LASER EYE SURGERY - has anyone had it done ??

[Amani]

Am thinking of having it done as I've looked at some websites and the prices seem quite 'reasonable' (i.e about £400). As I am severly short sighted it seem more economical to have it done,than to keep spending on glasses and contacts for the long term.

Has anyone had it done and would like to share their experiences? Just a bit nervous about the whole process though...

Hello Amani,

Not had laser surgery, as I wasn't found to be suitable, but had implantable lenses put in a couple of years ago. I was very very shortsighted (over -10).

I would thoroughly recommend it! I was stuck wearing very thick glasses (which would make my ears and nose ache they were so heavy) or gas permeable lenses, which I became very intolerant to after having kids. Two years down the line I've forgotten I ever wore glasses. It makes such a difference - little things are easier - like going swimming, holidays (no need for all those extra bottles), putting on make up, having your hair cut...I could go on. And no more steamy glasses!

The only downside in my opinion has been the aftercare. Have the treatment as near to home as you can as you will need to go back for appointments. I had to have mine done in London and its proved a bit of a pain going back and forth 200+ miles.

My advice would be to ring one or preferably two of the clinics and have an intitial consultation. You need to know that you are a suitable candidate first until you can put any serious thought into it.

Hope that is useful!

Don't go anywhere near the high street chains. There are very real risks of complications from LES and personally I think if it's cheap, there are probably reasons - such as not employing the best surgeons.

Interview a few different surgeons (if the place you are looking at doesn't offer a free initial consultation with the surgeon who will operate on you, avoid) and ask about their training, qualifications and experience - how many of these procedures do they carry out and how often? And about their outcomes - not just the proportion of patients who experience side-effects or complications but the proportion of patients with prescriptions similar to yours. It's no use seeing the data for all patients if your prescription is -10.

Have a look at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists' (eye surgeons) web-site for more info.

I had been thinking of laser treatment for some time but unfortunately my contact lense prescription changed about a year ago and so at the moment I am not a suitable candidate.

I have five friends who have had the procedure and they are all very pleased with the results, but a work colleague of dh has has not had good results. It is a big decision and needs a lot of thought. I have never heard of the implantable lenses and am intrigued by this one - I must find out more.

I had it done 6 years ago.

I had a few assessment appointments, where they checked eligibility and then mapped my eyes.

The actual surgery was straightforward. A few days beforehand, I had to put in antibiotic eyedrops. On the day, they made sure I understood that I would still need reading glasses when the time came . They clamped my eyes to immobilise them, and then did the cutting and reshaping. This took about 45s per eye. My main memory is looking at the clock in theatre and being able to read it.

I was given a valium tablet to help me sleep afterwards. You have to keep your eyes closed for at least 4 hours to kick-start the healing process. You wear eyeshields at night (very light-weight goggles - hardly noticed them) for a week. You can shower as long as you wear the eye shields, and there were a couple of drops to take.

A lot of people experience eye dryness (I didn't), and so it is normal to take saline drops for about a month.

My opthalmologist did not operate on anyone with myopia worse than -0.7. If you look at research, those are the people who have experienced the common problem of haloing, and other side-effects. My prescription was around -3.5, and I didn't have any problems at all.

21again - implantable lens op is similar to a cataracts op, but they are putting in a prescription lens (in front of your own natural lens). Therefore you should have 20/20 vision afterwards.

Its largely for people who are two shortsighted for ordinary laser treatment (or the eye is wrong shape etc). The great advantage over laser though is that should there be a problem the lens can be removed (and redone if wished), whereas I was told that laser is more of a one hit wonder. Once its done its done. I think thats why people often still require reading glasses, as they tend to undershoot rather than overshoot IFKWIM.

It was around £2600, by one of the high street clinics. I know what Edam is saying about being careful who you go with, however, I got to 30 and just HAD to do something about my terrible sight, which had been bad since about the age of 4. I couldn't have afforded to go to Moorfields and the like so I took a leap of faith. And it has paid off (touch wood). I agree that your eyes are too precious to gamble with, however, for me the benefits outweighed the risks. I wish I could have done it years earlier.

