After 35+ years of wearing glasses, it’s now really starting to p*ss me off…

I use contact lenses for MTB, but would rather go glasses-free in all aspects of life. I could wear contact lenses all day every day I guess, but it’s still a bit of a faff and would rather not have the hassle – plus i spend most of the day in front of a computer screen and find sitting still with contacts gets uncomfortable. (MTB with contacts is fine as I’m moving around)

Had a friend who’s recently had it done (with Optical Express) and he’s over the moon with the results, so I’m looking into the options and after some recommendations (or those to avoid!) of companies with whom people have had good service.

Also interested in prices – what have people paid (if you’re happy to divulge).

Thanks, shortsightedrichard

I had mine done 16 years ago but can’t remember the company name!!

Anyway, it was life changingly good but now I’m old I wear glasses for reading 😐

I’d heartily recommend it but obvs there are some scare stories going around.

Yep, in 2009. For me it was a really good choice, improved my lifestyle no end. I was straightforwardly short sighted, I’ve had no negative issues at all and my eyesight is still 20/20.

It’s been most noticeable for water sports and swimming, but also for bikes as I found riding in groups with dust a real issue with contact lenses and eye infections. Plus a huge reduction in general faff with contacts, glasses etc.

I went with AVC in London (Harley Street…) as they had a really good reputation and my long-running optometrist recommended them. I really wanted a good result so a lower price was a secondary consideration for me, within reason (I had also heard second-hand horror stories). Think I paid 3.5k ish, IIRC, but compared to daily lenses and nice glasses it paid for itself a few years ago.

So yeah, my experience of it has been great.

Optical express, 15years ago (I think)..about 4grand.

Take it for granted now though, just being able to jump in the car and drive, etc.

Do it.

Also interested. Looking at going for a consultation with Optegra in Leeds and this Smile relex method

Yes, brilliant. I think mine was through vision express. Been about 10 years done now.

I do now wear glasses for computer work only as I was getting a bit of eye strain, but everything else is fine.

I had it done 25 years ago with Optimax. No problems at all, but in those days it was PRK (just the laser), whereas now it’s a bit more sophisticated with the flap cut in the cornea, then the laser, then the flap put back. This as far as I’m aware pretty much eliminated the week of crap vision and the pain which I had.

As far as provider’s are concerned, there are two schools of thought. Go for the Harpley Street specialist who charges 5k per eye, does very few procedures but has studied for years, or go for one of the high street providers who do these procedures all day every day so the laser is being constantly used so they can do it much cheaper and they have got good at it due to practice! Of course these days it’s such a quick and simple procedure and I know of at least one guy who does a couple of days a week at Boots and a couple of days in a very expensive private clinic. So your Harpley Street guy might be the same person who you get at Optimax…

On balance, never had any issues with 20 years of contact lens wearing and no issue with glasses – wouldn’t let anyone slice my eyeballs with a laser nor anything else.

Merely my opinion, but I am squeamish about eye related things.

I’ve been wearing lenses for 28 years now but am finding as I’m getting older longsightedness is also kicking in and seems worse with contacts than my glasses on. I’ve never had an issue with lenses but am finding my tolerance is decreasing and have been looking at lens replacement.

OP and others who have had laser treatment. Why chose that over lens replacement?

there are some scare stories going around.

That’ll be my daughter then. One eye has been damaged, she’s in discomfort every day and the place involved don’t want to know. 😐

Optimax. 10 years ago. Best £750 I have ever spent in my life. I bought a last minute cancellation on eBay (yes I know) for half price though not sure if they still do that . I have an astigmatism so had to have an old fashioned procedure but still would recommend it every time.

My friend had it done and it’s **** his eyes up quite badly – constantly dry and itchy and has to wear glasses anyway.

I know these cases are rare but they do happen and for that reason I’ve always held off.

Contacts when I want to wear sunglasses, do some photography etc and glasses the rest of the time works well enough for me.

Even those who have laser treatment are likely to need bi/varifocals in later life anyway.

