ultralase

[TracyK]

anyone had their eyesight lasered? or is there a new improved one available now?

"By Ameriscot2005 on Tuesday, 15 February, 2005 7:16:19 AM

That's great, Hunker, but the OP wanted info about actually having laser treatment, not avoiding it."

Actually, Ameriscot2005, the OP wanted to know whether anyone had had their eyes lasered OR if there was a new improved one available now. But thanks for the wrist tap, hun...

hunker, do listen if you can, the surgeon has some interesting thoughts re: safety data

You're welcome, Hunker.

While you are recommending your new procedure, would you share with us the risk too? It can't be a cake-walk to have your eyes reshaped on a daily basis.

I had mine done in 95. I had really bad short sight (-6.5). I had PRK at Optimax. IT REALLY HURT and I had to have it done twice. I still need specs but I am down to -2 which is much easier to handle (I can find my own glasses which was impossible before, and I can see who I am in bed with which transformed my love life ). I have terrible night vision and bad haloing but I don't regret having it done.

It's not my new procedure. I don't own it.

Risks...hmm. Well, there's no surgery involved. And if you stop wearing the lenses, your eyes go back to normal. A brief google (feel free to do a more in-depth one) came up with these:

Infection ? an unlikely event and no greater than with your other contact lenses. Your risk to infection is proportional to your hygiene.

Irregular Astigmatism ? extremely rare and completely reversible.

Overcorrection/Undercorrection ? all treatments can be modified or reversed.

Regression ? you may lose some effect by the end of the day during the first few days. After that, the effect will last all waking hours for as long as you wear the lens as prescribed.

Light Sensitivity ? may occur during the first few days of treatment.

Contact Lens Intolerance ? not usually a problem since you wear the lens with your eyes closed.

Halos/Glare ? transitory. More likely to be seen with light coloured eyes with large pupils at night. The effect is completely reversible.

Reduced Contrast Sensitivity ? a rarely reported reduced ability to discern between ?shades of gray?. The effect is completely reversible.

And also this (my bold):

What is Orthokeratology?

Ortho-K is a procedure which uses oxygen permeable contact lenses to produce a reduction in myopia by redistributing the surface cells of your eye while you sleep. Much like braces reposition your teeth, this redistribution of cells is accomplished by using hydraulic forces under the contact lens. The contact lens does not apply direct pressure to your eye. It is a safe, non-surgical, reversible, modifiable alternative to laser eye surgery and does not require medications.

How does Orthokeratolgy work?

The front surface of an eye is called the cornea. The cornea is like a watch crystal in that it is transparent and very strong. The cornea is about ½ mm (500 microns) thick, has five layers and is mostly made of water. The corneal curvature is responsible for about 60% of the light bending (refractive) power of your eye. As the Ortho-K lens is worn while you sleep at night, up to 15 microns of surface cells are precisely redistributed to create a small change in corneal curvature which results in a large change in the focusing of light inside the eye. Laser surgery permanently vaporizes about 40 microns of corneal tissue for the same amount of correction.

Who is a good candidate for Ortho-K?

Good candidates for Ortho-K are persons with healthy eyes and no prior history of significant ocular disease or injury.

Still think I'm off topic?! Or is this indeed 'an improved one'?!

I want to have this done too TraceyK.

My glasses cost £500 a pair now (they're very light and bendy and withstand being trodden on vigorously by children!) and I'm thinking in the long run surgery would be cheaper! I'm unable to use contact lenses - my optician says is something to do with a slight fault in my tear production.

Can I ask people what they paid? I've heard very varying costs.

Is lasik the name of the procedure, or a company that does it (in the same way as ultralase)?

Ameriscot - would you mind giving details of who did yours and the cost? I seem to remember you being in the Windsor area, which I can get to easily. I find it easier than hacking my way into another part of London.

I think thr price is down to about £500 an eye - which you would recoup within a couple of years of new glasses. Plus glasses change fashion so much - I look crap in mine that were high fashion 6 years ago, same with sunnies.
Does the Ortho-K mean you were the contact lenses every night (for life) - or is it for a certain period and then your eyes have changed forever?

lasik is the procedure. at moorfields it costs £3k for both eyes, including any follow ups if you need it doing again. surgeon (obviously) recommended having it done in a hospital setting and not only using cost to decide where

PMD, I had mine done in the USA, so no idea where to have it done locally.

