4 months Post Lasik

Sedar tak sedar, it is almost 4 months I am contact lense-less and glass-less. How awesome is that right? I could see MNi and Aryan very clearly when I wake up every morning. Kalau tidak, tesepet-sepet kecikkan mata utk tengok kat mana mereka berdua ni tegolek.Di hujung katil kah, atau di bawah katil.

If you do research on all the effects post lasik, you gonna find a scary list. Mata merah, mata sakit, kering, pedih dan sebagainya. When I googled, this is what I got. SIla tengok gambarajah di bawah bersama source nya. Let me tell you what I feel after almost 4 months ini.

http://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/productsandmedicalprocedures/surgeryandlifesupport/lasik/ucm061270.htm
 

1. Mild pain and discomfort - This is true. If the charts shows 3 days sahaja effect ni, but as for me, it took me almost 2 weeks to feel comfortable with my new sight. As I mentioned in my Lasik entry previously, my brain tetanjat boboi bila power reduced from 1200 per eye to 0 !
2. Burning or scratchiness - Yang hak ini takde pulak aku mengalaminya. The only time I felt like burning in my eyes was during the surgery itself. Iaitu pada ketika laser ditala ke dalam bebola mata. Memang pun laser tu mengorek kornea dengan cara 'membakar' (read laser), that's where the brning feeling came from. But after the surgeri, nan ado.
3. Sensitivity to light - This applied to me for at least 1 month. Yang super sensitivity was during the 1st 2 weeks after surgery. Bukanlah sensitive mana pun. Just I could not see cahaya matahari directly. Mata akan berair sikit. But if you think about it, kalau kau tak buat Lasik pun, memang tak tahan kot nak tengok direct ke cahaya matahari kan?
4. Hazy of blurred vision - Oh my God I had a bad experience on this one. Kan aku penah kata, aku igt surgery itu tidak berjaya sebab 2 weeks mata aku nampak blurry ! Saiko sangat hokei. At time I felt so regret and silly sapa suruh buat Lasik tu. Rasa macam nak saman doctor (but tak boleh saman sebab kau kena sign surat b4 surgery). But my dr pujuk I sejuta kali kata mmg blur sebab my power reduced too drastically. Alhamdulillah hazy and blurry vision tu hilang after 2 weeks.
5. Dry eyes - Memang dry sikit. But I put the eye moisturiser religiously for 2 months. So Alhamdulillah after tu okei je :)
6. Glare, difficulty driving at night - Ni mmg sejak azali aku susah drive memalam because astig mata aku tinggi sangat (read -rabun silau). After lasik, i felt much better driving at night walaupun still ada pandangan yg kat lampu lampu macam mengembang. hah pasti kau tak paham apa aku cakap ni. Tapi kalau tgk lampu memalam, shape lampu tu tak sharp sebab ada cahaya kembang sekleliling lampu itu.But dr dah warn aku , disebabkan power rabun super tinggi, after Lasik tak dapat 100% perfect for noght vision.
7. Fluctuation in vision - Ni tak perasan plak. Sebab after 2 weeks, aku rasa vision sama je sampai sekarang. Post 3 months check up tak achieve vision 6/6 lagi.Hopefully post 6 months akan dapat lah perferct vision gitu.

Yang pasti, aku tak dapat nak menjaga mata betul-betul. Sebab memalam Aryan tido seblah aku, asyiklah dia tumbuk mata akulah, siku bijik mata aku lah, tanduk mata dan sebagainya. Hadoilah nak buat macam mana. Lagi 1, aku ni kerja mengadap komputer (kekonon macma pekerja cemerlang, padehal tgh tulis blog), ngadapa Iphone rapat-rapat yada..yada.. Aku takut kalau benda benda ni semua akan reduce my vision quality tu. Camne eh?

Past sentence : Next week is our 3rd wedding anniversary. Yeayness, Alhamdulillah.

The Lasik surgery

We arrived at Vista The Curve at 430pm. 30 mins earlier than the appointment. Tak kesah lah, cepat buat cepat balik bak kata MNI. Amboi senangnya dia bercakap, bini dia dah panik macam nak beranak ni tak tau? Luckily the environment there is so cosy and tak melemahkan semangat org nak pegi surgery ni. But people may assume it is a simple surgery because it takes 15 mins for the whole process. Yes you read me right, 15 min jah for that amount that I've spent. Duh.

