Eric Osterkorn
What convinced you to go through the Lasik/Lasek surgery? And what made you to choose Dream Eye Clinic?
I had recently taken up the hobby of scuba diving. I really love scuba diving. I usually wear glasses, in fact I liked them for the most part. But, when scuba diving you can't wear glasses and I wasn't interested in prescript ion lenses for my scuba mask. If when I went diving I had to wear contacts. Contacts irritate my eyes. It wasn't unbearable painful, but it was certainly not comfortable. In fact if I wanted to do physical activities wearing my glasses wasn't very convenient for me. My friend, who was diving with me, told me that he had gotten LASIK surgery in Korea a while ago and he was quite happy with the results. After my scuba diving vacation in Thailand I talked to another friend of mine, Brian. Brian had gone to Dream Eye Center and told me that he had a great experience and was really satisfied with his results. He told me he wasn't having any bad side effects and that his recovery was coming along nicely. After talking with Brian a while about his surgery I went to schedule a consultation with Dream Eye Center.
When I went to Dream Eye Center I was given the exams and explanation of what makes a person a good candidate for the surgery. After I went home and thought at great length and talked to some of my friends. I decided that I was ready to have LASIK surgery. I selected Dream Eye Center because of my friend's recommendation. I chose Dream Eye Center because the staff was nice and gave me answers to my questions.
Tell us about what has changed since you had your Lasik / Lasek surgery. What are the major changes comparing your life before and after the surgery?
Not too much has changed in my social life or otherwise. I'm very glad to not have to wear contacts. I guess my life is more convenient. I started wearing glasses in 8th grade, and now I don't have to wear them anymore. People used to say they liked my glasses a lot, and also how they liked me better without them. I don't have glasses anymore, so I don't really hear that too much these days. Really, what has changed is all the things that might have been inconvenient or troublesome with contacts or glasses are not a problem for me anymore. I can say one thing; I see much better. In fact I see a lot better. If it's a real clear day here in Seoul, I think I can see the furthest can remember seeing. It's been a long time since I've been able to see that well. I'm really glad about that. I was nearsighted, so that has been quite nice.
Were there any inconveniences during the recovery process? And tell us about how satisfied you are with your newly improved vision. It's very inconvenient the first day after surgery if you wish to go and do things. It's really best to get bed rest during the first week. My eyes are very light sensitive. My eyes have always been light sensitive. After the surgery they were even more light sensitive. So although it wasn't truly inconvenient for me, I could see how this may be for someone who needs to get right back to work. I was unemployed at the time when I had my surgery.
What was inconvenient was that I couldn't search for jobs via computer due to my light sensitivity even to computer screens.
After about a month or so my vision has gotten a lot better and I am definitely happy with my results. I was first nervous about how fast my eyes should recover. As time goes by my vision has steadily gotten better. I can see very well now and really far. I'm very happy with my how far I'm able to see. I like looking at things a lot. I'm really happy being able to see things well and not have to use glasses. Things that have been very satisfying to me have been things like; being able to use binoculars without fiddling with glasses, being able to see in the shower, and other simple things that used slightly hinder me.
What were the most valuable and rememberable experiences at Dream Eye Clinic?
The most valuable and memorable experience I had at dream eye center would be my actual surgery. The Allegretto Eye-Q is an odd piece of medical machinery. It's quite intimidating. It feels like some kind of futuristic gadgetry that could reprogram your brain. The actual experience of the surgery itself is very odd as well. It doesn't parallel any experience I've had in my life. Having ones eyes cut then lasered is very unworldly. It left a memorable impression on me. It wasn't painful, just extremely odd feeling. Having the surgery done was the most valuable experience simply because I can now see quite well.
Other experiences that were good was that the staff was nice to me and helpful. I won't say it was incredible, but that's a good thing. I felt like a normal person and wasn't treated differently. At least, I felt that way. And for that happening to me in Korea, just being treated normal, makes a big difference. So, although having good normal service may seem average, I am quite pleased with that.
Finally, what else do you want to tell us (our medical staffs, doctors, and nurses)? (Anything is OK including some of your wishes that may inform us to improve ourselves.)
I really think the recovery room needs better soundproofing. I can clearly hear the sound of the traffic cops whistle from the major intersection. I know this is hard to avoid because Seoul is a major city and Kangnam is very busy, but it was kind of annoying. I'm a very noise and light sensitive person. So I found that annoying when I was recovering.
Whenever I received text message on my phone giving me an update about my next appointment it was in Korean. I had some trouble with that at times. Being an English speaker, English probably would have been better when it came to getting text messages.
Immediately after surgery a song was played "congratulations". This was a nice surprise, but I was kind of confused. I tried to stay really relaxed and calm during the surgery. When I hear that song I usually get excited or something like that. I always hear it at birthdays or some kind of celebration. I think I've been conditioned to respond to that song. So, I think I was slightly confused. Not so confused that I was going to get up and jump around, then down a beer. But, just a little taken out of my state of mind that was helping me cope with the surgery. I wish I had the option of veto for the music. Or, that I was informed about it.
Also, the most Important thing I think that would help people is for the patient to have a "dry run" or the surgery. That is, even though I discussed what I should do during surgery, such as where to look. I feel like if there was some kind of fake practice surgery I would have felt more comfortable during the real thing. Not that I felt uncomfortable, I was just unsure of where to look. I kept thinking, "am I doing this right?". And even afterward I wondered if I had done things correct during surgery.
Also, I saw some simple eye exercises by the urinal in the men's bathroom. I wish I was talked to about that stuff more. I know it doesn't really help me one way or the other. But, perhaps it would give me some kind of placebo effect as to make me feel more in control about what happens.
One last thing that would be great is, please also program your website for Safari for Mac OS. It drives me up the wall that Korean websites don't program for any browser but Microsoft Internet Explorer. URRRggh! I hate Microsoft!
