LASIK surgery in India

JamesW

After having my daughter break another pair of glasses towards the beginning of the year, I looked into laser eye surgery. In particular the wave guided Lasik from Bausch and Lomb. I had the preliminary check shortly thereafter, but nothing much happened. Until saturday, when I got a call asking if I was still interested. I was, so I made my way to the surgery, where we did another check. I was then offered the operation the very next day.

Well, 24 hours have passed and I now don't need to wear glasses. So far I am very happy with the results. The operation itself was relatively straightforward. A group of us sat around receiving frequent eye-drops. Eventually I was called in for the operation. You lie on a padded bench, and then the fancy technology is maneuvered in front of your eye. A clamp is placed, which is slightly uncomfortable at first, but soon forgotten. Then something is placed in front of your eye and it all goes dark as they create a vacuum. Then a flap is cut in the cornea. The darkness turns out to be a relief: what you can't see can't scare you. It reminds me of Zaphod's peril sensitive sunglasses from The Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy. The vacuum is removed and the flap folded back. You can see again, albeit blurrily. The the actual laser treatment begins, It looks like some security scanning scene from a computer game with red patterns dancing across your eye. It is all over in a matter of seconds, and completely painless. Though you can smell some burning. Lastly the flap is replaced and they repeat the procedure on the other eye.

All that is left is to sit in the waiting room and get more eye-drops. Lots more eye-drops. Then you vision is checked - I could read the bottom line of the chart, where perviously I has to squint to see read the large A on the first line. With that I was sent home with a pouch full of eye-drops. Three drops an hour for the first evening, then three four times a day after that.

My eyes felt really heavy. As if I was really tired, although I wasn't. I also preferred to stay out of the light. By the next day that feeling had gone, and my vision felt sharper still than it did the previous day. I have a checkup tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

In short I'm very happy with how the operation has turned out so far. I won't recommend it, as each person has to decide stuff like this for themselves. However, I am a pretty nervous patient, and I found the procedure quite bearable. I had the surgery performed in Pune at a cost of 38,000R/- for both eyes. Now I just need a decent pair of sunglasses. Anyone know where I can get a pair of (genuine) Oakleys in Pune?

Drews60

JamesW,
Thanks for your report. I'm looking into having Lasik when I travel to India. I was looking at the eye hospital in Madurai to perform the procedure. Glad to hear you are happy with the results.

docgirl2005

Is that the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai? Just curious. my in-laws are from that area, my mom-in-law just had cataract surgery there..I heard it has a good reputation down in South India?

Drews60

Yes, it is the Aravind Eye Hospital. I too have heard they have an excellent reputation. Plus, I can lay around Madurai for a week.

singsub

it would be a shame if India didnt have good facilities for LASIK surgery. given that the guy who invented it is an Indian.

edwardseco

Hope it goes well. Now is too early to be definite..

JamesW

Thanks. There's plenty of time left for complications, but it's all good news at the moment. I had my first check-up today, and not only could I read the bottom line of letters, I could read most the secret bonus line of letters below that. They scroll up and down, and I had never been shown the lowest line. That means that my vision is better than 20/20, or 6/6 in the new fangled metric version. I've got another check in a week's time. Meanwhile it's more eyedrops... And I found myself a pair of Oakley sunglasses in Pune Central .

Zia

Hi

I am contemplating gettin laser treatment done in India, so far Pune/South of India gets most of the votes. But as i am not familiar with India can some kind soul out there point out the top 3 Laser Eye Surgery Hospitals within the above location and if possible some decent hotels near by.

Cheers

Z

JamesW

I don't know about any top three lists, but I had my surgery performed at Zy-Vision, which is just off F C Road in Pune. It was successful, and I felt well looked after there. So, that's one possibility if you do choose Pune. As for hotels that would depend on your price range. What does decent mean to you?

Zia

Hey cheers for the reply

By decency i mean: clean, friendly, a/c, suitable for 2 and good security for personal luggage if left in hotel. I guess either 2/3/4*.

By the way how long ago did you have your laser treatment? and how much did it cost?

I'm just abit nervous, never travelled to India and ofcourse papping myself for the treatment, i just want it to be courteous, professional and above all a success cos i have a very very weak short-sighted prescription wiht astigmatism.

Fingers crossed eh!!!

Apprecitate the response

Z x

JamesW

I had the LASIK surgery in October last year, and it cost just under £500 to have both eyes done. If you haven't already, I would get some advice from an optician/ophthalmologist in the UK before heading out. Make sure that you have a good idea of how likely LASIK is to succeed with correcting your vision. The treatment itself is painless, if a bit worrying for those who don't like things near their eyes. It's over pretty quickly, you spend more time being looked after and given eye-drops. My experience was pleasant enough, and I received plenty of follow up checks in the weeks afterward.

I can't really advise on Hotels, as I haven't stayed in any in Pune. My experience of hotels in general in India is that 3* is usually fine, if a bit spartan by western standards.

Firstclass

Hey :-)
nice to read this thread.
I am heading to India for 3 months and also thinking about having a LASIK in Chennai e.g. ..
but if I won't find a trustfull clinic there I could also get to Pune....

Did you have any problems after the surgery so far?
How long did it take until you could continue your normal life (office working for example).

Thanks for your reply in advance

Simon

JamesW

My eyes are still working! No problems at all, and my vision is still sharp. I slept a lot the evening after having it done. It was very hard to keep my eye-lids open, I guess the anaesthetic drops have something to do with that. I stayed off work the next day, and was in the next. I work with computers, and spend most the day staring at LCD screens. I did go home early on the first day, but I was back to full time after that. The only other concession to normal life was about a month's course of (non-anaesthetic) eye-drops, and wearing sunglasses when outside for a similar period of time, which I would do anyway in India.