Was putting my contact lenses in at half 6 this morning and thought… “I’ve had enough of this”

I know very little about lazer surgery, only that it used to be said your eyes often revert after a period of time.

Anyone had it done?

Any info pointers in direction of unbiased sales pitch advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Can’t stand the thought of my eyes being peeled open whilst awake tbh.

My dad just had 2 cataracts done at 76yo though, and apart from feeling quesy he reported no issue.

My gf had it done about 6 years ago I think – apart from occasional dryness, she had no problems after the initial healing period. And it hasn’t reverted at all.

Oh, and it’s “laser” 😉

Not this thread again :p Answers will be either:
Best thing I’ve ever spent money on
Don’t want anyone hacking into my eyes thanks
I know a friend of a friend that’s now blind
Eye surgeons I ‘know’ wear glasses

My own experience was option 1, had it done over 10 years ago now and whilst my vision has deteriorated a bit since I’m still a long way off needing glasses (pre-surgery I’d gotten to the point I needed glasses for driving and watching TV and squinted a lot without them).

Mine is similar to the ‘friend of a friend’ option.

Except it was a personal friend and he almost lost the sight in one eye.

I had it done before xmas with Optical Express, I didn’t find them pushy and a consultation costs nothing. A referral can save you money on the treatment, also waiting for them to call you puts you in a good position to haggle. When you see the advertised “treatment from…” prices bear in mind you have to pay per unit of prescription and astigmatism – higher corrections cost more.

I had mine done just over ten years ago by Ultralase. I have had no problems with them since then what so ever. Before surgery both eyes were about -5 with a bit of astigmatism. As mentioned above go for a consultation and see what they say, not everyone is suitable.

I know a friend of a friend that’s now blind

true story for me, totally blind in one eye, near as damn it in the other

oh what the hell, just go for it… odds on you’ll be fine.. i am not an eye doctor

what’s the worst that could happen…?

I asked about it last time I had my usual 2 yearly opticians appointment.
Optician was very good, explained all the options but said it was only really worth getting it done if your eyes had been stable at their prescription for 4 years. If they were gradually deteriorating, you risked spending loads of money then in 2-4 years finding out that you needed glasses again.

Friend had it done at one of the top private eye hospitals, it cost her a fortune (talking over £10000) but she’s well over 20:20 vision now and now problems at all.

true story for me, totally blind in one eye, near as damn it in the other

and was this categorically due to the laser surgery? If so that’s a b****r but, as surgeons like to point out, ALL surgery carries a risk and it’s up to the patient to decide whether the benefits outweigh the potential risk.
I had mine done by Ultralase 10 years ago also – distance vision is still perfect and never had any issues. It made a big difference to my life and money well spent but YMMV.

I had it done by Optimax 21 years ago (yes, really). No issues at all and since then my mum, sister, ex wife and several colleagues have had it done, all with no problems.

As a slight antidote to “a friend of a friend went blind” read this: Laser eye surgery

It appears when it does go wrong there is a reason for it which is out of the ordinary – poor after care by the patient, post operative trauma (one guy was punched in the face on the way home), infections (one case had his baby son sneeze in his eye as soon as he got home etc).

Laser eye surgery is, as it says a surgical procedure so there are risks. However there are also risks from wearing contact lenses see here:Contact lens risk In fact you are mare likely to go blind from wearing contacts than you are from having laser eye surgery.

As for “my optician/eye Dr would never have it done and wears contacts/glasses”. Well if I was a person who worked indoors and my only outdoor activity was a wander round a golf course, or a walk along the South Bank then I wouldn’t have bothered either. However with my life at the age of 20 being mostly putting on crash helmets to race cars and ride motorbikes, mountain biking, big wall climbing, skiing and water sports, glasses and contacts were a massive PITA. So yes, it was the best thing I ever spent money on.

I think it depends on the condition of your eyesight.

I had a recent assessment where they told me that I would still need to wear glasses for reading. Didn’t fancy going through with the surgery and still having to wear glasses.

The cost was another obstacle.

They quoted me £7,000 for the work, plus I still need glasses for reading.

Switched to varifocal lens now – quite happy.

You need an assessment, it seems to work well for some people.

ALL surgery carries a risk and it’s up to the patient to decide whether the benefits outweigh the potential risk.

Agreed. And after my friend’s experience I wouldn’t consider it myself.

