Anyone had laser eye surgery ?

[Lamp]

I have to wear glasses to drive & watch TV. Been reading up on laser surgery. My gut feeling says "no", but just curious if anyone here's had it. Also, I'm sceptical that you'd really get 20:20 vision after it

"Got the dosh. Nice one. Now lean back, guv. This is gonna sting a bit"

 

[Amphrax]

I have to wear glasses to drive & watch TV. Been reading up on laser surgery. My gut feeling says "no", but just curious if anyone here's had it. Also, I'm sceptical that you'd really get 20:20 vision after it

"Got the dosh. Nice one. Now lean back, guv. This is gonna sting a bit"

I havn't had it done personally but I may be tempted myself as 1 of my eyes isn't very good compared to the other but I do not ware glasses or contacts.

If you were to have it done I would ofc goto 1 with a good reputation and not some back street surgery. I know the laser takes off a layer from the eye which makes your eye site alot clearer.

Its a bit of mixed comments really, some people say its great I can see alot better and some havn't got the balls to go through it just incase something does go wrong.

It cost something around £1500 about iirc if you goto a top notch laser treatment clinic (which I really recommend).

My boss - daughter - says its great and it only takes about 10 mins to do and it does sting abit. My mate went and paid £1500 to have it done but then bottled it when the time come.

But imo dont do anything you are uncertain with, unless you are 100% sure within yourself.

 

[Wonk]

2 years ago or so, the old man talked to the most well-known doctor in denmark who's specialized in eye-surgeries (and some other stuff), and he was told it wasn't worth it yet.

that's two years ago though. I dunno whether is has gotten any better

 

[cHodAX]

Had mine done 18 months ago, best money I ever spent. As for your scepticism, I was exactly the same and I did achieve 20:20 vision although one eye is slightly better than the other but with both eyes open I have 20:20 overall vision. I must add that I opted for the more expensive Waveform laser surgery, it is much more accurate and alot less tissue needs to be lasered away. That means if a retreatment is ever needed you will have more tissue to play with than the older traditional methods which will often leave your borderline for a retreatment because of how much tissue is lasered away.

 

[tierk]

My cousin just came back from eye surgery in Bahrain and he reckons its fixed hsi eyes 100%. All depends if you are short sighted or have astigmatism.

 

[Chronictank]

i dont know tbh, if it was a permanent fix maybe but your sight just gets worse again anyway at varying degrees of degradation

 

[Naetha]

Cho - how much did it cost you?

Considering this, although obviously all cost dependent... May have to save up for a couple of years yet.

 

[cHodAX]

I paid £2600 or so for both eyes, that covered all aftercare and 1 years worth of checkup appointments. The procedure itself takes about 10 minutes or so and is a little uncomfortable but painless, the eyes take anywhere from a few days to a month to settle down but within literally 30 minutes you are on your way home with sunglasses on. For the next fortnight you have to be very careful not to rub your eyes or bump your head but apart from that and regular eye drops for the first 2 weeks it is a peice of piss. I would recommend it to anyone, it has made a massive difference to me as I do not suit glasses at all and I cannot stand putting in and taking out contact lenses.

 

[cHodAX]

i dont know tbh, if it was a permanent fix maybe but your sight just gets worse again anyway at varying degrees of degradation

You have a point but statistics show on average a 10 year period without serious regression, to me that means roughly 10 years without glasses or contact lenses. That was worth every penny of the £2600 to me, I will be 41 or so before I should expect problems again by which time the treatment will be better and cheaper so I will have them redone as I have thick cornea's which make retreatments possible.

 

[Binky the Bomb]

There is another point to consider. If you have any personal insurance or insurance or a car or other operators licenses, check the documents carefully, some companies will not insure you again if you've had laser treatment. Or will charge you at a higher rate because of it. Its sad but the treatment is viewsed with some stigma by various insurers. I would have had it done, but I would have another 30% added to my car insurance. Best to check, just in case you can't afford the higher rate.

 

[Haggus]

Cho what problems did you have with your eyes? I've got a stigmatisim something or other, rugby shaped retinas I think I was told.

I gather they can treat anything, i hope anyway. But just curious.

