SMILE is NOT LASIK. About laser vision correction

The story of how I saw

For 10 years I wore lenses with myopia of -4 diopters and thought about correction, but at one moment clicked, made, pleased as an elephant. With my myopia, it costs up to 100 tr.

Turnkey SuperFemtoLASIK (May 2019). But happiness is full of pants.

Immediately I will make a disclaimer: I do not have a medical education, rich experience in operations and commercial motivation to write this article. I describe this experience for people who still doubt and are looking for answers to their troubles on the Internet.
I will also use common abbreviations. Information on the essence of methods is full on other resources. He also did not name the drugs so that no one would guess to prescribe them for themselves.

Background

They put glasses on me in elementary school (-2 diopters), by the ninth grade I already switched to two-week lenses (-3.5 diopters). At the end of the institute, relatives / friends began to push for correction, but then it seemed to me to spend the cost of 3-4 smartphones, or a good trip to Europe is too much. And he went about licking his lips until changes began: a close relative fell seriously ill and oncology treatment cost a lot of money. Two years later, everything ended successfully, but the other fell ill and everything started anew. At that moment, it clicked in my brain that health is not something to save on. My 30 years are over and it's time to take care of my own health. At the same time, wearing contact lenses began to strain. Once in a quarter an emergency happened: when I accidentally scratched my eyelid, the lens ran off the eyeball and it was wildly difficult to get, not to mention the sensations at that moment. Once it was driving, another time away from home and it was difficult to return. The feeling of weakness encouraged.

And I will never again have:

• I can’t go to the airport by car sharing at 5 in the morning, because unable to stick lenses in eyes.
• I can’t stay overnight because did not pick up the solution or spare kit
• I can’t doze off during the day / on the road, because lenses stick and need to be soaked after waking up
• I can not drive, because I’m sick and can’t wear lenses
• clearly see more than 12 hours a day without eye injury
• emerge without vision and think which way the shore is.

Of course, I can no longer stand in the smoke of the fire. But I think I’ll survive.

Training

I came across a series of articles about SMILE - a new generation technique, and most importantly requiring mandatory certification of doctors, caught fire to her. I found a list of accredited clinics, considering this a panacea, and began to wool prices. It turned out that doing in Moscow time is 20-30% more expensive (there are exceptions). For comparison, in Moscow time SMILE costs 70-80 tr. / Eye, while in Krasnodar, Novosibirsk 50 tr., And in Nizhny Novgorod 45 tr. LASIKs are also proportionally cheaper. But there is still a basic examination, mandatory consultation of doctors, etc. After seeing the price of the train swallow, I realized what I would do in Nizhny Novgorod (NN). I booked the time of admission, wrote a vacation, stopped wearing lenses (I still did not understand if this was necessary - 14 days without lenses). While wearing glasses began to do exercises for the eyes. The most common, but regular. And it helped a lot on the examinations!

I arrived at NN on a morning swallow and immediately to the clinic, there are 4-5 hours of examination: a vision test in the alphabet, an electronic check (a picture with a balloon), several more devices, one of which puffed sharply in the eye. As it turned out, just this device checked the sphericity of the cornea. There was an ultrasound. Drip anesthesia and a tiny sensor lead through the eye. You don’t feel it at all, but you get scared when the touch causes circles on the water, but this is the surface of the eye. And that was a great training for the operation. Then the pupil dilator is dripped, which also relaxes the muscles of the eyes and affects the focus. You sit for an hour with your eyes closed, although you see normally, but brightly. And the process begins again. According to the results of the study, they told me about retinal dystrophy of the left eye, the reason for this was the “long eye” (strange, that it is called long when it is wide) - 25 mm, with a norm of 23 mm. By the way, every extra1mm of eye width corrects the picture by 3 diopters towards myopia! Those. my lens and so 2 diopters pulls out the extra. Also affected by eye injuries, or rather the head. I had about three serious tremors that left micro tears on the retina. According to the doctors, "no one will make you a correction, at the risk of retinal stratification." 10 minutes on the omnipotent Internet told me that the detected

"lattice type ramjet"it’s never fun and, in general, it’s good that they found him and are ready to patch up. The operation to "strengthen the retina" did not cost a lot of money and was supposed to end in about 10 minutes. In practice, it turned out a little differently. The operation process itself, to put it mildly, brings discomfort. I’m especially trying not to scare readers, but the process consists in cauterizing the back of the eye. Through the pupil. I shed tears and squealed like a pig, my chin was fastened and saying something - it means twitching my eye. I think it is unnecessary to write anything else about strengthening. Subsequently, other people on the correction itself said that they had almost the same thing. After several long minutes, the doctor said that everything went well and unfastened the back of her head. Having come to my senses in the corridor, I called a loved one and asked for help to buy me a ticket home, because the next 10 days I have nothing to do in NN.