I had it done 11 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did as I was -5.50 and needed my glasses to shave in the morning. I have had no change in my distance prescription since the surgery but as with most people approaching 50, I will soon need reading glasses.
I was concerned about the risks as I am scuba professional/camera man and pressure does weird stuff to healing tissue. After a lot of research I went for LASEK. Things have probably moved on since then so do your research carefully.
I did hear stories about a friend of friend that it all went wrong for but I also had a direct friend that ended up with an amoebic infection of the eye from wearing contact lenses. After 2 years of treatment she finally had a corneal transplant!
Every thing has risks so you just need to weigh them up and make a decision that suits you.

It appears when it does go wrong there is a reason for it which is out of the ordinary – poor after care by the patient, post operative trauma (one guy was punched in the face on the way home), infections (one case had his baby son sneeze in his eye as soon as he got home etc).

Again, I have to offer my experience – my friend’s experience was that he was taken immediately to hospital from the clinic due to the procedure not working.

Then he spent the next 10 days being woken every 30 minutes to have eye drops administered. It might not sound too bad but apparently he was a mental wreck after a few days due to his sleep being constantly interrupted.

Had mine done 4 years ago – my thoughts 6 months after the op:

Had them done 6 months ago. Intralase lasik. Well chuffed with the results, slightly better than 20/20 now, although I do notice halos around bright lights at night or sometimes in the cinema when the titles are white on black. Annoying, but not an issue and I believe it may go away over time. Some random observations:

The day of the op, it’s simply a production line – I wasn’t expecting to feel like a piece of meat being processed, but you are.

The op itself was an odd experience. One eye at a time, they stick a bandage on to cover the one not being done – I think the worst was the initial part where they put those things on that hold the eyelids back, then put something over the eyeball that sucks it up slightly (although this feels like someone is really pushing down on the eyeball) so they can cut the the flap. Vision goes blurry, then white but you can’t close your eyes – not describing it well, but I found it very disconcerting not seeing or being able to focus on anything AND not being able to close your eye.

Once the surgeon’s peeled the flap back, the actual laser correction involves you focusing on a green laser for several 5-10 second burst of laser activity. You’re told to keep the eye as still as possible, but even if it moves the software compensates and I believe it stops firing if the eye moves too much. Chances are you will get a whiff of your eyeball being burnt, don’t freak!

Then the surgeon puts the flap back down and smooths it out to get rid of any air bubbles – made me think of pasting wallpaper when he was doing this 🙂

Immediately after its done, you’re dumped in a dark recovery room. At this point it was like looking at the world through a piece of really scratched perpex. You’re wondering wtf? What have I done? Once the eye anaesthetic wears off, it’s like you are chopping the worst onions in the world, and closing your eyes only makes it marginally better – this lasted about 90-120 minutes for me – make sure you’ve got someone to get you home, you won’t be driving and I would have really struggled on public transport, simply because I could not keep my eyes open for even a few seconds – physically, this was the worst part of the whole thing. Straight to bed once home and managed to sleep for a few hours. Don’t try and stay up.

Vision was noticeably better the first evening, but still hazy. Next morning was wow! though – able to drive car, no problem.

Eye shields at night for two weeks I think, right pain in the arse. No water in eyes for the same period. No rubbing eyes for a month.

Found it really hard to work in the office in front of the PC for the frst 3 weeks – eyes really felt tired after just a few hours. Reminded me off having contact lenses in for too long. Funnily enough, wasn’t as big an issue when working at home on PC.

Thanks for all the responses guys. It’s quite scary hearing the “friend of a friend”.

Zigzag- Thanks for describing that in such detail, I’m not sure I want to put myself through that.. but then again I might..

It might not sound too bad but apparently he was a mental wreck after a few days due to his sleep being constantly interrupted.

Having twins will do that for you as well except it goes on for months and months and months and ……. zzzzzzzzz

Good recount of the experience ZZ – brings back the memories! One thing I remember distinctly was going for a coffee in town a couple of hours after the op.
We were sat in the window and I was seeing what shop signs I could read at a distance, which I think is a common thing to do after you’ve had the op. There was one that was still out of focus so I forgot about it and had my coffee – just before we left I looked again and it was crystal clear 😀

We do aftercare for one of these companies and as said above a very high percentage of people get very good results, however as with all forms of eye surgery there is a risk (although very small) more common is a reaction to bright lights etc.
It wont cure your vision for ever as said above in mid to late forties you will start to need help of glasses for reading.
the risk is your own to decide on, for people with strong prescriptions it can be a life changer, for people with low prescriptions is vanity really worth that much?

those that argue for aren’t right and those that argue against aren’t right either every case is different