Laser eye surgery
Discussion
Laser eye surgery - who's had it, who with and what did/do you think?
Lots of horror stories online and would like to approach a company lots of people can vouch for!
Optimax and Optical Express seem to be the big 2 so I'll probably approach both of them for a consultation.
ETA: I'm after "the best" not "the cheapest" - you can't put a price on your health!
Lots of horror stories online and would like to approach a company lots of people can vouch for!
Optimax and Optical Express seem to be the big 2 so I'll probably approach both of them for a consultation.
ETA: I'm after "the best" not "the cheapest" - you can't put a price on your health!
Edited by BE57 TOY on Sunday 12th January 16:10
I had both of mine done ten years ago now at Accuvision in Fulham. Best money I have ever spent on myself, went from a -10 in both eyes to not needing glasses in one quick operation.
The pre-op consultation was very thorough and reassuring( having previously had a consultation at Optimax,scary) and the after care and follow ups just as good.
Choose your consultant/clinic carefully and it's a fabulous thing to have done.
968 on here has given lots of good advice on this subject over the years.
The pre-op consultation was very thorough and reassuring( having previously had a consultation at Optimax,scary) and the after care and follow ups just as good.
Choose your consultant/clinic carefully and it's a fabulous thing to have done.
968 on here has given lots of good advice on this subject over the years.
Had mine done around 5 years ago after saying i would never let anyone near my eyes and after 20 or so years of wearing glasses and contact lenses, i went with Optical Express in Leeds and cost £3300 for both eyes.
It was the weekend before xmas so was manic in Leeds centre, arrived at 9.30 to find the laser had broke so waited hours for the engineers to arrive from Birmingham, ended up getting in at around 16.00 the 1st eye did not go to well as the suction cup kept coming off and i had to sit in the recovery room for 45 minutes until the swelling went down with 1 cornea lasered and 1 partly layered, then back in the room and redone ready for the correction laser, was interesting when the optician says we will input your settings then it will take 15 seconds laser etc etc and you smell a little burning!!!! it all went well after this.
It was not easy getting back to the car as you do not want to open your eyelids as they shut due to the damage, wife drove us home and i had something to eat as i was a little shaky(proper pussy) and went to bed with the great looking eye protectors on, i awoke about midnight and started to be able to see, wifey put the drops in my eyes this did sting due to it being the 1st time and i went back to sleep, got up in the morning and hey presto could see everything without the need for glasses for the 1st time since being a teenager, wife drove us back to Leeds for the eye test and i was signed off with 20/20 vision and told i could drive home.
It was the best thing i have done and completely forget i used to wear glasses, i'm now mid 40's and reckon i will probably require reading glasses in the next few years.
My only recommendation is you go with the best of treatment that you can get and if you go for it good luck although i'm sure you will not need it!
It was the weekend before xmas so was manic in Leeds centre, arrived at 9.30 to find the laser had broke so waited hours for the engineers to arrive from Birmingham, ended up getting in at around 16.00 the 1st eye did not go to well as the suction cup kept coming off and i had to sit in the recovery room for 45 minutes until the swelling went down with 1 cornea lasered and 1 partly layered, then back in the room and redone ready for the correction laser, was interesting when the optician says we will input your settings then it will take 15 seconds laser etc etc and you smell a little burning!!!! it all went well after this.
It was not easy getting back to the car as you do not want to open your eyelids as they shut due to the damage, wife drove us home and i had something to eat as i was a little shaky(proper pussy) and went to bed with the great looking eye protectors on, i awoke about midnight and started to be able to see, wifey put the drops in my eyes this did sting due to it being the 1st time and i went back to sleep, got up in the morning and hey presto could see everything without the need for glasses for the 1st time since being a teenager, wife drove us back to Leeds for the eye test and i was signed off with 20/20 vision and told i could drive home.
It was the best thing i have done and completely forget i used to wear glasses, i'm now mid 40's and reckon i will probably require reading glasses in the next few years.
My only recommendation is you go with the best of treatment that you can get and if you go for it good luck although i'm sure you will not need it!
I know a few people who have had this done, and all are very pleased with the results. However, i also know a few opthalmic surgeons, and none have had their eyes lasered. make of that what you will.
As others have said, choose your provider carefully, and i am sure you will be pleased.
As others have said, choose your provider carefully, and i am sure you will be pleased.
Everyone I know who's had it done couldn't recommend it enough, I still haven't plucked up the courage though. I'd rather wear glasses/contacts for the rest of my life than risk the small probability of something going wrong and losing your most important sense. Maybe in a few years/decades when there's some statistics on the long term effects.
Slightly off topic but...
