Hi All,
I'm a glasses and contact lense wearer..often wondered about laser eye surgery.
It's always being advertised at a cost FROM £395 per eye.
I know 2 people who have had the treatment at a cost of £3000 & £3450 they say it was worth every penny and their eyesight is perfect with no after side affects.
I'd love to give it a go, but at the £3k price is down the list of priorities (I could get a nice Pam at that price :lol: ). Knowing my luck also I'd be seeing double.
Might book an appointment for assessment and quote.
Any thoughts / experiences :?:
A guy I know had it done. He said it was the best money he'd ever spent. Within 3-4 hours he could see perfectly whereas before that he'd been wearing glasses that did look like the stereotypical coke bottle bottom.
If my eyes were really bad I'd do it. You should go for it if yours are, and if you've got the cash.
Had it done at Boots when it was fairly new about 12 years ago. I always struggle to remember if I was short/longsighted, but I could read a book, but blind as a bat driving.
It was expensive and I needed it done three times on one eye and twice on the other to get it right :shock:
That said, it was the best thing I ever had done. I could look at birds bums in the swimming baths for one!
With continued computer use I am now getting to the point I know my eyesight has deteriorated and need glasses for reading, driving, tv and time at the pc, but you are warned this will still occur. I'm 45 now.
Forget the "£395 per eye". :wink:
I paid c. £3500 7 years ago and it was the greatest investment I ever made. Just imagine a life without glasses or contact lenses - how good would that be? But from a monetary POV have a guess at how much you'll spend on specs or on contact lenses/cleaning fluids/eye examinations, etc for the rest of your life?
:wink:
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
A mate at work had it done seven years ago in a specialist clinic in London. He had his lens reattached back to front and unclean which caused infection. He was in incredible agony for weeks and had to have remedial surgery which has permanently affected his sight. He was awarded £37,000 in damages earlier this year in an out of court settlement.
Cheers guys,
A few answers...
my eyes aren't that bad and my prescription if fairly light...but I couldn't get away without the specs..
Contacts are daily desposables.
I'm 39...coming 40 in January and my wife better get me a belter of a watch to celebrate.
I'm pretty active at sports, cycle about 3 times a week and coach football 3 times a week(soccer to our american friends :lol: ). It's just the hassle of wearing glasses and contacts that I would like to be free from.
I don't have 3k lying about, but if I can get it for £1k-£1.5k it would make more sense to me and make me go for it.
My pet hate is that I like lying on the sofa at night to watch tele and I'm always afraid of bending my frames and I hate falling asleep with the contact in...yuck !
I asked this question a while back - here is the post and the answers viewtopic.php?f=2&t=116235&hilit=+laser
Also, another post on the subject - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=134220&hilit=+laser
I still haven't gone for it. I'm concious that with time the eye changes shape and that I may well still have to wear glasses again inthe future even if I had it done. Also, the minority of horror stories bother me, but that's just me using that as an excuse, these things happen, with everything - Imagine not driving becise fo what has happened to someone else.
I think that age is an issue to consider.
I've thought about this numerous times as well. I play a lot of football for which I wear contacts and the rest of the time I wear glasses. I would love to be free of both even for simple things like waking in the night and checking a clock! So far I've always been put off by the occassional story of things going wrong e.g. cannop's mate, and the possiblity of vision issues particularly at night e.g. halos etc.
Would be interested to hear how it goes if you go for a consultation.
£395 is for prescriptions so weak that it wouldn't be sensible to treat. :lol:
I spent years considering it and researching the place and guy who I had the most confidence in and in the end had it done at Accuvision in Fulham by Chad Rostron. This was 2.5 years ago and my sight is still perfect. The only longterm side effect I've had is that my eyes are ever so slightly drier than they used to be. Not enough to need drops but dry enough that when I do use drops occasionally after sitting in front of a computer all day it's quite relaxing.
My prescription had been stable for years beforehand and I was 26 when I had it done. That's about the optimum time really as you get the most benefit before needing reading glasses. If you're nearly 40 and your long vision isn't too bad I'd be tempted to leave it I think as you will soon be needing reading glasses anyway. If your long vision is bad then it's worth doing even if you need reading glasses already as you won't need a selection of glasses or varifocals etc.
If you're able to get to Accuvision their consultation is free and you'll be subjected to the best eye test you're ever likely to have so it's worth going just for that.
I had mine done 10 years ago. I was playing a lot of football and got fed up with contact lenses being knocked out of my eyes during games and the general hassle of putting them in and taking them out on a daily basis.
