I had laser eye surgery around 4 years back now, and whilst it wasn't cheap, it really is the best money that I've ever spent. To wake up on a morning and not have to reach for your glasses is a fantastic feeling when you've been having to do that for the past god knows how many years.
The surgery was carried out by Optimax in Leeds and consisted of 3 stages - the initial consultation, the surgery itself, and then a final consultation. After speaking to the surgeon during the initial consultation, I opted to go for LASEK treatment as it seemed the ideal treatment for myself. This was priced at £495 per eye, though I believe this has now gone up to £595 per eye.
The surgery itself was painless, if a little unpleasent due to the smell of burning flesh that occurs during the procedure. Immediately afterwards I could see ok, however after about 10 minutes my vision started to blur and eventually I had to close my eyes. I had been advised that this would happen and was expecting it. What I wasn't expecting was the pain that started. I will be perfectly honest here - just so you know what you may be getting yourself into - the pain I experienced that day is about the worst I've ever felt. For between 12 and 18 hours my eyes felt like large amounts of grit were being constantly ground into them. I spent the rest of the day in agony taking the strongest painkillers I could, as often as I could. I eventually managed to drift off to a restless sleep that night and thankfully, come the next morning, the pain had eased right off. I still couldn't see at this stage however it was such a relief not to be in pain that I just didn't care.
It took me another 2 days to regain some vision, and the better part of a week for it to get to the stage where I could go out into town and whatnot. My vision was still improving at this point however and after another week it got to the point where I could drive around without needing glasses - something that I could have never contemplated before. When my vision had finally finished correcting itself, I went back and had the final consultation and was signed off as having near perfect vision.
Yes it took a reasonabley long period of time for my eyes to get to that stage, and yes I was in a lot of pain the day I had the operation, but despite all this I would still recommend it to anybody that has to wear glasses but hates doing so. It has made such a large difference to my life I can't imagine what it would be like to have to wear glasses again. It has also saved me money in the long term - I was paying £20+ a month for contacts and god knows how much for glasses and lenses each year. I think at the time I worked it out that I would have broken even after 5 years, and started saving money in the 6th.
If you do decide to go for it, just be aware of the possible side effects and read as much as possible on the various treatments available to give yourself the best understanding of what is likely to happen
