I met a client last week and it was more than obvious he was in some form of distress. I said to him "are you okay mate" to which he replied "no I'm not".

I could hardly keep his eyes open and said his eyes feel bone dry. He had eye laser correction 4 months prior. A multi millionaire who's life meant nothing anymore.

He was referred to a senior eye specialist with 42 yrs experience who also owner 3 opticians. The specialists said "I have spent my entire working life in otic surgery and I along with every optician I know would never go anywhere near a laser when it relates to eyes.
He went on to say the so very little is known about long term problems and he along with many others are surprised the service is available at this stage.



I was seriously considering laser eye correction. I have bought glasses.
Do yourself a favour and do the same !!

 

The bit that doesn't add up with the specialists opinion above is where he said "little is known about long term problems".

Laser eye surgery has been around since approx 1974, its not a new surgical procedure. Thats almost 40yrs worth of data that will have been collected and researched by the relevant optical organisations, if it were as risky as your specialist above is implying then you wouldn't see as many laser eye specialists around, it would be too risky for the fear of being sued.

Touch wood, I've had mine done for a few years now and im more than happy with the results. The aftercare is very intense in the 6mths after surgery, you will have to take a heck of a lot of different eye drops that do different things, I was putting the drops in my eyes around 3 times an hour at the peak which was every hour, it slowly comes down in time.

 

............

 

My wife had ultralase about 12 years ago. Eyes were perfect for 11 years.

Recently had some eye sight problems (just general poor eyesight) so rang them up. Ultralase is now optimax - and the bottom line is said as she had it done quite young the eyes had changed as she got into her mid 30s so they took her back in and did another treatment - with no charge. They told her that they will re-treat again for free if needed - but its not advised she has a 3rd treatment.

Cost 12 years ago was about £1200 IIRC.

My friend is an eye doctor and he advised that anyone who had the treatment before about 2005 was basically part of a clinical trial - all be it they pay for their own treatment. Post 2005 and the technology is much more advanced and the techniques have improved a lot. He advised that these days its a very good solution for the majority of people.

When we were at Optimax getting the re-treatment I had a quick look at the costs and it seems the cost is between £3500 and £3500. My friend also advised that there are other options now such as lens replacement surgery but its still developing and its £10-20k - but in another 10 years it should be possible to do it cheaper and with much better results.

 

So 3.5k then.

 

I had my eyes done with UltraLase through in Edinburgh 3 years ago, honestly I'd never go back to wearing my contacts/glasses! From the moment I was first seen at my consultation right through to my full 1 year checkup they were nothing but professional.

Reason I went with UltraLase was because at the time I was looking at joining the police force and the Scottish Forces all recommend using UltraLase as well as a fair few athletes have used them.

Don't be drawn in by the £395 per eye carry on though or you will receive a major fright! For my full treatment (wavefront/lasik) I was £3995, although there were cheaper packages with UltraLase I opted for the top tier of package as they fully insure my eyes. So 10/20/30 years down the line, if my vision starts to slip then they will perform the operation again. Even if UltraLase are not in the game anymore the insurers will find another reputable company of the same standards to perform the op.

I was shocked by the price at first but a final word, it's your eyesight that you are talking about. Pay for the best treatment possible and don't take chances! I'm not saying all the other companies that were mentioned here aren't good, but when I was researching about having the surgery done I found a very scary fact. UltraLase were the only company I found that their surgeons were trained and completely qualified to perform this op, where as other companies I was looking at only had their surgeons trained.

I still have all the paperwork in the house somewhere, the missus has probably filed it away, but they gave me a near enough full cv of the surgeon who would be doing my op and he is one of the leading eye doctors within the uk.

 

theres an open-day @ birmingham optimax this saturday im probably going to pop down

i figure if i park up my sti for 4 months i could easily save £2k

 

Spotted this earlier, Lasik Xtra 90 second procedure banishes risks. I've not read it yet, so make up your own minds.

 

7 years after I had surgery, my right eye is probably borderline legal from a driving perspective. My left eye is still 20/20. As the grain compensates my eyesight it still 'good', but it wont be like that for too long.

I am going to go for an aftercare appointment and see if the right eye can be done again. It depends on the thickness of the cornea apparently.

 

just had this done saturday

sore eyes about 1 hour later, right as rain following day

best 2k i ever spent

 

I am only mildy shortsighted so wear glasses for driving (don't need to legally but makes sense) and shooting. Cant get on with contacts - cant even get them in my eyes.

Just seen a sports vision optometrist who got me to 20/10 with glasses. Told me that my current prescriptions glasses from Vision Express are overpowered and one of the lenses is at the wrong angle. Cost me £200 for a full check up but worth it where eyes are concerned in my opinion. Now got some prescription oakleys with polarised lenses for driving and an interchangeable set for shooting.

The small chance of something going wrong after laser surgery and my mild prescription put me off it. If my eyes get worse and I have to wear glasses daily then I might change my tune.

 

11 years ago I had mine laser treatment with optimax in Manchester, eye site is fine, but I've started to notice that my right eye late at night takes a little longer to focus / needs to blinks a few times to focus distance wise.
Ok that is probably more the ageing process and I now spend a lot of time looking at pc screens.
I would honestly recommend anyone having laser eye treatment

 

Interesting thread........... seriously considering this myself as glasses get on my nerves a lot, to the point I don't use them when I should ;(

 

Thats the reason I had my eyes lasered, hated wearing glasses - kind of conscious of them on my face, and found them restrictive, So wore contact for close to ten years. The contacts started to irritate me a little - So took the decision to sort the issue. Have not looked back - was lucky had no issues, or none since.
Ok the natural ageing / deteriorating of my eyes I can do nothing about.

I can still remember the day I had them done, sitting in a chair waiting to be called in, I could see the outline of a clock about 10 metres away, but not the face / hands clearly. An hour later sat in the same chair, could see the face / hands clear.
Kind of took my breath away for a few seconds in amazement.

Honestly go for an appointment and see what you feel afterwards.

Richard