Laser Eye Surgery - Any had it?

I had it done about 5 years ago. Best money I've ever spent. Research the surgeon rather than the business as it's them who has your eyesight in their hands. Spend as much as you can afford and have a few consultations.

I was 1.75 in each eye. The difference is was amazing. I literally walked about for weeks thinking how clear everything is. It was like someone turned the HD on.

I paid about £2600 but I think its a bit more now for a decent surgeon.

 

I need glasses but only to read with , so I wouldn't consider surgery , what would scare me is once you've had it done is that it as you say , if its non reversible your screwed and losing sight would have to be the worst thing for someone that has seen all their life .
I do know friends that have had it done with mixed results , some say its the best thing they've ever had done others that it hasn't made much difference and one who keeps bumping into lampposts , no no he doesn't but he has lost out on his distance vision compared to before.
It must be more precise now though what with technology improving .just make sure your surgeon hasn't got the D.T's

 

there are predominantly two different ways lasek, and lasik…….research these as those i am aware of have said one is better than the other….one is a flap made of the front of the eye the other which is better is the front of the eye layered away, it then grows back...

also i would pay as much as you can to a reputable specialist…..not somewhere in a shopping centre...

Lasek vs Lasik - Lasek Eye Surgery vs Lasik

 

Good thread - am thinking the same Fitz. I know PeteT had his done and hopefully will find this thread.

 

I have a friend who works in surgery doing this op alone for many years and has described some complications that are possible re: scar tissue and deterioration over time but I think the percentages are very small. One advantage of being an old git is I don't need to worry about the distant future re: deterioration

 

Yes I had it done some 5 years ago. I also did a lot of research into the matter beforehand as I was intrigued to whether the process was safe and had longevity. A good friend of mine who was similar age and had long sight problems was my benchmark for me to seek this process. I decided to go for the Lasik elite treatment with Ultralase in Guildford after my friend who did the same. My eyes were 1.95/2.25 so not too bad compared to my friends whose were much worse, but for me never to have to wear glasses again for riding/ motorsports was a relief that I only dreamed of. My costs were around £3800 all in and it was painless to say the least!!! And the added bonus of never to buy prescription glasses for the foreseeable future made my mind up that the cost was reasonable over a period of time.
I have had several checks since and my eyesight is still spot on and suffer no lii effects from having this procedure some years on now.
I hope this helps you and if you have any further questions then please ask.

 

My wife had dual lens replacement with Optical Express last July - she already wore reading glasses and was going to need glasses for distance.
She paid £3500, and her vision is now perfect. She recommends it and since then, her brother, sister, and sister-in-law have all had it done. Well worth it.

 

Had it done back in 2011. Went for the best I could afford (around £2.5k). First 24 hrs felt like permanent grit in my eyes, but within 2 day my vision was good, but with "halo" effect for a couple of weeks. Was only -1.75 and -2.00 with slight astigmatism in one eye. All corrected and still got decent close vision, too (note that in "giving" you some distance vision, they are " taking" some near vision, so your reading of small text may need glasses).

all perfect and really pleased I got it done.

my younger brother got his done about 20 years ago (was a promising young footballer with milk bottle bottom glasses, so insisted on giving himself as good a shot as possible). The techniques back then were Neanderthal in comparison to what is out there now, but his sight has stayed true, but he does suffer a little with dry eyes since his surgery.

depends how much you want it and whether the risk is worth the reward - I honestly don't know anybody personally, or "friend of a friend" that has had any issues, but there are obvious risks.


pete

 

Fine. But as you get older, accommodation (power of the eye to adjust between near and far vision) declines. The age-related decline in accommodation occurs almost universally to less than 2 dioptres by the time a person reaches 45 to 50 years, by which time most of the population will have noticed a decrease in their ability to focus on close objects and hence require glasses for reading or bifocal lenses. Accommodation decreases to essentially 0 dioptres at the age of 70 years. Laser eye surgery cannot do anything about that inevitable process. Don't take my word for it - ask any optician.

 

We take your word for it Pete. We can all see you need large font you old bugger. :biggrin:

 

My wife said "I'm leaving you for a surgeon."

"I can't believe it." I replied.

"Well you could always try to win me back."

"I mean I can't believe he's a surgeon with eyesight that poor"

 

I had it done back in 2000, 14 years ago. As others have said, research the opthalmic surgeon. I did the research and ended up flying to California to Stanford University Hospital as I wanted Dr Ed Manche to undertake the surgery. My myopia and astigmatism was so poor, that I was legally blind at the time: around -1700 in both eyes. I had both eyes operated on at the same time. 30 mins per eye, and I was conscious the whole time, talking football with Dr Manche!

I wore eye patches for the next 2 days, and I couldn't see for those days afterwards. Scary times! But when I took the covers off... It was like Paul on the road to Damascus who had the scales removed from his eyes! Within 1 month, my eyesight was not only perfect, but vision in my left eye was better than normal! At 20/15 I could see at 20 feet what normal people could only see at 15. It was disconcerting at first because EVERYTHING just popped out with phenomenal clarity and edge sharpness... indeed, it was like watching an HD TV for the first time up close.

Overall, it was life changing - I took up scuba diving immediately after, and have dived the past 13 years all over the world, in addition to many other sports that my vision previously precluded. 14 years later, age is taking its toil and although my left eye remains perfect, my right eye has degraded very slightly. However, this was told to me as an expectation before I had the operation 14 years ago. Would I do it again? Absolutely. The younger you are, the quicker and more complete the eyes can heal themselves.

 

I had mine done about 5 years ago, at Bluewater Optical Express. They use the same machine as others so who cares where they are! My misses had lunch while I had my eyes zapped! Best money I've ever spent. As Pete has said, they can't do anything for your close up focusing, once the muscles that do the close focus work get old and tired that's it, welcome to old age

 

The flip side is after ive had 8 pints, every woman looks beautiful.
Beer really does improve vision....

Don't take my word for it - drink more beer !

 

I had it done done in about 2002, when it was first becoming popular in this country. I have never regretted it and although it was very expensive at the time it was worth every penny. I wore glasses for over 20 years before that and it was a real treat to never wear them again.

My eyesight has deteriorated with age slightly but I was warned about that way back when I had it done. I now need glasses for very close up work, like working on small parts of the bike\s but beyond that I don't need them for most daily things at all.

As others have said you do need to do your research though. Mine was done by Boots at the time using an Australian specialist who really knew their stuff. Going without glasses really did change my life.