My beautiful LASIK (eye surgery) carried out by Prof. Dr. Muhaya Mohamad

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah. About four hours ago I had the privilege of undergoing a laser eye surgery called LASIK (which stands for Laser In-Situ Keratomileusis) or in layman's term, it basically means having the shape of your cornea reshaped/corrected using a laser so you won't have to wear specs and/or contact lenses.

I have only two intentions for writing this: to express gratitude and wonderment for Allah's blessings and to encourage people to correct their vision by way of LASIK.

A little bit of history

I was 11 when I got attracted to spectacles. I thought I looked intelligent having a pair of glasses on my face so I would borrow my classmate's glasses. Her name is Miss Hong Yi Wei.

At that time only two pupils in our class were wearing glasses. And I reckoned only about ten students in the entire school were shortsighted/nearsighted. As you might have guessed this habit of mine eventually affected my vision. I remembered the following year my late father and I (smiling) went to an optician somewhere on Rope Walk in Penang. And yes, I looked clever with my glasses, so said some people :) heh heh.

Since that first pair of glasses, I have had probably four or five pairs of spectacles before I began wearing a contact lens. As many of you may be aware, glasses can be quite expensive. It can go from RM500 to RM3,000. It's very tempting to spend "a little bit more" on glasses as I did for my latest two pairs. They are both good Japanese brands i.e. Masunaga and 9999 (pronounce "four nines"). Unfortunately just two weeks after getting them, I realized I had difficulties reading. I had become longsighted/farsighted all of a sudden. That's normal for someone my age. But don't you think it's weird? Theoretically, if people are both shortsighted and longsighted then they should be able to see the whole big picture both at macro and micro levels. That's a good thing and is expected when you reach a certain age/maturity.

But nay. That means I have to take off my glasses to read until I get another pair of reading glasses or make a new pair that is dual-focused. Or get a special contact lens made. I cannot simply swing by the optician and grab the disposable contacts. Wearing sunglasses on a hot day is not an option anymore. What's worse I could not perform my work at an optimal level. 

LASIK is the way to go

And then signs were everywhere that LASIK was the way to go. I interviewed a colleague who had done it and she said she regretted procrastinating it because of some unfounded fears. She's absolutely right, there's nothing to fear. It's a simple, safe and quick procedure that lasted between 10 to 15 minutes only. It can be a very beautiful experience if carried out by someone as special as Prof. Dr. Muhaya who is a well known and much-adored eye specialist, author and motivator in Malaysia.

So last Friday from 10 am to 3 pm I was at the Prince Court Medical Center for a thorough check-up before I was given the OK to proceed with surgery. One will have to go through quite a few types of equipment to test for corneal thickness, air pressure, pupil dilation, etc. 

At the end of the tests, you'll meet Prof. Muhaya who will give you the verdict - go or no go. It was very brief but meeting this special woman got me very excited. So the next day, I headed for the bookstore to get her a book and get one of her books - her biography. My mother spent the entire weekend reading it as it's simply inspiring!

"Premium Bladeless LASIK
Optimizing Your Sight"
That sporty looking shades
is a cool post-surgery gift from
the Prince Court Eye & LASIK Centre

At the outset of the surgery, her staff who were all very calm and polite, made me feel relaxed.

The surgery room looked sophisticated and the atmosphere was jovial with nashid music playing in the background.

One of the nurses reminded me not to ever mention two words which Prof would disapprove i.e. "fear" and "worry". But trust me, you won't have time to feel any negative energies because when she appears, she exudes plenty of peaceful and loving aura.

Even before I could greet her, she quickly said: "you must be excited and eager". I realized that those words and "shukur to Allah" are her most oft-repeated phrases when communicating with her patients.

She began the surgery by reciting Al-Fatihah and making niyyat that with my right eye I will see the Kaabah (a cure for shortsighted) and the left eye is for reading the Quran until the end of my life (a cure for longsighted). That's what's meant by blended vision. One eye is corrected to see far and the other eye is to see near. So both eyes together will rectify my condition of being shortsighted and longsighted. 

The procedure went on very swiftly and pain-free. It was very professional yet quite casual as you could hear her chat with her staff and she would make small talk with you. She asked me what's the secret to my youthful look, to which I have no answer. She said people often ask her the same question and she would say "don't backbite."

Before I knew it, the procedure was over and she immediately asked me to look at my mother who had been watching the entire episode through a glass door. And then she asked me to look at the clock and checked my eyesight. MashaAllah I could tell the time and passed the reading test perfectly. Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah!

At the end of the beautiful session, we took a photo together and she autographed her book.

May Allah continue to manifest His healing attribute through the gentle hands of Prof. Dr. Muhaya Mohamad.

Ameen.

p/s For blended vision the surgery costs RM7990 + RM10 for registration. But in the long run, it's worth a Quintillion times. What's priceless is the meaningful du'a Prof. Muhaya makes for you while she performs the operations. She is simply a heaven-sent.

Good to read: http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/lasik-laser-eye-surgery