As a specs wearer most of my life (short sighted). I'm now finding I need to remove them for reading, writing & eating etc. Which means another prescription for bi-focals is most likely.
So I'm going to book a consultation with Optical Express with a view to having corrective surgery.
I would really appreciate others that have had this procedure to refer the experiences with either the procedure and or dealings with the named provider.
Many thanks for any replies 🙂

Had a look into this via ultralase.
The sales talk usually goes along the lines of the different surgical options available to you. And undoubtedly you'll go for the best – which happens to be the most expensive.
Don't read into the "from £395 per eye".
1 – you don't get single eyes done
2 – this price is only obtainable under certain – very specific conditions.

The guarantee conditions are a little sketchy as well. Although, they guarantee their work for x number of years – your eye can only sustain so many treatments anyway and the surgery is at the discretion of the surgeon. So should he/she deem your eyes not suitable for a second round of treatment – that's where it ends.

The success rate is high. But try asking about the flip side. Always gets a muted response.

All said and done. I still wanted it but have to wait due to other conditions.

Which means another prescription for bi-focals is most likely.

ask about monovision – one lens for close work, one for distance – no need to tilt your head to change focus and much cheaper as it uses normal lenses. I started with contacts but then had it applied to my glasses too.

I paid 2,200 for both eyes from Optimax in Liverpool, for the top-of-the-range job where they create the flap with a laser, as opposed to scraping back the cornea (the aforementioned £395 per eye, followed by a week of pain), or cutting the flap with a scalpel. It was a lot of money, but as far as my vision is concerned, I wasn't taking any chances. The procedure is not painful, but is unpleasant. But within 24hrs, I had 20/20 vision. 3.5yrs later, I'm not aware of any side-effects, and my vision is spot-on.

i thought they did one eye at a time to avoid blindness if they **** up.

i thought they did one eye at a time to avoid blindness if they **** up.

That'll make the OP feel confident then! I would sort of like to get it done but I could buy a new bike for that sort of money and I get on fine with contacts so don't really want to take the (small) risk right now.

My partner had hers done at optical express, and yes, she paid £395 per eye. Cost does depend on treatment though.
She has been very positive about the experience -no complaints and excellent vision.

If you do decide to do it, we have a £150 discount voucher you can have if you drop me an email. We actually used a voucher from someone on this forum!

My dad had laser eye surgery done last Monday via optical express – it was just a single eye, so not sure what the above post means regarding only doing it on both eyes. I didn't ask how much it cost, but it seems to be working a treat.

He's now going through a short period of using a variety of eye drops to stop infections etc – sadly he said that he felt nothing during the surgery, which saddens me as I expecting at least some gory details! 🙂

MY girl friend had laser eye surgery with optical express in Birmingham
she had both eyes sorted out at the same time , and since the operation some 4 years ago has had no problems with her eyes at all, the most scary part of the opp was when they had removed the cornea , she had both eyes open but could not see, at this point the nurse held her hand to reassure and comfort her. we walked back through the bull ring after wards and she was like a kid that had just learn t to read and kept asking me to pick out shop signs to read out to me , without glasses .
the only thing that she has noticed is that in poor twilight conditions on rough ground she loses the sense of definition for depth for maybe walking over roots or steps etc .
hope this is of help cheers

OK just for you, the surgery will correct long or shortsightedness, but as you are now needing a correction for reading you would not be totally specs free as the surgery can't correct the the lack off focus range which unfortunately comes to us all with age.

Ultralase for me, consultation and after care in Guildford, procedure in Reading , as the new intralase machine wasn't in Guildford at the time.

Lifetime aftercare included and I actually used when I had questions after a couple of years. – turned out to be a bit dry in one eye and they gave me some drops. Now I just use some drops / gel once every few months if my eyes get really dry and tired.

I'm over the moon with my results. Contact lenses actually present a greater overall risk of damaging your sight then laser surgery – assuming you overwear contacts like I used to.

My girlfriend had hers done years ago, and as Hustler says she does now need reading glasses but other than that her eyes are fine.

She was practically blind before the surgery and had to feel for the exit door along the wall when she got out of the swimming baths ,couldn't go swimming in the sea as she'd never find the towels on the beach again etc.

Think I'd like to have it done, but to be honest I'm just to squeamish about someone cutting open my eyes, especially while I'm conscious! 😳

did anyone have similar queasy feelings and do it anyway?

I'm just to squeamish about someone cutting open my eyes, especially while I'm conscious!

face it – the vast majority of us are going to need that at some point as we all live longer and longer thus necessitating intraocular lenses for cataracts…

Seen too many failures coming through our clinic to even consider laser surgery.

"queasy feelings" more like "sh1tting myself feelings".

It was super scary when it all goes black and they are cutting your eye (I chose to have interlase = cutting with another laser), then you see the flap being opening up in a foggy blur.

but it is SOOOOOO worth it.

A good friend had it done earlier this year. It went wrong, his eye became infected and he has lost most sight in one eye. For two weeks he was in hospital, being woken every single 30 minutes to have eye drops administered. He describes his vision in that eye as being like constantly underwater.

It isn't expected to get any better.

I'm not sure that anyone has mentioned this but it sounds like the OP has presbyopia (reduction in the ability to focus due to age).
Laser surgery to reshape the cornea can't fix this inherently. All they can do is adjust one eye to see better at distance, and the other for close work.

An alternative is surgical (no lasers) removal of the crystalline lens and replacement with an intra-occular lens implant, which works for some people but isn't perfect.

A few years ago I had to attend Moorfields in, let me put it, "a hurry". Whilst being treated the specialist casually asked if I'd ever thought of having eye correction surgery. When I replied "God, no" he said "Good".