I paid £500 per eye from a company called Optimax (I think). I followed the after care instructions to the letter putting in the various drops at the right times etc. My eyes healed really fast and my vision was and still is perfect.
My eye sight wasn't that bad (about -2) but I needed glasses / contact lenses for driving and seeing anything at distance clearly. I couldn't walk into a pub and recognise my mates at the other end of the bar without my contacts in.
I look back now and still think it is the best decision I have ever made.
I have recommeded it to friends and family and 5 of them have had it done, all with fantastic results.
I had it done in 1993 when the cost was something like £4,000 per eye. It was around the time the very first private surgeries opened to have the correction done and I was told I was one of the first 100 people in the UK to have it done. The techniques and procedure have moved on a great deal as when I had it done, the surgeon prepared you for the op by manually scraping away the surface of the eye by hand !!! before they could switch to the laser to start the corrective work.
The first 24 hours after the op were painfull to say the least (had very strong prescription pain killers to take and boy did you know when they were wearing off). Had to have the eye covered for 3 days after the operation and then wait 3 months for it to fully heal and recover before they would confirm what the results of the sight correction were and would do the second eye.
18 years later I'm about to hit the stage where I'll need reading glasses within a couple of years but don't regret having it done as the difference it made to my quality of life (and saving on prescription glasses and sunglasses is very significant.
My wife had the procedure done about 6 years ago and things were totally different, almost totally pain free and she could see out of the eye pretty much straight after the operation and all done for less than a third of the cost I paid.
Have you thought of ortho k contact lenses?
You wear them at night and it corrects vision so you don't need to wear any during the day. Great for sport etc and is fully reversible. Works better on low prescription. I've had them 2 years works great most of the time. Some getting used to wearing them at night but soon passes. A good step to take if your scared of lasers etc
Ab
I also wear contacts for last 10+ years - I'm 28 now and I got to the habit of putting them in first thing in the morning and taking them off last thing - regardless if I'm drunk as a pig or tired or whatever - I will always remember to take them off.
My eye sight is about -1.5 so not much but I wouldn't feel confident driving etc.
anyway to the point - I wouldn't risk having eye surgery because I don't think wearing contacts is such a hassle - it isn't really, I'm fairly active, play basketball a lot (more contact sport than football...) and maybe once in my entire life lost contact due to being hit whilst playing...
also what's important, apparently as you get older your eyesight goes towards + (so you need glasses to read but you see fine in distance)
this means that as I get older, my -1.5 is likely to eventually start to disappear... If I had surgery I may not need glasses now but may need them sooner when I'm in my 50s or 60s...
just my 2c
Yee dfnt*lee g fooor (t ivv niivee lokkked bock
obviously procedure worked miracles! :-)Originally Posted by BRGS
I had a quick look at this just now - looks interesting, never heard of it before - so do you just put them on every night or every 2nd night or how?
(I've copied this reply I'd made on a similar thread, and it still holds true - M 8) ):
I had mine done in late 2001, by UltraLase (Harley Street).
I was getting quite shortsighted, and having trouble seeing clearly over any distance (Bus numbers, Road signs etc). It got to the point that mates would rip the p*ss out of my squinting at Football Manager on the telly (the old text only version, Football Crazy, on the Atari STe...those were the days..).
Couldn't get on with contacts (apparently the high protein levels in my eyes would dry out and eventually ruin contacts).
So after a year or two of glasses, took the plunge. After negotiating, I paid £1600 (9 years ago!).
Conclusion: One of the best decisions I ever made. One day of discomfort, woke up next day to a whole new unblurred world. Great pre-surgery consultation, good consultant, aftercare check-ups after a week, a month and 6 months.
Went to Boots in May this year, as I hadn't had any sort of check-up since the UltraLase aftercare in early 2002. Despite heavy computer use, my vision is still 6/6 (i.e. pretty much perfect) in both eyes . Won't even need a check up for another 2 years.
Only minor downside is that driving at night, I do get a faint 'halo' when looking at bright lights, oncoming headlights etc, but it really is only slight, and I was informed beforehand that this was likely.
IMHO, it's the best £1600 I've ever spent, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
I had mine done in 2004 at Moorfield Eye Hospital. It was great - could see perfectly for years and it was wonderful not wearing glasses or contacts.
I'm now 42 and unfortunately my eyes have deteriorated so I need contacts / glasses again - especially for reading.
While it lasted it was great. I would NOT economise on the procedure though. I paid close to 3k in 2004 and already then you could get it done at 500k per eye. Not an area of my life I wanted to risk. No point in the PAM if you can't see to enjoy it.
