Laser Eye Surgery !

Jonny69 said:
They advised her to wait 5 years, then they repeated the procedure for her and she hasn't had any regression since.
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That's interesting to know. Last time I had my eyes checked, I didn't need glasses as long as I didn't get headaches. i'm pretty sure they are still dropping. So If I could get them done, then again in 10years or so. That would be great.

Think I'll have to go to an optician and then again in 6 months and see what it is..
 
Justin said:
Can someone tell me if there is a limit for how bad your eyes can be for being lasered?

My eyes are both -9.5 and are still dropping at around -0.5 to -1 a year at the moment, but when they settle down and it's time to get them done they will probably be a lot worse.
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I think there is a limit, mine seem to get worse fairly constantly, kind of waiting on some stability before really considering it, but to a certain degree, you can have it redone and it might well be worth getting it done before it gets "too" close to the limit.

IE you might be better off having it done at -9.5, say it drops you all the way down to -0.5, not perfect but far more comftable glasses, thinner contacts and a far wider range as many contacts only go as far as -6 or so.

Then in 5 or 10 years you might continue to get worse but finally stabilise at -5, get it done again, get perfect vision and you're golden. Where as if you'd waited and were at -15 the surgery wouldn't work.

I think its because as with anything if you remove to much you risk having scar tissue growing back as opposed to normal natural healing, so to large a change, to much tissue changed, scar tissue growing back in place and having terrible vision.

I'm just passing -6.5 in one eye, about -6 in the other but am now passing out of the range of the comftable contacts I had, they aren't that comftable anymore, getting thicker and bad astigmatism means my options are limited, contacts are fairly expensive and I'm finding wearing them all day is horrible. I went years basically without touching my glasses, just wake, contacts, take them out just before sleeping. Now with switching half the day from contacts to glasses I feel dizzy, vision changes quite dramatically and I don't like it at all so tending to stick with glasses now.
 
v0n said:
I also have slight hazing/halo effect around lights at night and few extra "floater" effects in my eyes guaranteed for pretty much the rest of my life.
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They told me the floater effect had nothing to do with the surgery. :mad:
oh well its not very severe and only notice in very bright conditions.

I had mine done at optimax (is that a competitor?) in Finchley road.
 
sswats said:
They told me the floater effect had nothing to do with the surgery. :mad:
oh well its not very severe and only notice in very bright conditions.

I had mine done at optimax (is that a competitor?) in Finchley road.
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Hey - that's the butchers that screwed my eyes. Dr. Almasari in Finchley Road "clinic".
 
Dr Patel was my surgeon.

overall i'm pretty happy with my results but i wouldn't go as far as to recommend the procedure because it felt a bit touch and go there for a few months.
 
Not worth the risk in my opinion. I have to wear glasses (hate contact lenses) but, although glasses are an annoyance, laser eye sugery to me is just not justifiable in case something goes immediately wrong or wrong in the future.
 
I kinda want to get this done, but I get really freaked out by eyes, even the thought of it makes me a bit urghhh. Also, I know the Army is not totally keen on the procedure yet, so I'll be sticking to glasses for the time being lol.
 
Just thought I'd pop in and update on how I'm doing.

I had my one week consultation yesturday and it's all going very well.
I can read the 20/20 line on the chart perfectly and could just about make out the 20/15 line.

Things are still a little hazy and blurry. Individually each eye is a little off still, but overall it's very good.
I already feel I have better vision than I ever had with contact lenses.

I would recommend having it done if your interested, however, you really need to do your research on the procedures and surgeon.
 
I have a friend who has so far been back three times and he still can't see properly and has problems with headaches, so personally I won't be risking it!
 
I'd love to get this done, been wearing glasses since i was about 13, im 17 now and i hate them, they get in the way and they feel generally horrible to wear.

im simply waiting till im about 22 or until my eyes are stable, apparently they are stable now, and havent changed in the past 2 years, i beleive its -2.5 on each eye, not exactally sure however.

If only i was older :(
 
I get dailly contacts from specsavers at around £21 p/month.

I will not be getting my eyes lasered anytime soon becuase:
1: Contacts are like being able to see properly anyway
2: Long term effects are unknown
3: My eyes are very very slowly getting worse, so if they were fixed I am sure would be bad again in 5 years time
4: I do not have £2000 to blow! This would take 8 years to recoup.
 
I had Lasik done about 2 and a half months ago , now with perfect site.

I had my surgery done at Optical Express , to be honest it was pretty scarry getting it done but on the whole painless.

I have a few £50 off vouchers if anyone is intrested.
 
I had mine done at OE as well. I didn't feel comfortable with Optimax, they were too pushy and I didn't like that. The clinic at OE in London isn't amazing but they are the world leaders in the procedure. Yes they do 4 procedures an hour, but only because it takes under 10 minutes to do and they only do the procedure two days a week, the rest of the time is for consultations and checkups.
 
Had mine done in September by optical express in Glasgow. At this point in time I am very happy with the results and wish I'd done it earlier in life to get the maximum out of the procedure because, as others have said, it won't stop your eyes deteriorating through age. But then again, also as others have said, the process itself is getting better and better as time goes on so in a way I'm glad I waited.

