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Weekend Beat/ Breathing Space: Eye-opening experience could help ...

... After more than two decades of wearing contacts, I'd had enough.

Not to mention all the hassle of taking them in and out, my eyes were starting to develop allergies due to long contact usage.

Though I switched back to glasses occasionally, I knew it was time for a change.

I had long been mulling LASIK (Laser in Situ Karatomiliusis) surgery for my nearsightedness.

The technology was no longer for a few daredevils.

My sister had already impressed our clan by braving the procedure in Bangkok a few years ago.

So had many of my acquaintances.

I'd heard a lot of dramatic tales about how their vision had improved almost instantly.

But what if the doctor's hands slipped?

Could I go blind?

No, I was told on my first visit to the clinic.

The laser would work on my corneas for a few seconds; it would go nowhere near the crucial retinas at the back of my eyeballs.

I booked a preliminary examination and a surgery at a clinic in Tokyo's Ginza district for the end of March.

Two weeks before the surgery, I was told to stop using my contacts.

At the examination, I was subjected to numerous tests with complicated devices and vision tests to ensure the surgery would work for me.

On the big day, I had to go through another battery of tests, and then it was time for the procedure.

In the first room, the doctor cut a flap in the cornea tissue to gain access to the middle of the cornea.

Then, I was lead to the next room for my encounter with the laser.

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