Laser Eye Surgery Cost Cutting Tips

MiserlyMartin · 12 May 2006 at 6:49PM

alexjohnson wrote:

1. r eyes burned out in some horrible frak accident.

Complications tend to take three forms: increased dryness of the eyes, which may be temporary anyway; increased sensitivity to bright light; and "star bursts" around light making it difficult to drive at night.

I seriously was going to have mine done until I did some research. And its these complications that worry me. If you get star bursts then not being able to drive at night or even see properly at night I would consider quite a big problem!¬ Already my eyes are naturally sensitive to bright light so I wouldn't want to make them worse by surgery. I also I have floaters. Apparently this surgery can cause floaters, so I wouldn't want anymore. Another thing I found out through talking to people who have had it done is that you lose your good close up vision. My work depends greatly on this so I could not afford to lose this. Yes I could have glasses for long sight but what what be the point of fixing one problem and causing many others.

This is still a relatively new form of surgery and the long term effects (ie 25 years - 50 years down the line) are not yet known
Maybe people have not been totally blinded but there have been some nasty accidents where people have had their eyesight seriously damaged and would rather be wearing glasses and turning back the clock. One case I read about was about the machine that cuts the hinge flap on your eye before the lasering actually jammed and cut the womans eye!

I also don't think that trying to save money on operations such as this is a good idea. You only have one pair of eyes. I would pay for the best money can get if you do have it done.

curly92 · 12 May 2006 at 10:55PM

Laser eye surgery in Turkey. I have just returned after having the lasik Customised (wavefront T-cat, Q-mode) with intralase. The surgery in the eye Hospital was pain free and i could see a great improvement straight after surgery. my eyes were a bit sensitive to light but after wearing sunglasses were okay. I took advantage of a free eye test in this Country bit the starting price of £395 per eye jumped to £1000 per eye without the Intralase. Now probably £1250. In Turkey i paid a total of £825 for the better painless treatment and would not hesitate to do it again if i had to. I will be doing a more detailed story with the information that i have available at a later date for anyone that is interested

the_devil_made_me_do_it · 13 May 2006 at 12:07AM

Laser surgery is a great option if your vision isn't too bad to begin with. But there is no reasonably priced alternative if you have very poor vision. Which is bizarre really because folks with poorer vision would probably benefit more.

johnfthetraveller · 18 May 2006 at 12:46PM

alexjohnson wrote:

Your maths could use some work. 5% of people does not equal one in ten - note they said people not eyes.

Good point, Ok so 1 in 20 people have complications. But as I said, this is ELECTIVE surgery, not buying a consumer product. If there was a consumer product on sale with a 1 in 20 chance of damaging your health, there would be public outrage.

With tobacco, multinational companies defending their product for years for profit reasons. With laser surgery, a lot of the top eye surgeons are making a mint from running laser surgery's on the side, which is why they are turning a 'blind eye' to the complications.

alexjohnson wrote:

You are right to point out there can be complications. But here's another staistic for you: 0% of those complications have led to blindness. None, zero, nada. No one has had their eyes burned out in some horrible frak accident.

<snip>

How many of those 5% had what a common man would understand to be a "complication"? I'll bet it's a very small number.

I'm not suggesting that all the 5% regret the operation, but the companies that do laser operations are very backward in coming forward when it comes to statistics about complications. If you're thinking of having the operation, ask the company to provide you with the information. I think NICE has recently required them to keep this information, because they are concerned. Oh, and be carefull, 'cause if the operation enables you to see better, but messes up your life completely (as has happened to me), the operation is categorised as 'successful, with minor complications'.

While you're at it, ask them how much their insurance premium is, and by what percentage it's gone up over the last five years, as more and more people sue.

Have a look at http://www.lasermyeye.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1139
I think this person regrets having the operation. I certainly regret having the operation.

cmhbyandco · 18 May 2006 at 1:03PM

When making the decision to have any surgery whatsoever, you have to look at all the risks. No surgery is without risk.

Research all aspects and make your decision from there.
One of the problems with any surgery is that you hear mainly about the things that have gone wrong as these overide all that is good.

Talk to people who have had the surgery and take into account what they all have to say.
Do not forget, that just because laser eye surgery is classed as 'cosmetic' it still is surgery and so 'medical'.

The choice to have the laser eye surgery was the right one for me and I do recommended it but it has to be right for you........could you cope if things do not go as planned?

Is wearing lenses or glasses that bad?

