What to expect

Pre-operative appointment

Determining your suitability for laser eye surgery involves a series of measurements, an examination of your eyes, and a detailed discussion with Dr Ang about the procedure.

Please leave your contact lenses about before the appointment as they can affect the measurements:

  • Soft/disposable lenses for 2 days

  • Hard/rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses for 4 weeks

Please bring your glasses and contact lens prescriptions with you.

We measure your refraction and take a series of measurements of your corneal shape and thickness. Your pupils may be dilated for examination of your retina.

Dr Ang takes the time to ensure that you have the chance to ask any questions you may have and fully understand the procedure, your recovery, and the likely outcome for your vision.

Day of surgery

On the day of the procedure please wear warm comfortable clothing and no make-up. You are not required to fast, and it is better if you have a light meal or snack beforehand to ensure you are comfortable.

Laser eye surgery is an outpatient procedure and you can expect to be in the centre for about 2 hours. Before your procedure we give you a mild relaxant and anaesthetic eye drops. The whole procedure itself takes 15 to 30 minutes, although the laser part itself is very quick, usually less than one minute. Dr Ang speaks to you and guides you throughout the whole procedure.

At the end of the procedure, clear plastic shields are placed over your eyes and medicated eye drops are given for you to use.

After the procedure, it is advised that you return home and rest. The more you can sleep and let your eyes rest in the first 24 hours, the faster and more comfortable the recovery.

Post-operative appointments

We see you the next day to check your eyes and answer any questions that you may have. Dr Ang then sees you in 6-8 weeks to review your eyes and the results. For PRK, another appointment is required at 1 week post-operatively to remove the bandage contact lenses.

Expectations

Modern laser eye surgery is safe and effective, with most people being very happy with the results. However, you do need to know that the laser is interacting with living tissue, hence there may be some variability in the results.

This means that rarely after laser eye surgery, your best corrected vision may not be as good as before with your glasses or contact lenses, although this is usually far outweighed by the improvement in unaided vision. Often vision in one eye will be slightly better than the other when tested individually. Re-treatments can be performed to improve your visual outcome if there is any residual refractive error remaining.

Risks and complications

It is important to understand that although modern laser eye surgery is very safe, as with any surgery, there carries a degree of risks and potential complications. Some of the risks and complications include:

  • Over-correction and under-correction

  • Dry eyes

  • Infection or inflammation

  • Flap complications including suction loss, flap slippage, epithelial ingrowth

Dr Ang discusses these with you at your consultation to ensure that you fully understand the procedure and ask any questions that you may have.