Chp 901. LASIK in Aizawl

In my previous post, I took you on a nostalgic trip through my journey of wearing spectacles and contact lenses, and what finally pushed me to say "goodbye, four-eyes!" and go for a LASIK surgery.

Today, I’m here to share my experience of actually getting LASIK surgery done at Eye Care Hospital, Dawrpui, Aizawl. Whether you’re seriously considering the procedure, mildly curious, or just here for the laughs, this post is for you. So, sit tight as I walk you through the process—and maybe, just maybe, inspire you to toss those glasses too!

Now, what is LASIK, you may ask. 

Well, LASIK stands for "Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis", and don't worry, even I just Googled that because who really remembers the full form, lolz. It totally sounds like a spell from Harry Potter. But in reality, it's just a fancy way of saying a laser is used to reshape your cornea, allowing light to focus properly on your retina.

Think of it as a deep cleaning session for your eyes, like a pressure wash for your vision. Or a car servicing centre that repairs your old blurry vision with a fresh pair.

And no, they won’t be using lightsabers from Star Wars on your eyeballs. The laser won’t suddenly go rogue and pierce through your skull and splatter your brain matter if the surgeon suddenly sneezes mid-procedure! :D LASIK is a super precise and safe procedure that has helped millions of people around the world, with a laser that’s more controlled than your controlling ex-husband or ex-wife. :P

So, let's get straight to the point. LASIK in Aizawl.

A long time ago, Mizos used to fly to Guwahati or Kolkata for a LASIK operation. Thankfully, those days are over because Eye Care Hospital in Aizawl is now fully equipped to handle this surgery.

Of course, the small market size in Mizoram means there's less frequent demand, so Eye Care Hospital only performs LASIK once every 2-3 months. They dedicate an entire day to it, grouping all candidates together for the procedure.

To get on that coveted list, there’s a screening process one week before the surgery to determine if you’re eligible or not. Based on my experience, there are three main tests:

1. Eye Test – You’ll undergo several eye-related tests, though I have no clue what most of them are called. Basically, you’ll be looking into various machines with a doctor on the other side examining your eyes and taking photos of them etc. They assess whether your eyes can be corrected or if you might need a minor pre-surgery procedure before the main one.

2. BP and Sugar Test – They’ll check if your blood sugar or blood pressure is within acceptable ranges. If not, unfortunately, you will be disqualified. I was lucky enough to be right on the borderline, and the nurses had to check my BP three times. The first two were quite high, leaving the cute female nurses with a concerned look. But funny enough, when a male nurse took my test the third time, it magically dropped to normal. :P

3. Blood Test – You’ll also need to get tested for a range of STDs like HIV, HPV, and HSV. I passed this test too, duh, but now that I think about it, I find this a bit odd—the surgery itself is bloodless, so why was there a need for this test? If anyone has insight into this, feel free to enlighten me.

There’s also a fourth factor: Age. Unfortunately, I was above the recommended range. I told them not to be ageist and discriminate against me just because I’m a very handsome and single Tlangval senior. :P 

They explained that age matters because people over 40 often develop both nearsightedness (myopia) and farsightedness (presbyopia), making the corrective surgery more complicated. And yes, after multiple tests, turned out, I had both too! I felt 20 years older right then. 

Now, I do have one small bone to pick with Eye Care Hospital. 

During the screening process, they dropped a dilating solution into my eyes and told us to wait an hour for the next test. They didn't tell me not to go anywhere (or maybe they announced and I missed it) but since I was quite hungry, I headed straight to the famous "Moses Roll" nearby for a quick bite.

I ordered an egg chicken roll and a double egg roll, yummm...

But as I sat there enjoying my meal, my vision gradually began to blur! By the time I finished, I could barely see anything around me! When it was time to pay, I whipped out my phone to use GPay, but I couldn't see a damn thing—everything was a blurry mess. Finally, I fumbled with my wallet and paid in cash.

And then I walked out to the street and mother of Lord it was so bright! I could hardly see anything even with my eyes squinted, so I called up my friend Anggu, who happens to live just across the street. I dashed over, hoping no vehicles would flatten me as I blindly crossed the road. Once I got inside his house, the lighting was so dim that I couldn’t see a thing again—turns out, my pupils were fully dilated, so everything was either too bright or too dark!

Anggu had a good laugh at my expense. He explained that when he went to Guwahati for his son's eye surgery, they did the same thing to him, but at least he knew what was coming. I, on the other hand, had no clue that dilating drops would have such an effect!

Eventually, Anggu escorted me back to the hospital, where I resumed my tests. Later that evening, they announced the list of candidates who made the cut for LASIK—and I was on it! I was beyond excited, automatically forgiving them for not warning me about the dilating drops. :D

Once you’re on the list, you’ll be given 2-3 different eye drops to use 3-4 times a day. I’m not entirely sure what they are, but I know one of them is to keep your eyes moist and prevent dryness, which is key in preparing for the surgery.

We were given this list of do's and don'ts for the day of surgery as well, which was quite easy for me to follow since most of them were addressed to women, like you can't wear make-up, jewellery, earrings, eyeliner, mascara, perfume, etc etc.

Finally, a week later, on the day of the operation, we reached the hospital at 8 AM as instructed. Quick heads-up—Eye Care Hospital doesn’t have its own car parking, as the basement is reserved for SBI employees who work on the other floors. But you can easily find a vacant parking spot around Canteen kual.

Since we needed to bring along a companion, my sister Dinpuii and her colleague Andrew graciously took leave from work to accompany me. The rest of the LASIK squad was already there too—punctual, like a class of overachievers before a final exam.

There were 12 of us in total. Two were guys around my age, though both were married and brought their wives along. The rest were women, including an incredibly sweet 8 or 9-year-old girl who had a staggering minus 10 power! Dayyyummm.