Good Luck with making the decision that is right for you!

tawnyowls · 26 May 2006 at 12:18PM

I'd love to get it done, but having poor sight I think makes you realise just how precious your eyes really are, and I still haven't got up the courage. One thing I have realised from reading loads of eye-surgery forums is that even in these days of computer-assisted lasers, it really seems to depend a great deal on the skill of the surgeon, and it's important to have personal recommendations about a specific surgeon, not just the actual clinic.

hechizero · 26 May 2006 at 1:16PM

There is a lot of scare mongering about and I am sure there are cases where the result has not been as expected. I has LASIK for myopia in 1997 and it was miraclulous then and to this day I still have good vision. If you are going in for a straight forward procedure you will be fine. People believe that when it comes to medical procedures it is only worth the risk if the condition is life threatening. However these proecudes raise your quality of life considerabley and the risk attached is negligable if your procdure is straightforward.
The technology is cutting edge and the mapping of the eye is in depth and frankly amazing. Non-invasive procedures are not painful and the whole laser procedure can be over in as little as ten minutes.
I have never looked back...:D

pbright · 26 May 2006 at 1:39PM

I want laser eye surgery cheap...anytime is fine. I just want it as cheap as possibile and my eyes are L -1.75 R -2.00! Im 21 and want Laser eye surgery cheap. So whats the cheapest and how do i go about getting it???

tawnyowls · 26 May 2006 at 7:18PM

hechizero wrote:

There is a lot of scare mongering about and I am sure there are cases where the result has not been as expected. I has LASIK for myopia in 1997 and it was miraclulous then and to this day I still have good vision. If you are going in for a straight forward procedure you will be fine.

I must admit, I know 5 people who've had it done, all with different clinics, and all of them have been 100% delighted with it. None of them have had even slight problems, and even my dad, who's in his 80s, has had laser cataract surgery done recently using a similar procedure, and his sight's better than mine! One day ...

curly92 · 31 May 2006 at 11:24PM

curly92 wrote:

Laser eye surgery in Turkey. I have just returned after having the lasik Customised (wavefront T-cat, Q-mode) with intralase. The surgery in the eye Hospital was pain free and i could see a great improvement straight after surgery. my eyes were a bit sensitive to light but after wearing sunglasses were okay. I took advantage of a free eye test in this Country but the starting price of £395 per eye jumped to £1000 per eye without the Intralase. Now probably £1250. In Turkey i paid a total of £825 for the better painless treatment and would not hesitate to do it again if i had to. I will be doing a more detailed story with the information that i have available at a later date for anyone that is interested

Laser eye Surgery in Turkey
Here is a bit more of the information that i previously wrote about for anyone that is thinking about having laser surgery.
After taking advantage of a free eye examination in England and as I was a suitable candidate for laser I was quoted £2000 for the surgery which I don’t think included Intralase. I found a web site https://www.kaskaloglu.com (click on the English flag) which is an eye hospital in Izmir. Professor Kaskaloglu has been teaching and practising ophthalmology for 27 years and was voted best of the Show at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Congress in Orlando in 2002 and he performs over 2000 cataract and Lasik operations every year. He has all the latest machinery. I looked up the information and then sent him an email to find out the prices and arrange an appointment; there are different treatments, from which I chose the best which cost Preop exam 80 Euros, about £55 and Lasik Customised (Wavefront T-Cat, Q-Mode) with Intralase 1190 Euros, about £800. First we booked a cheap holiday to Kusadasi in Turkey through the Gold Trail brochure from Hays Travel. We paid £215 each, insurance etc included, for 2 weeks staying at the Zorlu Hotel which was clean and basic, with very friendly and helpful staff and in a good location, my appointment was booked for 1st May at 10 am. We got the Luxury coach from the Elbirlik Office in Kusadasi to Izmir (Central Garage) cost 17 ytl about £7 for 2, then 3 ytl about £1.20 for the bus (no 50) from the ground floor of the station to Alsancak, (pronounced Alsanjac). We got off the bus at Kulturpark (26th August Gate) and walked straight down the road where there is a signpost to the Eye Hospital. The no 250 bus goes to a different side of the park but you can come out at 26th August Gate. The eye hospital is spotlessly clean and all the staff wear white. I had my eye examination on the morning which found a torn retina which was immediately repaired (was not found in England) then my eyes were lasered at about 4pm the same day. (Painless), the worst part was when they inserted and removed what felt like a jeweller’s eyeglass in to my eyes, I only have small eyes. Straight after Surgery with the help of Sunglasses I could see an immediate difference, you do need sunglasses and the help of a Partner as you are supposed to keep your eyes closed as much as possible for the first day. We then got the bus back from Alsancak to the Central Garage where we bought our coach tickets from the Elbirlik kiosk and got the coach back to Kusadasi, another 3 plus 17 ytl about £8.20. That’s about £16.40 return for 2 people. My check-up appointment was for the next day, another £16.40, that’s about £33 for 2 people for 2 days transport. From what I could gather the price of a taxi from Kusadasi to Izmir is about 90 euros each way, about £60, that’s £240 for the transport. The saving by using the Bus is over £200. Not including spending money I paid about £1100 for my fortnight’s holiday in Turkey including the Laser.
Probably £2500 now just for the laser treatment in this Country.
For anyone that is interested these are some of the sites that I used.
https://www.turkeytravelplanner.com
https://www.adiyamanli.org/aegean_region.htm
https://www.kaskaloglu.com

Laser Eye Surgery Cost Cutting Tips

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