Even before strengthening the retina, I was invited to the doctor, where they suggested possible correction methods. SMILE was forbidden to me with the reference that a layer of the cornea of ​​530 microns is not enough. In the next race, I once again asked this question and clarified: normally 550 microns, which is not so different from mine. Just SMILE removes a layer of 20 microns, which is a lot for my cornea. Although the critical values ​​of the residue are 400-300 microns, when the operation is generally prohibited. This moment was not clear to me. There was a second reason - Offset (offset) of the optical axes. Which goes beyond the tolerances for SMILE and completely prohibits this technique. Given these features, I was offered Super Femto LASIK entirely on femtolazar. They promised a faster recovery with a bonus - one day, supposedly for SMILE longer.

On the 11th day, I returned to the clinic to the laser surgeon. The strengthening was successful and I was allowed to correct. Since, for examination, it was again required to open the pupil, but this was not necessary for the operation, the days of examination and the operation itself had to be spread. The next day I arrived at the clinic at 13.30, filled out the documents, paid for the operation, at about 14 I was sent to the patient room. There they put me on shoe covers knee-deep, put on a funny hat with gauze on the ears. It was very funny to sit in the company of the same people, and in black glasses. Periodically, a nurse came in and dripped into her eyes. A gentle and affectionate attitude towards patients helped to relax the heavy, oppressive silence that reigned in the room. Everyone was silent, I was a little nervous. There is always a non-zero probability of complications, illnesses, failures and they do not give rest. It's terrible to even imagine life without vision. I was even given a sedative drink twice. They took the girl out of the next room, said to wear black glasses very carefully, and sit to rest. It turned out that bespectacles are already about the operated ones. 10 minutes and the next one comes in.

Operation

I was summoned to the operating room, asked how I felt, and measured the pressure. They invited me to lie down on the couch and covered with a sheet, with a hole under my face, and a napkin, with a hole under one eye. They also instilled anesthesia and asked to open both eyes. Then problems started with me. The right eye even more or less coped with the tasks, and the left did not want to be open without the right in any way. The fact is that if you close one eye, then the second, in which the operation also tries to close despite the eyelid extender. The doctors spent 10 minutes trying to persuade me to open my second eye (right, already done) so that I could work with the left. They made several attempts to enter the laser on the eye, but it was interrupted (saying something, I don’t remember anymore). As a result, I saw a muddy picture, which I read about in many sources. The doctor began to do something in the eye with tools, it seems like it should be a flap up, but something went wrong. The process of picking in the eye continued, but there was no result. It felt like the laser didn’t cut the line and the tool had to gently pull the flap. Maybe even with a scalpel. Maybe I'm wrong because I couldn’t see anything, and doctors are most likely forbidden to say such things. At this moment, it became even worse. As far as I understand, at this moment it is already impossible to stop the operation, you need to continue ... I was asked to stand and cross on another table, a meter from the previous one, under the second apparatus. One of them had a green dot to look at, and she kept running away to the side. But you can’t move your eye and hang in uncertainty. Another has a bright white light. I don’t remember exactly. But I heard the sound of a working electric motor from a child’s toy and the smell came from the dental office when enamel was drilled with old devices. After 15-20 seconds it was all over and I was moved by the long-suffering left eye. Again, persuasions began to open my eyes, I tried my best to help doctors, but I could not cope with reflexes. When the motor started to buzz, I began to exhale slowly and avoid an unpleasant odor. And again, something went wrong: the right eye was made as if 3 quick passes and free, and the left eye was made as if in manual mode - slowly, carefully, with pauses between the passages. They removed the device from me and reported that the operation was successful. I didn’t even believe it and asked several times if there would be any complications? But I was asked to get up and was escorted into the patient room. The time is 15.30.

First day

We take black glasses by the arms and very carefully lower them onto the head. Now this is our protective screen. First of all, from your own hands, which constantly climb to scratch your eyes, wipe away tears. You can touch only on the chin. We have to wait until the snot drains to where it can be wiped. A nurse arrives and something drips again. After a couple of hours, you understand that the drops are different - they pinch from some, it feels good from others, you can open your eyelids and look at the time. Other patients speak the same quietly. There were four of us left in the room, who were operated on after dinner. I think I was a little worse than usual: the pain in my eyes was replaced by a feeling of sand and soft contact lenses, which were inserted inside out and they interfere with the eyelid. The guys said that in general they can see, some have already stated that they see better. Few who complained of pain

Mostly they did FemtoLASIK, and one guy did Trans-PRK. Moreover, the latter chose the PRK from the economy. Call me a snickering Muscovite, but for your own money to suffer during the rehabilitation period, which will stretch for 5 days or more - fire. Moreover, he did it precisely out of economy, because there was money in his pocket, but he decided to let it go to a driving school. (At this point, I want to apologize if I offended any of the participants in my story). It is interesting that he felt better than anyone - he was trying to get his mobile phone, he began to get bored, but he began to entertain the girls who were still recovering. All were natives of NN and did not even think about SMILE. But everyone did the strengthening of the retina, some even both eyes! Many said that their friends had operations in this clinic and everyone had a “normal flight.”