 

[Varna]

I had mine done about 7 months ago, I had astigmatism also so when I was wearing glasses I had to use torric lenses when I was wearing contatcs, but the surgery also fixed that. I've had no problems, sometimes my eyes get dry but I put that down to air conditioning and tiredness.I say it's probably the best money I have ever spent, I now have perfect vision, better than all my friends, I also have better than 20:20, which is rare but they say that most people get 20:20, which is perfect. Also, one thing I will say is make sure they check that you have thick corneas, if you have thin ones they might not do it but even if they still allow you todo it, I personally wouldnt have. My treatment costed about 2600, I recall them giving me 3 options, the cheapest is standard surgery, the second is they do the same as the first but they try to save extra cornea tissue and the third is the most expensive but they do extra stuff like map your eyeball or something to the computer which does an even better job than the first two. I went with the second option as I have alot of cornea anyway but just to be safe incase of further treatment I went with second choice.

 

[Varna]

Also, must note that during the surgery it really smells of burning eggs.. and for two days after surgery your eyes will feel like theyre throbbing constantly, you'll need to take 2 x 2 eye drops per 2 hours, you wont be able todo it yourself as it's too hard - also you wont be able to open them, you'll just sleep for two days... even more .. you will need to wear silly pads with holes in over your eyes when you goto sleep, that for me was the hardest part.. the pain was bad also but fear of rubbing my eyes while sleeping scared the shit out of me and also for a month or so you will have red eyes and blotches on your eye bulbs... however, the surgery itself takes 10 mins!!! and the feeling from leaving the surgery with your shades on and being able to read lisence plates and see things crystal clear makes up for all that pain and fear so much, truly is an amazing thing, best thing ive ever done.

 

[Lamp]

Sounds good

one question - how can you have better than 20:20 vision - I thought that was perfect eyesight. How can you get better than perfect eyesight ? Not having a dig - just curious.

Cheers

EDIT
Don't bother answering - checked it on Wikipedia. Didn't know that.
Visual acuity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Binky the Bomb]

20:10 vision. Its the type of eyesight you have that can make out very fine print unaided.

 

[Varna]

Yeah Lamp, that link explains it, all I know is that you look at a chart froma distance and that determines the 20:20 thing, i just know I can read further down the line than whats considered perfect vision.. really nothing to boast about just highlighting how good treatment is.

 

[cHodAX]

There is another point to consider. If you have any personal insurance or insurance or a car or other operators licenses, check the documents carefully, some companies will not insure you again if you've had laser treatment. Or will charge you at a higher rate because of it. Its sad but the treatment is viewsed with some stigma by various insurers. I would have had it done, but I would have another 30% added to my car insurance. Best to check, just in case you can't afford the higher rate.

Only the cheaper non-wavefront surgery, the more expensive treatment is much more accurate with a much higher success ratio. You just need to make that clear to the insurance companies and tell them you have 20:20 vision.

 

[cHodAX]

Cho what problems did you have with your eyes? I've got a stigmatisim something or other, rugby shaped retinas I think I was told.

I gather they can treat anything, i hope anyway. But just curious.

Exact details I am not sure bud as it was a while ago, just that I was short-sighted and it was slowly getting worse. At the end of the day anyone can go for a free consultation and have the checks done to see if surgery is suitable for them.

 

[cHodAX]

I had mine done about 7 months ago, I had astigmatism also so when I was wearing glasses I had to use torric lenses when I was wearing contatcs, but the surgery also fixed that. I've had no problems, sometimes my eyes get dry but I put that down to air conditioning and tiredness.I say it's probably the best money I have ever spent, I now have perfect vision, better than all my friends, I also have better than 20:20, which is rare but they say that most people get 20:20, which is perfect. Also, one thing I will say is make sure they check that you have thick corneas, if you have thin ones they might not do it but even if they still allow you todo it, I personally wouldnt have. My treatment costed about 2600, I recall them giving me 3 options, the cheapest is standard surgery, the second is they do the same as the first but they try to save extra cornea tissue and the third is the most expensive but they do extra stuff like map your eyeball or something to the computer which does an even better job than the first two. I went with the second option as I have alot of cornea anyway but just to be safe incase of further treatment I went with second choice.

I went with option 3 for the same price £2600, the special scan is wavefront which is 100 times more accurate than the normal scan and saves an awful lot of tissue which means a much higher chance of success.

 

[cHodAX]

Also, must note that during the surgery it really smells of burning eggs.. and for two days after surgery your eyes will feel like theyre throbbing constantly, you'll need to take 2 x 2 eye drops per 2 hours, you wont be able todo it yourself as it's too hard - also you wont be able to open them, you'll just sleep for two days... even more .. you will need to wear silly pads with holes in over your eyes when you goto sleep, that for me was the hardest part.. the pain was bad also but fear of rubbing my eyes while sleeping scared the shit out of me and also for a month or so you will have red eyes and blotches on your eye bulbs... however, the surgery itself takes 10 mins!!! and the feeling from leaving the surgery with your shades on and being able to read lisence plates and see things crystal clear makes up for all that pain and fear so much, truly is an amazing thing, best thing ive ever done.

