Experience report: Laser eye surgery (Femto-LASIK) for severe myopia

Tamara R. talks about her experience with Femto-LASIK for severe myopia

What type of ametropia did you have before the operation?

I had LASIK surgery about two months ago. Before that I had eight and a half diopters minus, short-sightedness. Yes, I wore glasses for years and then wore contact lenses for a year afterwards. I was actually very happy with the contact lenses, because at first I was even told that I couldn’t wear contact lenses.

Then a friend of mine here had her eyes lasered. I’ve actually wanted to do it for 15 years and she’s just doing it spontaneously and I’ve actually wanted to do it all along. Yes, and then I said, OK, I’ll find out and see if I like the people. See how much it costs? Can I even afford it? That was a question for me for a long time. Is it even financially feasible? Is it even possible with such a high number of dioptres that it can be lasered away, or will I still have a residual number of dioptres or not? Then I came here for advice, and actually straight after the consultation, I would have preferred to make an appointment straight away. But then I slept on it for another night and called the next day at eight in the morning.

How was the day of the operation?

The day of the operation. I was at work beforehand and then came here straight after work. I wasn’t actually excited. It was more of an anticipation, like a little child looking forward to the Christ Child. In that way. I was slightly nervous when I got there. But then everything was explained to me. Very carefully and calmly. I was given documents and then the post-treatment medication was also given to me.

The glasses for afterwards and so on. It was very nice. It was very pleasant. But there was still a slight nervousness. Yes, of course. But not so much because I didn’t have any confidence, but more like, what if I do something wrong? What if I look in the wrong direction during the operation. That was actually my biggest worry. On the whole, I felt that I was in good hands and comfortable, and was very satisfied.

How were the first hours and days after the operation?

The first few hours straight after the operation were actually such a wow moment. So OK, I can see something. I mean, sure, the eye is exhausted and all that, but you can see something straight afterwards. I really liked the comparison with the clock inside the operating room. Going in there as a blind chicken and getting up again as an eagle eye after 15 minutes is actually madness anyway. Especially with my number of diopters, the big difference.

The operation and all that was great, and it was only an hour or two after the operation that I had quite severe sensitivity to light, and the burning wasn’t actually that dramatic. It was more sensitivity to light after the operation. But it was gone again in the evening. On the second day there was no problem at all, as if nothing had happened. I often had to put drops in my eyes, which has actually become less now. But that was already necessary at the beginning. It’s perfect for me.

Are you satisfied with the result of the operation?

I would definitely do it again. Yes, definitely. Definitely, yes 100 percent. I know there were reasons why I waited so long now and didn’t do it 10 or 15 years ago. My diopters have also been getting higher and higher. In other words, I wanted to wait. But if it’s somehow possible and if you have stable eyes, I would have laser eye surgery again immediately if I had severe short-sightedness. In any case.