..My wife had it done earlier this year,I have 3 friends(a lot I know) who have all had it done.
There is no pain,the unpleasantness is to do with the light and lack of tears to sooth your eyes,you get false tears to compensate.
My wife is a new women with this done,the release from not having to wear glasses is well worth the money,no more head aches,sore eyes and she looks younger,I kid you not,the wrinkles and bags under her eyes have dissappeared.
It's a decision you have to make yourself;I cannot find any record of a case of blinding,you actually get a certificate with a lifetimes "waranty" on it.
I asked if they ever refused anybody and they said only a very old man who was blind in 1 eye and had cataracts or similair in the other.
15 minutes for both eyes for her;the first exam was 2 hours,pre med was 1 hour.
Please don't listen to people who have heard this and that,I advised a colleague to go for the "free" apraisal but his optician said that "they" wouldn't do it for him,as much as I try he won't go to an appraisal

 

hi guys


as above really, wife is a little 'blind' and wants the said laser eye surgery, has any one on this site had the proceduer done?, what are the pitfalls?and thirdly, where to go..?we live in carlisle...


cheers chaps..

PS: my emoticon has nothing to do with my wife being a little blind...!

 

my friend has just had this done, she was scared as hell, said it hurt like hell and it was sore as **** for a dayish, i asked her if it was worth it and she told me she would have paid double if she had known what the results where going to be

hth Aaron

 

I also have a friend who had it done, he was a little bit uncomfortable for a few days but he's well glad he had it done. He got it done through Spec Savers I think.

 

I had it done about 3 years ago now, it really is'nt bad at all. I was scared as hell ,but i need'nt of been.

It took about 20 minutes to do both eyes, it's a little uncomfortable but i certainly would'nt say painful. I remember feeling a bit like i was tipsy after it was done (no reason why) i just did, but it subsided after a couple of hours.

Be prepared for itchy eyes for a week or so, it's not painful it just feels like your eyes are dry, i put copious amounts of drops in and it helped alot.

I would recommend it to anyone, it really transforms your life, not to mention no more paying out for contact lenses.

I honestly could'nt believe i could see so well without contacts in, literally 10 minutes after the op. Vision was a little blurry for a few hours, and you feel like a plank walking back to the car park with those goggle things on to protect your eyes from the wind, but well worth it.

Ultralase and Optimax, both in Newcastle will probably be you're best bet living in Carlisle (unless there is somewhere closer now). Both do special offers from time to time, and are certainly worth waiting for. I got buy one get one free (seriously). £695 all in including the consultation which was done at 10am then the op at 11.30. I was home for tea time, well chuffed.

 

thanks guys...

i wil start the booking procedure...

 

Let us know how you get on mate

 

is your wife attracted to you? maybe sorting her eyesight would be a bad thing?

 

probably a good thing...!...TBH..!

 

As with any opperation, complications can happen. There is a chance (might be 1 in a million now) that she could lose her eyesight all together.

That alone puts me off.

You can go through life pretty normally is you lose either your hearing, taste, arm, leg etc. Losing your sight is the worst thing that I could imagine.

 

I had it done and it all went OK. They do tend to set it up like a production line though so there is loads of waiting around for no reason at all.
I would say that paying extra to have the flap cut by laser is well worth it as having a vibrating saw resting on my eye ball was very unpleasant. The wave form they try to sell you is a load of old rubbish though. I read on a laser eye specialist forum that less than five percent of people sold wave form actually get any benefit from it but they do what ever they can to get more cash off you while you are there.

 

One of the guys here has it done - He spend a week with vision worse than he went in with, but once it had cleared it basically removed the need to wear glasses - If I was to have it done I would definitely go to a top notch place rather than the £500 per eye with interest free credit availble places.

Also, if I was doing the operation I would probably let them watch me do it a few times to see exactly whats involved.

 

I had it done a year and a half ago. It worked and I have 20/20 in my left eye and slightly less in my right eye. My right eye had astigmatism so the results were not perfect, but the left eye compensates to make overall vision perfect.

I had the 'best' which was no knife cutting and correction of night vision: Femtosecond wavefront.

I wrote this in another thread about companies:

summary of companies:

-=
Optical Express: Absolutely useless, complete muppets. They couldn't answer any of my questions, everything seemed a mess and they even kicked out the plug of one of the machines whilst doing the initial tests.

Optimax: (in Croydon and Brighton) Very good, very knowledgable. Price was in the middle. The examination was done by the doctor who would perform the operation and was extremely helpful, mentioned the risks, suggested some alternatives.

