[Closed] Laser Eye Surgery

Best thing ever, get it done, you wont regret it.
just dont go for a cheap deal, you get what you pay for, so dont risk it with your eyes.

A friend (not doing a cheap deal) lost 80% sight permanently in one eye.

Hence I would never consider it.

mf - not good, was that recently?

A friend of ours has wanted to get it done for ages and a year ago she did.
Her sight is better but not perfect and she still has to wear glasses for reading. She was expecting great things and is not particularly happy. When asked if it was worth it she said probably not.

Lots of people say it's great but until I can get a 100% guarantee that it won't bugger my eyesight, I'm happy with soft lenses.

How long sighted are you?

Ultimately it is a cosmetic procedure so you have to way up the risks against the benefits.

I had it done about 3 years ago and went from mole-man (-10 in both eyes) to not needing glasses at all.. for me it was well worth it.

mf - not good, was that recently?

I think you have 2 options lasak and lasik only slight differences. If you travel to Asia much the Koreans are experts at eye surgery.

I had mine done by NHS consultants and its as near 100% safe with them as you can get.
they spend four days a week in the NHS and one day a week doing private.

Its the best thing ever.

For me it was the best money I've ever spent, I went from needing glasses for watching TV/driving (short sighted) to 20/20, it's declined a bit since as expected (was about 10 years ago now) but still nowhere near needing glasses. It's obviously not 100% safe and if I did it again I'd probably do one eye at a time just in case but I'd still recommend it to anyone that asks.

As you get older your eyesite gets poorer, so getting them done when your 50 is a bit daft, unless you have money to burn. In a few years time when you eyes start to naturally degenerate your gonna be needing glasses whether you have had the surgery or not.
But you might get a few years of good vision out of it, its not garenteed as well, I was told I would get guaranteed driving vision, which is now way as good as I would get wearing glasses. And you don't know how successful it will be until after the Op. I came to conclusion that my eyes are to important to risk, I'm short sited myself and was seriously considering it a year or so ago. Then spent the money on a trip to NZ! Money well spent IMO.

Oh, and being long sited is infinity better than short sited!

My wife got it done around 18 months ago. She had dryness issues with one eye and they are going to do another treatment. She still needs reading glasses.
Despite the above, she reckons it was one of the best decisions she's ever made and would do it again.

mastiles_fanylion - Member

A friend (not doing a cheap deal) lost 80% sight permanently in one eye.

Hence I would never consider it.

Thats what puts me off too, tbh, no matter how low the risk it is, I think I would rather battle on with glasses and contacts, rather than risking losing an eye.

I do know people who have had it done and its all been pretty much positive, apart from one friend who say they noticed more flaring* while driving at night after being treated?

*not the right term, but someone will know what I am on about 😉

my old boss had it done at 50 to correct degenerating eyesight - he had just managed to scrape through the correct "stable prescription" period.....

waste of money - more often than not seen wearing specs.

id consider it since ive never had a prescription change in my last 5 if i wasnt anti ****ing with my eyes .... as it is ill live with specs - it really isnt that hard. ive had specs since i was 6 Y/o

Had it done about 14 years ago for short sightedness. -3.25/-3.5 It worked and i'd have it again tomorrow if needed. But loads of people have mates who have gone blind or there eyeballs have exploded so beware.

grim168 - Member
Had it done about 14 years ago for short sightedness. -3.25/-3.5 It worked and i'd have it again tomorrow if needed. But loads of people have mates [b]who knew someone down the cornershop who once heard of an auntie to someone they work with[/b] who have gone blind or there eyeballs have exploded so beware.

But loads of people have mates who have gone blind or there eyeballs have exploded so beware.

Really?

http://www.treatmentsaver.com/lasereyesurgery/guides/risks

this suggests that no-one has ever lost their sight due to laser eye surgery. The rate of complication is 0.1% and the vast majority of these complications are short term and easily dealt with such as minor infections and dry eyes.

I had mine done using the PRK technique 20 years ago and still have perfect vision although as I'm now over 40 I'm expecting to have to start holding things further away from my eyes when reading.

So many professional sports people have it done, would they do it if there was significant risk?

In summary, the best thing I have ever spent money on. And that includes jaffa cakes. 😀

 

I am quite short sighted and have often contemplated this. However my wife works in the eye dept at our NHS Hospital and all 6 or so consulatnts there wear glasses.....says it all for me 😐

Most consultants I've met smoke and/or drink quite a lot.

Most consultants I've met smoke and/or drink quite a lot.

ex-GF had it, no longer needed to wear glasses, but regularly had to use eyewash to deal with dryness which caused a fair amount of discomfort when it happened (3-4 times a year). If it's a vanity thing, the red inflamed eye streaming tears is not a good look, imho

as near 100% safe with them as you can get.

this suggests that no-one has ever lost their sight due to laser eye surgery.

More anecdotal evidence,
but fire brigades used to refuse entry to anyone who had their eyes lasered but now at least some accept it (although the eye test and certification required is more stringent).

My girlfriend had hers corrected by laser about 5 years ago in the USA.Eyesight now perfect.

I`ve also had eye surgery but mine was as a result of kerataconus,so I had a corneal graft, and an icl implant which drastically improved the vision in my left eye.

My eyesight was poor anc could not be corrected by other means so really felt I had nothing to lose.

