My experience with laser eye surgery in Türkiye – report from Friday, June 15, 2007

Dear prospective LASIK eye surgery patients,
Below I would like to share a few experiences from my own personal journey.
I must say that everything on the Swisslasik side worked wonderfully, and the support was both friendly and reliable. As far as the medical team at the EyeStar Clinic is concerned, I cannot quite award the highest possible rating, but still a very high one. The reason I do not give the top mark is due to the rather long waiting times, caused by several patients whose appointments were not optimally coordinated. In addition, the doctors or their assistants did not always volunteer a lot of information themselves, meaning one had to ask about certain things, although they then responded kindly.
After the operation, one generally does not feel very well and is taken to a dark room with a reclining couch and left alone. After about five minutes, someone comes in and brings eye drops to relieve the burning sensation in the eyes. I would have preferred not to be left alone and to be informed immediately about how the operation had gone. From a communication perspective, however, this is not really a problem, as there is always at least one person who speaks good German or English.
I advise everyone to take the calming tablet before the operation, because although the procedure itself is very quick, those minutes are intense, as you experience everything and need to remain calm despite the discomfort. It is remarkable that the very next day you can already see almost perfectly at distance and, with appropriate caution, resume “normal” activities. Since then, I have not felt any pain at all.
The correction resulted in 0 dioptres in one eye and 0.25 dioptres in the other. This was the result communicated to me by the doctor the day after the operation. I do feel that I do not see quite as well with my left eye as with my right. Overall, however, I must say that I can warmly recommend this operation to anyone who is somewhat dissatisfied with having to rely on visual aids, especially those with a higher dioptre value.
I believe that the clinic in Istanbul is in no way inferior to a Swiss clinic when it comes to the medical procedure. They have already operated on around 15,000 or 20,000 patients, and nothing has ever gone wrong. So do not believe the horror stories about going blind, and dare to do something that feels like a miracle to me – which it truly is. What human beings are capable of…
With regard to the minor shortcomings of the practice, which are very forgivable in hindsight, I can only say that I believe they will address them if they are made aware of them. After all, they are clearly committed to ensuring the highest possible level of patient satisfaction.
So once again, I say thank you for correcting my refractive error, and I wish many more patients the same lasting good fortune. Do not be afraid of the operation itself either, because the brief period of discomfort is very short and absolutely negligible compared to what you gain in return.
Kind regards
Till de Ridder