Laser eye surgery, yay or nay?

desolate sun · 12-08-2011 10:24am

smallerthanyou wrote: »

Thinking of getting in on the Laser Eye craze.

Went for the free consult for Optilase. Quoted 3,390 all in (Lasik, Wavefront & the fancy cutting Laser or for 2,790 for Lasek). Now I didn't haggle on price or anything cos didn't feel comfortable going there to start - went for the free assessment just. Also felt I was being pushed towards Lasik even though I thought Lasek was what I would go for. And the one selling it skimmed over side-effects like there were going to be none
anyone disagree with my assessment so far?

hi, I had my free consultation with Optilase yesterday. Staff friendly and courteous. However after being told price, the guy (are these people actually opthamologists or just trained people because one of the guys downstairs didn't give off that 'vibe' if you know what I mean) told me, "we'll go downstairs and book your surgeon consultation". I wasn't even asked if I wanted to go ahead with the treatment. It felt very rushed and because it was 1pm I felt like I was being rushed out the door!

I was also quoted the same prices. £3390 for wavefront with intralase and £2790 for wavefront without the intralase. Looking at their website this morning I was quoted the most expensive price, despite only having a 'medium' prescription (the guy quoted my medium prescription himself. My pres. is -2.5 and -2.75). I would have thought my prescription would have needed to be about -8 or so for the higher price. I think I will give them a call about this.

I also felt I was being pushed towards Lasik. I rub my eyes a bit and am so afraid I will dislodge the flap so I thought Lasek would be more suitable? I also have dry eyes (only noticeable when wearing contacts. It doesn't bother me without) but he said dry eye can occur with both the -ik and -ek.
Can someone tell me if and when you are able to rub your eyes with -ik?
Can someone tell me

desolate sun · 12-08-2011 10:32am

Would just like to add if you are going for the free assessment - bring your sunglasses with you! (I didn't, to my detriment!)

This may not affect you but when the person puts in the drops to make your pupils bigger, you can be more sensitive to light. My pupils are larger than average and the sunlight absolutely was murder on them! It didn't hurt but it was like coming from a dark room to an ultra bright room. The only thing is your eyes don't adjust, it's a constant glare!

lahinch_lass · 12-08-2011 12:31pm

okay.. here's my understanding on some of this..
Rubbing your eyes - a complete no-no for BOTH eK & IK for the first week or 2 after the op. In the case of iK it's to be avoided for even longer I'd suspect.

Wavefront - I think this is needed if you have either pupils larger than 7mm (mine are 7.8) or your prescription varies a bit around your eye. From the print outs the opthamologist had I suspect it would be needed for my right eye regardless of pupil size.

Ek tends to only be recommended in cases of a thin cornea. It's a longer recovery time (to being able to see/function) and lot more painful in the recovery.
Ik you can usually see within 24 hours and be back at work after a couple of days unless you happen to work in a dirty/dusty environment. but it takes up to 2 months before you can go back into contact sports. BTW the word from the rugby community seems to be a perference for Ek so they don't have to worry about eye trauma wrecking the iK work on them.

a5y · 12-08-2011 12:55pm

bonerm wrote: »

Is Trent performing lasik now?

What a silly question to ask! Trent was shooting lasers into peoples eyes long before anyone ever imagined it could do more good than harm!

Pythia · 19-08-2011 10:32pm

desolate sun wrote: »

Can someone tell me if and when you are able to rub your eyes with -ik?
Can someone tell me

It is individual to each person. I was able to start very gently rubbing my eyes after 1 week. They told me the wound had totally closed over at that stage. It wasn't until maybe 2 months or so that they said I didn't need to be careful anymore and they were like a normal person's again.

It's really not something you need to worry about though. I didn't notice it really.

desolate sun · 20-08-2011 11:52pm

Pythia wrote: »

It is individual to each person. I was able to start very gently rubbing my eyes after 1 week. They told me the wound had totally closed over at that stage. It wasn't until maybe 2 months or so that they said I didn't need to be careful anymore and they were like a normal person's again.

