SMILE: Fishing in The Eye ? – REFRACTIVE SURGERY (Experience & Review)- A Story of Shivam Bajaj

Eyes are one of the most important and yet delicate organs that God has given to us to see this beautiful creation of his. Each and everything of our beautiful mother earth can only be seen if they are preserved and taken care of.  Let me now try to take you to a journey that made me smile not only through my face but also through my eyes.  SMILING though eyes might sound weird to you, I am sure that you will know my understanding of Smiling through Eyes.

Rummaging through the pages of my childhood album, I figured out that I use to wear spectacles since I was 4 years old.  Now, for some of you, this might be shocking or even not. but I knew what all I was going through,  in the age when children can see everything without any problem but in my case, it was not at all the same. Growing older and older, I started to know more about my situation with my parents, during our interaction, I got to know that I was once suggested for an operation for my eyes but at that time I was just 4 years old. Now, listening to this I was shocked that in the age when children begin to see the world with the beautiful gift of God, at that time I was suggested for operation. Yes but this was true.

I started going to the doctors from 2014 onwards since I wanted to know more this problem, I knew that in one of my eye, the vision was too much blurry and in the another it was perfectly normal and was way too much better than the left eye.  Now, that I knew my problem, I visited one of the most reputed institutes and explained them my problem (this was 2014), after a thorough checkup, I was informed that my left eye can never be normal and the vision will remain blurry forever.  Listening to this, I and my parents were left disheartened.  Since then I started to find more institutes which could help me solve my problem but again could not find any of them and remember it was still 2014. Lack of Availability of doctors, technology may be the reason for their denial but we were truly disheartened.

Definitely, at that time I was a student and was facing a lot of problems while reading & writing but again I had to face those problems at that time. Not only back then but even till a long time, I faced the problems of blurriness in my eye (left).  One fine morning, due to some common irritation and regular checkup, I found a very well know Center for Sight, although, it was right next to my house but it was such a delicate problem and that too for eyesight, so I begin to research on (Center For Sight) CFS.  It was like randomly served on my platter and I had to consume to information but going at some details, I really found some positive reviews and some real-life examples as well.  As a curious child, this grew my curiosity even more and I decided to visit the hospital.

My first day, I was examined in detail but this was nothing new but it was really after a long time of 4-5 years. Keeping in mind the curiosity, I myself started to question the doctors who initially worked on my eyesight and regular checkup and found that my problem has a solution, and this immediately gave a deep smile on my face and my mom who was sitting right next to me also showed a sign of relief and happiness but we were still curious about the solution and procedure, after some few regular checkups and visits, I was recommended for a Laser Procedure called SMILE & LASIK
I was shocked for some time, as during my childhood, listening stories of Laser being harmful to the eyes allowed me to take a second thought on that but after few days of research, I was pretty impressed that even a laser can heal someone’s eye.  This might not be possible 4-5 years back but now it was.  After a long time, I was finally dreaming about my vision being corrected but again after some regular tests and procedures and this took time as well.

Seeing the doctors at the hospital, gave me immense satisfaction that their experience, knowledge and of course friendliness and honestly will definitely help me solve my problem but I did not know that this will not take more than 5-10 mins. I started to watch some videos about SMILE and reading some articles, initially, I was researching to know more about the same but now, keeping in mind that it was to be done on me, I tried to scan the entire resources about the same.  Knowing more about SMILE, (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction), I even tried searching for other hospitals but again I could not find such doctors anywhere.

Few days before the surgery, I visited a Doctor in the Dwarka institute and her name was “Dr. Keya Barman” Being with her right before my surgery made me skeptical (though I was informed about the name earlier, so I had something to research on)  since I came to see a new doctor who was not in my followup ones but as I entered her cabin and was told after the checkup that the procedure will be done by her, I begin to think about this but this time positively and was extremely happy after the checkup not only because the doctor was very good but also because I had done my research well.

Finally, the day of the surgery arrived, a few minutes before the surgery I was very politely explained by the doctor herself about the dos and don ts during the procedure. I was definitely afraid and even scared a bit as this was completely new for me but again the patience of the doctor was one of the main instrument for me to get normal and relaxed.  As the operation theatre was being prepared for my surgery, I was told to wait outside while my eyes were being diluted with all the required drops. 10 Minutes, after the dilution, I was told to enter the operation room was the procedure was too be done.  While my heartbeat was too fast, I was told to lie down on a machine, after trying controlling my heartbeat, I followed the instructions and was on that machine. Immediately, the laser machine was started and was coming closer to my left eye, that situation was too scary as I could feel the pressure of the laser on the eye but while I chanted some prayers, the laser firing was completed in 2 minutes. Now, most of you must be thinking about how blazing fast it was? Yes, it defiantly was.

Now the next step was to find a fish in the ocean, sarcastically speaking the next step was like someone opened the cap of my eye and was trying to find a fish in the ocean and the best part was that I could see every single thing which was happening.  The Lenticule was now removed from the eye and the procedure was successful. I was taken out from the operation theatre towards the examination room while I was told to sit but this time I had no spectacles. Though I was prescribed drops for 2 months, still there was a SMILE, not only on my face but also in the eyes as I could see perfectly with the left eye and this time without specs.

Would Definitely Recommend Dr. Keya Barman for all the laser refractive surgeries and center for sight as well.  SMILE is the best and even better than Lasik Remember it’s bladeless, Flapless and all laser.

At last, I would love to say Thank You Team #CFS and all the doctors who gave me their time while explaining things and everyone included in the follow-up.