Lasik is the name of the procedure of flipping back the cornea and reshaping the lens, the repositioning the cornea. There are new developments all the time to map the eye and make sure that they are reshaping only the part of the lens that needs it. The procedure I had done was called Waveform Lasik.

PRK, which Triceratops had, is not used any more - it has been replaced by Lasik. PRK involved applying the laser to the cornea itself and reshaping from the outside.

From what I've seen, you wear the lenses at least every other night. But having worn lenses for the last 15 years (and having no intention of having someone laser the front off my eye), this is a MUCH easier idea for me. I accept that not everyone feels like this - but for me the risks (known and future) associated with laser surgery are too great.

I like the ortho-k idea because it is fully reversible. And the idea of not having to clean my lenses every night (you do it during the day, but you don't have to do it immediately you wake up) and being able to see 24/7 (the lenses are your prescription so if you do get up in the night, you won't trip over the cat)...just too tempting for words!

PMD, another thought...if you have problem with tear production now, you might not be a candidate for Lasik. One of the more common side-effects is tear production. Most people undergoing Lasik have to use eyedrops for a bit - I used them for about 2 weeks - but some go on much longer. Saying that, if you already have to do this, then perhaps Lasik would be no big deal. Certainly, you would want to check with an experienced opthalmologist (and one who treats lots of eye problems) first.

Is there a new procedure in USA that doesn't do the 'flap' thingy. I saw something on 'Extreme Makeovers' the other day (sad person I am).

Don't know, Tracy.

Have a look at the website of the place I went to in the US - they describe lots of procedures that they do and I'm sure they would be up on the latest technologies.

Ameriscot, what do you think of the risks of ortho-k I posted?

Haven't considered at them in detail. I don't draw conclusions at one glance .

What an odd response.

My dh had Lasik surgery at Ultralase about 3 years ago. He had it done in Hammersmith by their lead surgeon who had already done thousands of procedures. His vision is now better than 20:20.
He was a bit uncomfortable the first evening and immediately after the op had a lot of haloing but after a sleep woke up to perfect long vision. His short focus, reading vision took a couple of days to adjust but then was also perfect. It cost him about £1000 in total.
A colleague at work also had it done at the same place shortly afterwards and she has also seen perfect results.
My brother also can't wear contacts because his eyes are too dry but he would be a candidate for Lasik - however he's too chicken to do it.
Both dh and my colleague had to use saline drops for a while after the op but this side effect passed fairly quickly.

I'm an odd person

So you truly have no view on what I posted? Or is it just that the risks are incomparable with surgery?

I think I'd pay £1000 - I wouldn't pay £3000!
I have a really long list of things to get done to my body starting from head to toe!
Grow hair and get it perfect shade, eye bag removal in 8 years or so, eye surgery, teeth whitened, red vein removal on one cheek, red vein removal on cleavage, boob lift, tone up tummy, tone up flabby arms, bum ok, tone legs.
God I hate getting old!

Sorry, I'll need to look when I am less distracted (I'm keeping half an eye on 5 kids at the moment). As I say, I don't go for headlines - like to research for myself point-by-point. But words like "completely reversible" are red flags to me. It's all part-and-parcel of making an informed choice.

I paid $2995 for Lasik - which is about 10 years worth of glasses.

Fair enough. I will just add that even wearing ordinary contact lenses reshapes your eye to a certain extent. I wear gas permeables anyway, so have had to wear my glasses for four weeks so that I can have a 'true' reading taken of my eye for the ortho-k lenses. That's what leads me to believe that it's reversible, not just websearches

Hammersmith hospital is fairly near to me sponge - I'd feel more comfortable having it done in hospital - and like TraceyK, could cope with £1k (was thinking £800 per eye for some reason). £3k is way beyond what I could afford, although I assume Moorfields is the place to have this done.

So if you want to get it done in hospital, by the lead surgeon, I guess you just ring and ask when they are free for a consultation?

you go first then puff!