It's really not something you need to worry about though. I didn't notice it really.

That's great to know. Thanks. I'm getting my operation done on Monday and all this week I have been conscious of not rubbing my eyes too hard! Just to get used to it!
The thougts of having to be extra careful when taking off eye makeup, etc was just too much!

Pythia · 21-08-2011 9:33am

With make up, I think it's better to glide and wipe it off rather than scrub. Mascara is the worst because sometimes you do need a good scrub to get it off.

You can ease yourself back into it gently, first foundation and keep away from eyes, then have it near eyes and use a cotton bud to remove, then some eyeshadow, then mascara and eyeliner last. They'll probably explain it all to you. I think a few weeks after I was back to my normal make up again.

For the first few days you'll probably be wearing sunglasses too so you won't be automatically able to rub them without having to think about it.

lemmno · 12-11-2014 12:04pm

Irishbreeze wrote: »

thanks, fatherted1969, I had mine done in may, now I have learned that i will need a top up on one eye. so, now looking for someone who had top up after intralase/wavefront lasik. anyone here?

Ever go for that top up?

lemmno · 18-07-2015 10:24am

Just gonna add my experience here. Might be of use to someone. I was -5.75 and had LASIK in 2009. Not one complication, best decision ever, changed my life! I would say after 4 years I noticed a big regression and after 6 years big enough that I needed glasses. I was squinting when looking for people, difficulty driving in new areas etc.
after lots and lots of thinking and research, I went for a top up, done with prk. I'm now over 3 months post op and I have dry eyes and recurrent corneal erosions (hugely painful). I've not been offered much insight to this condition other than to lubricate more. I use my drops over 20 times a day. My vision is great I must say, but its come at a cost. I'm hoping as I'm only 3 months post op things will improve and I'll be back raving about laser eye surgery again one day, but right now my advice to people is there are risks, and make sure you're aware of all of them. I have a mixed opinion on the procedure now. If these symptoms don't improve I would say it definitely wasn't worth it as I can't do anything past 6pm, can't wear eye make up and my eyes look terrible all the time. But again, I'm hopeful this won't be forever. Hoping and hoping.

Uriel. · 18-07-2015 7:30pm

lemmno wrote: »

Just gonna add my experience here. Might be of use to someone. I was -5.75 and had LASIK in 2009. Not one complication, best decision ever, changed my life! I would say after 4 years I noticed a big regression and after 6 years big enough that I needed glasses. I was squinting when looking for people, difficulty driving in new areas etc.
after lots and lots of thinking and research, I went for a top up, done with prk. I'm now over 3 months post op and I have dry eyes and recurrent corneal erosions (hugely painful). I've not been offered much insight to this condition other than to lubricate more. I use my drops over 20 times a day. My vision is great I must say, but its come at a cost. I'm hoping as I'm only 3 months post op things will improve and I'll be back raving about laser eye surgery again one day, but right now my advice to people is there are risks, and make sure you're aware of all of them. I have a mixed opinion on the procedure now. If these symptoms don't improve I would say it definitely wasn't worth it as I can't do anything past 6pm, can't wear eye make up and my eyes look terrible all the time. But again, I'm hopeful this won't be forever. Hoping and hoping.

Sorry that things aren't working out well for you at the moment. I really do hope it improves for you.

Like you I'm about 7 years post op (lasek). I've had some regression in both eyes, one more than the other. I'm at a weird position...glasses would offer an improvement, but don't feel I actually need to wear them yet. I have a life time guarantee, so can get a free "top up".

I have toyed with the idea for the past 12months. While I can drive fine at night, I do feel my night time vision was never as good as it was pre op, and headlights on cars can be a bit of a problem. Not so much that it effects my driving. However I'd be very fearful of it getting worse following a top up and this, along with chronic dry eye has put me off getting the top up...

