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Original poster

Laser eye surgery

38 replies

nokissymum · 16/05/2011 13:13

please is there anyone who has had laser/LASIK eye surgery and do you think it was worth it ? Ive just been for the initial assessment and I seem a suitable candidate, but would like to discuss more with people who have actually done it.

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MLWfirsttimemum · 16/05/2011 13:31

Yes, I've had it and is very happy with the results. I waited until my optician (who I've been seeing since I was a child) told me that they never saw in cases of it having gone seriously wrong any more and that if I was his daughter he'd recommend I did it. This was 5 years ago and I have never met anyone who isn't happy they did it.

Original poster
nokissymum · 16/05/2011 13:47

Hi, which one did you go for, i was told one has a faster recover period I.e 24hrs versus a week, but it's £1000 dearer! I have astigmatism and short sighed as well, I now also need reading glasses, so it's all going a bit crazy.

What was your recovery like and who did you do it with ?

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MLWfirsttimemum · 17/05/2011 13:44

I didn't have a choice which one to go for - I was extremely short-sighted and had to be seen by a specialist who only came over to the UK from Canada once a month for special cases and because of my astigmatism plus short-sightedness had to have the treatment with the longer recovery period.

I didn't think the recovery was too bad - basically my eyes got a bit dry. You are not allowed to use your eyes for three or four days so basically spent 3 days in bed with my eyes closed, listening to the radio (thank god for Radio 4). It didn't hurt at all, though, my eyes got a bit dry during the recovery is all.

BUT I/we didn't have children at the time so that kind of recovery was possible - don't think I could do that now with a 2 year old in the house Smile.

I think I had it done with Ultralase. Hope this is helpful!

mrsravelstein · 17/05/2011 13:46

watching (shortsiightedly) with interest as I am also considering taking the plunge after 25 years of contact lenses... i have been recommended someone at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London - much more expensive than many of the places I've seen advertised but feel like I would be in safe hands there

Original poster
nokissymum · 17/05/2011 13:50

mlw thank you very much for sharing. I've had my initial assessment done with ultralase. Do you have to wear glasses at all now ?

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Original poster
nokissymum · 17/05/2011 13:53

Mrsravel I'm hoping we'll get some more mners to share their experiences if any, just to get more info.

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mrsravelstein · 17/05/2011 14:06

i know about 15 people who've had it done and they all rave about it, must say i cannot imagine what it must be like to wake up in the morning and be able to see (-7 in both eyes, me)

Original poster
nokissymum · 17/05/2011 14:25

How come you know 15 people ! Are you in an eye club or something ? [Grin] I don't even know 1 person.

thanks for sharing that, well I haven't heard anything negative so far, bite the bullet and have it done. Probably in September.

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MLWfirsttimemum · 17/05/2011 14:34

Nokissy - no I don't have to wear glasses at all. My sight with (hard) contact lenses was better than 20/20, I don't see that well any more, but still well enough to not need any kind of glasses.

mrsravelstein · 17/05/2011 14:41

i don't know, i obviously have a lot of short sighted friends (ponders what this says about me)

Original poster
nokissymum · 17/05/2011 22:02

Doesn't say anything about you at all Smile I know what you mean. Wink

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Original poster
nokissymum · 17/05/2011 22:05

MLW may I ask what was wrong with your eyes before ? Sounds brilliant that you don't need any kind of glasses anymore.

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MoreBeta · 17/05/2011 22:15

I had LASEK surgery about 12 days ago.

I was fairly short sighted and wore glases all the time but am now long sighted after the surgery and no longer wear glasses. I will increasingly need reading glasses as I get older but am currently able to read small print without glasses for short periods if I need to.

It was very uncomfortable for the first 5 days and I could barely see and my eyes will take 3 months to fully recover. At the moment, the quality of my eyesight at all distances is about 90% of where I hope it will be.

LASEK is the worst form of surgery for pain. The operation did not hurt but after it really does.

The operation has been worth it and am very happy with the results.

MoreBeta · 17/05/2011 22:17

I had mine with Optegra.

howdoo · 17/05/2011 22:31

I had Lasik last October, and the operation itself wasn't painful. Try to get an appt in the afternoon, and get someone to drive you home and go to bed. After the operation, it felt a bit sore - I read it was like someone put chopped onions in front of your eyes, and that is what it felt like - but after an hour or so it was fine.
One of my eyes regressed though - ie went back to -1 eventually - and I had that eye redone a couple of months ago. It's called an enhancement, and was more painful, as they open the original flap, which has at least partially healed. With the first operation, they make a flap with the laser, so it's clean and not painful, but with the second they flip open the original flap, if that makes sense. Anyway, recovery was worse because of that, but I would say around 3 hours of moderate pain.
After the enhancement, I then got cells under the flap - because the flap is now more ragged, you are more likely to get these cells under the flap. In the end, this was fine, but there was a point where they thought they might have to open the flap AGAIN to clear out these cells,and I was told this could happen multiple times. I was also told that if these cells proliferated there was a chance that it could affect my vision in that eye AND that this could not be dealt with by wearing a contact lens. At this point I was really worried and TBH wondering why I hadn't stuck to contacts!
I now have perfect vision in the redone eye, and -0.25 in the other eye. I expected perfect vision like I had had with contact lenses, but that didn't happen for me (not sure if I was expecting too much). They will not redo an eye that is only -0.25 and TBH given my experience I don't want them to!
Read into it all and decide if it's for you. Check how much experience your surgeon has - mine had done 75000 of them. I am not in the UK, but if I was, I would go to Moorfields as it has a great reputation and I wouldn't feel safe otherwise (that is just the way I would feel).

