Whenever laser vision correction is brought up in conversation, there is a good chance that someone will shudder at the idea and respond with a statement somewhere along the lines of, “I will never let a laser come near my eye” or “I am too scared to have lasik done”.
We have come across a good amount of lasik candidates who share these exact sentiments. And one interesting fact we find whenever we dive deeper into our prospective patients’ fears is that, very often their irrational fears regarding laser vision correction come from one notorious movie scene – a horrifying scene from Final Destination 5, where a woman goes for lasik but ends up DEAD. If you haven’t seen it, we strongly suggest you DO NOT – but if you must, please read this article before doing so, or risk being traumatised and not wanting to ever have lasik done!
So to see where all these irrational fears were coming from, we watched and studied this infamous horror scene and found 5 crucial inaccuracies that render it pure Hollywood nonsense.
1. Your head will never be clamped down or “trapped”
During lasik surgery, your head will never be strapped down or clamped to the operating table. Instead, your head will be allowed to move freely, with only your doctor’s hands helping to gently position your head. We do our best to create as comfortable and stress-free an environment as possible for our patients – restricting their movement will achieve the exact opposite of this.
All that is required of you during surgery is to keep your head still and look straight at the blinking green guiding light for around 10 – 20 seconds at a time. Doing so ensures that your eye is lined up with the laser, and allows for a more seamless and quick surgery.
2. You will never be left alone in the operating room during surgery
The doctor as well as at least 2 clinic staff will be in the room throughout the entire procedure. There is never any reason for the staff to leave the room! We follow very strict safety protocols, and will be with you every step of the way. Your safety and comfort is our priority, and our staff will be there to support you and provide you with anything you need.
During the surgery, the surgeon will describe every step of the process as it progresses, so you know exactly what is going on. And before you know it, the surgery will be over and your vision will be corrected! We can assure you that the moment you sit up from the operating table, you will be wondering why you were so scared in the first place.
3. There will never be any water dispensers or precariously placed cups of water in the operating room
There is never a reason to have any sort of water dispenser in the operating room, as seen in the movie scene. If anyone needed a drink, they would have had it before the surgery in the waiting area. There are all kinds of checks and risk assessments in place to make sure that there is no chance for an accident like a cup of water spilling onto equipment to take place. At Clearvision, we have operated on tens of thousands of eyes for over 20 years without any accidents, and we definitely plan on keeping it this way.
4. The laser is not a scary red beam and is not able to burn through skin or eyes
The lasers used for lasik are in fact invisible ultraviolet lasers, and remove such a tiny amount of cells (a fraction of a micrometer) that it is impossible for it to cut or burn through skin like in the movie – in fact, lasers like our ZEISS Visumax are cold and not hot. There will be no scary bright red hot laser beams firing into your eyes!
It is also not possible for the laser to turn itself on and somehow overload with power like in the movie. Lastly, the laser can only be activated by the surgeon, and will only operate when eye is correctly aligned with it – which brings us to our last point:
5. The laser continuously tracks your eye movement and shuts off the moment your eye moves out of position
Thanks to decades of research and technological advancements, the lasers used today have features that ensure the safest and most comfortable experience for patients. Lasers like the Schwind Amaris 1050RS are equipped with 7-dimensional, zero-latency tracking technology which tracks any and all movements of your eye. The moment your eye moves out of position, the laser automatically stops. This ensures that only the area of your cornea that requires correction will be lasered. And lasers like the ZEISS VisuMax make use of an anatomically curved contact glass with low suction pressure, to help keep the eye in position while it works on the cornea.
In the few days prior to surgery, we provide all our patients with a “practice target” – a green dot on a piece of paper which emulates the dim green guiding light you will see during surgery. We encourage all our patients to cover one eye at a time and practice staring straight at it for around 10 – 20 seconds at a time. This is to train their eye to move as little as possible during surgery and keep it fixated on the green light, which is where the laser is located. The less the eye moves, the smoother the surgery, thus resulting in a more comfortable recovery!
Laser vision correction is safe, quick and painless.
If the notorious Final Destination Lasik scene has been holding you back from living a life free of glasses and contact lenses, we hope that this article has now brought any irrational fears you might have had about lasik to THEIR final destination and out of your way.
With flapless and bladeless procedures like Safe Sight TransPRK and ReLEx SMILE, the path to clear vision is safe, quick and comfortable.
Book Your Eye Evaluation
If you are ready to overcome your fears and take one step closer to experiencing a life with new eyes, book your suability evaluation with us:
📞 Call us at 6733 3316
📱 WhatsApp us at 8383 7989
✉️ Email us at doctor@clearvision.com.sg
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The evaluation costs $37.50 and will take around 1 – 2 hours.
It will include a series of eye tests as well as a personal consultation with your lasik surgeon.
Suitability Evaluation Guide
Our suitability evaluations typically take place during these times, subject to availability –
| Mondays | 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM |
| Tuesdays | 9:00 AM 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM |
| Wednesdays | 9:00 AM |
| Thursdays | 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM |
| Fridays | 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM |
Just let us know which days and times work for you and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