Around 19, after the second examination of the doctor, the thread did not stop. I was offered a hospital where painkillers can continue to drip, although they slow down healing and it is time to refuse it. I refused, took the droplets given out and went home to observe the regime of self-instillation. More precisely, at my request, they called me a taxi to my hostel, where I had already settled in the morning. While the pain medication was working, I was able to open my eyes and get to the bed. I even agreed with the administrator to order rolls. I had exactly 40 minutes. Then the eyes closed.

The doctor’s prescription was to drip one of the drugs once an hour. I had about 20 minutes. Then the pain turned into a pain shock. Fists clenched under my knees so as not to get into my eyes. Neither sitting nor lying helped. I would like to make a small retreat in my defense. I regularly manage to accidentally stick my fingers into boiling pasta, hook myself with a hot pizza pan, put my head on the open door of the upper shelf, I can cut the claws of a cat while he tries to bite my hand off. I will not say that I am a “fighter” or “I own an iron shirt,” but I am calm about pain.

Dribbled in a circle and washed in tears. At this moment, a support group arrived, which was supposed to arrive in the afternoon. I must say that a simple feeling of a loved one is nearby, in a difficult moment it is already +100 to health. My own story about the operation distracted me a little. Operations of this type are carried out one day and accompanying is an excess, but when things start to go wrong, they become your hope. Around midnight, I passed out to sleep.

It was necessary to sleep strictly on the back, without taking off the black glasses. Hands all the time climbed to scratch his eyes and salty face. I had to put my hands under my back or tie in a knot on my chest. At 5 in the morning he began to Kolobrod, there was no sleep. The last time I instilled drugs, although it was no longer necessary. Around 9 am, I opened my eyes and realized that I saw holes in the outlet,on the opposite wall. First thought: I didn’t remove the lenses ?! It was normal for me to just make out the stain of the outlet block and say if it is there. In terms of if the wall is the same color, then I will not answer for sure. Could watch for a few minutes. At first there was a feeling that the eyes were mowing: focus in front of you and make an effort so that the eyes move apart in different directions and focus on the object in the distance. Every hour, my vision became better, I wanted to look at the leaves on the trees, blades of grass and pebbles. I fell in love with brick buildings, I want to make out each joint between the bricks. By 12 o’clock I came for a visit, they told me that everything was fine. The right eye sees line 1.2 - the equivalent of 120% of normal vision, the left eye is watery, but sees line 0.9. They promised that he would live and catch up with the right. And I will try charging to help him with this. I was given a new set of drops and we agreed that we needed to appear again. In my case, this is next Saturday, so as not to take a vacation again.

Rehabilitation period

The day after surgery - to survive, endure, sleep. Usually, everything is much simpler and they even try to blunt a mobile phone.

Three days - sleep on your back, avoid screens, do not wash your hair (I washed it carefully), drip, sleep.

Two weeks - do not lift weights (5-10 kg), no sport, gymnastics, avoid high pressure, dust, aerosols, steam.

A month is a strict ban on baths, saunas, gravity, swimming. Hypothermia, colds, any viral infections. Injuries, contact sports.

Then you can do it all!

Budget

Swallow ticket 2 x 800 rub
Initial examination (4-5 hours) 1500 rub
Examination with Pentakam 2500 rub
Strengthening the retina of one eye 8000 rub
Lunch 3 x 300 rub (I love food and food love me)

Swallow ticket 2 x 900 rub
Night at the hostel 2 x 450 rub
Inspection after strengthening the retina 0p
Consultation with an anesthetist (I just told her that I am healthy and responsive to all medications) 1000r
Vision correction surgery SuperFemtoLASIK 2 x 35.250r
Drops on the first day and next week 0r
Inspection after surgery 0r
Lunches for three nights ...

Ticket for a train at night from Fri to Sat 2000r
Ticket for a swallow 900r
Inspection a week after the operation (have not yet traveled, I hope for free) A

total of 83.500r treatment, without travel.

Afterword

The gentle voice and pretty faces of the clinic staff were very reassuring in nervous moments, thanks to the clinic administration for this approach to patients.

Thank you for the enlarged approach in the formation of the price list: make me an eye - no question, 8 tr. Do me a survey-preparation for correction - approx, (1.5 + 2.5) tr. Follow-up inspection - I consider a sign of monitoring the quality of service, monitor the level, respect.

It makes sense to be treated in another city if a major operation is ahead. If the process begins to drag out or complications appear - you need to look for doctors at home. Where could he save, then he will have to be treated for the full cost.

There was little concern about the operation. I know from the subcortex that manual operation is impossible - most likely there is simply no such possibility on the laser. I hope that I was wrong. In any case, now I see well, glory to the doctors!

Having some experience, I can say that now I would carefully study the market in my city. It was necessary to ring up the clinic, maybe even go for a chat. It turned out that a friend of my friends did a similar operation (femto LASIK) in Moscow time for the same money. There was no need to travel to Nizhny Novgorod.

In conclusion, it would be interesting to hear the opinions of the hawkers. Please send scientific statements along with links to the source.