Laser Eye Surgery

englandsno7_2

magic57 wrote: »

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.

Did you have Monovision? I was advised against monovision (one eye stays long-sighted, one is short-sighted) as they do the laser on the dominant eye and my dominant eye was also the weakest prescription. They said they could do it, but i would need glasses for driving and watching tv, so for me personally it would defeat the purpose which is to do away with glasses (apart from reading)

englandsno7_2

Forgot to add, i initially had 2 consultations booked for the same day, but was advised (on this post) against it, so checked with Optimax and they said you need to leave at least 8hrs between consultations because the pupils are dilated for a few hours afterwards. As it turned out, they didn't use the drops on me anyway. Don't know why they didn't, but Ultralase did the next day. Could have saved myself a day off, but got a lovely lunch at Shu afterwards, so no real complaints there :T

facingthefuture

My sisters friend who is an eye consultant (worked at Morefields) said to her "don't do it" she explained (hope I remember this right - sorry my own words) if you have the op when you get to your old age you could well have lost your fine vision and it may well not be corrected with glasses, laser surgery has not been around that long.....so the long term effects are not recorded. If they "shave" off the front of your eye then what do they shave off to correct a cataract? Also they cut a flap in your eye ball and it never heals, it can be re-lifted!!!! She said if you insist on doing it after knowing this then, research it thoroughly - get the best surgeon possible with the best procedures. The op varies a lot and don't skimp on something so important.

She recommended hard contacts or soft ones for smaller time periods.

Fortune

Hi all

I am thinking about this as well. Spoke to my optician today and she stated that if I wanted to consider an alternative I should investigate Ortho K lenses. In simple terms it is a contact lens that you wear at night and in the morning you can see clearly. Anybody ever heard of them and even better using them? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thriftysolo

Hi Tia

In my opinion it's simply not worth the risk. Recently, Dr Morris Waxler, who was an FDA branch chief responsible for giving the original go ahead for LASIK filed a petition calling for a withdrawal of the approval for all LASIK devices.

Note: can't link to the petition. Just google thepetitionsite lasik waxler, and you'll find it.

His case is simply that the original data submitted upon which approval was granted for LASIK was distorted and doesn't come under the FDA-acceptable adverse event rate of less than 1%. The true rate he says is more like 20%. You can read full details in the petition which includes over a hundred footnote references.

For me the most alarming problem with LASIK is that the flap only seems to heal in a very limited fashion. One study showed that the corneal stroma only heals to 2.4% of its normal strength.

Everyone considering LASIK should read this petition first. Even if you treat the information in it as worst-case scenario (personally I believe the information is fairly unbiased and scientific) it is still useful in gauging any potential risks involved.

Regards

Craig

magic57

englandsno7 wrote: »

Did you have Monovision? I was advised against monovision (one eye stays long-sighted, one is short-sighted) as they do the laser on the dominant eye and my dominant eye was also the weakest prescription. They said they could do it, but i would need glasses for driving and watching tv, so for me personally it would defeat the purpose which is to do away with glasses (apart from reading)

Hi there. No I didn't have mono vision. I have no problem having reading glasses and this was explained to me carefully. I just hoped my distance vision would be better than it is after the treatment. I'm not having any more 'enhancements' done though. My eyes feel fine and I have no horror stories to tell. Oh well, most of the time I am glasses free which is nice.

Jersy

I am serious considering this at the minute too.
I have worn glasses since I was in primary school & I am 25 next month.

Optician gave me the go ahead and reccomended all clear. I see that is now ultravision but the surgeon is still there. Need to man up now!

fredy34

Thriftysolo wrote: »

Hi Tia

In my opinion it's simply not worth the risk. Recently, Dr Morris Waxler, who was an FDA branch chief responsible for giving the original go ahead for LASIK filed a petition calling for a withdrawal of the approval for all LASIK devices.

Note: can't link to the petition. Just google thepetitionsite lasik waxler, and you'll find it.

His case is simply that the original data submitted upon which approval was granted for LASIK was distorted and doesn't come under the FDA-acceptable adverse event rate of less than 1%. The true rate he says is more like 20%. You can read full details in the petition which includes over a hundred footnote references.

For me the most alarming problem with LASIK is that the flap only seems to heal in a very limited fashion. One study showed that the corneal stroma only heals to 2.4% of its normal strength.

Everyone considering LASIK should read this petition first. Even if you treat the information in it as worst-case scenario (personally I believe the information is fairly unbiased and scientific) it is still useful in gauging any potential risks involved.

Regards

Craig

any further info on this? Ive been thinking about surgery for years but so many opticians dont have it. My eyes are rather important to me and i dont want to let anyone near them unless im 100% certain.

naughtybish

Thriftysolo wrote: »

Hi Tia

In my opinion it's simply not worth the risk. Recently, Dr Morris Waxler, who was an FDA branch chief responsible for giving the original go ahead for LASIK filed a petition calling for a withdrawal of the approval for all LASIK devices.