Question for those who have had it done (I had mine done 2 and 4 years ago, Accuvision here too), do you still go for eye tests? More for the health check rather than sight test?
I was recently concious that I haven't had a eye 'health' check up recently (glaucoma in the family too) so have myself booked into Specsavers as they are doing free eye tests. I told the person who I spoke to I've had laser and that I just want a health check. Just wondering what their attitude will be during the actual test.
Rob
Question for those who have had it done (I had mine done 2 and 4 years ago, Accuvision here too), do you still go for eye tests? More for the health check rather than sight test?
I was recently concious that I haven't had a eye 'health' check up recently (glaucoma in the family too) so have myself booked into Specsavers as they are doing free eye tests. I told the person who I spoke to I've had laser and that I just want a health check. Just wondering what their attitude will be during the actual test.
Rob
BE57 TOY said:
Thanks for everyone's responses. Do we have any eye surgeons on the forum?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...rdhawkins said:
Slightly off topic but...
Question for those who have had it done (I had mine done 2 and 4 years ago, Accuvision here too), do you still go for eye tests? More for the health check rather than sight test?
I was recently concious that I haven't had a eye 'health' check up recently (glaucoma in the family too) so have myself booked into Specsavers as they are doing free eye tests. I told the person who I spoke to I've had laser and that I just want a health check. Just wondering what their attitude will be during the actual test.
Rob
Hi,Question for those who have had it done (I had mine done 2 and 4 years ago, Accuvision here too), do you still go for eye tests? More for the health check rather than sight test?
I was recently concious that I haven't had a eye 'health' check up recently (glaucoma in the family too) so have myself booked into Specsavers as they are doing free eye tests. I told the person who I spoke to I've had laser and that I just want a health check. Just wondering what their attitude will be during the actual test.
Rob
Yes I still went, not as often as I should have done. Was diagnosed this year with open angle Glaucoma, no history of it in the family but it is a known and fairly common side effect of extreme shortsightedness.
I would reccomend going for an annual check up just for the health check of your eyes.
Mick
I had it done in November 2009, I was -11 diopters in both eyes, with a double astigmatism 
. Totally, utterly life changing.
Before I could not really play sports properly, swimming was a nightmare, riding a bike was a pain, wearing a helmet/ goggles/ anything like that was a real problem.
Do it, do it & never look back (pun intended!). You only live once, why suffer when the technology & medical science is out there to improve your life to such a huge degree? I'm just gutted that I had to wait until I was 29 for it to happen as I missed out on so much
. The way I see it, it is like climbing aboard an aircraft to go to an exotic holiday destination.
Yes it carries an inherent risk, it is potentially fatal, but the safty record of aviation proves that flying is safe, and 99.999999% of people will fly all their lives without ever having an incident, let alone an accident! You have to trust the technology & training, and the professionalism of the people involved in putting you in harms way. Same with laser eye surgery, the pay off is so huge & the risk so minimal, it is a real shame to miss out on all the benefits due to living in fear of a terribly unlikely event.
DO IT!!!!!!
(PM me if you want to chat about anything, I will gladly call you on the phone)
. Totally, utterly life changing.Before I could not really play sports properly, swimming was a nightmare, riding a bike was a pain, wearing a helmet/ goggles/ anything like that was a real problem.
Do it, do it & never look back (pun intended!). You only live once, why suffer when the technology & medical science is out there to improve your life to such a huge degree? I'm just gutted that I had to wait until I was 29 for it to happen as I missed out on so much
. The way I see it, it is like climbing aboard an aircraft to go to an exotic holiday destination.Yes it carries an inherent risk, it is potentially fatal, but the safty record of aviation proves that flying is safe, and 99.999999% of people will fly all their lives without ever having an incident, let alone an accident! You have to trust the technology & training, and the professionalism of the people involved in putting you in harms way. Same with laser eye surgery, the pay off is so huge & the risk so minimal, it is a real shame to miss out on all the benefits due to living in fear of a terribly unlikely event.
DO IT!!!!!!
(PM me if you want to chat about anything, I will gladly call you on the phone)Where are you based? I had It done recently and am delighted with the result although I had to go for a second time to have both eyes tweaked as I wasn't happy with the outcome of the first treatment. I would still highly recommend the surgeon who did my treatment as the surgery was fine, it was a combination of my original prescription (only -2.5 with astigmatism) and the fact that the eye is a living organism so is the outcome is not 100% predictable
I had mine done at a local private clinic, albeit one with over ten years experience - I wouldn't recommend traveling any great distance to get it done as my surgery included maybe 6 follow up eye tests
I had mine done at a local private clinic, albeit one with over ten years experience - I wouldn't recommend traveling any great distance to get it done as my surgery included maybe 6 follow up eye tests
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