At 40 with your eyes the way they are, I'd wait a bit. I am 49 and my last 2 prescriptions have been identical and only marginal change to the one prior.
I am now for the first time seriously considering surgery.
Gray
I've had both of mine done. Had to have a slight correction within 6 months on both as I wanted them as perfect as possible. Only had a slight prescription before and for the last - hmm must be almost 15 years I haven't had to wear glasses. I paid a lot but I'm more than happy with the results - my night vision was awful before the surgery and I can't comment on any bad starburst or other bad effects.
It's just a matter of time...
Both eyes done (I had been shortsighted from the age of 4) 14 years ago. Ambulatory surgery (took 20 minutes), cost me 10000 French Francs overall ( 1100 GBP in 1996). Half the money paid back by the Securite Sociale (the Welfare State of the Sovietic Republic of France). I tend to be light sensitive (especially at night and in Summer), but worked wonder till now. My best investment ever.
I volunteered to be a guinea pig for photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in the mid-90s, because I wanted to extend my pistol-shooting life, having won a European gold medal in 1990. The operations were done at St Thomas' Hospital in London by Mr David O'Brart.
The operations were, within the technology of the day, successful. The 24 hours after each operation were also very painful. which was to be expected after PRK. If a broken limb is 7/10, then PRK was 8. Happily, it's no longer used. Still, I was glad to have it done, there were no complications and I had the pleasure & reassurance of 17 visits to St Thomas' for follow-up checks and research.Following his qualification as an Ophthalmic Surgeon in 1990, he trained in corneal and small-incision cataract surgery. He spent two years at the United Medical and Dental Schools, University of London, investigating the role of Excimer Laser Refractive and Corneal surgery. This research led to the completion of a Doctorate in Medicine. Upon completion of his ophthalmic surgical training at St. Thomas' Hospital, London and Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, he undertook a fellowship with Professor Weinreb at the internationally renowned Shiley Eye centre in San Diego, California, where he studied advanced techniques in Glaucoma.
Mr. O'Brart is a council member and current treasurer of the United Kingdom and Ireland Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, a past council member and secretary of the British Society of Refractive Surgeons and past-president and ...
During this process, Mr O'Brart told me that he spent one day a month in court as an expert witness in cases brought against private eye surgery companies. His advice to me was to have 'eye work' done only at St Thomas' or Moorfields.
I had it done this Christmas just gone at Ultralase in Cambridge. Cost £4k for both eyes.
The op was a bit unpleasant and toe curling, and I had severe pain (proper excruciating like you have glass dust and acid in your eyes!) for about 8 hours afterwards, but the next morning it was amazing. I was 33 and had worn specs since I was 5 so to be able to just see better than 20/20 in both eyes is amazing.
Best thing so far was swimming in the med last week and being able to check out the hot chicks on the beach ;) Oh and getting your face wet in the rain is blissful and walking into pubs and restaurants in winter etc etc.
Must say though that after a month of using the drops as directed after the op, I developed nasty dry eye syndrome and spent 3-4 weeks shitting myself that I was going to be stuck using drops every 20 minutes for the rest of my life. I think it was the scariest month of my life, I really wished that I'd not had it done. But Ultralase were great and very reassuring. It helped that two of the girls who looked after me had had the procedure done too, that made me feel much more comfortable.
I'm pleased to report that my eyes both recovered as I was told they would and now 9 months in, I can say that it was a great decision, I'm very pleased and have great vision. Hopefully I'll get 10-15 years without needing specs which will be well worth it.
I know I could have had it done for a lot less money, but in a strange way, I actually wanted to spend as much as possible and have the best guy available do it!!
I was about -3 in each eye and had astigmatism.
I'm now one line below 20/20 in each eye. (20/15?) I get slight ghosting around street lamps and the moon etc, but nothing too worrying. Night vision is fine other than that. I did also get very photosensitive for about 4 months, but that's gone back to normal now too.
Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat about it.
Greg
I had it done years ago when it was all new. Eye correction worked out fine but was then in pain for about a year. Think they damaged one of my tear ducts which affected lubrication.
I had mine done 4 years ago, by Ultralase costing £3,700. The end results are fantastic, but getting there was a bit traumatic.
To make sure the laser moves with your eye movement, they put a suction type egg cup around and down the side of your eye and attach the other end to the laser. The first eye went ok, but the guy doing my procedure couldnt get it positioned right for the second eye. After 5 minutes of literally forcing it down onto my eyeball, and the most painful experience of my life, he said he'd take a break and try again. I was left with lying on the table for a few minutes not being able to see anything apart from the flashing LED on the laser which took up about 75% of my viewing field, with thoughts of will I ever see properly again going through my head.