Know any opticians who’ve had it done?

Contacts for me, modern lenses are so good and so comfortable these days it’s really no hassle.

OP – Are you 40+? If so There is a fair chance you’ll still be needing reading specs at some point in the relatively near future. Laser surgery is old hat now, lens replacement surgery is the future. I don’t work in either field so cannot give you any prof advice.

I do however sell plenty of reading glasses to post-laser surgery patients.

Do a lot of research and don’t discount contact lenses

David Gartry, Moorfields. Had lasik to correct shortsightedness (-5 ish). Cost about £3.2k in 2004. No problems but shortsightedness returned (-2 ish) after a few years and corrected vision isn’t quite as good as it was pre lasik. If I had the money I’d consider lens replacement.

Was pretty much blind -8.5 with an astigmatism in one eye, got tired of very expensive lenses to stop the milk bottle bottom effect. Got Optimax to do it one eye at a time – the pain was unreal for the first 36 hours but back to being a cycle courier three days later. Best money I ever spent and that was 24 years ago.

Mate of mine had a shocker from Optimax in Manchester, years later still with long term blepharaitis. The guys they called on to sort out their mess were St James Laser Surgery, at Leeds, basically the top local NHS guys in the north selling the non-NHS machine time privately.

I was tempted for a long time.

Tried Optimax and they didn’t have any concerns whatsoever (even when I mentioned I had suffered with dry eyes in the past) but the constant junk mail/hard sell/time limited discounts put me right off and I ran a mile. They were also not interested about my queries about effects on night vision.

Then I tried Centre for Sight which is a more expensive outfit…felt like I got a proper consultation and they send me away with some expensive stuff to try and resolve the dry eyes before committing. Didn’t really work to sort the dry eyes and there was no hard sell, don’t think I even got a chaser letter! Expensive though, and when I pushed a bit for his opinion, he felt implantable contacts were better as they can be swapped out if the correction is not perfect, or when your prescription changes, and he reckons they’ll be able to do clever stuff in years to come like implants that improve vision in the dark/head up display like stuff. Implants were even more cash though. They also explained how they can ensure night vision is maintained (something about ensuring a large enough area is zapped) which was reassuring.

I still wasn’t convinced, and then I tried Ortho-K overnight hard contacts which reshape your eye. It worked, and I was glasses free for a few weeks but the vision was variable and I started getting sore eyes at night. I was advised before the trial that my astigmatism was on the limit so the variable vision was not surprising, however the optician said that the laser correction I was considering would have had the same difficulties to correct my prescription.

Back in glasses now and only wear contacts for cycling. No regrets, reckon I made the right choice so glad I was hesitant to bite the bullet.

My prescription is -3.00 -1.75 axis 90 and -3.00 -2.25 axis 20

Another optimax Sockyhall st Glesgy, went from -6 to -0.5 but since 2001 im now about-2 in each eye
They dont tell you about low light pish vision well thats what i had to get used to, fairly painless wee bit of discomfort and 1k for both on the same day
They said to me good to be short sighted a wee bit as you wont need reading glasses but i only got 3 years driving without glasses but never at night

I would love to have this done but i discussed it with a glasses wearing eye surgeon during a routine sight test. He put me right off, just not worth the risk.

I meant to add, there doesn’t seem to be many surgeons who have had their own eyes lasered!

My wife is a medical secretary in an NHS eye dept. There are about 10 surgeons, half of whom wear glasses and none of whom have had laser or similar surgery. My vision, at around -7 and astigmatism is rubbish, but given some of the problems I hear of from her, I won’t be going for surgery.

I had mine done about 15 years ago by Ultralase, no issues at all so far and no need for glasses.

Thanks for sharing your experience and stories. I’m 49, have been wearing glasses since I was 13, but nowadays find I’m having to peer over the top of them to work the phone, read magazines etc. I daresay I’ll need reading glasses soon.

I know varifocals are an option, and I believe I could look into varifocal contacts.

