Laser Eye Treatment

[454697819]

As a contact lense wearer, I am becing increasingly frustrated that once every 3 months or so I get a painful bout of conjunctivitus...

A bit of treatment and waering glases for a week cures it... however I have become increasingly intersted in laser treatment to rid myself of all this lenses and glasses faff

Has anyone had it done.. I heard some rumors about it dulling the eyes and them loosing there Human glint?

so oh mighty org what does thow knowest?

I am aware it doesnt work all the time, I am aware it is a cosmetic surgery and as such doesnt last forever... My eyesight isnt that bad comparativly -1.25 & -1.50 I am aware its pricey but i am paying £13 a month for lenses and a week or pain whenever they get poorly..


Cheers

Alex

[thedonal]

My team leader at work had it done- she's well chuffed.

Dunno about the glint thing- never noticed that.

Apparently, it can be good for 40 years, depending on your eyes. I'd love to have it done myself.

[keithd]

my eyes require lenses at -3.75 and -2.75

i'd rather have my balls crushed with a housebrick than have eye surgery. one mistake and that's it. ok a horror and an extreme reaction but i'd rather put lenses in my eyes for the rest of my born days than to not see at all...tis my biggest fear, blindness.

[Dicky Ticker]

How many optometrists do you know who have had it done? I considered it myself at one stage but was told I would still need glasses for reading as my prescription was over the limits for 100% corrective surgery

[simesb]

I know people who've had it done, and some say it was the best thing they ever did, and some have continuing problems.

The thing that worries me (apart from having people poking round with my eyes) is what happens when your vision naturally changes as you get older?

[Lissa]

i'd rather have my balls crushed with a housebrick than have eye surgery. one mistake and that's it. ok a horror and an extreme reaction but i'd rather put lenses in my eyes for the rest of my born days than to not see at all...tis my biggest fear, blindness.

+1..........although I don't actually have balls, and I can't wear contact lenses. Glasses will do me just fine, thank you:D

[Warthog]

My brother had it done. He was in pain for two weeks but his vision is now almost perfect, and he is very happy not to have to mess around with glasses or contacts.

[CoolGirl]

I'd have had laser surgery if I'd had a choice.

What sort of contact lenses are you wearing? That might be your problem....

[redbouy]

I was about -5 in both eyes and a bit eggy shaped in one.
I allso had eye pain bouts and walking from hot to cold and A/C even freezers, it was just a pain. My glasses had nice frames, tinted because of the work i do. hardend and tempered also for the work and last but not least the glasses had to be thined down because of the wieght.
Each set cost about 900 pounds.
Plus contacts,
Plus sunglasses for when using contact
plus the every 2 year check up.
So my glasses got broken about 10 years ago in Ft Lauderdale FL. off to the eye shop.
I want the lazer thingy.
Both eyes at once done. cost 5000 dollers. took 10 mins. I was driving about the next day and I get free life check ups.:cool:
And Im now -.2 which as I get old should become 0
Chaffed. bugger me yes
I can swim, dive, sucba, and see. I think it gave a lot of my life back to me after all I have a big problem just being a red head.:p

[husky03]

one of the guys at work had it-went 100% with one eye but with the other he moved and ended up doing some damage-his eye was in a bad way for a while and he couldn't ride his bike-only had his zx6r for three weeks-two months later after eye drops everyday he was allowed on his bike-seems ok now

[G]

My eyesight isnt that bad comparativly -1.25 & -1.50 I am aware its pricey but i am paying £13 a month for lenses and a week or pain whenever they get poorly..



My eyesight is the same as your exactly , but its become that bad within a year. as soon as my eye deprivation calms down I want eye surgery.

Two people at my work have had it done, one went completely fine and he swears by it, the other person suffers from dry eyes since having it done.

The person who is completely fine paid £2k the other paid £300 per eye at some cheap place.....one thing with eye surgery is you pay for what you get, the people who are good at it and use the best technique are expensive, the cheap one use crap techniques and dont have the reputation.

[ethariel]

Wearing glasses is a pain in the rear, a pain in the wallet every 2 or 3 years and contacts are not an option for me really (dry eyes and hayfever that requires eye drops in the summer).

I really cannot justify (call me a coward) risking making my eyesight worse just to avoid wearing glasses, everyone to thier own, but till the percentage chance of complications drops well below the current 'Just 0.1%' touted on websites drops signifigantly, i really dont want to be poor Mr. 1000 and end up with issues that will never resolve themselves, would loose me my licence and probably my job too...........................

Unless of course i developed an issue that meant NOT having the treatment WOULD result in loss ov vision that is!

Colin

[ooger]

This post:
http://forums.sv650.org/showpost.php?p=1340509&postcount=18

Belongs to this this thread:
http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?p=1340509#post1340509

At the end of the day, its your eyes, and you've got everything to lose.