My eyes are still quite dry but I just use eyedrops, and that is getting less.
Overall, I am happy with the results, and I am the only person I know of who has had issues at all!

A1980 · 17/05/2011 22:49

All I can say is if you have any sense in your head DO NOT have laser eye surgery under any circumstnaces.

I'm acutely aware of what goes wrong as I'm a personal injury solicitor.

There are too many complications to think about.

Just don't!

GraceK · 17/05/2011 23:18

I had radial keratotomy 17 years ago - this was the original method where they just pointed a laser at your eye. I went from -6 & -5 to 20/20 vision which lasted for about 10 years. I have a slight detoriation in my sight since then but it's still less than -1 so I only wear glasses for driving & tv now, whereas until I was 21 I wore them (or contacts) all the time. The actual op didn't hurt at all, then I spent 24 hours in bed with the feeling that I had something in my eye - painful but not awful. Other than that it was fab & I only did it like MLWfirsttimemum when the family optician recommended it and said he done his children too.

Not sure how relevant my advice is as I think the surgery has moved on since then but I've had no long term loss of sight so that may be of use to you. Good luck - I have to say I definately don't regret it especially when I take my children swimming & can actually identify them!

NonnoMum · 17/05/2011 23:25

I had surgery about 4 years ago. It has been great but I needed eye drops for about a year (not for pain, for dryness) and it took a good few weeks for my eyes to settle down to their new prescription (there was no chance I could have gone to work the next day). I was about minus 7 or 8 I think...

NonnoMum · 17/05/2011 23:26

A1980 - sorry to go off on a tangent, but have you ever dealth with PI claims from extreme reaction to teeth whitening gel???

A1980 · 18/05/2011 00:50

Nonnomum, no I haven't dealt with that sort of claim. But what is it about? Give me some details and I'll have a think.

Re the laser eye surgery I've seen people who've been left with a reversal of their prescription. That is, they've swapped short sight for long sight and for them that was no good, they'd rather have been left as they were.

But that is a resognised complication and there's no liability there. Don't have the treatment. Ever. The things that can go wrong don't bear thinking about.

baileyslover · 18/05/2011 01:03

I had LASIK surgery 7 years ago. My eyes were very light sensitive that evening but just dry and scratchy in the morning. 100% healed by a week later. I would second having an appointment late in the day so you are exposed to minimal sunlight immediately afterwards. I have known several people who have had the surgery with excellent results, I would definately recommend ultralase who did my op.

A1980 have you dealt with any cases where it has gone badly wrong, otherwise it just sounds like scaremongering.

MoreBeta · 18/05/2011 07:04

I also have a friend who has had LASIK done by Optegra and is very happy.

Again he was short sighted and had it done because he found driving at night was increasingly difficult even with glasses.

He is now able to drive without glasses and just wears glasses for reading. He is very happy and he was the person who encouraged me to have it done.

Dry eyes for up to a year after is common and was fuly explained ot me. I put drops in 4 - 6 times a day at the moment.

Original poster
nokissymum · 18/05/2011 09:40

A1980 first of all I dont take very kindly to being addressed with
"If you have any sense in your head". Please don't ever speak to me like that again.

SInce you seem to have good experience in litigation resulting from laser surgery, could you perhaps expantiate a bit more on the type of complications you have come across as this will be more helpful than simply scaring people.

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MoreBeta · 18/05/2011 10:07

If its any help, my surgeon did explain the risk factors and did say that 'being blinded' was a known risk along with eyesight not being improved, halo effects due to scaring on the cornea among many other adverse outcomes. The probability of each of those happening is not high but they are possible outcomes at some very low level and anyone undertaking laser surgery has to know they exist in order to make a proper decision.

For example, if I was blind in one eye already and I had one 'good' but short sighted eye I would not have risked laser surgery because the tiny possibility of being blinded in my good eye being damaged would be too high a risk for me to take.

Any operation involves risk.

rabbitstew · 18/05/2011 13:00

A1980 is not in a position to comment as A1980 has only ever seen people with complications following surgery, given her job. Her comments are therefore about as helpful as those of the opthalmic surgeon I saw many years ago who warned me never to touch soft contact lenses with a barge pole because of the hideous infections and other eye problems they can cause... Did you know that soft contact lenses can make you blind?... And guess when a hospital specialist is likely to see people who wear contact lenses?... Not when they are happy with them, that's for sure.

All operations carry risks. Most forms of modern laser eye surgery carry far fewer risks than almost any other type of surgery. HOWEVER, life with incurably damaged/poor eyesight or permanent eye discomfort is an appalling prospect. You therefore shouldn't ever go ahead with a procedure like this until you have educated yourself thoroughly about the risks and complications, so that you can make a decision based on your own situation, and preferably found somewhere with the latest technology, the best after care, the best pre-surgery assessments, a surgeon with the best reputation, etc, etc, rather than just going for the cheapest offer. Where and with whom you get the surgery done can have a very big impact on the actual risks of anything not going quite right. And for the vast majority, things go pretty well, particularly those who understood what they were letting themselves in for before they did it.

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