I first looked into it (excuse the pun!) about 15 years ago but at that time I just wasn't convinced it was worth the risk. Having gone through years of glasses and contacts for playing 5s and whatnot I was fedup so went along to find out more. It's fair to say that once I had been for a consultation it seemed like the whole thing just gained momentum and rolled on to its natural conclusion. Obviously you can back out at any point but despite reading up on the (still) quite tangible risks I went with the flow and had it done. In terms of how unpleasant or painful the procedure is (I had wavefront intralase) there really wasn't any pain as such...I'd class it as unpleasant and uncomfortable but not painful. I have to agree with the guy above who says its all a bit production line-like...I was shocked that it was a case of walking into an apparently normal optical express branch and into the laser suite where all these people were just bantering about the football and whatnot...just felt a bit wrong! Maybe that's just down to being naive about the procedure but it didn't feel very 'clinical' if you know what I mean? Obviously it wasn't dirty or unprofessional but just a bit casual and very routine (which I suppose it is to the guys who work there but not to the person having their only pair of eyes operated on lol). Anyway it was all very mechanical and timebound feeling but the procedure itself went pretty smoothly - except at the very moment the surgeon told me pointedly to keep my right eye still I was overtaken by a powerful force telling me to look away from the light...so I did. Cue a bit of teeth gnashing on the surgeons part and a whole lot of 'Christ what have I done?!' worries in my head. That was the first eye and I think I just freaked a tad...the other one went silky smooth. After 15 minutes or so you're done and you can hang around for a bit then head off...I just went back to the hotel and tried to sleep unsuccessfully! My eyes just felt a bit grainy and hot on the way back (me and the mrs walked about a mile) but I felt fine and you want to try and assess how they're shaping up so you can't help having a wee look around but things were pretty blurry. Within 24 hours though I had good enough sight to pass the sight test for driving and the blur was reducing. Nighttime was still fun though as there were major halos and starburst type effects to be had!

Now as someone else said further up...you do have to be careful about water going into your eyes and any kind of rubbing or contact in the early stages and this became a big source of paranoia for me. My 4yr old son was staying in our hotel room and anyone with kids will know they can hit you in the face without even really trying and it took less than 24 hrs for the first 'assault' to happen...cue a trip back to optical express and one relieved dad (just a minor scratch on the lens). Next day...same again and this time there was a little spot of blood under the flap they'd cut so my antibiotics were upped and I got more paranoid since they mentioned the possibility of having to remove and reseat the flap! Thankfully, that was the last of the self induced issues and from there on it was just a case of making sure I had plenty of anti-bac and moisturising eye drops in place routinely (I found this a bit of a bind at work when needing to put them in at least every hour but pretty much kept to the prescribed routine). By the way they told me that this was one of the main sources of complications (not sticking to the regime of drops etc) Anyway I was on these drops for about 2 months and then got the all clear (the blood spot had squeezed out from under the flap of its own accord) and from then on its been plain sailing...better than 20/20 vision and no issues...playing 5s...going in water..getting smacked in the face by my son...they're all much easier and more fun now I have no glasses or contacts to worry about.

So...to summarise I'd recommend it but don't think it's without any risk and do listen to what they tell you re: drops and contact with your eyes (the oh so hot nighttime eyewear is the best contraceptive known to womankind apparently! lol) Don't expect to be treated particularly like a 'patient' in a 'clinic' either if you go to one of the highstreet names...you're really just one of 30 people getting lasered that day. Also, should have mentioned - don't expect to be able to spend 2x£395 and get them done either the price varies according to your prescription and when they offer you wavefront 'benefits' it would take more balls than I had to go for the 'basic' option when the chips are down. Apart from that I can't recommend it highly enough ;)
 
s-man said:
Also, should have mentioned - don't expect to be able to spend 2x£395 and get them done either the price varies according to your prescription and when they offer you wavefront 'benefits' it would take more balls than I had to go for the 'basic' option when the chips are down. Apart from that I can't recommend it highly enough ;)
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Indeed, I opted for both Wavefront and also Intralase. I saw no point in scrimping for the bottom on something this major.

Wavefront gives much better results and bladeless Intralase just made me feel more relaxed.

Things are still very good for me atm. I'm getting dry eyes in the morning but during the day things are very good. One eye still feels very dazzled in bright lights, but overall vision is still better than I had with either contacts of glasses.
 
Well this thread is making me feel better... thought I was very blind being -5 in both eyes so I can't imagine what -9 is like!!

I've thought about having it done but haven't for several reasons:

- Been wearing contacts since I was about 15 (I'm 30 now). I forget I'm wearing them when they're in and generally don't have any problems. Found daily wear ones to be the best and most convenient - especially when going out, etc as you can just slip a few in your back pocket.

- When I take my lenses out I can see VERY well close up. Although I hardly ever need to, it is nice having the option there. Lenses and glasses (presumably laser surgery too) make things slightly smaller so you can't see them as well as if you didn't need them.

- My Dad had it done and although very pleased, does get halo effects and occasional dry/tired eyes. His advice was not to bother if you get on fine with contacts.

I hate wearing glasses so if I get to the stage where contact lenses are not an option, I'd then consider laser surgery.
 
My housemate got it done and is over the moon with how it went, he has better than 20/20 vsion now and no side-effects. I checked out Ultralase, wasn't viable unfortunately - I'm -8 in both eyes which is well inside the stated range, but my pupils are quite large, which means they would need to remove more tissue, and although my cornea is of average thickness it would leave it too thin for safety afterwards.

Can't have the implanted lenses either, apparently my pupils would be a bit larger than the lense itself, so i'd see a weird effect around the edge of it.

Might try again in a couple of years, see what advances have come along.
 
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