Laser eye surgery

[RizZy]

Guys I'm after some advice -

I've been thinking of having my eyes zapped for a while now & I finally got round to going for the tests to see if I was suitable & it turns out I am, it'll cost a fair amount of cash to have the full treatment - £2600ish, which I'm not so bothered about, the part of the treatment that freaked me out has been changed - still the idea of having your eyes screwed around with is pretty, erm, screwy.

Anyone got any experience with this sorta thing?

[Browne]

My sister had it done a couple years ago, she swears by it. (round about that cost too). But just because it worked for her doesn't mean it will work for everyone.

I've thought about it in the past, but I'm a coward.

[BrotherTobious]

A good Friend of mine had hers done last year, was as you said very expensive but she is very happy with the result.

[Nefertem]

A friend of mine had it done a few weeks ago, and is very pleased with it.. Lights during the night are blurring for him for a few weeks (it'll go away), but otherwise he's pleased

Not sure how it is it the UK, but he was given 3 choices. The cheap one where there were a chance of infection. The medium one where the chance of infection was low, but it would hurt loads for about a week, and then the expensive one where infection was unlikely, and it wouldn't hurt. :blink:
He went for the expensive one (I think it was about the same as the one you mentioned), and as I said he is very pleased

personally Im like browne, too cowardly to get one done

[Penfold]

I've only heard goof things but make sure you go to the best place. I *think* you can only have it done once so you need to make sure you do it when the time is right.

[BrotherTobious]

Yeah you have to plan it mate cause you eyes get tierd really quickly and takes some time to build up strenght in them.

[Dr Sadako]

I think you always need to factor in that

• the surgery could go wrong and you will have a problem for life
• you are young and your vision will change when you grow older (due to the eyeball getting stiffer)
• is it worth the money in comparison to glasses/lenses?
• the technology is 15 years young and is still in development and thus no one knows if there are any complications in the longer run
• you could do it abroad with the same tech at lower price
• there are more than one technique available and you should choose the one best for your eyes.

[Zootoxin]

A friend of mine had it done and the procedure failed

Before you gasp! it just meant that she has to continue wearing glass/lenses and lost out on a few grand.

[Blunt]

Good luck Riz.
Having only just started wearing glasses, I am only just getting the hang of forgetting where I put them.

I'm squeamish about things near my eyes, and lazers (pew pew) would freak me out...
reminds me of this (which freaks me out)

[GhostMjr]

the technology is 15 years young and is still in development and thus no one knows if there are any complications in the longer run

I'm with Mats on this one.

Any problems that could happen as long term side effects haven't shown or have been hushed up. In all i wouldn't risk my sense of sight to a trainee who is just out of college and doesn't know how to work the machine. I mean seriously if you lost the power of sight due to the operation in one or both eyes that probably one of the greatest losses i know.

[T-Bag]

It only works for certain types of eyes. If you're short sighted etc it can work. But if you're eyes are getting older it doesn't fix the need for reading glasses if what I read about it for my dad is correct.
If you do sports etc I can see it being priceless. Others less so.

As for lasers near eyes I'd be a bit jittery too. After a laser safety course at uni you realise that for a laser to burn a nice pattern in your retina which won't grow back only takes a fraction of the power that a laser needs to burn your skin (eyes are just lenses after all) That's for visible light atleast. I would imagine they use nearer IR which only causes damage to the cornea and lens both of which or fixable as far as I'm aware.
My point is, whereas lasers near you eyes are incredibly dangerous (Class III and above can cause permenant damage faster than you can blink) the surgery uses a safer laser under a very controlled environment. Fairly safe.
However I just don't like anything near my eyes at all, beam of light or not.

[Luminance]

I've thought about it in the past, but I'm a coward.

same here, I'll get it eventually, but it'll take some more years I think

[Benny]

Ok, here we go. I had it done.

I was -3.5 in one eye and -0.5 in the other. I had the 3.5 eye done and haven't had the other one done.....you can put the rest together.

I had mine done in London at Optimax in 2001. I went in, lay down and they lean you back like on a dentist chair. Then they clamp your eye open in the same way they do in Clockwork Orange.

In truth it didn't remind me of the film at all at the time, I was a little busy trying to push my head backwards through the chair to get away from the cold metal rusty bear trap they were fixing to my eyelids.

From there, once they'd ensured the rest of the cellar couldn't hear my screams they take a metal ring, about the size of your iris and push it down into your eye. Try and imagine a thumb being dipped in sand and jammed into your eye. My natural reaction was to further my development of the Gladstone Small impression I'd been working on. My head retreated and I was treated to the age old medical support of 'stop moving your eye'. Admittedly it was a little difficult to. Try at home. Push a wooden spoon into your eye whilst it's open.

THe idea of the metal ring is that firstly, it holds the eye still. Secondly the eyeball squeezes up through the ring and they can then get stuck in with cutting the top layer off your eye.

Let me reiterate that point. THEY CUT THE TOP LAYER OFF YOUR EYE. Now call me old fashioned, that doesn't sound right. I was young, clearly stupid and figured I wouldn't know what they were doing. I was right with the last point, only in the wrong way.

Well, knife put away out comes the laser. Again my hairy knuckled Duckula Nanny tells me to "stop moving my eye, it'll mess up the laser".

Given the choice of sight or stillness and severe discomfort, I chose both. What a winner I am. They lasered for a bit, you see the smoke drift off your eye and it smells like burning ants when you get them with the magnifying glass. Hmmmmm......tast..y....hang on, that's my friggin' eye your burning.

Anyway, all done, lovely. "Give it 15 minutes in the waiting room and you can head off." Bugger that, I ran. Like a one eyed dribbling extra from a bad B-Movie. I caught the train and a friend met me at Westminster to get me home. I say met. He picked me up off the platform because I passed out. Hey, it's a laugh.

Anyway, I headed home and was off work for a week. Now I never got on with contact lenses, but no-one told me they'd put one in to protect my eye after the 'surgery'. So I spent 4 days, in the dark, in my bedroom with the feeling of broken glass under my eyelid. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't open my eyes, and it hurt whilst it was shut. I could have cried, had it not been so painful.

I went back and they took the lens out, lo' and behold all was fine. I can see perfectly well, it was a huge improvement. Have I got the other eye done? hell no. Would I do it again? Absolutely not. Glad I did it......um...no.

Did it work? Yes.

My step mother had it done and she was bloody fine. Sometimes it just doesn't feel like life is fair.

[RizZy]

The whole blade thing was the bit thats put me of so far upto this point, but as it happens some bright spake figured out that laser cut things aswell as burn things & they use a laser to make the flap in you eye now instead.

I'm still not particularly sure what I'm gonna do yet.

[Gaara]

Omg benny, your story just made my day xD bloody well written