I'm not so sure it would be worth and your story confirms some of my worse thoughts on the issue. Would be great if you could let us know how things develop for you over the coming months.
Best of luck with the recovery, hopefully it'll be a full one.

lemmno · 18-07-2015 9:00pm

I plan to update everyone on my situation at 6 months and again at 12 months. I had the top up free also due to the lifetime guarantee, and to be honest that was my deciding factor in going through with it. Had it not been free I probably would have just made do with glasses for driving. I felt I had nothing to lose and I was somewhat confident I'd have a good result considering the first surgery had gone so well, the first surgery bring LASIK, the 'risky' one and the second being the 'safer' one. Right now I regret getting the top up but hopefully at 6 months I might feel differently. I'll keep you posted.

Uriel. · 19-07-2015 4:55am

lemmno wrote: »

I plan to update everyone on my situation at 6 months and again at 12 months. I had the top up free also due to the lifetime guarantee, and to be honest that was my deciding factor in going through with it. Had it not been free I probably would have just made do with glasses for driving. I felt I had nothing to lose and I was somewhat confident I'd have a good result considering the first surgery had gone so well, the first surgery bring LASIK, the 'risky' one and the second being the 'safer' one. Right now I regret getting the top up but hopefully at 6 months I might feel differently. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks, and as I say, the very best of luck with the recovery. I really hope it works out great for you

bigbrotherfan · 23-07-2015 5:15pm

best of luck. I'll look forward to hearing how you get on.

gardeninghobby · 04-08-2015 11:50am

A close friend of mine had laser eye surgery with poor results. Think carefully before making a decision.

lemmno · 24-02-2016 7:17pm

Apologies for the delay, I promised an update at 6 and 12 months, I'm now at 10 months and my eyes are still pretty terrible. It's greatly affected my life and I wake up every day regretting the surgery. I'm being told all the time it could still get better but after 10 months of constant pain I really don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Im going to continue to try, but as an expert I went to see recently said to me 'we're running out of options'.
Life has literally not been the same since. Please please please think twice before you decide on this, amazing when it all works out but constant hell when it doesn't.

Pugzilla · 29-02-2016 1:22am

I'm a doctor, but not an ophthalmologist. I would never get laser eye surgery.

Too many potentially life-changing complications for results that are often not permanent.

lemmno · 29-02-2016 9:02am

Pugzilla wrote: »

I'm a doctor, but not an ophthalmologist. I would never get laser eye surgery.

Too many potentially life-changing complications for results that are often not permanent.

Agreed. The first time I got it done it didn't last, and I had terrible night vision.
Now I have amazing vision but no comfort.
It can be life changing in a good way but not worth the risk.
Even if this does improve for me (which I hope to god it does), it won't have been worth the year of life that it's taken from me, the invites I've turned down, the nights out I've left early, the holidays I couldn't go on, the weddings I couldn't last at due to eye pain. I'll campaign against this with every chance I get to stop others making this mistake.
With the research I've done I've also heard side affects like dryness can appear out of nowhere years after the surgery. I've met someone on a support group who developed problems 4 years later.
There is/was just so much I wasn't aware of, people don't know enough about this.
I'll let you know how things are again in a few months, who knows, miracles can happen, maybe I'll be ok. Praying every day.

yqtwqxqm · 29-02-2016 8:31pm

I had it done 3 years ago. For the first two years it was fine and then got progressively worse so that now my eyesight is actua;;y worse than it was before surgery.
Night time and led lights are particularly bad now. I think it wont be long before i cant see at night at all.
Daytime vision is now worse than before surgery too.
When I went back into the place where i got it done in Dublin they came out with so much BS and couldnt wait to lead me out the door.
They want nothing to do with me now. And keep quoting that they didnt guarantee it would last.
Theyve washed their hands of any problems.
I went to see a proper eye doc and they said they get a lot of botched jobs in, even referrals from the laser clinics who refer patients after failed laser just to get rid of them.
Sorry i ever got it

Laser eye surgery, yay or nay?

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