Laser Eye Surgery Discussion Thread

sunkenvilla

Hello.

I had laser eye surgery performed in July of this year. It was done by Ultralase in Chester and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

They are about the most expensive, I paid £2500 for both of my eyes, but it is not worth trying to save money when it is your eyes you are dealing with.

I had heard of a couple of horror stories relating to a cheaper company (mentioned elsewhere in this thread) from my wife (who is the medical profession) and so decided I would go with Ultralase. I chose Ultralase as I know other people who have been treated by them.

I have to say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. My sight is now near perfect. In fact I am so pleased with the results that once we have the money my wife will be having the laser procedure as well (basically, I was the guinea pig).

With regards the procedure itself, if you make it past the pre-check and decide to have the surgery there is nothing to worry about. A couple of days later you can be ready for the surgery. It takes about five minutes to do each eye and at worse I felt only a little discomfort.

Three hours after the surgery my sight was better than it had been with either my glasses or contact lenses.

Hope this is of some help and if you need to know anything else, send me a PM.

sunkenvilla

Mustang

I had laser eye surgery a few years ago ... and it was one of the best things I've ever done. I spent ages researching the various types of ops, their pros and cons, as well as the various places/people that offered it. I checked out Boots, Optimax, and every other place you can imagine. I also talked to my optician who lent me a video which gave me more info. I talked to the opthalmic consultants at my local hospital as well. I chatted to people who had it done, and scanned the net for research papers. Phew!

Because of my previous history of eye problems (which was why I was visiting the hospital's opthalmic consultants), I was very, very careful about finding out everything I could before I decided.

I came across several papers, notably: http://www.optometry.co.uk/articles/20000421/obrart.pdf which cleared a lot up for me. The author seemed to know what they were talking about, which was not surprising seeing as he was also recommended by my local opthalmic consultant. He works for St Thomas' Hospital in London (where the first PRK surgery was done). Every week, he does a few private patients. After a consult with him where we explored what was possible, risks, etc, I chose to have LASEK because it suited me most. LASEK is a variant of PRK, and is NOT LASIK.

The actual op was totally painless and took a few minutes. You can see a short video someone took of the same op at http://www.twinnies.demon.co.uk/prk/prkexperience.html.

The next 2 days I was climbing the walls! Lots of hurt! Found out later I reacted to the pain killers I was given! When I had the 2nd eye done, I just used asprin and it was much better. I had loads of subsequent check ups with Mr O'Brart who was making sure everything was going well.

I now have near perfect eyesight ;-)

So, don't assume that Optimax, Boots etc are the only place ... I would highly recommend Mr O'brart. Whoever you go with, ask who the surgeon is, and make sure you trust them and what they are about to do to you!

Mr O'Brart performs loads of laser eye surgery for NHS research .. where I understand he charges less than for his private patients. The difference is that he may not do the surgery .. one of his (qualified) team may, and there may not be so many post-surgery check ups. But the op is the same - no experimental stuff! May be worth phoning him up and asking?

George_Bray

...I have to say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. My sight is now near perfect...

But how long will the perfect sight last? In recent years my short sight has improved from -5.5 to -4.5 and may improve further. Now everyone tells me this is quite common as you get older. Nobody mentioned that when I considered having laser surgery whilst in my 30s. So if they'd corrected to -5.5 then, it would presumably be a huge +1.0 out now. No thanks!

EvilMonkey

Cor blimey I never thought I'd open a can of worms, seems like its a marmite topic (love it or hate it).

Just to reassure some of you, I've not made the decision (or rather my wife's not made the decision) based purely on the savings. She loves the idea of freeing herself from the shackles of glasses \ lenses. I just wanted to highlight that its getting so cheap now that it can be compared to glasses and lenses as a treatment.

I did vaguely look into treatment abroad, but I like the idea of having something local for follow up sessions etc.

I have looked into it a fair bit and at all of the companies mentioned so far (also moorfields eye hospital do it). I've had a recommendation for the place we're going to and the customer service they showed my friend sounds excellent, so I'm happy with the eye clinic.