It really depends on how ou feel about glasses/lenses.

what exactly is wrong with wearing glasses though ?

ill elaborate on my point - im not saying its a bad thing

what im saying is - as someone born with bad eyes that are not degenerating then it seems like a perfectly good idea

if yours is old age eye degeneration i dont see the point.

Glasses are a hassle, plain and simple. Sure if the risks were like 10% of something going badly wrong then I'd question if it were worth the risk but the risks are in fact very very small. Obviously some people will still think that risk too high and not want to do it but I'm certainly glad I did.

"Glasses are a hassle, plain and simple"

YMMV of course ....

The consultant who did mine at Jimmys in Leeds who at the time was one of the leading specialists in the NHS (Country) advised that no one has ever gone blind using their techniques and that all errors can be corrected.

So maybe Mastilles needs to direct his mate to Jimmys in Leeds
http://www.stjameslaservision.co.uk/content/pages/index.asp

I hope he gets his sight corrected.
let us kow how he gets on.

He is living with it as it is and despite the loss of vision being 100% surgical error he even decided against suing. He decided those were the cards he had been dealt and is getting on with life.

Its at least worth a consultation dont you think.
Id try at least talking to him and go for a consultation, if it can be corrected then thats a million times better in my view.
If it was a friend of mine id even be chipping in to the fee if it came to it.

80% loss is still marginally better than 100% loss - id be weary of letting more folk at my eyes too !

what exactly is wrong with wearing glasses though ?

It's why I'm considering laser again, having said that I'd never do it.

Its at least worth a consultation dont you think.
Id try at least talking to him and go for a consultation, if it can be corrected then thats a million times better in my view.
If it was a friend of mine id even be chipping in to the fee if it came to it.

Used to work for a major LVC provider. The procedure is one of the safe around, however if Lasik (most popular) then you are creating a flap (cutting into the corneal layer using either a blade or laser), lifting it and reshaping the cornea with a laser (this is where a wavefront or custom procedure helps, it is more specific to your cornea). Mild common complications are dry eye, halos (usually when driving at night) through to infections, flap complications or shifts up to sight affecting complications.

Commercially the starting price is rarely paid. Its ratcheted by prescription. then add ons are getting the flap created by a laser (Intralase where i worked though different names at different clinics) which makes a cleaner more consistent cut but doesn't affect the outcome and wavefront guided which is the custom treatment and should reduce the likes of halos and generally gives a better outcome.

I know people that had it done and were delighted. I know how many people came through the doors and were happy. There are a small few problem cases which should be / are managed like any surgery complications.

Also at 50 you will get nature age related problems with the eye focusing due to the lens losing elasticity which generally results in readers so its not a glasses free for life solution.

disclaimer * I worked in the IT dept on the EMR software, not on the medical side *

Glasses are a pain and vanity does come into play too.
I love to be able to see when I wake up but -7.5 means that I can't even read the clock a that's 2ft away from me.
From a vanity point of view I actually don't mind glases but I pay £400 for the thinest lenses you can get and they still look reiculously thick and distort my face (some say that's a good thing)
If I didn't end up with 20:20 vision and I had a small presciption and could see a reasonably without them I'd be happy.
I plan to do it if a time comes that I don't spend my spare money on bikes.

Never.

Eye butchers!

I thought about it, but my eyesight isn't so bad, and could be made worse, in fact one eye is fine for close up, but the other better for distance, so I often just put in one contact. There's a procedure I've read about that I might consider, and it's the same as that for cataracts, only a correcting lens is inserted instead of a non-correcting one. Not cheap, but I think I'd prefer it to laseing, plus you don't have to worry about cataracts in the future.

Glasses are fine if you are a golf playing medical consultant. If however you wear a crash helmet every day, ski, climb, ride bikes in all weather, swim, dive etc then they are an almighty PITA.

And as for contact lenses, well unlike laser eye surgery they CAN make you go blind:

http://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/productsandmedicalprocedures/HomeHealthandConsumer/ConsumerProducts/ContactLenses/ucm062589.htm

For me the final straw was sitting in my Formula Ford on pole position at Brands Hatch and having a contact lens drop out. That was "interesting"!

How does it work astygmatism(sp)? I have them in both eyes quite bad. Anyone know if they can be corrected by laser surgery?

I once did a training day at the RNIB. The bloke did a presentation on the various diseases that can cause you go to blind. All he had to say on laser eye surgery was "Anyone fancy laser eye surgery?" [no hands were raised] "Good.".

Mind you, I've never had contact lenses drop out or major issues with wearing glasses.

My wife had it done 2 years ago and she says is the best thing she ever did, price starts at £399 per eye then they sell you add on's but it's well worth every penny and I would spend it over again ! Worth every Penny and more!!!

I was curious about it a while back and asked my friend, who is qualified to consultant level , specialising in eye cancer. She said she has never met an eye doctor who would consider having it done. The chance of bad things happening are fairly small but the possible outcome fairly catastrophic. Even small compromises to her vision would impact her ability to do her job. Would you want an eye surgeon operating on you with any vision distortion?

She also said that there was little long term data available, particularly in terms of the complications for future interventions related to old age.

Put me completely off. Having said that it isn't a possibility anymore as my eyes worsen every year now, so I don't have a stable prescription.

I do know a number of people who have had it done and are happy though.

Whoa, blatant plug!

Washingtons a long way to go though, you nay want to try some websites closer to home Tracy