Medical Tourism

Medical tourism? Is that real? These were the questions that I was asking. I have worn glasses since I was in middle school. Many of my friends at work had gotten LASIK eye surgery done while working in Korea. The price was just a bit over 1,000 dollars for both eyes in Korea. The doctors are world renowned and the clinic I visited was packed with people getting their vision corrected. Apparently, Korea is a very popular place for people to get their vision fixed. People came from all over the world for this very popular procedure. Upon arrival at this clinic, we were given a translator who stayed with us throughout the entire process. The initial consultation took nearly two hours. They did, what seemed like, a million tests on my eyes to see how well suited they were for the procedure. IT turns out, my eyes were perfect for the surgery!

So there I was preparing for my surgery. They put some numbing eye drops in my eyes and cleaned my face (you definitely don't want any bacteria getting in your eyes). Then they plopped me down on the table and began the procedure. There was an immense pressure on my eye (very uncomfortable) and then I couldn't see anything. It was literally darkness for about 2 seconds. When I could see again, the doctor kept telling my to look at the green light as the laser burned into my eye (I couldn't actually feel any of this). He would periodically spray my eye with water which would cause the little green light to move about. Before I knew it, the procedure was over.

The first four hours were the worst. Due to some of the drops, everything was super bright and it was causing me to have a headache. All I wanted to do was go to sleep but the doctor said that we couldn't sleep for the first four hours. After four hours, I finally got the chance to sleep.

When I woke up, I felt great. My eyes did not hurt and it wasn't nearly as bright as it had been earlier. My recovery from this point on has been relatively easy. I have had to put in a ton of eyedrops and the clinic even made some eye drops from my blood for a faster recovery! I am still technically recovering but the only thing I must do is put in eyedrops 3 times a day. It is a very easy and relaxed recovery and I do not have to change anything in my daily routine.