Laser Eye Surgery Cost Cutting Tips

Katykat

Tocanada- Its much too soon for you to be thinking you've made a mistake. In fact, you havn't really made a mistake have you. Your sight is a little improved even at this early stage. Few people get the "WOW" factor following laser surgery. Its more common for the results to be gradual. I think you need to be a little more patient, I'm sure it will improve more. I'm myself 7 weeks post op and by no means am i there yet, but it is getting better gradually. I dont regret having it done. I'm surprized your optometrist let you go ahead with it, as you clearly were not emotionally ready for it. Without wishing to offend you, I really think you should talk to your doctor, it sounds as though your low mood is more complex than merely the after effects of the laser treatment. i hope you feel better soon

tocanada

thanks everyone for the reassuring words. i appreciate it and trust me, i really need it. i am so depressed now! i can't believe i went ahead with this surgery without doing more research beforehand and i was willing to take such great risks for only a few years of good vision.

daveybuk, you were so smart to do all the research you did and made an informed decision. i am concerned with the increase in aggressive advertisements by these laser centres, stressing low-risk and perfect vision. when it comes to your eyes you want ZERO risk and perfect vision is very subjective.

cmhbyandco, i am being hard on myself for not doing my homework before getting the surgery done. if i had known what i know now i would not have gone through with it. i am doing fine post-op. the prk eye is still blurry, but that takes time to heal, i think. halos and starburts are manageable. however, my eyes are dry and they get tired very easily. these were not things i had to deal with before.

Katykat, unfortunately, they did not evaluate my emotional state prior to accepting me as a patient. i clearly was not ready, especially given all the questions i asked them. all that mattered was that i qualify for the surgery. i wasn't even an ideal candidate - thin cornea, large pupil size, high myopia (-5.0) and astigmatism! i am mad at myself for taking the surgery so lightly, like it was no big deal!!

i am truly happy for those who have had the surgery done and are happy with their results. i hope i will be part of the success story. regardless i will not recommend this to anyone. why trade a lifetime of worries and potential risks for potentially good vision for a few years - the equation doesn't add up. again, thanks everyone for your comments and good luck to those who still want to go ahead with the surgery - but think twice!!

gedhartnett

Is it possible to claim Tax relief on he cost of laser eye surgery in the UK? My cousin lives in the Republic of Ireland, She has had the surgery and was able to claim. if so how do you go about this,

Ged

tocanada

everything seems to be okay. there is a slight nflammation in my lasik eye and they have put be back on drops. i noticed today that vision is blurry on the lasik eye. i hope this is normal and will go away. i strongly discourage people to have any type of eye surgery unless it is absolutely necessary. it is not worth risking your only eyes for convenience. for me it was for vanity reasons and i now realize the stupidity of it.

tocanada

for anyone considering laser eye surgery, please visit this website first www.visionsurgeryrehab.org

this is not to scare you or deter you from having the surgery. this is just so that you aware of the "other side" of lasik and will allow you to make an informed decision.

ChowFan

I just had mine done in Hong Kong with the director of opthmapology at the number 2 private hospital there. Only reason I didn't do it at the number 1 hospital is because they don't have a opthmapology dept there. This was pretty much the most expensive Lasik treatment in HK with the top doc, but still comes to 'only' around 900 an eye. That's including a pre-op assesment which costs a bit over a hundred. Yes, even the pre-op check costs money. But the doc was fairly honest up-front about possible complications. With me, he had determined I had relatively thin surface flap, which could result in it tearing in the mornings if I had dry eyes (eg, they got stuck slightly to the insides of my eyelids.) About 1 in 10 people have this problem, and about 1 in 1000 need more work afterwards, and about 1 in 5000 required 'serious' treatment that required work that lasted over 3 years (but was eventually fixed.) You'd think the man was trying to scare me off! There was also a small chance of starbursts at night which would prevent me from driving, and which was NOT CORRECTABLE. You'd almost think he didn't want to bother! But still, I was a 'very good' candidate for the op - not perfect, but hey. He pretty much drilled me with all the possible problems and made sure I was aware of all the downsides.