After trying again he eventually got it on and everything went ok. I couldnt open my eyes for more than a few several hours after operation with the feeling like having dirt or loads of eyelashes stuck in my eyes.
Some people go back to work a few hours after having the operation, I was off work for the rest of the afternoon and 2 days after. My sight was perfect after about 24 hours, however my eye took 2 months to fully heal as most of the eyeball was blood red.
I'd still recommend it as the end result is great, however, just remember it is not a routine operation and things can and do go wrong.
i'm just plain jealous of you guys. i had to give up wearing contacts in my teens due to dry eye problem. so that rules out eye surgery and contacts. so it's plain old specs for me. at least you can get thinner lenses these days, but my eyes are around -9 so i am as blind as a bat without :)
Yes put them in every night. If you miss an evening like I did over the weekend my vision deteriorated but still ok in one eye but not the other. I think it depends on prescription how long it can work for. I have -3 but also a 1.75 astigmatism so my resultscan be a bit random on some days. But not too bad. Costs about the same as daily disposables but so much nicer not wearing lenses during the day.obviously procedure worked miracles! :-)
I had a quick look at this just now - looks interesting, never heard of it before - so do you just put them on every night or every 2nd night or how?
Ab
My son has had it done.
Amazing results.
Paul
GOT...TO...KILL...CAPTAIN STUPID!
Both I and my eldest brother had our eye surgery carried out by Prof Clive Mortimer - he was imo exceptionally good and reassuring. I understand that he has since sadly passed away.
It's just a matter of time...
If you are older than 23 years old and situation has stabilized then go for it. Best thing ever. No more glasses or lenses. How about playing football? No problem.
However do not look for bargain. We are talking about eyes! I went for surgery at the best clinic and good doctor at the time. I think it was back at 2005. Cost was 2000 Euros back then. Best investment ever! If your eyesight is constant and has not changed for a year or two, then no problem.
YES :)
It's just a matter of time...
I'm -5.75 and got astigmatism as well. Have been thinking about it since the children have arrived. Hate being so dependent on glasses when in the water. And don't even get me started on glasses under the bike helmet :(
I am only afflicted with the typical age-related need for reading glasses, but my brother (now around 50) had life-long severe myopia and had both his eyes done (one at a time of course) in his late 30s/early 40s and sings the praises of laser surgery. He wore coke bottle glasses as a teenager (with all the associated social problems) and contacts as an adult. Nothing now.
You can buy swimming goggles with approximately your prescription at a reasonable price (I have -5 for one eye and -6 for the other) and I have some BBB cycling goggles with varifocal inserts. They work well for me.
I had it done in 2010 and agree with the sentiments of many other posters, it was the best money I've ever spent.
I had the intra wavefront LASIK treatment done, it wasn't cheap but I took advantage of a 0% finance offer they were doing at the time.
I also had problems when they were attaching the suction cup to one of my eyes, I almost told them to stop as it was so painfull but am glad that I didn't.
Make sure you follow the aftercare instructions to the letter is the best bit of advice I can give.
I love the freedom it's given me, not having to reach for my glasses first thing in the morning was an amazing feeling after having worn specs for more than 25 years.
All the best.
Yes, as per another thread, I had it done a few years back and I have absolutely no regrets. Expensive (around 3k I think) but absolutely worth every penny
I had it done in 2005 and 8 years later I can still read the bottom line on the sight test. I couldn't even see the chart before it was done! :)
I had laser eye surgery about 17 years ago and it was bloody pain full ,but my sister had it done 6 years ago and she was fine.
My eye is still good 17 years on ,money well spent .
Thinking about having mine done again. I'm just over -1 in one eye and under -1 in the other, but find I need to wear glasses again :( I've been expecting my vision to go more long sighted with age, but it hasn't happened, I'll probably need lots of different specs for different things
It's just a matter of time...
I wear a +1.25 pound land eye (magnifying) glasses.
I had the laser done in 2007 at Vision Express in a shopping centre. The best 1400 pounds I ever spent.
I can now wear sun glasses to drive or on the beach, where before I had to wear the tinted specs from the optometrist.
Very happy and would have it done a second time.
The pain is short lived about an hour after the procedure my eyes watered for about 4 hours and the pain was `i suppose as bad as Arc Eyes any welder will have experienced some time in their lives.