The hospital was quieter than usual. The receptionist mentioned that they cancel most appointments on LASIK days because the doctors and nurses have their hands full. Only a few walk-in patients were around.

We went through the usual motions—final checkups with the nurses and doctors. Of course, there was the mandatory paperwork, where I signed a form that said, "I will not hold the hospital responsible if my eyes are not 100% cured". Funny though that such forms never say, "I will not hold the hospital responsible if I find the love of my life in their waiting room". :(

And then we waited while the hospital staff prepped the operation room. Do I look nervous here? Pic taken by my sis.

Soon enough, we were called into the restricted area and had to leave behind all our worldly possessions—wallets, jewellery, keys, watches, and even our shoes. Because nothing says "I'm ready for surgery" like walking into the unknown barefoot.

Once we were inside, Dr. Remsanga, the main surgeon, gathered us like a bunch of nervous chickens. He went over the procedure again and, in true Mizo fashion, led us in a prayer. A nice touch, I must say.

We were also given another list of do's and don'ts for the post-operation.

Then the first name was called. She was prepped and sent into the operation theatre. Four other names were also called out and they were prepped in advance while waiting for the first surgery to be over. 

Curious, I asked the nurse if the order was based on complexity or just a lottery system. She told me that the LASIK machine had already computed the most efficient order based on the data fed into it earlier, as we weren’t all having the exact same procedure. Smart, eh?

Eventually, my name was called. They told me to wash my hands and face thoroughly. After that, they suited me up in a surgical gown and slapped a net over my head like I was about to make a guest appearance on Grey’s Anatomy. Then, the nurse disinfected my face with a cotton swab and dropped various eye drops every minute or so.

Here we are, waiting for our turn, looking like extras from a medical drama. :)

Imagine Dr. House barging out from the operation theatre and telling me it's not lupus. :P

As we waited in anticipation, we saw the others before us exit the surgery with smiles on their faces, which was super reassuring. Each one was led to an adjacent room to lie down and rest their eyes for about an hour, while the next contestant entered the ring.

Finally, it was my turn.

I stepped into the operation theatre and was instructed to lie down under this massive machine. Everyone inside was masked up, and a nurse snuck a pillow-like thing under my calves. The moment had arrived.

The nurses then covered one of my eyes and applied this sticky, cellophane-like sheet over the other one. This was to prevent me from blinking or closing my eye. Once everything was nice and tight, Dr. Remsang carefully cut a tiny hole in the plastic sheet right over my pupil. Then came some gentle scraping and stuff, which was a bit uncomfortable, but painless.

Above me, all I could see were these bright circular lights that honestly looked like something straight out of a UFO movie. For a second, I half-expected to be abducted by aliens.

And then suddenly, I couldn't see anything even with my eye wide open, but the nurse warned me not to panic and that reassured me immediately. But a part of me was wondering how that happened, like did they take out my eyeball for a quick polish or something? :D

Then Dr. Remsanga gave me the heads-up that the real deal—the laser—was about to start. A series of green and white lights flashed in front of me, and to top it off, I smelt burning flesh! Yup, that was probably my eye flesh. But as long as I wasn’t feeling any pain, it was all good! "Chiu chiu chiu!" continued the lasers. Ok kidding, they didn't make that sound but I was picturing that in my head.

And just like that, in a few minutes, one eye was done. They repeated the whole process on the other eye, and within 20 minutes, boom—my LASIK surgery was complete!

Of course, I couldn’t see clearly right away, which is totally normal. A nurse kindly escorted me out of the operation room while the next patient walked in. She gave me a pair of dark sunglasses and led me to a bed where I laid down, keeping my eyes shut as instructed.

At some point, I got tired of just lying there, and the nurse told me I could sit up, as long as I kept my eyes closed. She even got me a nice hot cup of coffee which quelled some of my hunger. That was really sweet of her. And then she asked me if I could see, and I told her I could see my future wife and kids...

Yeah, that's how jobless and bored I was, just coming up with imaginary conversations in my head while I closed my eyes. :D :P

Finally, after about an hour, Dr. Remsanga gathered all of us for the post-op briefing. He went over the rules of post-surgery care, like how we absolutely must not rub or even touch our eyes, and that applying all those eye drops on schedule is non-negotiable. He told us not to panic if we couldn't see clearly in the next few days as our cornea was still healing.

We were to avoid screen time for at least a week (which sounded like a death sentence to me), always wear the dark sunglasses they gave us, and stick these massive round shields over our eyes when we sleep so we don't accidentally poke them during the night. Oh, and no washing your hair unless you do it at a spa, since you shouldn’t risk getting water in your eyes.

He also advised against driving for a month and made it clear that all physical activities—gym, exercise, sports—were off the table. I was totally cool with that since all I do is sit in front of my computer all day, but the other guys looked pretty bummed out, so naturally, I pretended to be disappointed too. Gotta blend in, right? :D

Once the briefing was over, we left the restricted area where Didi and Andrew were waiting for me. We headed to the reception, grabbed all the eye drops and medicines I’d need, and then I made the payment—about ₹70,000 in total. Honestly, I think that's a pretty solid deal for better eyesight, especially when you factor in all the money I’ve spent over the years on contact lenses, solutions, and specs.

We left the hospital and my sister treated me at Hotel Ritz nearby, and I thank her and Andrew for sticking with me the entire day.

And that, my friends, was my LASIK experience. I hope you enjoyed reading it and that I managed to make you feel like you were right there with me. I’ll write about my post-op experience next, so stay tuned!

The only question I had at the end of all this is—if the full form of LASIK is Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis, then shouldn't it technically be called LAISK and not LASIK? :D

Until my next post, cheers, folks!