Blindness is a risk, and I'd rather lose all my other senses first before my sight.

That said, I took the risk (OK, a calculated one nonetheless), suffered the discomfort, and without being dramatic, it does change your life.

Ask and you will find out. :smt045

[Devil Biccy]

Dry eyes seem to be the most common problem that people I know have said post Laser eye surgery. It also depends on which type you have doen as there are atleast 3 different methods for correcting vision via laser therapy.

I wear glasses and I am not happy with the success rate being around 80% for 99% correctness in field of vision. which means 2/10 pts suffer some problems?? I will wait until the success rates get better and the newer lasers come on-line

[MiniMatt]

My aunty had it done about TWENTY years ago (and it was well established back then, think the russians had been doing it since the 50s) and had no probs. Procedures may have changed since then but I clearly remember her telling her speccy 10 year old nephew that the worse part was the smell of burning flesh. That put me off for life :D

[fizzwheel]

My friend had it done a couple of years ago. She loves not messing about with contact lenses / glasses etc etc. She was off work for a week and had a bit of pain and blurry vision for a couple of days and eye drops for a month. She never had any problems at all and the worst bit was the few hours afterwards.

Personally I'd never have it done. I am squeamish about my eyes. Also I like wearing my glasses, they are a part of me and a part of who I am.

But if you want to do it go for it I cant see any logical reason why you wouldnt get it done. I'm just illogical where my eyes are concerned :D I also dont think they would do my eyes anyway. I'm short sited and I have an astimgmatism. I also have a macular degeneration in my right eye...

[SupaSonic]

.

[pookie]

For those who are squeamish you could try ortho k ( ortho keratology). It uses rigid lenses to reshape the cornea overnight. During the day you dont need any glasses or lenses. There is a memory effect so you can go longer between putting the lenses in at night. I was skeptical and the cost was about £750 first year and less in the second. First year involved many checkups. It was the first time in 17 years I didnt need anything to see leaves on the tree in the park.

It worked partially for me in the sense that i could drive run etc but the shape of my eyes + stigmatism + dry eyes didnt yield perfect results ie lense would slip down and stick and not correct the cornea centrally. That said it was great for the 6 mnth that I trialed them. Sadly optician said long term it wouldnt be ideal so now reviewing surgery :???: Unfortunately once you've not had to wear glasses its really difficult going back :(.

[stuntpilot]

I regularly ask my optician about this, having once been on the brink of going for treatment and being soundly put off by an ophthalmic surgeon.

Last time I asked was a few weeks ago at my last eye check. and got yet another lukewarm response (ironic that they have leaflets for one of the eye treatment places)

A lot of people get on ok and do fine.
A large minority report permanent problems with night vision esp around bright light (a corona effect around bright or pinpoint lighting).
There is a risk of scarring of the cornea.

I gather there is a method (comparatively rarely used) which cuts the cornea and inserts a lens inside. Supposedly this is better as the scarring is outside the field of vision and does not carry the risks of hazing with bright lights. I don't know much about it, but I gather the procedure is similar to a cataract op.

If you're short sighted, you can get lenses that you wear at night which change the shape of the lens, so that you don't need to wear anything during the day - that might be worth a try?

For me the risk of side effects with my vision outweighs every advantage of not having to mess with contacts, even though I would dearly love to.

[Nick762]

Been thinking about this myself.

A guy I used to work with had a contact lens prescription of -9 and went to a centre (IIRC) in Guildford where they apparently use a technique favoured by US airforce pilots; afterwards he had perfect vision. At the same time another collegue went to one of the cheap high street places and had a lot of problems.

[ThEGr33k]

Is this where you get a laser beam in your eye like Cyclops from X-men?

[stuntpilot]

Be careful of claims relating to Forces acceptance.

Lasik (not PRK) is accepted by both the US Air Force and (IIRC) the RAF for non flying personnel.

If you are a pilot, you cannot fly after treatment. To fly commercially or on a PPL you have to take an extended medical to prove you are not subject to variation (the eyes can relapse away from fully corrected after treatment) or show signs of glare or other side effects.

With PRK it's 12 months after op, with LASIK it's 3, I think. A follow up medical is required at 24 months.

(I was once intending to get a commercial pilot license) :)

[Tara]

i'm extremely short sighted -8.75 in one eye and -6.50 in the other (although i could be wrong my eye test is today) i will prob still have to wear glasses/lenses after the op, so i'm inclined not to bother. thought about it a few times especially in summer when i am trying to put lenses in when i have hay fever

[vixis]

I had it done, and it is the best thing I ever did. And yes, I waited a few years to see if the technology would improve (or anyones eyeballs would fall out...) - it took literally 20 min, I had to keep my eyes shut for FIVE min afterwards & had to wear an eye shield overnight. The next day - I had almost 20/20 vision and not one problem so I recommend it highly. I did have one heart stopping moment, when the assistant came near me (my eyes) with a ***** big needle, he then proceeded to squirt saline solution to make sure the eye was clean - but he could have warned me!!

