laser eye surgery - experiences please

[reikizen]

Anyone any experience of this to correct short sightedness? What questions should I be asking? What kind of recovery time to expect? How would I go about checking the credentials of the surgeon?

Anyone?

Hiya
I posted a bit about this earlier in the year. There have been a number of threads before which you can search for which are interesting.

I have had 2 consultations but no surgery yet. The first was with Optical Express and was free. The procedure they recommended (LASEK) has a longer recovery time than the standard LASIK and also because of my fairly high prescription and thinnish corneas they recommended the more expensive Wavefront tracking procedure. Cost £2700. So they said.

The second consultation was with an opthalmic surgeon who had done a intraocular lens op on my mother. It cost £100 but was with the actual man who would wield the blade. He told me my corneas were fine for the LASIK treatment. Cost £2650

I have decided not to have either at the moment, because I am worried about dry eyes.

There are lots of forums devoted to eye surgery.
www.lasereyeforum.com/
www.lasik-eyes.co.uk/

This is useful too
www.rcophth.ac.uk/docs/publications/patient-info-booklets/ExcimerLaserPatientGuideMarch2006.pdf

Recovery time depends on what procedure you have. This depends on what your prescription is. Check surgeon credentials on Royal College website, ask how many procedures he has done. Do not buy surgery on ebay (yes, they do!)

I am happy to answer any more questions as I have done a fair bit of research into this. HTH

had mine done 9 years ago at morefields eye hospital to correct very shortsightedness!
i had it done at 9.30 am by about 4 pm i could see well, you have to wear sun glasses for a while after and use eye drops for about 10 days.
when i had mine done there were not that many places doing the treatment, which is why i chose to have it done at morefields, it was the more expensive option, but the man that did it - Mr Gartry is fairly prominent in this field and i felt more comfortable that i was in a proper eye hospital, rather than high street optician.
from my personal experiance i would recomend having it done, my eyes were terrible, i had glasses like milk bottles, i have had no bad side effects or problems.

Brilliant, thanks

Had mine done by Mr Gupta at Ultralase (the lasereyeforum in Lank's post is connected to Ultralase - I found it invauable)about 4 years ago. I had wavefront lasik, though after the tests they said I could have had the cheapest procedure, but I decided I didn't want to run any risks. Had it done around lunchtime, got the tube home (with DH) rested but could see pretty much after a couple of hours.

As Nancy said, I had to wear sunglasses (in December!) and use eyedrops. I managed to get an infection but it cleared up with stronger eyedrops. You also have to be careful not to get any water in your eyes for about a week afterwards (had to get DH to wash my hair for me)

What I would say is that they took at least 3 weeks to settle down, which were the most nerve wracking weeks ever! I couldn't read some things dependant on the colours (so I could read the tube information board that was red letters on black background, but not the yellow letters on black) I spent a lot of time opening one eye, then another to see if they were seeing 'equally'.

All fine now - both eyes are the best they can be! If you want any more information, let me know

I must say that reading some of the forums has not filled me with confidence. The recover time seems to be a lot longer than I had anticipated with people experiencing all sorts of complications I had not even imagined! As I work in the NHS, I am naturally wary of any surgical procedure which is not essential so would need to feel very confident about the whole thing!

Reikizen what sort of prescription do you have?

The prospect of dry eyes post-op for up to 3 months puts me off TBH. But I would so love to be able to SEE without glasses or contacts...

i know the forums can be a bit "yikes" but I suppose people who are totally satisfied don't post on them as much as those who are worried or have had bad experiences.

Google orthokeratology...

Ooh thanks hunker, I was just about to post someting on that from what I have read on threads you've posted before. Sadly my prescription is too high for it but wondered if it might help the OP...

From what I can tell I have moderate myopia
-4.00 and -5.00. Yes, how lovely to not be chained to glasses/contacts and not spend money on them again!

I too had mine done at moorfields about 10 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did and the recovery time was really quick. It was expensive at the time, about £1000, but I've saved an absolute fortune on contacts since then. Would recommend it to anyone

Had mine done last October (-5.5) after looking into it for a long time (no pun intended). Had it done at Optimax and it cost £3k for wavefront lasik.

As has been said before had to wear sunglasses on the way home and eyes stung and watered for a while but I got through it with paracetamol and a sleep.

Had it done on a Friday, could 'see' within 12 hours, back at work on Tuesday and driving within a week.

BUT - eye drops umpteen times a day for a couple of weeks then had to use artificial tears for about 6-7 months. I'm at the point now where I've forgotten what it's like to wear glasses/contacts (wore them for 30 yrs).

My left eye is 20/20 but my right eye is very slightly short sighted (-0.5) which they won't do anything about 'cos it'll speed up me needing reading glasses (apparently). But I only tend to notice it when I'm tired.

All in all it's a cosmetic procedure so you have to judge if it's right for you. The disclaimer you have to sign is enough to scare anyone so make sure you think it through and I'd never advise anyone to have the procedure done the same day as the initial consultation.

Have a good think about it and if you're paying cash/card barter on the price (I got mine reduced by £500 even though the credit option was supposed to be interest free).

Good luck and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Had mine done three years ago at Ultralase on Tottenham Court Road, best thing I've ever done. I had the very expensive procedure due to high prescription combined with large pupils. I'd had a consultation at Boots (back when they still did this) a few years prior and was told I wasn't a good candidate due to that combination, but the technology continues to move on.

My prescription was -7.25 or thereabouts in both eyes. I was warned that my corneas were too thin for any repeat treatments, so whatever I got, that was as good as it would ever be. They said I'd probably end up with reading glasses and be about 20/40 to 20/60, but I ended up with perfect 20/20 vision in both eyes which has stayed perfect for the last 3 years.

No complications, recovery was very quick, I could see the difference instantly (through the slight haze of eyedrops!).