I had it done at optimax 11 years ago. My prescription was -9 and I had to have two treatments. I get haloing at night which stops me driving and I still have to have glasses as I have bad astigmatism although my prescription is now -1 so I can manage around the house without my specs.

I don't regret the operation at all although I think if I had waited I would have got a better result as the technology is better these days. The cost was made back in a couple of years as I used to have to buy special ultra thin lenses for my specs at huge expense.

I was able to see my babies being born which I would not have been able to do if I was still needing the milk bottle glasses. I would recommend it to anyone.

Had mine done bout 10 years ago at Ultralase - very impressed with them ! Not had any problems. Cost me about £1200 then - paid for itself many many times over.

I couldn't wear contacts as I had got Acanthamoeba keratitis from swimming in lenses a few years before (claim to fame here - was the 2nd person in England to have it !!!)

I had mine done in April. I went to Optical Express. The price depends on your prescription and whether you want wavefront and intralase.

If you are severely short-sighted then you will pay a lot more thatn £400 per eye.

Having said that I am so pleased I had mine done and for me it has been worth every penny

Thanks everyone. Had a look online and confirmed what you mentioned below that I would have to pay way over £400 as I have quite bad eyes. Being cheeky here, but would anyone know if it is avilable on the NHS?

stay away from boots not sure if they even do the surgery any more. My had it done about 7 years ago and they were awful he came our in so much pain and it took forever to heal and even then he still need glasses for driving. (-1.5 for -3.5 originaly).
Having said that my brother had it done with ultralase and he could not have been more pleased. Just make sure you are 100% happy with who is going to do the surgery and if possible go for someone for a personal reccomendation.

I'm too much of a wimp. At -8 and -7.5 it owuld be worth doing in my case but I just can't pluck up the courage.

Also, and I know this sounds really silly, my myopia is part of me. Even though its a bit of a faff I've had rubbish eyesite for nearly 20 years. I sort of don't want it fixed that much.

Probably nonsensical but there you go.

I had mine done 3 wks ago at Optical Express. Very well looked after.
I don't think it is done on the NHS. Mine cost £2490.
I had previously worn glasses for 25 yrs.
It's well worth the money.

I am v short-sighted and have considered it BUT they long-term effects are just not known. There aren't any patients who had it done 20 or 30 years ago to see what effects ageing would have (for eg) if you have it done in your 30s. Buying glasses and lenses is a pain and v expensive, but as I have heard some eye surgeons at Moorfields won't do it privately becasue of the risks I am steering clear for now.

The implantable lenses thing sounds interesting - will look into it (thoug I assume the same caveats apply).

(am about -11 btw)

I had it done 3 years ago at Ultralase. Cost £3000. Was worth every penny. My prescription was -3 to -4 and I had an astigmatism and now it is pretty much 20/20. The build up to having it done is worse than the surgery itself. I was in such a panic about having my eyes forced open and not being able to blink but it is honestly fine. Eyes are stingy afterwards and feel a bit like someone's thrown a handful of gravel in your eyes but I could see in focus even before they put my eyes back together (sorry!).

It's amazing ... I recommend it to anyone and particularly Ultralase. They were excellent.

Had mine done 2 years ago 'on the high st', very reasonable price, (Optical Express) surgeon seemed good ect. Was v nervous before hand, which has to be normal.Procedure itself isnt great, but very quick.Recovery time short. The next morning in the car driving to the post op checkup, I was amazed I could see everything so clearly witout the glasses. Best thing I ever did! (kids excepted!!!) Go for it.

As I often do - I'll jump in with a note of caution. Having had eye surgery (cataract) and now having some real vision problems - when eye surgery goes wrong it can have a pretty devastating effect on your life. Also, what sound like minor side effects on paper can be really hard for some people to cope with. Really worth think about hard as once its done it can't be undone.