Ultralase: Extremely professional, very nice offices, helpful staff. Again spoke to the doctor. Price was high, and couldn't find much difference (apart from the offices) from Optimax.

Private: I went to see a surgeon privately (in East Grinstead) who would perform the operation. I would get 'personal attention', but the price for this was twice as much as Optimax.
-=

As you will be told, there is some risk. For the first year I was very prone to eye infections, but that seems to have stopped in the last six months or so.

Steve

 

its her eyes -shell have to decide ..!

 

While the service may change with place to place all the surgen does is put drops in your eye, cut the flap and press the on buton the machine does the rest. Even the flap cuting is done by a machine rested on your eye ball. It took all of about 8 minutes to do mine and that was it.

 

I want this but remain concerned about the long term outlook.

No one has had it 15 or 20 years so I'll be waiting a while I think.

And I would strenuously avoid anywhere that had "deals" to pull you in. I don't want there to have been at any point in the process, a meeting to discuss how they could save money or offer the op at a certain price point. I want to know they've bought the best possible machine, with the best possible software and it's used by the most highly trained staff.

It's a bit like tyres on a car, I don't want the executives at the tyre company to have said "how can we make these tyres cheaper", I want them to have been discussing "how can we make these the safest tyres we possibly can".

 

I'd like it done but am too scared. At the moment I wear different glasses for reading and driving but none for doing non-reading or driving things so I put them down, then I lose them and forget to take them out with me etc, it drives me nuts.

 

I've a few doctor friends, likewise spoken with opticians myself- basically said the operation isn't old enough now to get reliable survey data back from it to validate how safe it is.

 

Just use the DIY approach: LASIK@Home

 

All they really do is reshape the lense in your eye, there is no great magic in it just a bit of cutting and trimming, its a very simple procedure and I don't really think that there is very much to go wrong. No one has ever been made blind from it yet and it has been used for over ten years now.

 

Hello....!!!!! you could go BLIND!!!!!


As sai above, there is always a chance something could go wrong, with your EYEs I'm not sure if i want to be the one who can't see at all.

But then again I dn't wear glasses and don't have a problem with my eye sight.


My wife who's beenn a nurse (but now a manager in the NHS) also thinks that its not been around long enough to know the long term effects.



if its been tested on Rabbits.... don't all Rabbits have good eye sight anyway after eating carrots?

 

i have booked her in for a consultation, with ultralase, week after next, in newcastle...

she knows of the risk..including seeing me for who i really look like..!

apart from that she is a little scared, and as you chaps say, i am ok, as my vision is almost perfect..but for her, its glasses or contacts, and the overall cost incurred over a year for optitions/lenses and glasses, it almost makes sense to have laser correction...

i suppose only time will tell...i shall try to keep you all updated with what happens, so far i have to phone them tommorrow with her prescription details..mmmmm...

cheers

 

I would like to say I have had both eyes done and both main methods. The one where they burn a layer off your eye and the one where they cut the flap. Do not do the first one. Although I have had no complications over the last 9 - 10 years with it. I have gone to a -1 which is still driveable quality but the one where they cut a flap and apply the lazer directly is way better, quicker, etc just more scary. Have had that now for maybe 5 - 6 years with no complaints except maybe a slight haziness at dusk (evening as light conditions change) but completely driveable. Way better than before and way better than glasses......

 

Urgh, I can barely bear to read that 'Cutting the flap' makes me feel quite queasy.. It's not an operation for the squeamish is it?

 

It's quite surreal when you have it done IMHO - Both my wife and I had it done earlier this year - couldn't recommend it enough

Cutting the flap isn't bad - it's when you realise that they've still got the other eye to do

Uncomfortable for the rest of the day (can't stand bright lights) but the following day vision was better than 20/20 in both eyes (from -4 and -2.75)

 

You just had to mention it again didn't you?

I'd love it done, I'm fed up wearing glasses. I think when my eyesight has deteriorated to the point where I need glasses all the time I'll have it done. Or possibly sooner, but I'm such a wimp Where did you get yours done Darren?

 

Errrrr.... yes they have.

It's a very small percentage, but it does happen.

That's why I'll never have it done.

 

You forgot to mention the smell of burning as the laser reshapes the cornea...

Steve

 

Had mine done at Optical Express - they appeared really professional but as with chains I think it depends on the surgeon they employ

It's when they apply suction before they cut the flap that it's a bit uncomfortable

 

Oh yes there is that as well - Made me laugh when they said look into the light - I need glasses, you've cut a flap off the front of my eye ball - what light???

Sal - It's really not that bad - sounds a lot worse than it is when you're there. For both eyes expect to be in there 10-15 minutes