Vista, The Curve

After waiting for about 10 mins, they asked me to rest my eyes at a dedicated area. Suh tutup mata peluk bantal ke hapa lah, janji kau relax. There was another malay lady yang sama-sama rabun teruk macam aku (sebab aku nampak specs tebal dia, heh), pun nak undergo the same surgery. Dia pun buat Nasa iLasik. Lepas rest mata for about 10 mins, they brought me for detailed check. Nak confirm how much power for each eye, cornea thickness yada yada yada. Lepas dah detailed check, baru lah kena sign the letter of consent. So kalau apa-apa berlaku, I cannot sue the doctor or the centre. Tu yang takut tu kan, but ai nekad je sign. After sign, barulah kau swipe credit card kau. Double ouchh.

Btw, at Vista you will entitiled for lifetime warranty. Say for examplem after few years mata kau kembali rabun dan buat kau tak selasa, you can go for another surgery at no cost. But it depends on kornea kau cukup tebal tak at that time utk dikorek. And of course you will need to use the same technology or yg lower, eventhough mungkin pada ketika itu ada 10 technology lagi bagus. Kalau nak technology baru tu, you will need to pay the price difference.

Lepas bayar semua, barulah kau bleh dilaser. Dia bawak la aku masuk the surgery room and asked me to change to their proper attire. Takleh bawak sesiapa masuk surgery room but they allow viewer to watch the whole process kat luar bilik tu. Ada screen yg besar utk viewer tu tgk dengan jelas apa yg berlaku. So MNI pun tepacak la tengok kat luar tu.

Surgery room. Viewer tgk from luar dinding kaca itu

Masuk je situ, aku dah seriau dah. At that dah nyesal tak sudah apehal la aku pi buat keputusan cenggini. Tapi nak taknak aku redah jugak. Oh to those who are not familiar with Lasik process ni, ac tually dia da 3 steps :
1) buat flap sangat nipis on the cornea, then selak flap itu
2) bila flap dah selak, laser akan reshape the cornea
3) tutup balik flap tu, dan rata-ratakan dia

So the first machine yang aku kena baring ialah utk create the flap. I was asked to look at a circle sampai terasa ada satu suction menyedut bebola mata aku. Bila suction tu starts, actually the cornea being lasered to create a flap by creating bubbles below the lapisan nipis. Aku tau kau susah gile nak imagine, aku pun sama but cenggitu lah ringkasan kekdahnya. Of course at that time mata dah numb tak rasa pape coz dah bius kan. But the suction tu still boleh rasa. And bebola aku tak reti dok diam pandang atas, tu yang aku risau kot dia salah buat flap kang. Nauzubillah. This process took about 20secs per eye.

Big screen yang menunjukkan segala apa yang berlaku

After dah buat flap, aku kene bangun pegi machine lagik satu. kau gila bijik mata dah kene korek,pastu suh aku gi jalan to another machine. But redah je la lagi skali. This time was the real laser for eye correction. So kat situ, flap yang dibuat sebentar tadi diselak, menampakkan permukaan kornea yang nak di-reshape or di-laser. Pastu I could smell mcm something burn, that was the bau laser lah, So scary oi. Pastu they asked me to focus to 1 titik merah ni, then trus laser start. Bunyik dia kuat like ketik ketik ketik ketik. Sapa pernah buat laser muka, ha lebih kurang camtu la process dia but kau imagine this is mata oke. This process took 50 secs per eye. Yang penting pada ketika ini kau kene pandang titik merah tu. Kalau tak mata kau tak reti diam, kang ntah mana laser tu pegi. Eii seriau.

Berpindah tu second machine

That was me me me !! Ready to be lasered

After siap dedua belah mata, terus they gelak gelak kegembiraan. Padehal aku takut nak mampus sebab pandangan aku tadi gelap tiba-tiba, maybe masa dia nak tutup balik flap tu. nak tutup flap tu plak macam main gam kanji ok. Dia letak menatang apae ntah macam gam, selet selet kat mata then ratakan. Tak boleh ada gelembung udara bawah flap ntu, kang aku nampak object lain atas mata, After dah gam gam flap tu, maka selesaikan proses Lasik. Sounds easy kan> But cuba kau duduk situ tengok panik ke tak.

