Newly gained quality of life – Report from Saturday, May 21, 2011

When I was about 10 years old, my eyesight started to deteriorate, and I’ve had to wear glasses ever since. Since I was already very active and involved in a lot of sports at that age, glasses bothered me even then. I played handball in the youth team and did a lot of track and field. Handball is a contact sport and therefore “deadly” for glasses. For this reason, I started wearing contact lenses early on. However, I still haven’t found a product I feel comfortable with. So, I started toying with the idea of ​​having laser eye surgery someday. Right after my apprenticeship, I began my university studies and didn’t have the financial means to afford the procedure until I finished my studies. After six months of working, I had paid off my debts and already had a small amount of money in my savings account. So, I started researching and gathering information about laser eye surgery. Since I lived right near the VEDIS eye laser center, which has an excellent reputation throughout Switzerland, I attended an information session there, had a preliminary examination, and up to that point was convinced by the price-performance ratio. Unfortunately, more and more (hidden) additional costs kept cropping up, such as insurance and an offer for a better laser (of course, as a patient, you take that one, because you don’t mess around with your eyes…). This seemed very unprofessional to me, and above all, it all seemed too expensive. During my research, thanks to Google, I kept coming across laser offers in Istanbul. However, I was always very skeptical of these (typical Swiss…) and because I didn’t know anyone who had already been to Istanbul and could share positive experiences, I had a great deal of trepidation about taking this step. Further and more detailed research revealed the following compelling and interesting facts: – Firstly, everything is significantly cheaper than in Switzerland (including flight, hotel, surgery, follow-up examinations in Switzerland, eye drops, companion, etc.) – They have a better laser than in Switzerland – One-on-one patient care – Better hygiene standards than in Switzerland – More experienced doctors – You can combine your Istanbul trip with a city break – More flexible surgery dates (almost every day) – Lifetime guarantee – Higher corneal thickness requirements than in Switzerland – Possibility of S-LASIK if the patient has dry eyes (not yet available in Switzerland) – Etc. These advantages convinced me, so I contacted Swisslasik (Mr. Serdar Karaagacli) and met with him for coffee to discuss surgery in Istanbul. This conversation was very important to me, as I didn’t know anyone who had ever been to Istanbul and had laser eye surgery. I only knew one Dutchman who had laser eye surgery in the Netherlands. Plus, I had a trusted person I could talk to if I had any problems. This casual and very pleasant conversation convinced me 99% to have the surgery in Istanbul. So, one beautiful day, when I was out again without sunglasses (and annoyed because, as a glasses wearer, I never had them with me), I decided to have the surgery in Istanbul. However, I remained skeptical about the offer up until the day of my surgery, because I always expected there had to be a “catch” somewhere, as this all-inclusive offer was so cheap. I still have not found this “catch” to this day, because everything simply worked perfectly. Now I have 100% visual acuity and can recommend this step to anyone. Anyone who does not do it is really missing out Ueli Kramer