The op came and went and was pretty much totally painless. They had 4 people in the op room, 2 nurses, the doc and a tech. It was TOTALLY painless and was almost over before I knew it! The intralase part took around a minute an eye after which there was a 5 minute break to let the bubbles disperse. The 2nd part took less than 5 minutes an eye! Certainly a lot faster than expected. This is apparently quite important because if it drags on for too long, your eyes will get tired and will lose focus which will effect the outcome. I had a friend of a friend who's op dragged on for almost half an hour which resulted in her second eye having less than satisfactory outcome as she wasn't quite able to focus on the red blob after half an hour!

The results are pretty amazing. I seem to be seeing better than before with glasses (or I think I am!) He introduced a bit of mild hyperopia which will eventually shorten over the next 6 months and a pretty extensive list of what not to do over the next few days/months - not washing hair in the shower for a month is going to be a pain, I'm going to have to pop over to Toni and Guy every day for the next month! :rotfl:

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the results. The best in HK is cheaper than the bog standard in UK. Even if I included the price of 3 plane tickets for the checkups, it's still probably more value for money then in the UK. As I fly over to HK fairly regularly (about 3-4 times a year,) it's not too much of a problem. Plus, this doc has a mate at the Harley Street clinic in London to do check-ups in necessary.

IMO, you'd have to be pretty crazy to trust your eyes to some mass-market lasik op. Those guys make money from the op - the private ones don't, they have other revenue streams. I know this forum is all about money saving, but this is one where it makes more sense to spend money on the best.

FYI, I had -5.0/-5.25 myopia and -1.25/-2.25 astigmatism.

debfra

barginunter wrote: »

I had mine done in 2001 at Ultralase. My vision before that was -4.50.The op was fine, post-op no probs - fantastic vision. Within 3 years I noticed things were not so sharp and got glasses for driving with a low prescription of -.75.
My sight has now weakened to around -1.5 so need specs for cinema and telly. My optician says this is not unusual but it is unlikely I will ever get as short-sighted as I was originally.

I have never been back to Ultralase cos I don't think they'd be interested.

I am now 51, I can still read without reading glasses which is a big advantage I suppose. I don't regret having Lasik I'm just a bit disappointed at how quickly I deteriorated. My eyes are slightly dry which does add to the problem and of course drops don't last very long. For everyday use walking around I really am at the point where I would be more comfy wearing my specs.
I think I have just been unlucky.

I had my eyes done at ultralase, its worth taking note that ultralase have a life time guaratee if you have any problems ( I've had none) or your eyesight deterioates you can go back for a reveiw,... consultation ,... new surgery ...and you dont pay any more money it is included in the price.
If you follow their advice and keep chance of infection to a minimum you wont regret a thing
6th best thing I've ever done in my life (I'm a mother to Five kids):j

t121anf

Has anyone done the price match with Optimax, I've had a cheaper quote but would prefer the surgery at Optimax as i have family who have had successful ops with them in the past.

is a verbal quote enough or will they require some written evidence, which i dont have

Katykat

Well, I did it the other way around, but it may work for you. Optimax offer 30% discount for NHS emplyees. I wanted my treatment at Optical Express, so I asked them if they offered the same . They dont do this but they did offer to knock £300 off. They didn't ask me for proof that I am An NHS employee, but this was Optical Express, dont know whther optimax would ask for proof if you told them you were NHS. In my case it was a very lucrative question to ask.

loulou1971_3

I had a bit of a chat with my optician today about new developments in laser treatments as I was told I was unsuitable for treatment a number of years ago due to large pupil dilation and therefore possible glare/low-light halo problems. As I work in a theatre it wasn't worth the risk at the time.

She was telling me about the new Wavefront technique which eliminates these problems now - has anyone here had this treatment despite large pupil dilation and had good results?

Also I'm finding it all a bit confusing as she said not all clinics use the same laser - Optical Express (surprise surprise that's my optician so obviously why she was recommending it..) use the laser used by the USA government on their navy and astronauts so it has to be right and it's more expensive at OE than elsewhere due to this laser use. She said they can guarantee 96.4% 20/20 vision whereas other places only have statistics of round 90% as they use inferior lasers.

Is this right? And has anyone had treatment at the Optical Express Clinic in Manchester? Interestingly she's having it done there but may have to have the longer recovery version as she has a funny shaped cornea (or something like that!). She quoted £1495 per eye.

Any comments would be appreciated!

Loulou