Has anyone regretted laser eye surgery after years of wearing glasses?

[TooBigForMyBoots]

I've been wearing glasses since my early 20s. 30 years on (give or take), my eyesight is pretty much fucked. I wear my main glasses on a chain and have a scattering of reading glasses about the house. In my bags. And all my coat pockets.🙈

I've got to the stage where I need different glasses to get by and I'm sick of it!

I'm thinking of asking my family for vouchers for eye laser surgery for Christmas and my birthday this year with the view of having the treatment in early 2027. But I worry it may make things worse.

Can it?
Does it?
How do you feel going without glasses after wearing them your whole adult life?

The first thing you need to do is have a consultation and establish if you can have a type of surgery. There's a bunch of different types. Sometimes with really awful eyesight you'll see an improvement but still need glasses! So you need to decide whether that's still worth it for you.

Also having an idea of how much it costs will be helpful.

Did you have it?
What did you think?

I use monthly multi focal contact lenses from vision express.

I had it and absolutely love it. Not a single regret.

Can I ask what age you had it?

Would you consider lens replacement surgery? I had this a couple of years ago, and my only regret is that I didn’t have it sooner. I only did it because I was starting to get cataracts, but a friend had it done in her 50s. It’s given me perfect distance vision, and pretty close reading. I use glasses for ease of reading, but I can manage without for most things. Absolutely life changing.

I was 42

@MerelyPlaying Wow, that's a much more invasive process. I'd be surprised if anyone was willing to do it without a medical reason.

Well laser surgery is irreversible! The quality of vision I’ve had is fantastic. It’s actually not that unusual, for people who can afford it.

Yes, they're both irreversible and both correctable. I'm was just taken by surprise because everyone I know who's had RLE has done it because they had a medical reason, and I do know one person who had a very difficult time after but she's much older. But if they're doing it as an elective now, I'd certainly look into it.

OP, if you can get to Moorfields, I'd highly recommend seeing someone there for a consultation.

My DP had it and regrets not doing it sooner. It has been life changing for him.

I had laser eye surgery a few months by Prof David Gartry at Moorfields (first person in the UK to perform laser eye surgery) and I'd also highly recommend going to Moorfields, and to see him if you can.
I had a high prescription (over -9) and had worn glasses or contact lenses for over 34 years. I have perfect vision now and no ill effects, except my eyes are still dry in the morning but I just use eye drops when I wake and it's fine for the rest of the day.

I had LASEK surgery, and recovery was slightly painful and relatively slow compared to LASIK, but looking back it was a minor inconvenience and absolutely worth it.

Mine was done by him too. He's not much in the bedside manner department, but an excellent eye surgeon.

I think my preference would be replacement lens surgery.

I had Lasik surgery with David Gartry at Moorfields c1999/2000 in my 20s (so it's good to hear he's still going, @Ealsia.)

It was quite a new technique then, and I researched the pros and cons. The initial consultation might have had the result, "your eyes aren't suitable." These days, I assume it will go through the different options that are now available, as well as risks and suitability.

I'm now 54 and just starting to need reading glasses (which they always told me I'd need from my 40s, as that's just ageing.) I don't regret having done it at all.

But some people do have issues with side effects like haloing and problems with night vision. The risks are reduced with more experienced surgeons... although unless you go to somewhere like Moorfields, they might not actually be a surgeon, but an optometrist who's taken extra training to specialise.

Do your research, find out the options for your prescription, weigh up the risks for yourself and decide accordingly.

There is a doc called Broken Eyes about lasik.

If you're worried about surgery, have you tried contact lenses with just a paid of reading glasses of needed?

I'm at about the same stage as you, and I get my best vision with contacts, no additional help needed. But when I wear my varifocal glasses I can't read my piano music!

My husband has much better aight than me but he's a few years older and his close up vision is poor (presbyopia) , so he wears reading glasses. But he needs different ones for pc screens, for devices etc. his optician recently recommended contact lenses with just a single pair of glasses for distance.

Had you tried progressive lens? Good quality ones work well after a few days or weeks of adjustment. I wouldn’t touch lasik (I’ve just watched the first 15 mins of that doc I noted above). If you over 50, a lens replacement may be more suitable.

I did consider getting it back in 2010, but worried about long term implications and the expense .

16 years on I think it might be for me.

Thank you to everyone who posted. I'll research this further.

I had lens replacement, purely for eyesight purposes rather than cataracts, at Moorfields. They said I wasn’t a good candidate for laser as would still need glasses for I think it was reading, which I spend a lot of time doing. I’m mid 50s. The lens replacement is pretty amazing, I now have better than 20-20 vision. The one drawback is I have issues with glare, so when I’m outside I need sunglasses a lot of the time, weirdly enough not so much when it’s sunny but when the sky is a uniform cloudy grey or white. Indoors though it’s perfect.

My friends wife had laser surgery and suffers terribly from dry eyes. Itchy all the time apparently.

@TooBigForMyBoots why not try Ortho-K contacts? They are worn overnight to temp reshape the cornea. You take them out in the.morning

I had it about 15 years ago when I wa in my mid fifties. No problems at all. Best money I ever spent! I need glasses for reading but that's not a problem.

I'm fed up with glasses and contact lenses too. I'm pushing 70 and my optician tells me they can see initial signs of cataracts. We're all going to get them as we get older to a greater or lesser extent. I'm almost looking forward to them getting bad enough that I can get RLE on the NHS and be done with the specs after more than 60 years!

I came very close to laser surgery 20 odd years ago but it turned out my corneas were too thin so it didn't happen. Even if I had the cataract problem would still happen, so elective RLE could be a good option anyway.

That's my two pence worth!

I am looking into lense replacement. I’ve only needed glasses for 3 years and I’m fucked off with it already! Two friends have had elective lense replacement and it’s been life changing. 20/20 vision, no need for glasses at any time.

I had lens replacement surgery in my mid 40s, purely for vision correcting. Best thing I ever spent money on. I was incredibly short sighted, now I have perfect vision with no need for glasses and I'm knocking on the door of 60.