I'm very short sighted (about -11 dioptres in each eye), so laser correction isn't a very viable option for me. Even assuming my corneas are thick enough to permit a correction, the chances of getting it bang on without any distortions etc. are not very high. Every few years I have a little Google around, and think for a bit about phakic implanted lenses. In principle it seems like a good idea – replaceable / reversible if required. Main downsides are the risk of infection (which is fairly small), and cost (about £3k per eye). As I understand it, the risks of complications (e.g. lens becoming displaced) are non-zero, but still quite low. I currently wear RGP (hard) contacts, for about 17 hours per day, and don't clean them as often as I should, so I suspect that my chances of issues overall might be lower if I went for it. My optician reckons that at some point I'll start to find it uncomfortable to wear the lenses for so long each day, and that I'll then have to revert to glasses. I think that if that happens then I may start saving for the implants!

As pointed out though – it sounds as though the OP might be hoping for too much if he expects to correct for lack of accommodation (being able to focus on both near and far objects using the same strength lenses). As mentioned, there is the option of having one eye optimised for far vision, and one for near. Obviously that could be achieved with glasses, so is kind of a separate question from "to laser or not to laser?". I don't think that you can get laser correction that mimics bi- or vari-focal lenses. I guess technically it could be possible, but have no idea if it's been done.

some good new contact lenses for presbyopia on the market btw

Whatever you do, if you use Optical Express dont agree to anythign there and then.

Wait a month or so and they'll send you a £250 off voucher

Waves somewhat in the general direction of gray – I'm about the same -10.5 to -11.0.

I was chatting to an opthamologist at work a while ago about this, as my wife was toying with the idea. He reckons you should always get a paper copy of the procedure and keep it very safe. That way, if they ever have to operate on your eyes in the future, they'll know how much has been removed. Not knowing this could lead to some proper cock-ups in surgery, apparently.

Had mine done about 7 years ago at ultralase in Chester. Cost was about £1000/eye. Both done at the same time.
Although I wasn't particularly shortsighted I did wear my glasses most of the time (I couldn't use contact lenses any more) and doing my fave sports at the time of sailing, windsurfing and wakeboarding was awkward. The operation was almost life changing….. complete success and utterly brilliant.

That way, if they ever have to operate on your eyes in the future, they'll know how much has been removed

Although not a bad idea, it's not entirely required as they have a machine thingy that tells them exactly how thick your cornea is. This is how they know after your initial consultation just how much they can re-shape it/how much correction they can make and therefore whether the operation should be successful.

Not bloody likely. I've only got one pair of eyes.

Not bloody likely. I've only got one pair of eyes.

you've got two eye's but one heart, does that mean you wouldn't have heart surgery 😉

you've got two eye's but one heart, does that mean you wouldn't have heart surgery

heart surgery tends not to be done unless it's needed.

2 things to remember:

1 – if you have a degenerative condition of the eyes over and above the normal effect of ageing then eventually you will need glasses again.

2 – some people report difficulties with clarity of vision at night after laser eye surgery, i believe this is something to do with aberrations in the cornea after surgery.

This could be popular when it is more generally available:
Corneal reshaping by contact lens whilst you sleep, perfect vision without lenses throughout the day…
linky

For the OP this would still require the use of reading glasses I guess…

My opticians are currently dispensing the overnight reshaping – people seem quite happy with it.
I shall stick with good old things on sticks – probably getting bifocals next week.

i thought they did one eye at a time to avoid blindness if they **** up.

they do – one eye first, check then the next eye.

Had Lasik 9 years ago at Moorfields where the consultant was very clear in the risks that the op presented. The result was better than 20/20 vision just 16 hrs later.

But I totally understand why people would never consider it/

Sharkbait – that depends if my heart ptroblem could be fixed by simply wearing glasses or contact lenses

Corneal reshaping by contact lens whilst you sleep, perfect vision without lenses throughout the day…

orthoK is generally perceived to be a pile of shite.

I had it done.£3000 privately 2 years ago and worth every penny.dont skimp where eyes are concerned.divide the cost between the next 20-30 years of your life and how much decent specs/contacts etc cost for that time.not much in it.

its not painfull,(cheaper options are tho) but i found it really bizzare, like being in a sci fi movie, all these sounds and blurry things happening in your field of vision.
my eyesight is now better than 20/20.there is virtually no measurable perscription.

cant recommend it enough.do your research, pay good money and enjoy.
ps it doesnt stop you developing the need for reading glasses as you get older tho, if that happens to you.

oh and do you know who got me into having it done?? i went for an eye test at my local (privately owned) optician.got talking about it and what they thought,bearing in mind there livelleyhood is selling specs.the owner said "well i cant lie, im just wearing reading glasses, as ive already had it done myself!"

No idea about the eye thing, but

Know any good routes around warwick?

I saw a patient this week who had undergone laser eye surgery a year ago. I think she had it optical expresss- was at meadowhall shopping centre. She came for a note for work cos she'd had to have further surgery a year later to correct the ghosting (seeing 4 of everything) that is a recognised side effect. She said her vision was a bit better but still not good enough to go back to work 2 weeks later.
No doubt lots of people have good results but I remember asking a professor of ophthalmology what he thought of it when it first came on the market 10 yrs ago. His reply was that he wouldn't let any member of his family have it.
Speaking as someone who has virtually no vision in one eye (amblyopia) I think it's far too risky to be having what is basically a cosmetic procedure done with these sort of risks.

Wow! firstly thanks for all the replies everyone. I did think it was a one step 'cure' to replace specs altogether however I think I'll have the consultation anyway (obviously without committing to anything) then go visit my local opticians to find out the lense options as I've only ever had thin,single vision photochromic lenses so don't know about vari-focal and the such.
I was just getting fed up of having to look over the top of my specs to read, work on my bike, tell the time etc and its escalated to all these options, lol.