Getting LASEK in Korea

I have always loathed wearing contact lenses and glasses. Sure glasses can be cute, but they can be really annoying to actually wear all the time. After leaving Korea the first time around I really regretted not getting LASEK eye surgery and was still fumbling and dealing with my contacts and glasses daily. Once we returned to Korea I decided I had to make it a priority to get LASEK in Korea ASAP.

Why LASEK in Korea?

First of all, getting LASEK in Korea is a fraction of the cost it would be back at home. I paid 1,500,000 KRW (~$1,300) for surgery on both eyes and months of all my follow-up appointments.

The same procedure costs approximately 4x the cost if not more in the States. It wasn’t all about money though, these are my precious eyes after all, Korea has a great reputation for LASEK surgery and a friend of ours also had just gotten her surgery done at Gangnam’s EyeMedi Lasik Center. I was sold, but nervous.

Before the Surgery

I was a nervous wreck, so much in fact that I was having nightmares! There was no way I was going to back down, but I just couldn’t wait for the operation to be over and all this anticipation to go away. I wasn’t nervous about the surgery being botched, I was more nervous about how uncomfortable I was going to be while they were scraping away layers of my eyes!

All nerves aside, I felt safe in the care of the EyeMedi Staff, including Mr. Choo who’s very friendly and reassuring. He even had another expat who already had to procedure chat with me to help calm my nerves before I went under the lasers on the big day. This helped ease my pre surgery tension, not to mention I had Scott there by my side!

During the Surgery

I still can’t believe how quickly the actual operation was. I was in and out of the procedure in maybe 10-15 minutes. EyeMedi had some calming Beatles instrumental music playing in a comfortable room and talked me through the surgery.

The best part was I didn’t feel a thing other than the cooling sensation of a numbing agent they used on my eye. All I had to do was focus on looking straight at a green light, and just as easy as that I was done in less than 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Scott was fascinated watching the whole procedure on the TV screen and was mystified that I couldn’t feel them scraping my eyeball!

After the Surgery

From what I hear, I was a pretty lucky patient. I had zero pain after the surgery, whereas most people have one day of pain post surgery as their eyes are starting to heal. I was anticipating this pain and it never came!

The healing process has been a breeze. I had blurry vision that was slowly improving for about 6 weeks and a little bit of sensitivity to light for the first week. I had a series of eye drops to use, including eye drops made from my own DNA to help speed up the recovery process, which I found to be completely fascinating. For the next 6 months I have follow up appointments monthly to check on my progress.

Do I Recommend This to Others?

Hell yes! It’s been eight weeks since my surgery and I almost have full 20/20 vision. I can see!!!! Not only that, but the procedure was easy and I was in great care by Mr.Choo and the EyeMedi staff. I only had about a week where I was just the slightest bit uncomfortable, but the pay off is well worth it.

I will never have to buy or mess around with contacts or glasses again and I CAN SEE! The procedure was life changing, as cliché as that sounds and it’s really going to save me money in the long run! (glasses and contacts are SO expensive!)

Where to go?

You may want to do independent research and visit clinics around Seoul yourself to see where you feel most comfortable. But I am very happy with my choice of going to Gangnam’s EyeMedi Lasik Center. Their clinic is clean, comfortable, and the staff is professional and friendly.

You will feel safe in the care of Mr. Choo. They also speak English and you always see other expats who have had the procedure there that you can talk to. If you are apprehensive, you can always send a message to EyeMedi on Facebook and Mr. Choo will answer and of your questions or concerns.