Laser eye surgery...

Not so much an enquiry about how it works, more just an enquiry as to how many of you lot have had it done or are planning on having it done.

So, I recently had laser eye surgery on Sunday the 28th, was in all painless and very quick.

Nearly a week later and still recovering so vision is in a state fluctuation, one moment its very clear, next minute its gawd awful, but then the healing process takes up to two weeks and 20:20 sight can take up to six months to achieve.

The strangest thing I noticed other than the momentary awesome vison is the my new achieved increased field of view as in the operation they also fixed my rather obvious astigmatism.

So was wondering if those of you who have had it done can tell me your experiences and those of you who are planning on having it done can tell me how much you hate glasses :)

I want to get it done hopefully in the next couple of years. I cant imagine anything better then being able to find the shampoo while in the shower. :D

I've thought of it but decided against it.

Mainly due to job as if there are any problems that's it.

My flying career is over.
And it can take months tilll i would be allowed to fly again.

The biggest annoyance was forgetting to bring the old glasses when getting into the car, but then again, the incessant headaches were a humongous pain the arse as well.

Ive thought about it and would probably like to get it done eventually.

My dad got it done years ago and he's never regretted it. Before, he basically couldn't see without glasses, and always needed to pay for expensive prescription sunglasses to go on holiday and stuff. He got it done, and had perfect eyesight ever since with no adverse effects. Like I said, that was a good few years ago (maybe 7 or 8) so I imagine it has only improved since then.

My mum had it done last year, can't remember if she had Lasek or Lasik though. Just like you said, he eye sight was in a state of flux for a couple weeks to a month. She said it had made a big improvement. But i swear her eyesight is worse nowadays, at least for reading anyway.

my mate had it done when he was a kid and it changed his life, poor bloke couldnt even open his eyes for months.

Thankfully this bald bloke in a wheelchair came along and took him to a special school where they game him these red glasses that solved all his issues

true story......

I had done a couple of years ago(ish) in South Africa. My parents got it done for me whilst I was out there as an early 21st birthday present. Apparently South Africa are pioneering it so had the best track record with it.

Within 24 hours I had better then 20:20 (i didn't think that was possible) and within a week was fairly well healed up. Was the scariest 14minutes of my life though, having my eyes clamped open and feeling the laser go across my eye (im very squeamish with eyes). I was borderline in tears after it! there wasn't any healing time and I wore protective shields for 24 hours to stop me rubbing them, and had to sit in a dark room for 2 hours with my eyes closed as soon as i got home but aside from that I didn't have anything in the way of fluctuating eye sight. Maybe it's worth contacting them to just verify that it is normal? I know some different techniques have different after effects. :)

Bean Lasek or Lasik?

I had Intra Lasek done about 4-5 years ago. I have to say the results were impressively quick - I started feeling a bit ill as a result of the sedation they gave me, so after the work had been done they sat me straight up and asked me the time - the only clock was clean on the other side of the room and I'd read the time before I realised I didn't have my glasses on.. that was (and I apologise profusely for this one) a real eye opener /grooan.... Mildly uncomfortable for a few weeks afterwards, but pretty much perfect vision from the next day. Best thing I've done Ever.

i want it, but put off by the cost. £400 per eye my arse.

yeah cost can be immense but its all worth it.

i had the Lasek, wavefront dealy and was told eyesight would be in flux for a week or two due to the scar tissue and the hypersensitivity of the retina afger the treatment.

its worth remembering that i've also had treatment for my astigmatism in each eye.

the cost is one of the factors that puts me off, but it may well be something for me to consider!

Maybe I will start saving

I really want some sort of laser eye surgery, however my vision is not too bad. I have about -1.5 in both eyes.
I'm just so scared that there will be some sort of irreversible damage to my eyes that will render me partially blind or similar!
Maybe after looking at some stats on complications will convince me.

It's the sort of thing I'd consider (I'm about -3.5 each side plus astigmatism in my left eye) but I've always put it off thinking the technology can only get better, my eyes have only just stopped changing in the last few years and I have no problem with contacts for the moment anyway. Maybe it's perfectly reliable now, I don't know, I've never really done any proper research. I would like to be able to swim etc and see ok as that's the one thing I can't do with contacts.

For me the price is far from the most important factor. I always laugh when TV ads for laser eye surgery boast about '£295 per eye' or whatever; the very last thing I'll be doing with my eyesight is handing it over to the lowest bidder.:crazy:

mine cost about £4500, so far from cheap, but it was worth every penny

I posted about Light Adjustable Lens a few months back it by far seems a better alternative to laser eye surgery.

http://londoneyehospital.com/lal_home.html

I'm going to be making an appointment soon - wavefront full beans etc - looking at around £4500 also..

Laser eye surgery shouldn't be something you take on lightly, I've spent more than two years researching the pros and cons, the complications, the potential side-effects etc.

The obvious things to think about is the inevitable cost and I really think you should avoid the companies quoting you under £1,000 per eye, lets face it, the cost isn't cheap and to be honest, theres an absolutely microscopic window of chance that the operation could go wrong, but those are only likely if you don't follow the aftercare guidelines.

For me, it was the five or so years of ever an increasing number of headaches I was having as a direct result of wearing and quite depressingly, NOT wearing glasses, was the reason why I finally chose to have Lasek Wavefront, eye surgery and not wear contact lenses, which tend to disagree with me, immensely.

Decide whether its right for you and don't make your decision in less than a year :)

i want it but it depends my eyes are so bad the risk increases for surgery. what was your prescription ?

Don't know my prescription, but I was very short sighted, think it was something like -3.5 in each eye.

ha, is that it? I'm -6.5 in both.

Didn't realise it has higher risks with higer prescriptions?

How bad were your eyes before the surgery?

From what I know, they can help anyone so long as you don't have, cataracts, glaucoma and of course complete blindness as in no cones and rods or activity in the optical nerves, tne worse the prescription the longer it will take to achieve 20:20 vision if you do but it generally lowers the likelihood of achieving 20:20 vision..

If i remember correctly my eyes were about £1200 for both in South Africa. I will try and double check as for the money being quoted in this thread you could get yourself flights, holiday & the lasering done out there.

I was told out there that they were pioneering the technique & replaced their equipment every 18months (at the cost of millions) in order to stay at the very tip of the cutting edge.

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Originally Posted by Andehh

If i remember correctly my eyes were about £1200 for both in South Africa. I will try and double check as for the money being quoted in this thread you could get yourself flights, holiday & the lasering done out there.

I was told out there that they were pioneering the technique & replaced their equipment every 18months (at the cost of millions) in order to stay at the very tip of the cutting edge.

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Hey, I know a prince in a neighbouring country who would like to offer you a portion of his money for protection against persecution if you can just provide your bank details. :)