Decision to make

essdee

Hello, I had an assessment recently for laser surgery in the Mater. I am suitable for LASEK, but will have to wear glasses for reading. I was planning to have the surgery done in July. However, a colleague in work told me that her husband had implants and that his eyesight is excellent and that he doesn't need to wear glasses at all. My sister in law then complicated matters even more by telling me about orthokeratology. This has the advantage of requiring no surgery.

I'd be grateful for any experiences that would help me decide which option to choose.

Thanks.

miltonkrest

i had the surgery in the mater - you'll have no problems with the service.
Yes, I met a woman on hols last year who had the implants and was delighted with the outcome but i think you can only get the procedure in the uk..........

Mousewar

Implants are generally for patients for high prescriptions as the laser won't get the job done. Implants is a far more invasive procedure despite the fact that it is technically reversible.

Yeah, if you're in your mid-forties or later and you get laser to correct your vision to 20/20, you'll probably need reading glasses to read. This is normal at that age for anyone with 20/20 vision whether it was achieved surgically or they always had good eyesight. If you go the laser route you can either accept that reading glasses are less bothersome than distant ones (or more accurately bifocals) or you might consider monovision.
I have monovision. One eye is corrected to zero (i.e. 20/20) and the other eye is corrected to -2 (the upper end of mild shortsightedness). The zero sees in the distance and the -2 eye reads up close. It doesn't suit everybody but it works for me. You should trial this effect with contact lenses before having it done surgically. Although I found the laser result infinitely better than with contact lenses.

NB: As my prescription was already -2, I just had surgery on one eye to bring it to zero.

essdee

miltonkrest wrote: »

i had the surgery in the mater - you'll have no problems with the service.
Yes, I met a woman on hols last year who had the implants and was delighted with the outcome but i think you can only get the procedure in the uk..........

Thanks miltonkrest. My colleague's husband had the implants done by Optical Express. However, I went to my regular optician today for "independent" advice and he said that the implants surgery is similar to the procedure that most people get for cataracts (but some surgeons are reluctant to replace a healthy lens).

Mousewar wrote:

you might consider monovision.
I have monovision. One eye is corrected to zero (i.e. 20/20) and the other eye is corrected to -2 (the upper end of mild shortsightedness). The zero sees in the distance and the -2 eye reads up close. It doesn't suit everybody but it works for me.

Thanks Mousewar. Monovision wasn't mentioned when I had the initial assessment so I'll ask about that.

Of the three options - lasek, implants or orthokerathology - my optician seemed to favour implants on the grounds that it might reduce the likelihood of needing an operation for cataracts in the future. He had concerns about LASEK being able to correct the size of the astigmatism in my right eye (measures 3, I think but I'm not sure what the scale is).

He dismissed the orthokerathology as not being worth taking seriously.

cloudatlas

I read that getting the surgery accelerates the diminishing of shortsightedness so you require reading glasses.

My friend told me that even now a year after the surgery his eyes get very dry and sometimes he gets head aches after staring at a computer for long periods, my job involves staring at a computer for about 7 hours a day so not a big fan of that. How do people who live in hot countries cope?

Mousewar

cloudatlas wrote: »

I read that getting the surgery accelerates the diminishing of shortsightedness so you require reading glasses.

My friend told me that even now a year after the surgery his eyes get very dry and sometimes he gets head aches after staring at a computer for long periods, my job involves staring at a computer for about 7 hours a day so not a big fan of that. How do people who live in hot countries cope?

It doesn't accelerate short-sightedness. Anyone with 20/20 vision will generally require reading glasses some time in their mid-forties as their lens hardens. However, people who are short-sighted to about -2 don't need reading glasses as their shortsightedness helps them see close but not far away. So if you correct this shortsightedness you lose that 'advantage' just like anyone else who has 20/20 vision.

I think most people would have dry eyes after staring at a computer for seven hours straight a day. People tend not to even notice before they have surgery but get super conscious about it afterwards. My eyes feel dry sometimes but no more than before really if I think about it.

essdee

cloudatlas wrote: »

getting the surgery

Are you referring to LASEK or to implants in your comment?