Laser Eye Surgery Cost Cutting Tips

Habil

Hunbot wrote:

I've just had a first consultation for Lasik (wavefront) & have been quoted £1600 per eye, I'm going to have a further consultation with Optical Express next week to make a comparison. My prescription is -5.00 for both eyes.

Sounds expensive to me. I read that someone in here did his eyes in Turkey and if you want the best possible treatment and dont want to be ruined, then this might be something for you:
http://www.perfektsyn.se/eng/prices_services.html

Frequent_Flyer_UK

I looked into it a couple of years ago and my GP said "ask yourself the question if the treatment is so good why do most Opticians and Opthamologists still wear glasses"

Laser surgery involves the permanent removal of a layer of cells and needs to be repeated every few years ( this is not commonly advertised ) .

Contact lenses if they cause irritation can be removed and a day or so later problem solved.

Cost advantage lenses £120 a year or less

Laser surgery £500 - £1500 every few years

Is it really worth it ?

cosmokramer2004

johnboyle007 wrote:

I looked into it a couple of years ago and my GP said "ask yourself the question if the treatment is so good why do most Opticians and Opthamologists still wear glasses"

Laser surgery involves the permanent removal of a layer of cells and needs to be repeated every few years ( this is not commonly advertised ) .

Contact lenses if they cause irritation can be removed and a day or so later problem solved.

Cost advantage lenses £120 a year or less

Laser surgery £500 - £1500 every few years

Is it really worth it ?

lol - what a load of baloney. The whole point of LASIK/LASEK is that the top layer of cells - the epithelium - is temporarily moved to allow the LASER to treat (remove corneal tissue) a layer of the cornea called the stroma. The reason the stromal layer is treated is because this layer does NOT regenerate - unlike the epithelium (epithelial tissue covers the majority of the human anatomy). Therefore retreatment is NOT required as an effect of the LASER treatment. Certainly patients eyesight can change over the period of many years but it is completely unrelated to the surgery.

In the rare cases where retreatments are required (due to the surgery not fully correcting vision), the secondary treatment is generally free (depending on the clinic ofcourse).

As for your GP - I would suggest he may be a clown; many people are not actually suitable for refractive surgery due to many factors including corneal thickness, medical conditions, medications, etc..

I should add that I am fortunate enough to not require glasses/contacts/surgery and that even if I did I would be happy to put up with normal spex - I feel that in a lot of cases the motivation for surgery tends to be vanity.. (although certainly not all!)

antenna

If you bid on laser surgery on Ebay on the Optimax auction and are outbid you should email the boss/owner on the auction page and ask for a "second chance offer" at your losing bid price......if your eyes are around max minus 4 each then you will save a lot of money......after around minus 5 it gets expensive and this is not within the auction bid price....

antenna

Please remember a major laser eye surgery company (not Optimax) offer treatment at 395 per eye.........this is for around minus 1 to 2 eyesight.....it goes up quite a lot if your eyes are 2 to 3 or 3 to 4 and a fortune if you eyes are minus 4 and above...........Optimax charge the one price only up to minus 5....but may recommend higher price surgery for minus 5 and above.

PowerBall

antenna wrote:

Please remember a major laser eye surgery company (not Optimax) offer treatment at 395 per eye.........this is for around minus 1 to 2 eyesight.....it goes up quite a lot if your eyes are 2 to 3 or 3 to 4 and a fortune if you eyes are minus 4 and above...........Optimax charge the one price only up to minus 5....but may recommend higher price surgery for minus 5 and above.

Optical Express? AFAIK the 395 is for standard treatment up to -0.75 sphere. Dunno about hyperopes but I think possibly +0.50 for the 395. Wavefront is usually 400 extra per eye and IntraLase is 300 extra per eye. Significant astigmatism increases cost of standard treatment also.. -1.00 to -2.00 would probably cost 595 or 695 per eye.

puritycontroller

I had lasik surgery in July 2004, with excellent results.
I paid £3,200.
At the time it was a struggle to find that sort of cash, but my main priority was to find a clinic I trusted with my eyesight.
Lasik is a wonderful thing, but make sure you do your homework - ask lots and lots of questions, ask for the C.V.'s of the surgeons.. visit the clinic several times before you decide to go ahead, and take responsibility for your own aftercare and the surgical risks involved.
After all, you only have one pair of eyes.

If anyone here is thinking about having lasik and wants to read my blow by blow account of the experience, you are welcome to visit my lasik Diary here:

http://www.nurseowens.clara.net/lasik_diary.htm

Good Luck!

weaver

IMPORTANT - make sure you check out this site as already mentioned -

https://www.lasik-eyes.co.uk

they are totally independant. I had my eyes wavefront nearly 2 years ago - Im 43 now and no deteriation.

my advice after reading the above site

visit a couple of places first
be completly comfortable with the surroundings and the staff.
print off questions found on the above site & ask them.
Ask about after care - this may be very important if you need it.
if your sight is bad check out the lasers some are better than others and remove less so they can correct far worse conditions upto - 8 or -10 (cost is higher though )


It is very,very important to have total trust in the team you choose. No I had no pain at all, could see right after surgery, (blurred slightly like water on eyes ) after removal of protective lens next day I could see perfectly.

re - why do opticians wear glasses - opticians need to work on close up subjects so surgery would not help them, more hinder. An optician would rarely recommend laser surgery its doing them out of business.

If anyone wants to know a blow by blow account of my surgery pm me and Ill fill you in. Minute for minute - I wrote my experiance down the day after surgery.

I RECOMMEND -

Be 100% certain you want this treatment - do not take it lightly,
Do your homework
Do not go for a clinic because its on TV
Check out aftercare
know your surgon - google him
Ask to see the laser & theatre/sugery room - this will put you at ease - its so much smaller than you think
Ask questions,questions,questions
be comfortable with people who will be performing the procedure
Price is not an issue - care and confidance are

Hunbot

I've just had a first consultation for Lasik (wavefront) & have been quoted £1600 per eye, I'm going to have a further consultation with Optical Express next week to make a comparison. My prescription is -5.00 for both eyes.

Just a quick update 25/4/07
I had the Lasik procedure with Wavefront & Intralase on Saturday 21/4/07 after careful consideration I chose Optical Express . It's early days I know but after my 24 hour check up I was informed my eyesight was two lines better than 20/20 in one & one line better than 20/20 in the other. I'd say that was pretty good for day one post surgery ! I have to say the procedure was painless although once the local anaesthetic wore off I was in some pain for a little while but that's forgotten about now and it's great to be able to see without specs or contact lenses which I've worn for 25 & 21 years respectively.:j

Cici_2

For Hunbot - after careful consideration you chose Optical Express?

Optimax are obviously cheaper but I'm thinking of going with Optical Express too. Can you tell me what were the deciding factors for you in choosing Optical Express?