Immediately after siap tu they asked to read the time kat jam diding. Walaupun masih kabur, aku bleh baca it was 6.02PM. Alhamdulillah, aku masih dapat melihat. Pastu aku pun keluar, tukar baju, amik ubat, and pegi kat MNI, pastu balik ! Memang pedih la mata after surgery tu, in fact aku takleh bukak mata because sgt watery. Asal bukak je, kuar ayaq mata kasih. So aku pejam je mata sampai umah. Mlm tu, aku makan ubat tido sebab macam susah nak tido.

The flap tu took 4 hours to heal/flattened. So memang dinasihatkan utk tido 4 hrs after surgery. but aku membongkang sampai pagi sebab telan ubat tido tu lah. Bangun pagi, feeling feeling amazing gitu sebab tak payah pakai lense or carik specs. At least aku nampak nak amik berus gigi and amik wudhu :)

If u ask me the results, susah nak cakap sekarang sebab it is only my dah 6. The next day after surgery pegi check up, but seriously sgt blurry yang aku rasa baik aku pakai contact lense lagi cantik pandangan mata aku tuh. but dr kata mmg it takes time gradually to get a perfect vision. So aku kene bersabar. tambahan pula pembuluh darah aku bnyk yg putus dah pecah masa surgery. For normal people, pembuluh darah kau mestilah takde kat kornea, but aku sebab pakai contact lense tanpa kawalan, tu yang blodd vein tu macam mana membiak biak dengan gembira dalam mata. So bila kene laser je, dia pecah ! That is the reason my healing process takes longer time. And sebab tu la mata aku rasa strain aku kekadang pedih and dr bagi aku MC 1 week.

Day 5 baru rasa selesa and ada improvement :) Lusa aku ada check-up lagi. Then tengok macam mana progress penglihatan aku k ! But as for now, Alhamdulillah I'm quite happy with the result at least dapat the vision sama macam pakai contact lense dulu. Mungkin expectation aku tinggi snagat nak dptkan perfect vision. Takpe kita tengok nanti results dia over time :)

Bekalan ubat - 1 utk elak infection ke hapa2, 1 utk heal cepat, 1 utk  moist kan mata senantiasa

Moi Lasik experience - Pre Lasik

Finally I've gone through the procedure on 6th July 2012. It was on Friday. Why so sudden? jgn ditanya, aku sendirik pun takut dengan kepurusan yang aku buat mcm tak menyempat nak berfikir dengan waras.

Why Lasik?
Actually I've been thinking about this for about 2 years already. After kawen la start pikio sebab bangun pagi tak nampak muka laki aku dengan jelas. Eh. Then peknen Aryan, I had to melupakan hasrat itu sebab preggers are not suitable for this surgery. After that full breastfeed Aryan plak, another condition which makes you a no-candidate. reason being, hormon during pregnancy and breastfeeding will affect your cornea thickness and shape. So mungkin yang mesin tu measure is kinda artificial thickness and shape. Oi takut. SInce aku pun dah slowly stop breastfeed Aryan, and according to Prof Muhaya kalau dah after 6 mnths breastfeed, then should be ok, aku pun confident sikit lah nak buat sekarang.

And I've been super rabun since I was in standard 3. Started wearing glasses in standard 4 and my initial power at that time was 400 per eye already. Orang start pakai specs power baru 100, tapi kau dah 400. Lepas rasa muka macam ugly betty, konon2 nak rasa cun sikit, so started wearing contact lense when I was in form 4.At that time power dah approaching 1000 per eye. After 18 years of being rabun, I started to feel unconfartable in my eyes. Due to many reasons but I know for sure it is because of aku pakai contact lense sepanjang masa selama 12 tahun kecuali time tido malam. Tido siang aku aku belasah pakai lense. But Alhamdulillah contact lense aku tak pernah ilang dalam mata macam certain people had experienced. Ok takut lagi sekali.

