Update 2024: Don’t go to Mecure for this procedure. I’ve had to go through a few expensive procedures in the States to prevent me from going blind due to their negligence during the procedure. I will share a video about my experience next week.

We have a good Eye Center doing cataract surgery here in Nigeria and it is called Me Cure! No jokes and nobody sponsored me to write this oh. I posted about my Lasik experience this morning on Facebook and received quite several phone calls asking me about the procedure.

I also got a lot of ‘Lasik in Nigeria ke, is that safe?!’ Have no fear oh, naija levels don change. So I decided to write up about it and spread the word to folks who have questions about my experience.

How Did I Find Out About the Service?

My dad had his surgery last summer at Mecure and I was hesitant to get on the bandwagon despite the raving reviews he had of the hospital. He once took me to a dentist in Lagos to pull out a couple of wisdom teeth, and I still wince at the nightmare experience 15 years after the fact.

But when my younger brother mentioned getting his Lasik done 2 weeks ago. I was in shock. Abdulai, my younger brother, is one of those ‘posh’ kids that has to have everything up to snuff before he goes near it. So a stamp of approval from him meant the place had to be legit.

1 week later, I tried to contact Mecure’s eye center and all the numbers did not go through at all (they need to fix that asap), nor did I get a response on their chat system. I decided to simply drive to Oshodi expressway on a Friday morning to see if it was up to snuff with my two koro koro eyes, and as soon as I stepped in, I was sold.

Before the Lasik Surgery, Comes Consultation Day

First of all, the air conditioner was working and was blowing serious cool air. This is really important guys. They had about 5 people manning the customer service desk waiting to help patients out and answer questions. I sharply paid N2,000 for my patient’s registration card and consultation fee (I was told that walk-ins are N5,000, but I argued the fact that they have terrible phone system and got my way 😀 ). As soon as payment was clear (I used my debit card) the next process went like this:

• I received my patient’s card
• Saw the optometrist in room 2, a very efficient and kind female Nigerian doctor
• Met my awesome doctor, Dr. Birendra – from India – for the first consultation
• Did about 2 hours+ worth of tests
• Went to the Diagnostic center next door for HIV, Hep A, and Glucose level tests. These cost N4,500 and you can view results online
• Signed consent form and scheduled for a Tuesday surgery

Dr. Birendra does his surgeries only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I’ll advise folks who want to do this and heal ‘ok’ within the week to go there on a Monday morning. If you pass all the tests, you get to do your Lasik on Tuesday. Assuming his Tuesday is not booked up! Healing process can take up to 2 weeks.

Go with someone and do not drive there on both days. My eyes were dilated the first day and I could barely keep them open for a few hours. After my Lasik was done, my driver had to lead me back to the car as I could barely lift my eye lids. Take the week off work and give your eyes the time it needs to heal.

The Day of Lasik

On Tuesday morning, I got there later than scheduled, so I got bumped to the last person in line to get everything done instead of first as initially planned 😥  I had to first pick up result from Diagnostic center, then a male optometrist did another refraction test or so of my eyes before clearing me for surgery.

The surgery took less than 15 minutes to get done. I was given a gown and cap to wear, plus a curtained bed to relax on while I waited my turn. I requested for a pillow and mostly slept until they called me in  😉

The Experience

The surgery was uncomfortable for me. They had to use some sort of device to keep my lids open and the pressure of the device holding my lids made me very nervous. Both doctors that worked on me are Indians, but the Nigerian nurse (no offense) was annoying. She kept making me feel like a child for been uneasy, the lady needs to learn to make patients feel at ease when they are freaking the hell out. I kuku told her she was rude for telling me to “calm down jare” during my freak out session.

The doctors did a great job of soothing me through the surgery with breathing exercises instead, that helped a whole lot.

My procedure pretty much went like this (they also recorded it);

• cover right eye area with a protective sheet with an open area for the eye
• keep eye open with a ‘lid separator’
• place some object that probably presses the lens into eye (oh the pressure!)
• remove object and focus on red light above while it does ‘something’
• rinse my eye thoroughly
• brush my eye with something then release lid separator
• pour eye drop in to my eyes then remove eye area cover
• same steps were repeated for the left eyes.

Once I was done, the nurse led me back to the bed. I received a pair of sunglasses and a purse for my drugs from her. Then she asked me to call my driver in to help me get my drugs from the pharmacy.

