji. Quite interesting.

Soon after, I had to put some eye drops to dilate my pupils before I went for the Visual Acuity Test again. The nurse applied the drops on me thrice, over an interval of 10 minutes each time. This pupil dilation caused me to have blurred vision and I had to close my eyes.

Finally I was waiting to see Doctor Wee after 3 hours of tests. This Post-Assessment Consultation took barely 5 minutes whereby Doctor Wee checked my eyes again and then informing me about my myopia and astigmatism. It was also unfortunate that my cornea was too thin, hence he did not want to recommend the traditional Laser In-situ Keratomileusis (LASIK). Instead he suggested LADARVision® 4000 Excimer Laser System which unlike conventional LASIK, allows for minimal tissue removal. This is usually important for someone with high myopes. In my case, it is due to thin corneas. Nevertheless, Doctor Wee assured me that from a medical perspective, I can go ahead for the surgery with a high chance of perfect eyesight. He also mentioned for me to operate on my left eye first as the myopia and astigmatism was more serious there.

After consulting Doctor Wee, I proceeded to the cashier to pay for the overall pre-operative consultation charges. I then decided to fix up an appointment for the surgery. As the surgery had to be done on 2 separate days, 1 eye per day, I wanted to fix on 4th and 5th September, which is a Monday and Tuesday. However, Doctor Wee is fully booked on 4th and I was scheduled for 5th and 7th September. This means that I will be on medical leave from 5th to 8th September. I agreed.

As I stepped out of the centre, my vision was still blurred and I was sitting outside while waiting for the vehicle to come. It was really glaring and I was tempted to just board a cab and head home instead of waiting. But because my vision was slightly blurred, I thought that it would be better to have someone escorting me home. I finally left SNEC at 4.30pm.

My eyes were really tired after I got home and I napped for about 2 hours before waking up for my dinner. My vision cleared then. Tomorrow will be work as usual and meanwhile, will wait in anticipation for the coming surgery!