The ophthalmologist who did my laser claimed to be the third best in the UK and he had worked in Florida for some time for NASA.
Had my eyes lasered a few years back and while it was nerve wracking and reasonably uncomfortable - it was definitely worth it. Best advantages:
Can muck about with the kids without worrying about bending frames
Can take the kids swimming and still see them without having to wear prescription goggles or my glasses in the pool
No need to wear glasses under goggles when snowboarding (two sets of lenses to fog up)
Went to the optician the other day and after being quoted £550 for some new glasses, I asked if they thought I could get my eyes lasered. In the past I've been told it's not possible with my prescription (-12 in one eye and with big astigmatisms in both) but she thought that I should be able to now. Recommended London Vision Clinic as the best in London.
It's £250 to have the consultation to see whether they could do it, and then £6,500 for the procedure. Interest free is available but it's still a big commitment, especially as we have plans for works on the house.
People always say it is the best money they ever spent but at this price, is it?
I sympathise as I am minus 11. If I were to do it (not any time soon as I I have just spent money on the house too and need to start clearing the mortgage) I would not skimp on the price but go straight to Moorfields.
I know that a lot of people from adjacent countries have had their eyes lased at Finnish clinics. The prices are way lower (unless the quote was for something different than these wavefront / smile etc ops) and the quality is very high in international comparison. Perhaps you should treat yourself with a nice trip north and save part of the price towards something nice on your wrist.
I know that there are very cheap clinics in some East European countries, but they tend not to publish their statistics.
Are Moorfields regarded as the best? What's that based on?
Their prices (http://www.davidgartry.co.uk/our-prices.html) are almost the same as the London Vision Clinic (http://www.londonvisionclinic.com/prices/), however LVC has a more expensive treatment for special cases.
With -12 myopia you might consider clear lens extraction. It's the same as cataract surgery, just without the cataract (eye lens that becomes opaque with age). They remove the original lens and replace it with an artifical plastic lens that is calculated to correct your vision. In your case this would mean toric/cylindric implants. It's an ambulatory procedure and if you choose monofocal implants (no multifocals but just lenses corrected for distance vision) you will need reading glasses afterwards but you will have good, possibly even great, distance vision and no problems with haze, halos etc.. Myopia is even easier to correct with intra-ocular lenses because the implant needs far lower dioptric power and so the margin for precise placement is larger than in a 'normal' eye. Plus, you'll never get cataracts later...
Depending on the country and the hospital/eye clinic, an implant may actually be cheaper per eye than LASIK.
(Note: I just had cataract surgery. I was about -6 myopic and had strong astigmatism in one eye. I now have better distance eyesight than I ever had with glasses or contacts and only need reading glasses, like almost everybody over 50.)
I was the original Mr Magoo, with thick vari focals. Blind as a bat without them. I tried various High St shops but they all said that I would still need specs for reading. Which rather negated having them done.
Then my company paid for me to see Prof Dan Reinstein at the London Vision Clinic.
He pioneered a new treatment called Blended vision. as a result my right eye (my telescope) does every thing from about 5-6 feet away.
My left eye (my microscope) does all of my reading and close work.
In the mid distance they both work. with no night vision problems.
Five years later they have been checked several times with no change. The Proff is a genius.
He also does the majority of celebs.
Best thing that I have ever had done.
Last edited by Steve27752; 29th April 2014 at 18:59.
Amazing story. How come your company paid? Was it hard to adjust to the new way of seeing?
Five years ago I was 30 years old, had a prescription of -7.0 and -7.5 and had thin corneas. Because of this I was recommended LASEK rather than LASIK. Paid £2200 at Optical Express in Newcastle. The service and treatment was brilliant. I think I was lucky since my treatment is supposed to be the painful, long to heal variety, but the procedure was merely 5 minutes of discomfort with about 10 seconds of mild pain in the middle. And my recovery was entirely pain free, just that 'got up in the night for a pee and the toilet light is stinging my eyes' sensation for a week or two, lessening all the while.
After my 3 month checkup once they'd properly settled down, I came away with 20-10 vision. I did have dry eyes for about the first 6 months, sometimes needing to use drops when I would first wake up, but after 5 minutes of being up, drops or not, I'd be fine. Now no unwanted effects at all.
One of the very best things I've ever done.
yes its fantastic etc, but there is one major thing to consider,
if you have it done, there is a chance that your eyes can continue to get worse, just like a spectacle user, who needs to change their prescription after 5 years say,
this has happened to two of my friends, who are now both wearing glasses again
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