[the_lone_wolf]

i know people who had had successful treatment, but i also know one who has had severe problems caused by the surgery, and seeing the amount of pain, stress, hassle etc he has had to deal with including many follow up operations, including one emergency one where a corneal implant fell out in the middle of london, only to have vision worse than it was before, i'll be sticking with glasses and contacts...

also bear in mind that the treatment is not permenant, if your prescription shifts you may well need corrective lenses later on, and you're almost certainly going to require them when your eyes begin to decline later in life

[ooger]

Your eyes get worse and less effective the older you get. Whether you have LASIK, LASEK, PPK or just contacts or glasses or anything else "corrective" you cannot stop Old Man Time. You will need thicker/stronger glasses/lenses if your eyes are still "growing" (until you get to about 25-26) and after that you can expect to need reading glasses later on in life, after your eyes stabilise.


If you get any focal problem "fixed" it will never be for the rest of your life. All it means is that for a reasonable time, you will not need manual aids. (arf arf)


I'll still need reading geggs when I get old. For me, thats OK, if I didnt have the laser treatment, I'd have to have bifocals instead, or 2 pairs, one for long, one for short. Then I'd turn into those old people who can't find their glasses.


All I'm saying is that if you ask me if it was worthwhile, id say definitely. Without a doubt its the best money I've ever spent, although I could probably have bought quite a few bikes with it instead....

If you ask me whether I truly understood the risks, consequences and repercussions until I was under the laser, I'd say no, I was petrified as soon as I laid down. Until then, everything was fine.

I think I sweat at least half a stone that day alone.

The only thing worse than having the actual operation (20 mins, max) is the 3 hours afterwards where I was convinced I was actually blind. All I could see was grey, and grey shadows. I had my procedure on a bright sunny day.

Needless to say, thats the most demanding time for anyones peepers.

[mac99]

Just had it done on Friday :-)

Prescription was about 5.5 to 6 dioptres short sighted with a fair whack of astigmatism.

I went with Optical express (http://uk.opticalexpress.com/laser-eye-surgery/procedures-available.html), and had their top end LASIK: Advanced Custon Vue Wavefront, with the IntraLase flap creation. £1500 per eye.

Eyes were OK straight away afterwards, with no pain, just slight grittiness. At the 24 hour check up on Saturday, they said the vision was better than 20/20 ,though I've still got some halo effect. That should fade as they heal over the next few weeks. I'm taking eye drops every 30 minutes it seems right now, but that's just the care regime for the first week.

I've been vaguely thinking about it for ages, but what spurred me into it finally was a chap at work had it done with this technology and was over the moon with the result. I think it was just the techno-lust for the wavefront laser.

[cuffy]

Just had it done on Friday :-)


Does that mean you wont be spilling your drinks ;)

[vixis]

[quote=the_lone_wolf;1581045][snip] only to have vision worse than it was before, i'll be sticking with glasses and contacts...[snip]

Yes I agree, and this is discussed at the initial consultation; I know I will have to go to glasses when I get older, but in the meantime I go without glasses that cost me £200 each (I need 2 pairs) and perscription sunnies. Worth it in my opinion, but then, I was one of the lucky ones that had no side effects.

[flibble]

I'm also only -1.00, -1.50 & had LASEK last Dec, and it's the greatest thing ever!!!

The recovery period depends on the treatment you go for or that's best suited for you. And admittedly the 10 days after for mine was scary as hell, but looking (hehe) back, it's all worth it.

You can go for the cheaper deals and offers that you see in the back of magazines, but these are your eyes and up to you on the risk you take. Perhaps get reviews from people who've used a particular company?? We did some research and "Which" do a review on the laser treatments available. Only 3 companies provided their stats... something to consider if you do decide to go ahead with it.

[warg60]

Quite a lot of people at work have had it done, and everyone I have spoken too has been very pleased. Since I have varifocals (cos I'm old) and would still have to have glasses to see close stuff, so there isn't a lot to be gained for me. However, if I was in my twenties I definately would have it done.
Although I would get an good and recommended Ophthalmic surgeon to do the work as they can correct any problems that occur during surgery (and that's the difference between a procedure that cost a few hundred quid and a few thousand, I guess).
With any surgery, there is going to be a risk, and you have to ask what is the reward. If there is something that you will really be so much better without glasses, skiing, diving, other sports comes to mind, then go for it. If it just a case of dumping the glasses, then I would stick with daily contact glasses (if possible).