I did not find that part funny, but was not in the mood to let her know this. She should have gone to the pharmacy for me instead of having me shuffle around to find my phone in my semi-blind state to call in my driver. My driver, whose English skills are not so great ended up getting lost en route to the pharmacy only for her to end up taking him there herself. Lazy bones. I was the last patient so no excuse for her to claim busy.

A lady who had her procedure before me got a better treatment from the nurse that took care of her, Ngozi. Ngozi also got the medications for her patient and allowed her eyes rest enough before getting her to call the driver in. I also saw money change hands. *side eye* They need to ban that, it would only encourage bad behavior.

The Equipment

Every equipment I used looked ‘odikwa’ expensive and fancy. The last ‘eye doctor’ my dad took me to see at the General Hospital in Isolo made me pick serious race. I told him no thanks and continued using my doctor in the States. I don’t have extra eyes for a ‘mistake’ to happen to my eyes.

At Me Cure, I saw a lot of top of the line looking gadgets that had my brows raised and wondering how they could afford to keep their services at such an affordable rate yet use such an on point equipment? I’m not complaining sha.

The eye center is over 2 years old, and they have maintained the equipment thus far.

24 Hours Post Check-Up

First step was to see the optometrist for follow up on how my eye-sight was. Then got on the sitting queue to see Dr. Birendra for his own follow-up and conclusion on how my eyes are reacting to the surgery. He was ecstatic with the result. I could read, a bit blurry, but I could read everything but the last line on the wall!! Such had not happened since I was in secondary school. Yay! It should get better by the end of 2 weeks.

The Service Process

The service was not all roses sha. I love my Nigerian people, but sometimes, our over-sabi can spoil good things. The nurse aiding Dr. Birendra needs a little bit of help in handling patients. One of the annoying things about Nigerians is our love to skip queues and bribe the folks that help us skip over the mugus that are following the law jejeli.

Nurse Lolade decided to give a wealthy looking ‘madam’ the first class treatment by taking her into the room to see the doctor, thus skipping over us mugus. I was not amused. This had happened twice already and the doctor in his office was not aware of what was happening in his waiting room.

There were 3 much older men sitting beside me grumbling softly about how unfair the lady was treating us and when I had a minute alone with her, I told her I would report her to HR if I witnessed such rubbish again. Her reason was that the woman was someone she was ‘handling’ and that she called her since 8 am to make the process fast for her. Queue in a lot eye-rolling and tsking.

The whole process would have only taken the madam 30 minutes to wait, why add more time to our own wait time? #Selfish

I retorted with, “madam, I speak and understand the yoruba exchange between the two of you. I heard when she told you to meet her in the corner to ‘take care of you'”

If some people were not skipping and bribing their way to the front, the service would have been much faster. Management needs to speak with the nurses. It was not only Lolade that was guilty of this act. Another nurse committed the same offense when I joined the queue. A patient chastised her for the rubbish move.

Over All

The whole process was pretty good, the service from the nurse’s station needs to be worked on, but the doctors were on point. Dr. Birendra most especially set me at ease and got me laughing during all my consultations.

Price

I paid N150,000. The usual price is N250,000 but I got a lucky tip from my mum about the N100,000 discount deal. Dr. Birendra mentioned that he had management reduce the price to garner awareness about the procedure and hopefully through word-of-mouth, Nigerians who want the procedure will feel safe enough to do it with them. He also mentioned that management plans to increase the price to N350,000 soon, so anyone that wants to jump on the deal should do so now!

He also requested I throw him a party for helping me save so much money. This procedure goes for about N1,500,000 in USA. Definitely grateful, but will not be throwing him a party sha!  😛

How to Get There

Debo Industries compound on Apapa/Oshodi Expressway, it is near Nafdac’s office. Coming from the Island, you need to get on the other side of the express:

take a right into Murtala International Airport Road from Oshodi express way, make a U-turn at the junction towards the bridge that goes back to Lagos. Continue on the bridge and stay on the right line. Don’t take the right service lane as danfos tend to block it off, there is an opening on the express way that leads right into the hospitals gate. Just don’t drive too fast as it is only about a minute drive from the Airport road bridge. You should see a sign post that says ‘Me Cure’. Immediately turn right into the greenish gate with the sign-post and voila!

From www.mecure.com:

Address: Me Cure House, Debo Industrial Compound, Apapa – Oshodi Expressway (near NAFDAC), Lagos
Phone Number: as of 2019, this is the best number to contact them at – +234 708 864 6742

07000MECURE (07000632873), 07089991192, 08110095954, 08145449951
Working Hours: Mon-Fri: 8AM to 6PM; Sat: 8AM to 4PM; Sun: Closed

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