Belfast Telegraph - 3rd June 2008
Author: Colin Young

I was 15 when I got my first pair of glasses.

They weren’t exactly jam jar bottoms, but they had the effect of making me feel different somehow, the class swot I suppose. The list of speccy heroes has always been a short one and although I never considered myself to be a Piggy from Lord of the Flies, I have always seen these bits of glass and wire as a hindrance. The list of negatives is long: they steam up, they get lost or broken; they slip down the nose and when it rains, don’t start me on that; but worst of all they cost an arm and a leg.

I’m now 42-years-old and totaling up the costs over my myopic quarter century produces an eye-popping total of £6,000, even allowing for all those two-for-one offers.

I’d tried contact lenses, but found them uncomfortable, a bit of a bother to use and not much cheaper. There had to be an alternative. I had been aware of laser surgery for quite some time, but wasn’t sure if I’d be suitable, and to be honest I was a little bit afraid, what with all those urban myths about procedures going wrong. After a few hours Googling the pros and cons, though, I decided to take the plunge and make an appointment at the Optical Express clinic in Belfast.

My designated laser counselor (I wished they’d used the term advisor instead, did they expect me to need counseling!) had had her eyes treated at the clinic a few months previously, something I found much more reassuring than all the pre-surgery patient information I was given.

A series of detailed tests followed, including the computer- generation of a ‘map’ of my eyes, which helped the optician advise me on the best treatment needed. In addition the thickness of the outer surface of my eyes was checked to make sure they were not too thin: apparently this is one of the most common reasons for being turned down for surgery, thankfully everything was fine and the optician recommended that I opt for LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) with Advanced Customvue Wavefront (which I’m assured is just as hard to read with or without-glasses). Mr Stefan Klopper, who is originally from South Africa and has performed around 22,000 procedures, would perform the surgery two weeks later.

I took a bus to the clinic (you can’t drive after the procedure) and when I arrived was ushered to the waiting area where I had a few moments to glance at the rows of thank you cards from satisfied customers. It was then time to sign the informed consent form with Mr Klopper, after reading about any possible (but extremely unlikely) side effects involved. After an application of some anaesthetic drops, I was taken into the room where the procedure would be carried out.

The operation consisted of two procedures on each eye. The first stage involved the creation of the protective flap on the cornea (the clear part of the eye covering the iris and pupil) using a laser technique called Intralase. This is more expensive than the alternative mechanical method, but heals more quickly and improves the overall visual results. To prepare for the flap to be made, a suction ring was first applied to my eye to hold it in place. This is a little unnerving and for a brief moment my thoughts jumped to the James Bond film Goldfinger when 007 was about to be cut in two by a laser. In a way though it was comforting to know that from this point on I wouldn’t be able to move my eye or blink, neither of which is advisable when you’ve got a laser working on the area.

The technology used has a tracker that means the treatment is always applied to the correct area. The surgeon then folded the flap back out of the way and repeated the process for the other eye. It was then time to be repositioned under a different laser for the corrective surgery itself. With the aid of detailed computer mapping information gathered previously, a precise amount of corneal tissue was then removed using an ‘excimer’ laser, in effect reshaping the cornea surgeon to replace the flap and align it to its original position. And that was that: twenty-six years of short-sightedness gone in around the same number of seconds. After-this surprisingly quick flap and zap procedure, I was taken to a recovery room to get used to my ‘new’ eyes. Twenty minutes later the surgeon checked my eyes and said he was pleased with the results.

My relief was palpable. Before I could go home I was given a bag containing a cocktail of eye-drops (anti-inflammatory anti infection and anti-dryness) that I would have to use at regular intervals for the next week or so. Also in the bag were some eye-shields (think of a cross between Hannibal Lecter and the Fly with surgical tape) to protect my eyes from inadvertent scratching while I slept, which I had to wear at night.

Twenty-four hours and one slightly uncomfortable sleep later, I was back at the surgery for my first check up where I was astonished to find out my vision was better than 20/20 in both eyes.

The surgery had been a success. After one week the discomfort subsided, to be replaced by dryness and itchiness. Liberal doses of lubricating eye-drops became the best weapon, against this. My night vision during the first few weeks was a little annoying too with halo effects and starbursts created by oncoming traffic, but this became less over the following weeks and was something that I had been told to expect before surgery.

Any discomfort or inconvenience I felt, however, was nothing to my astonishment I felt while using my new eyes. I was able to discern the finest details: trees, number plates, signs in the distance were clearly defined - and I could get as excited as I wanted about it without ever having to worry about steaming up!

It’s five months since the operation and my vision is excellent: if anything it is clearer than I can ever remember it. The list of positives continues to grow - but as for those adverts showing smiling skiers: forget them, laser surgery will not improve your skiing technique, as I recently discovered, although I did at least get to see who I was about to crash into!

So, would I recommend the treatment? Based on my experience, I would have to say a resounding yes. My advice is to do some research into the procedure and most importantly, to ask yourself why you want it.

There are risks involved as with any medical procedure, but from my experience, patient safety is given a high priority. Laser eye surgery can’t guarantee perfection, but I now have better than 20/20 in both eyes. Hindsight certainly is a wonderful thing.

Belfast Telegraph - 3rd June 2008

Colin Young, Journalist, Belfast Telegraph

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