I'd be interested to hear from the anti-laser people with some references, especially the 1 in 10 failure rate? I looked at moorfields, bupa and the NHS sites and they all claim that the 2 main forms LASIK and LASEK are safe (IE they carry some risk, but generally they are standard surgical procedures....)

EvilMonkey

But how long will the perfect sight last? In recent years my short sight has improved from -5.5 to -4.5 and may improve further. Now everyone tells me this is quite common as you get older. Nobody mentioned that when I considered having laser surgery whilst in my 30s. So if they'd corrected to -5.5 then, it would presumably be a huge +1.0 out now. No thanks!

All the places I went to ask for a couple of years of prescriptions to prove your eye sight has stabilised. If its changing either way then they'd not be happy to do it for exactly the reason you stated....

George_Bray

All the places I went to ask for a couple of years of prescriptions to prove your eye sight has stabilised. If its changing either way then they'd not be happy to do it for exactly the reason you stated....

How long do you expect to live? 90 years or more if you are lucky, perhaps. I suggest a couple of years of prescriptions are an insignificant blip. My sight was stable from when I was about 20 until past 40. I certainly thought it was stable enough when I was in my mid 30s to have laser eye surgery. Several big name laser clinics agreed, with their plush reception suites and persuasive sales talk.

But then, suddenly, a couple of years ago, the prescription started moving again (improving) by 1 dioptre so far and perhaps it will go further. That's a big change. It seems this is quite common as you get older but nobody mentioned it before.

You could do worse than visit https://www.lasikdisaster.com, with links to plenty or other sites warning of the dangers and risks of Lasik.

londonman81

It's all very well having laser surgery done today but what if your prescription changes soon after?? There's no way of knowing whether someone's prescription has 'stabilised' as mine has changed after periods of more than 2 years.

Also I'm vary wary of any 'new' treatments when it comes to health. The first laser treatments were done around 10 years ago so the first person to have had it done has only been living with it for 10 years - no one has lived an entire life with it yet for us to know what effects it could have later on in life. I've heard that there may be a theoretical chance of the laser causing cancer..... but as with all these things the companies are pushing them right now without any consideration for the consumer (e.g mobile phones)

So cost should not be your only consideration!

EvilMonkey

There seems to be so much fear over this issue. The whole thing about "its only been going 10 years" is slightly incorrect as several of the companies have been running commercially for 10+ years. Even if it wasn't, how long have soft "daily" lenses been around, I'd say less or not a whole lot longer. Did you even ask the question before putting those in your eyes?

On Georges point, I agree, although it is a bit of a gamble. 10 years glass free (in your example) may well be worth the money for a lot of people. As you get older it is comon to get long sighted, but it isn't certain...

I guess I was trying to highlight that things have come on a fair bit since it was 1st introduced. As someone else posted its now possible to get both eyes done for £1000. None of the clinics I called tried a "hard sell" when I asked for info. All the clinics I called had registered opthalmic surgeons at the hand of the laser. Its a case of an extra choice for those who need it, if you don't like it or judge the risks not worth the benefits then thats your call.

I would be interested to see the actual rates of serious side effects if anyone can find a site? The lasikdisaster site seems to be a collection of stories and such to be taken with as much of a pinch of salt as the marketing pages. Anyone find anything on a reputable health site?

GraniteMum

I only know one person who has had it done and they are one of the 10% (or 1%, I am not sure) for whom it is not successful. One year on they have dry eyes needing drops every hour or so and they still need glasses. They are not able to drive at night time either. They are about £1000 worse off for the operation but in terms of emotional issues it is far worse than just the money.

I hope you are in the 90% (or 99%) that are loving it!

nearlyrich

http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Doyouknow;action=display;num=1090791245;start=4#4

That's a link to previous diuscussions on laser surgery.

If you can't be bothered to read it all can I just say I am totally satisfied with the 10 years plus of 2020 vision and compared to cost of specs and lenses it was a bargain.

I used https://www.ultralase.co.uk and their follow up was second to none, yes it hurt but not anymore using the newer techniques I believe.

Sheel asked ........ How much does it hurt?

Sheel have you had children? did you forget the pain and have another? LOL

My experience was 1993/94 the procedure was extremely painful and could only be done one eye at a time but I was so pleased with the results I couldn't wait to get the second eye done.