Ultralase eye laser

loulou41

My husband who is 67 is thinking of having ulatralase eye laser. Vry expensive at over 3k+ for both eyes. Just wondering whether anybody on this forum has had this done and whether it will be bineficial as an oldie? Thanks

debstar

Hi loulou,

I had my eyes lasered back in 2002 with Ultralase in Chelmsford. Its the best thing I have ever done. My eyesight was very bad - I couldn't even cross a road without glasses/contacts or see the letters on a computer keyboard! I paid about 2k for the treatment and I cannot praise Ultralase enough. Before you pay any money they offer a free consultation. They are not pushy in any way (probably because they have such a good reputation). It takes about an hour for the first meeting for them to do various tests and they will tell you honestly if it's right for your husband. They have loads of files filed with other patients stories for you to read and they will answer any and all of the questions you might have.

They follow up treatment with appointments to make sure everything is ok.

My treatment didn't hurt and takes about 10 minutes in total for BOTH eyes and was so good my best friend had hers done 6 months after me.

loulou41

Thanks, do you mind me asking how old were you when you had yours done? I understand due to our age, there is the possibility of having to use reading glasses. Son, had his first consultation last week, and he was advised to have ultralasekplus at £1560 per eye. Can you remember which treatment you or your friend had? We will book a consultation soon and it does help being ex employee of NHS, we qualify for 20% discount. Thanks for your help.

debstar

Hi, I was only 24 at the time which I know is much younger than your husband. I had LASIK. I hope you don't mind me posting my advice. I think the only way you can tell if it is suitable is to see them. People have different opinions. I was told I may need reading glasses when I'm older (by ultralase even after the treatment which they said is common) so you need them to tell you how much of an improvement it will make (which is down to health, age, eye health etc) and weigh up if the money is worth it. They tell everyone straight they could have to wear glasses after, no matter what age.

The scary part is signing the disclaimer before the op stating you may be blind!! :eek:

If you've got any Q's about the actual procedure I can tell you what it's like.

20% discount sounds good - I don't know if they still do it but I recommended my friend and she received a discount so if you know someone who has had it done recently see what they can do.

debstar

Hi, I was only 24 at the time which I know is much younger than your husband. I had LASIK. I hope you don't mind me posting my advice. I think the only way you can tell if it is suitable is to see them. People have different opinions. I was told I may need reading glasses when I'm older (by ultralase even after the treatment which they said is common) so you need them to tell you how much of an improvement it will make (which is down to health, age, eye health etc) and weigh up if the money is worth it. They tell everyone straight they could have to wear glasses after, no matter what age.

The scary part is signing the disclaimer before the op stating you may be blind!! :eek:

If you've got any Q's about the actual procedure I can tell you what it's like.

20% discount sounds good - I don't know if they still do it but I recommended my friend and she received a discount so if you know someone who has had it done recently see what they can do.

tangojulie

Hi, I am 56 and had Lasik on both eyes 5 years ago. I don't regret it, but there are some things I wish I'd realised.

I was -12.5 and for high prescriptions like this, the result is unpredictable because it depends on the way your eyes heal. It can take a couple of months for the prescription to settle, and in that time you don't know from day to day whether you'll wake up as +2, -1, whatever. So you can't really get specs to help you through this time. I didn't realise that this would take so long or be so variable from day to day. I have ended up as a -2.5, which is where a lot of people start, but for me it was worthwhile because I now have the option of normal varifocals instead of ones that weighed a ton.

Regardless of your prescription, at over 60 you are likely to need reading glasses. You can choose to have your eyes adjusted so that you have both eyes set for distance (you will need glasses for reading), both eyes set for near vision (you will need glasses for distance), or one eye set for near and one for distance. In this case you shouldn't need glasses afterwards (unless you started off with a high prescription, see above), but you may find it difficult to get used to. However if you ordinarily wear contact lenses you can ask to mimic the result with disposable lenses, this will give you some idea of whether it will work for you.

The operation itself is easy peasy - at least for the patient!

Good luck!

missile

3K sounds expensive to me. I had it done a while back by Ultralase in Manchester and I think it was circa £1600 for both eyes. No matter what your prescription, the process is the same so I would check price somewhere else.

Carmen

I agree with Missile,3k sounds way too much! there have been lots of posts in the past regarding eye surgery, I will try to find it and send you the link.
Carmen x

Carmen

Carmen wrote: »

I agree with Missile,3k sounds way too much! there have been lots of posts in the past regarding eye surgery, I will try to find it and send you the link.
Carmen x

There are some threads here which may help.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.html?searchid=12741858

margaretclare

tangojulie wrote: »

Hi, I am 56 and had Lasik on both eyes 5 years ago. I don't regret it, but there are some things I wish I'd realised.

I was -12.5 and for high prescriptions like this, the result is unpredictable because it depends on the way your eyes heal. It can take a couple of months for the prescription to settle, and in that time you don't know from day to day whether you'll wake up as +2, -1, whatever. So you can't really get specs to help you through this time. I didn't realise that this would take so long or be so variable from day to day. I have ended up as a -2.5, which is where a lot of people start, but for me it was worthwhile because I now have the option of normal varifocals instead of ones that weighed a ton.

Regardless of your prescription, at over 60 you are likely to need reading glasses. You can choose to have your eyes adjusted so that you have both eyes set for distance (you will need glasses for reading), both eyes set for near vision (you will need glasses for distance), or one eye set for near and one for distance. In this case you shouldn't need glasses afterwards (unless you started off with a high prescription, see above), but you may find it difficult to get used to. However if you ordinarily wear contact lenses you can ask to mimic the result with disposable lenses, this will give you some idea of whether it will work for you.

The operation itself is easy peasy - at least for the patient!

Good luck!

I'm having catarct surgery the week after next. I've always been very short-sighted, but I've been impressed by the fact that my DH has recently had cataract surgery on both eyes and, for the first time in 60 years since he was 12, he doesn't need glasses!

He wears sun-glasses outside and for driving, because there is an increased sensitivity to light, and has reading glasses but they are the lowest possible prescription, 1.5 I think.

Now, of course, I am hoping for similar miraculous results!

I noticed that you said you had a high prescription : - 12.5. Was that in both eyes? Because I've just been to the optician (bought a pair of sun-glasses non-prescription to wear after surgery) and got a copy of my prescription. It says - 11.00 DS for the left eye, - 9.00 for the right.

Margaret

Biggles

I think laser eye surgery is very scary, because of the risks.

And I imagine there's little doubt that you would need reading glasses, I think at this age the eyes can either do distance or reading, but not both.

I find contact lenses fine for distance and use readers for close up (or, if I leave the lenses out, I use glasses for driving).

If you want a more permanent fix, there's Orthokeratology lenses (http://www.orthok.co.uk/) or Intacs inserts(http://www.getintacs.com/us/index2.html), which both seem to me to have far lower risks if things go wrong. Which they do....