LASIK laser eye surgery

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Hi all!

Looking into lasik laser eye surgery, all the people I know are all raving about it but they’ve all had it done quite recently.

would like some feedback from those that have had it 5+ or 10+ or 20+ years ago to see how’s it’s been.
Would you recommend it, how old were you when you had it and what was your original prescription.

Thank you!

That’s good to hear, thought a job with lots a screen time might affect the outcome.

I had it done at Optical Express.

My surgeon in particular was incredibly meticulous. The staff (opthamologists?) who did all my pre checks said that they had company policy of X threshold to meet, but he would not operate at Y threshold for example out of personal preference. He also required contact lens users to ditch the lenses and wear glasses for 4 weeks, not the 2 weeks they usually recommend.

My scans initially showed thin ish corneas which would only be okay for Lasek. He absolutely would not operate on -9 or worse so I was fairly borderline at -8.5.

At my pre op consultation with him he said he’d looked at my scans and I should prepare myself for the possibility that it wouldn’t go ahead, but they’d repeat scans on the day. To be honest I liked that it wasn’t a cash grab and he’d reject you on the day if he didn’t think it was safe.

Anyway - on the day itself they redid the scans and my corneas were much better than they appeared on the scans when I’d worn lenses beforehand (they distort your corneas and I wore mine 16 hours a day for 20 years!). They switched me from Lasek to LASIK as he said it was less risky in my position (due to haze risk with lasek on higher prescriptions IIRC).

I had one eye where he wasn’t happy with the flap being in the correct location so I had a bandage lens fitted, which was taken out a couple of days later. Zero pain at all in that eye and it healed perfectly. Other eye was sore for about 4-5 hours afterwards but I was watching TV by the evening.

Id highly recommend them.

May I ask where you had it done?

It was in Glasgow at a clinic that specialised in it. Not sure if they're still there!
I also work at at screen all day and always have done. Never had an issue.

thats really cool, wow -8 to perfect vision.
did it take you a while to adapt to it?

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I had it done about 10 years ago and was back to needing glasses with 5 years and have been wearing glasses/contacts full time again for years. So really a waste of money for me!

Had it done 16 years ago at 30. Was -4.75 with astigmatism. 20/20 till 3 years ago, when I got the weakest strength reading glasses for use when working on spreadsheets. Life changing. Dry eyes for a few months after, and a bit of stsrburst around bright lights at night. But settled down pretty quickly.

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Me and husband had ours done 9 years ago - both because our eyesight was deteriorating due to age (neither of us had prescription glasses but had started to use readers)

We were advised that as our issues were age related, the treatment would not last forever and at some point in the future we'd need glasses but we accepted the risk and they were right - we probably had around seven and a half years before both needing to have a prescription. Was it worth the £2.5k each? We'd say so .

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I have worn gas permeable contacts since I was 16, I think I must be the only person I know who has them and not soft lenses. I have quite bad astigmatism and must be aboutt -7 at least in one of my eyes and not much better in the other.

I can afford laser but have always been scared to do it, due to the possibility that I might end up needing to wear glasses. I'd hate to have to wear glasses if it went wrong. I'd probably be ok if it just didn't work and I was back to contacts again but if what I ended up with was worse than I have now I'd be so upset.

I have thought, though, that I don't want to be so short sighted when I'm an old woman, I'd feel very vulnerablel. So at some point I'll have to do it.

It won't stop you from needing reading glasses - that's age related and down to eyes hardening up over the years. It can correct long- or short-sightedness.

I was a really early one, over 32 years ago ! Had no issues at all till about 2 years ago needing age related reading glasses - now looking at options for this !

There is a small risk that you are left in constant pain and/or with vision problems such as double vision. For me, I would never consider it. because of that even that risk was tiny. You may think it's worth the risk but either way you should research that risk and go into it with your eyes open (not a pun!) ...

amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/18/lasik-laser-eye-surgery

@CreativeOriginalUsername Similar prescription here. Was it incredibly expensive? And did you need to get each eye done twice? This is what I’ve heard about high prescriptions like ours, but I want it not to be true!

I'd mine done on St. Patrick's Day 2008, the day after my 37th birthday. Best thing ever. I'd been wearing glasses since childhood, shortsighted. Absolutely no issues, perfect vision almost immediately. I'm 53 now and need glasses for reading and crafting,started using them about two years ago. My son was even more shortsighted than me, he had his done as a 21st birthday gift, he would have had it earlier but needed a steady prescription for two years. He's 32 now and his sight is perfect (but he misses wearing glasses!!).

It was expensive yes - almost £6,000! Completely worth it for me though.

I only needed one op. They did think I’d need a correction about 3 months in, but my eyes were just over focussing and naturally settled. I think there is a slightly higher risk that you’ll need a correction IIRC and I think they said around 2% of people need to have a minor correction!

Thank you for answering! That is a lot but it might actually be less than I feared?! Did you pay at once or in instalments?

My prescription is -8.5 and -7.5 with astigmatism. I have been almost this short-sighted since I was a small child. I would cry with joy if I woke up one morning actually able to see!

I paid all at once but I believe monthly payments are an option too.

You might as well go for the free consultation and see what you think!

I am really keen to get this done, I have wanted to for years but didnt have the money or was pregnant/had young dc so didn't want to get it done while looking after them. But the websites say I'd need to have a "stable prescription" - but mine seems to get worse every time I go for a eye test (every 2 years). Has everyone here who had it done kept the same prescription for years beforehand?

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would love to know what ages people had it done at?

Thats great- was it both lasik?

I had mine done when it first came out and had to travel to Aberdeen for it as the surgeon? Flew in from Europe on certain days to do it. I was told initially that my eyes were deteriorating quite fast so I'd maybe get 15/20 years out of it before I'd need glasses again. I got 11 years but again it's because I'm deteriorating fast again but on the bright side I like wearing glasses