Mine were fine after a 3 hour sleep, the eye drops were a pain to put in for a couple of days until I developed my own technique. As for pain, none at all but very dry eyes for a week or so which the drops sorted out.

The rubbing of eyes terrified me but the eye covers they gave me worked a treat and I only had 1 night where I didn't sleep well. All in all it was a peice of piss, 100 times less aggro than having a tooth filled.

 

[cHodAX]

Sounds good

one question - how can you have better than 20:20 vision - I thought that was perfect eyesight. How can you get better than perfect eyesight ? Not having a dig - just curious.

Cheers

EDIT
Don't bother answering - checked it on Wikipedia. Didn't know that.
Visual acuity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No, 20:20 is normal eyesight for a child with perfect eyes. That can be slightly improved though as nature isn't quite as accurate as a £1 million quid laser with wavefront scans.

 

[Varna]

Yeah my eyes hurt really bad Cho, spose you were lucky My visions amazing though, only reason why I didnt go for the more expensive one was they told me the only difference is that it's better for reducing glare, as it maps to the exact shape of your eyeball so the cut is better or something, I really wasnt sold by what they were saying. Still the amount of cornea removed in option 2 isnt much different to option 3, thats why I didnt go with option 1 becuase with that option they didnt reserve the amount of cornea they took apparently, with option 2 they do and with option 3 you have it included, still, regardless im very happy, couldnt have wished for a better result.

 

[cHodAX]

Yeah my eyes hurt really bad Cho, spose you were lucky My visions amazing though, only reason why I didnt go for the more expensive one was they told me the only difference is that it's better for reducing glare, as it maps to the exact shape of your eyeball so the cut is better or something, I really wasnt sold by what they were saying. Still the amount of cornea removed in option 2 isnt much different to option 3, thats why I didnt go with option 1 becuase with that option they didnt reserve the amount of cornea they took apparently, with option 2 they do and with option 3 you have it included, still, regardless im very happy, couldnt have wished for a better result.

I had bad glare for a week, since then though it has been perfect, far far better than it was before. I don't get halo's around lights at night anymore either, another added benefit of wavefront.

 

[preacherboy]

Had laser surgery on my face, feels like a Mig welder, snap crackle and pop, weird feeling, It's not painful it just makes you jump and burns a little

 

[cHodAX]

Had laser surgery on my face, feels like a Mig welder, snap crackle and pop, weird feeling, It's not painful it just makes you jump and burns a little

You finally had that 'I LOVE TEH COCK' tattoo removed then bud?

 

[preacherboy]

You finally had that 'I LOVE TEH COCK' tattoo removed then bud?

ha-ha, nearly, nearly... give you a rep for that, but fell of my chair laughing couldn't see the add button

 

[cHodAX]

ha-ha, nearly, nearly... give you a rep for that, but fell of my chair laughing couldn't see the add button

You left yourself wide open for that and I couldn't resist, sorry.

 

[preacherboy]

You left yourself wide open for that and I couldn't resist, sorry.

he he np all in the fun:wub: was like 2 spots on my face, was like white lumps about the size of a spot cost me £300 to have em removed took 3 sittings

 

[Varna]

Cho if you don't mind me asking, how has your aftercare been?

 

[cHodAX]

Cho if you don't mind me asking, how has your aftercare been?

Honestly not great but not bad either, I was initially very worried as my right eye was healing alot slower than the left. The 7 day and 21 day checkups didn't make me feel much better as it felt like they were fobbing me off by saying 'don't worry it can take weeks or even months before you get the final effect'. For a few weeks I thought it was bullshit and was ready to demand a retreatment but after about 6 weeks my vision felt great, the dryness in the eyes cleared up and the light halos at night vanished.

All in all it wasn't a bad service, I would have expected better customer service and support for the price though. That said I could have paid an extra £1000 to have the exact same treatment done at the Royal Eye Hospital in Manchester and been treated shabbily like an NHS patient and been stuck in a shitty waiting from with the only refreshment being a vile tasting 10p of tea from a machine. At least the place I went to had nice coffee and biscuits, oh and big leather sofa with a TV to watch. The staff weren't the best though, I must admit I did expect to be very well treated considering the cost and the fact that I paid £2600 for a 10 minute operation.