Should laser eye surgery be available on the NHS?

Hmm hard one this - I don't approve of general boob-jobs on the NHS because someone's depressed (perhaps if they're disfigured).

Then - how do you separate quality of life? How much do contact lenses/glasses cost the NHS over the lifetime of a patient?

That's a possible saving..
 
Whiskas said:
It's been a while since I studied optics but surely the fact that light rays incident on a glasses lens can be assumed to be parallel with the source (approximately) infinity makes chromatic aberrations pretty much negligible even in thin (high index) lenses?
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I wear them and I can tell you they are pretty apparent. :)
 
Strife212 said:
Laser eye surgery will improve someones entire life. Its terrible being short sighted.
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First of all - there is nothing terrible about being short sighted.

Second. Laser surgury is not neccessarily an improvement. It doesn't work for everyone, it didn't work for me, I still wear glasses. The outcome is not guaranteed, and it's no more precise science than any other cosmetic surgery and let's not make mistake about it - it is cosmetic treatment. On the other hand, correct glasses are 100% guaranteed to elevate your eyesight to 20/20 at little to no effort. And as such, is available on NHS.
 
What people still don't seem to understand is that the NHS only provides financial assistance for the very poor, the very young, the very old and those with prescriptions that are so extreme that they make the cost of lenses immense...

Other than the very, very poor, THESE PEOPLE CANNOT HAVE THE SURGERY!!!!

It is a complete non-argument unless you advocate the NHS giving financial assistance to everyone who has imperfect vision.

My last frames and lenses cost 350 quid close to four years ago...I will need a new prescription shortly and I will be keeping the frames and getting new lenses at cost.

*n
 
penski said:
How? Give me an example where only laser surgery can be used and not glasses or even contacts...

*n
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Alternative treatment =! cosmetic treatment.

For many diseases there are many methods of treatment, some offer speed and convenience or a lower cost, while others offer higher sucess rates. The same treatment is not suitable for everyone. I'm frankly confused by your bizarre logic that convenient (and quite possible cheaper) = cosmetic.
 
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penski said:
How? Give me an example where only laser surgery can be used and not glasses or even contacts...

*n
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How does that make it cosmetic?

If the nhs thought like they wouldn't use half the drugs they do know. Something better comes along, but we wont use it as the old stuff is adequate but not brilliant.
 
Well one of the reasons (not to mention the relatively unknown long term effects) I can think of why NHS can't do this is because today's compensation culture. Now in today's world where people get awarded compensation for when somebody reverses into them in a carpark you can imagine people sueing them for the not rare case of dry eyes for a couple of months. "Oh noes I can't work my eyes are dry, the chair doesn't give me an optimum angle to see my monitor, they didn't put a wet floor sign and I'm stupid" no to mention some rare cases (that do happen apparently) of where people suffer some severe effect including loss of sight. That's millions of pounds for once case right there and statistically can end up a big drain if laser eye surgery becomes mainstream within British Society.
 
^^^
No, lots of procedures have known longterm risks. They don't get sued for that, so they certainly wouldn't get sued for dry eyes. Unless they neglected to tell you this.
 
eidolon said:
Strangely enough, people who sell glasses for a living don't want to promote something which could lose them business. Weird eh?

Yet when you go to a laser eye clinic, they've all had it done, you don't see a pair of glasses anywhere.

I had mine done about a month ago and it's truly amazing. You go in wearing glasses, the procedure takes about 30 seconds per eye, there's zero pain, then you walk out with perfect vision, fantastic.

I now have better than 20/20 vision and can read the smallest line on the eye chart quite easily. It's made a massive difference to my life, it's like I've never worn glasses, totally forgotten about them now.
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What treatment was this? The videos i've seen look nasty and don't take 30 seconds!
 
Strife212 said:
Laser eye surgery will improve someones entire life.
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So will a pair of glasses, at a fraction of the cost.

Its terrible being short sighted.
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I'm shortsighted myself. It's not the end of the world, and glasses are pretty cheap.

I'm not going to ask the taxpayers to fund my elective surgery; if I want it, I'd rather save up and pay for it myself.

People are far too dependent on the government these days. They need to stand on their own two feet for a change. It never did me any harm, and I came from a poor family.
 
The whole point of the NHS, to paraphrase Bevan himself, is that it is 'free at the point of need' - there is no compelling argument I have heard so far which convinces me that there is a need for laser eye surgery ahead of contact lenses or glasses.

It'd need to be subsidised, much like NHS dentistry, which would mean an increase in funding for the NHS for an unnecessary provision.
 
hogfather said:
The whole point of the NHS, to paraphrase Bevan himself, is that it is 'free at the point of need' - there is no compelling argument I have heard so far which convinces me that there is a need for laser eye surgery ahead of contact lenses or glasses.
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Glasses and contact lenses aren't "free at the point of need" either for the majority of us. Much like so much of our "free" health service.
 
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