Seems I can get free consultations with various companies, so I’ll try that first. Well, after getting my eyes tested again by my optician. Prescription hasn’t changed for about 10 years now though.

Thanks everyone.

Had mine done at OptiMax six or seven years ago now. Consultation in London on my lunch hour, procedure done in Manchester on the weekend, was back in work on Monday. Absolutely no issues. Wasn’t sure they’d be able to help me, was short sighted around -6 but I had an 11 second zap and it changed my life. Best £3k I will ever spend…

Also, i’m sure it’s guaranteed for life – ie, they will repeat the procedure if your eyes deteriorate again for free ?

After years of contact lenses ( which I had no problem with) my optician told me I had to stop using them as they were starving my eyes of oxygen and blood vessels were growing towards my pupils!

Just little things like waking up and not having to fumble for your specs, or not falling asleep in contacts etc…

I know a fair few people that the surgery went well.

I won’t do it as I’ve had minor surgery go wrong five years ago and still in pain. I won’t have surgery ever again unless absolutely necessary.

I refused surgery when my spine was badly broken. The consultant did say I could move my feet now but might not after surgery. Chose over 6 weeks flat on my back but I can walk.

If something like eye surgery goes wrong it will mess up your sight. It would most likely be me as I don’t have good luck.

Also, i’m sure it’s guaranteed for life – ie, they will repeat the procedure if your eyes deteriorate again for free ?

They can sometimes do a corrective zap if the first attempt isn’t quite right, and if they don’t use this ‘2nd chance’ I think it can be used later. But I’m fairly sure two zaps would normally be your max. I think its always been well known that prescriptions change and therefore I’d be surprised if they had any sort of guarantee for more than a year or two

Had mine done about 20 years ago now, best £800ish I’ve ever spent (it was a bargain offer at the time). Hurt for a few days after (old technique) and had light sensitivity for 6 months but ditching glasses and having 20/20 vision more than made up for it.

Over the last 5 years my vision’s deteriorated a bit but that’s expected, laser eye surgery doesn’t stop the ageing process after all.

Worn contacts for 20+ years and have no worries, I can sleep overnight a couple of times if I needed to with my lenses so unexpected overnights or 24 hr races and so on were/are never an issue. Glasses for times I don’t want lenses in. now getting to the point where I need reading glasses anyway. Part of my organisation employs sessional ophthalmologists (easy for you to say) and some of them work part time in the laser correction industry. Some have had it done to themselves, some haven’t. It’s pretty routine these days (I understand that the US army offer it to all soldiers who’re short sighted within a range for free) but it’s still elective surgery. If you’re thinking about it, go to a couple of places, talk about your worries, and see what the response is like. Only you can decide if the risks are worth it for you.

Had mine done 8-9 years ago by Julian Stevens at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He has pretty much developed much of the laser eye surgery practice. In his words ‘the machines are so good that many people can get good results. If you want the best then go to the best who will get the machine dancing’.

9 years later and my eyes are still 6/4. No dry eyes, no halos at night (these develop as people cut costs on the layering by not doing the full pupil area when it’s dilated to minimise laser time).

Edit: not an eye surgeon but I am a consultant radiologist so was ULTRA careful in my choice

Laser surgery won’t change the requirement for reading specs as you get older. The difference perhaps is that with specs you can look over the top or take them off to read where as with laser treatment the correction is permanent.
I had mine done about five or six years ago now with Optimax in Nottingham.
No regrets whatsoever.

Re the comments about how many eye surgeons have had treatment themselves – this is common to all kind of surgeons and all kind of treatment in my experience. A consultant I saw about my knee problems told me that he spends much of his time trying to persuade people not to have knee surgery and he’d never have it done himself.

Just make sure you use the drops afterwards

[video]https://youtu.be/wVwHydEgzAA[/video]

Good friend of mine had it done 8 or so years ago and is very happy with the results. She swims a lot and so contacts were not ideal which helped her decision process no doubt. Her opinion is that it’s the best money she’s spent, no glasses, no pain, generally no issues at all.