Laser Eye Surgery

englandsno7_2

Thanks Vipvilla, i already have a £500 Opitmax voucher which i bought off Ebay for 1p. Apparently when you recommend someone and give them your voucher, you get £50 from Optimax if the person goes ahead with the surgery.

magic57

I had Lasik treatment in October last year with Optical Express. I knew I would need reading glasses afterwards being over 40 (well over actually!) and that was ok with me.
My distance vision after Lasik was good at first for about 2 weeks but now I need glasses again to drive. Not a great result.
It's nice to be glasses free most of the time but not worth the money £2300!
I won't be having an enhancement though. I think a second treatment is too risky.

steveymp

I do Ophthalmic photography and I personally wouldn't let anyone near my eyes with a laser:eek: I have photographed too many patients with bad corrective results:o

I suppose there is a risk in all surgical procedures, but if wearing glasses 100% removes that risk:o then I'll get glasses when my time comes:o

almillar

I did this with Optical Express, Belfast, 8 yrs ago, and it's one of the best things I've ever done, I hate glasses. They do it in Belfast now, but when I did it, I had to travel to Glasgow where they have a machine. £1200, with interest free payments.
As above, they are correcting the thickness of your lens (removing some) to make it focus correctly on the back of the eye. This is the common cause of SHORT sightedness, not being able to see far away. Being LONG sighted generally is an age thing, and is caused by the muscles in your eye, which have to squeeze your lens to make it fatter to focus on close-up things, becoming old and tired like the rest of your body, so obviously this surgery can't do anything for that.
To be eligible, your prescription has to have been stable for at least 2 years generally. Why? Well what's the point in correcting your sight, if it's still changing?
Note that a lot of the info above is out of date, and there are lots of new procedures now for correcting all sorts of stuff, for all sorts of money!

arkonite_babe

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

I recently asked my optician about this (though I've been too chicken to follow through, will be really interested to hear how you get on OP!) and she recommended this surgeon http://www.ultralase.com/vites/surgeon-kervick she said that several of her clients had had this surgery done by him and were all very happy with the results. Not obviously a personal recommendation but thought you might want to know this...

Can I just add that Mr Kervick is fantastic! I had cosmetic eye surgery to correct a squint under him at the Mater Hospital in 2000 where he is a consultant.
I was absolutely terrified but he was lovelay and put me at ease straight away.
I do know that he works for ultralase and I was considering going to see him, but due to my eye condition I'm not suitable for laser surgery to correct my vision.

Sorry, slightly off topic but I just wanted to add my recommendation for Mr Kervick!

flateric81

My eyes were -5.75 and -6.5 - until i had them lasered by gerry kervick at ultralase. it costed £2500 for both eyes, i had consulatations with the other 2 companys as well (optimax and optical express) - they were cheaper but ultralase appeared to have the more modern machine. they're guarantee also means that if i need re-lasered in 10+ years they will do it for free. Gerry Kervick was excellant. Saying that both my eyes got inflamed afterwards and for 2 days i was in agony. the sensation of the flap being made is a bit different.

you should be able to have more than one consultation done in a day - but you might struggle to getfrom one to the other as you will be given drops to dilate your pupils (bright light bright light!)

wantabetterlife

I have been reading this thread with interest. I am going for laser consultation in Optimax in Belfast in a couple of weeks. My prescription is -5.5 in both eyes and the girl on the phone told me it will probably cost £2395 for both eyes....this is supposed to be a half price offer....not sure if these offers are really genuine or not as it is so hard to compare prices...i think it depends on how busy they are....the girl on the phone told me they could pencil me in for surgery 2 days later!!! Not sure what to do as i really want to go for it and then i keep reading stories about people that it wasnt a success for. Will let yous know how the consultation goes.

keelyann

I am also looking into this for my husband - first spoke to Optimax who confirmed their supposedly half price offer of £2395. Then I heard from a friend that Ultralase were very good so i called them to see their best price and they said their equivalent treatment was £1995 per eye so a lot more than Optimax. They also said they had better results though (they would say that of course) and that theirs is really a lifetime guarantee when Optimax's is 24 months. Am now confused as don't want a treatment that isn't as good/safe as another but there is a lot of difference in price. I see that someone paid £2500 for both eyes in Ultralase, how do you get any deals with them as they refused to offer me anything? Maybe if we hold off booking they will call and offer me deals, or is that wishful thinking?!

chris024

I have been on Optimax mailing list for ages. They send out 'half price' offers all the time!. My latest one is 1,995 for both eyes for their top price treatment.

With these offers you can't use any other discounts and the price is the same for all prescriptions.

My experience with Ultralase is that they never do half price offers. Although they can discount 10-20%ish.

Has he had a consul with Ultralase Keely? if not then I don't think you would get a discount beforehand. Your best bet is to have a consul... and then question the price at the end of the consul.. you will prob get a little discount.. like 10%... then wait a few days for them to phone you & you might be able to get it discounted further.

You won't get any price like Optimax though. In my experience they are the bottom of the barrel price wise. But I don't know if that is necessarily a good thing.. its up to you to decide

englandsno7_2

Hi again, i am author of OP, just to update you....

I went to Optimax on Tues and was quoted £2495 (current promotion price - should have been £3595) however as it was a promotion i couldn't use the £500 voucher i have, or avail of the 20% discount for Civil Servants.

I then went to Ultralase yesterday and was quoted £1995 per eye (total £3990). They did however say they had a cancellation for this Mon 31st, if i wanted it they would take 10% off. I do think they perhaps say this to most people to get them to make a quick decision. I am staggered by the difference in price though at just under £1495.

First impressions i thought Ultralase appeared more professional and knowledgeable and generally made me feel more at ease and explained everything perfectly. I found the Optometrist at Optimax very robotic and if you pardon the pun, didn't make eye contact with me when explaining things. I also found her accent hard to understand but because she was going off on such a tangent i didn't want to stop her midflow and ended up asking the Personal Advisor more questions afterwards.

I understand that the Optometrist is there to check your eyes for suitability and to advise on which procedure you are most suitable for etc. and that she is not carrying out the surgery, but to me the overall package is equally important, from the Reception staff right through. With all the follow-up appointments needed i'm not sure i want to deal with her again, and that has put me off Optimax.

That said, the follow-up appointment is only 15mins and i'm not questioning her ability, but you like to feel comfortable and at ease. At nearly £1500 cheaper, i can't really afford to be picky, so does it really matter??

I would like to know though, who if anyone, has ever got it done for £395 per eye, as is being advertised. Their prescription must be so small that they hardly need glasses, let alone surgery. I was told by Ultralase that mine was £1995 per eye because it would take 25secs of laser on each eye. (£79.80 per second !!)

I do think they should have a chart so you can see how they work it out though. Btw, Optimax also said that regardless of how far down the line you might need enhancements (i.e. further surgery) its all included in the price. Ultralase state that this is required in 4-5% of patients.

Sorry for rambling, but i hope this helps, and if anyone can help with my decision or recommend another Optician, i'd be glad to hear from you.

thanks