Note: can't link to the petition. Just google thepetitionsite lasik waxler, and you'll find it.

His case is simply that the original data submitted upon which approval was granted for LASIK was distorted and doesn't come under the FDA-acceptable adverse event rate of less than 1%. The true rate he says is more like 20%. You can read full details in the petition which includes over a hundred footnote references.

For me the most alarming problem with LASIK is that the flap only seems to heal in a very limited fashion. One study showed that the corneal stroma only heals to 2.4% of its normal strength.

Everyone considering LASIK should read this petition first. Even if you treat the information in it as worst-case scenario (personally I believe the information is fairly unbiased and scientific) it is still useful in gauging any potential risks involved.

Regards

Craig

fredy34 wrote: »

any further info on this? Ive been thinking about surgery for years but so many opticians dont have it. My eyes are rather important to me and i dont want to let anyone near them unless im 100% certain.

All this bad press about lasik ALL eminate from the USA.

Thriftysolo has jumped on the bash the Lasik bandwagon after reading a lot of unsubstantiated spam on google.
any tom !!!!!! and harry can post made up bad accounts of surgery
they never had.



( Sounds like a lot of hysterical Americans to me )


http://www.bioportfolio.com/news/article/165378/Is-Lasik-Safe-Top-Lasik-Experts-Respond-To-Abc-Television-News-Story.html

Dr. Waxler’s ( Who is NOT a medical Doctor btw ) current view of LASIK is “misinformed, unsupported by evidence, and lacking in balance and perspective.” btw he retired from his position in 2000


for a balanced informed discussion talk to REAL people who have had the procedure at monthly Open sessions with the likes
of optimax.

http://faq.optimax.co.uk/InstantForum/Topic1570-4-1.aspx


Despite what a few uninformed flip tops might spout out ,
Lasik is here to stay .


Bishmena

Thriftysolo

any further info on this? Ive been thinking about surgery for years but so many opticians dont have it. My eyes are rather important to me and i dont want to let anyone near them unless im 100% certain.

Hi Fredy

No news as of yet on the FDA's response to the petition. The only advice I can offer on how to help you decide whether to go ahead with LASIK or not is to simply do your own thorough research. Take a few months to learn more about LASIK from as many sites as possible -- whether those sites are for or against the procedure. You will see two sides of the story and gain greater perspective which should hopefully enable you to make a decision you are comfortable with.

All this bad press about lasik ALL eminate from the USA.

You are right that the more high profile anti-LASIK websites are predominantly American, but I don't think this hurts their validity. The scientific papers from which a case can be made against LASIK come from all over the world. As do unhappy LASIK patients.

Thriftysolo has jumped on the bash the Lasik bandwagon after reading a lot of unsubstantiated spam on google.
any tom !!!!!! and harry can post made up bad accounts of surgery
they never had.

I don't think that there is huge amount of people posting bad experiences about LASIK having not even had the procedure. There is no good reason for that. The bad experiecnes that you might read about are almost certainly real. Yes, these people might have been unfortunate with their LASIK experience and are very vocal about it, but entirely fabricated experiences are unlikely.

Dr. Waxler’s ( Who is NOT a medical Doctor btw ) current view of LASIK is “misinformed, unsupported by evidence, and lacking in balance and perspective.” btw he retired from his position in 2000

This is one interpretation of Dr Waxler's comments from last year, before the recent petition was even submitted. The new petition is well documented and contains over a hundred paper references to support it's position.

for a balanced informed discussion talk to REAL people who have had the procedure at monthly Open sessions with the likes
of optimax.

I wouldn't recommend the Optimax forum for balanced discussions as negative viewpoints are often censored on there. For more balanced discussions I recommend the lasik-eyes forum which is far more independent.

Is there any particular reason you linked to posts by Stephen B? This person is a notorious optimax referral spammer. There are complaints about them over at the lasik-eyes forum. I can't link so here are a couple such posts copy and pasted:

"Mr B is well known for promoting and profiting from Optimax referrrals. I suggest that you Google stephenB and Optimax or look on ebay to confirm the facts for yourself. "

"StephenB - with respect - by all means continue to pilfer Optimax (for that matter why don't you approach Optical Express for a few referral vouchers too?) on Treatment Saver, Money Saving Expert, eBay and any other site you wish to, but I'll be stuffed if you are going to turn this Forum into another comparison website. To wit, I think you will find this Forum rather hostile towards you until such time as you observe the general protocol of advice giving rather than selling."

Lasik is here to stay .

Sadly, you are probably right.

Craig