Starting in 2011 I started to get eye infections. Mata merah, strain, tetiba kabur, pedih and whatnots. I was referred to Prof Muhaya utk rawatan lanjut. Amik gamba sana sini dalam mata, and tengok-tengok bllod vein dalam mata aku tu dah memanjang nak kena ke anak mata itam dah.

curik from google

Ini disebabkan mata dah lama kurang bernafas. If I were to continue wearing contact lense, ada risk la complications la hapa aku pun tak paham. So Dr suruh aku pakai glasses, or opt for Lasik. Tapi masa tu aku degil, aku pakai je contact lense selama setahun lebih lagik. Sebab kalau pakai specs, terus aku sakit otak sebab specs tu tebal sangat, dan berat. Sakit batang idung aku.

Sampailah aku dah stop breastfeed Aryan, and selalu rasa uncomfortable in my eyes, so I decided to go for Lasik.

Choosing your clinic and doctor
Kan ke aku memang eye check-up dgn Prof Muhaya. So aku pun nak la buat Lasik kat PCMC. So buat appoitment for initial screening segala, But I tell you, susah sgt nak dapat slot dgn Prof Muhaya.Padahal pada ketika itu aku dah took off my contact lense for a week. Sebab nak undergo the procedure kene bukak lense at least 1 week. Then bila appoitment tak dapat, pastu kene cancel lah apelah, aku dah tak tahan pakai specs lama-lama. Up to a point mata macam rasa nak pecah maybe because of the high power which my brains takleh adapt. FYI power contact lense tak sama dengan power specs. Specs will always have higher power.

Then aku gugel gugel, baca forum, buat research sikit, utk org power tinggi and kornea nipis macam aku, memang ramai yang go for Nasa iLasik sebab itu je yang sesuai in terms of to save more cornea tissue. And technology tu ada kat Vista saje. So aku malas nak fikir banyak, sebab otak mata semua dah sakit and macam nak pecah, I called Vista for an appointment. Nak check dulu or mintak ubat ke apa-apa la supaya ilang sakit mata ngan kepala aku.

I went to Vista Bangsar branch. The doctor there is Dr Shamala Ganesan. Memula niat aku nak buat kat PCMC tu sebab aku nak Dr Muslim, but masa kejadian ini berlaku dengan begitu cepat, aku tak fikir bnyk dah. I just want to get rid of the ketidakselesaan dan sakit sakit tu semua. Sampai sana dalam kol 11 pagi, trus check-check and as expected, Yes boleh buat Lasik but only Nasa iLasik which costs me a whopping RM. Kacinggg ! My cornea thickness is only 532 (unit aku taktau), which is at the lower range because the suitable thickness is between 500 to 600. And usually people have thicjness of about 550-570, and mine is 532 sahaja. Sobs.

They scheduled me the next week for the procedure. But aku gatal tanya boleh tak nak buat terus? Sebab kau tak tahan nak pakai specs lagik. Fortunately memang diorang buat Lasik tu on Friday only. And ada slot kosong ptg tu. Dia tanya aku serius ke nak buat terus, and I said yes. Gila aku macam tak sedar je aku decide macam tu. And dia bgth dia akan skip 1 procedure which is to dilate my eyes sebab takut kalau dilate at that time, then tak cukup time utk dia go back to normal. Aku cuak gak, but of course Dr Shamala check dulu boleh proceed ke tak. And she said mata sihat utk proceed without that procedure.

Serius aku nerves macam nak beranak. What if the procedure fails, ke machine tu rosak tetiba la segala macam dalam kepala otak. They asked me to go back and pegi branch The Curve kol 5pm sebab machine laser laser tu suma kat The Curve. Suma surgery will be done only at The Curve. So aku balik dulu lah, gi makan, hantar susu extra kat babysitter in case aku balik lambat and Aryan tak cukup susu and of course doa and zikir bnyk2 nak tenangkan hati.

Sedar-sedar kol 430 dah terpacak kat The Curve. Luckily MNI was around sebab after the surgery tu, takleh drive ye. You will need a driver :)

Ok sambung later. I should not be sitting in front of lappy too often sebab mata tak heal lagik. My healing process is a bit slow, so dr bagi aku 1 week MC. Nanti aku story mory k. Sepatutnya after surgery, the next day dah boleh kerja macam biasa but not in my case. Today is day 5 after surgery and aku still rasa a bit blurry. Resultnya pun nanti aku cita okek.