davidw

This forum has been extraordinarily helpful in previous decisions, so I'd like to ask this. has anyone (I'm 40) considered/had laser eye surgery as an alternatives to glasses/contacts and if so, have they thought about where to have it. I'm in Perth, but work a lot abroad, in Thailand and South Africa, so have considered having it there as an alternative to Perth/UK (UK incidentally seems cheaper than Perth so far). Any advice opinions gratefully received. I've read of people who still need reading glasses after laser surgery, in which case I might as well just choose glasses.

Thanks in advance for any help.

David

tiredwithtwins

....only wanted to say this is still a fairly new procedure so there are no long term stats on its success, ie dont know effects of laser surgery 15-20 years down the line.
I had considered it as I have attrocious eyesight, and wear contact lens. my optician said dont do it....if it goes wrong, and he was seeing more and more cases, you cant go back to wearing contact lens, which to me would mean a lifetime of mr magoo specs!!
and if it is so safe and marvellous, why are there still so many opticians/opthalmic surgeons wearing glasses/lens?

good luck, let us know what you find out and if you decide to go for it!!!

sue

davidw

Excellent points, I noted the lack of long-term data. Will definitely keep you informed, if it did work, it would be cheaper and more convenient than years of contacts/specs!

I don't wear contacts just specs so have one less worry than you re surgery!

Thanks!

David

Larissa

Hiya David
Debsy put a link up for a Turkish eye hospital - it's one of the world leaders in eye surgery. The package includes hotel accomodation etc.
http://www.europelasik.com/2_paketler_fiyatlar.asp
There's loads of info on the site, but its worth checking if you can get follow up checks in your local area.

davidw

thanks a million, my work doesn't ake me to turkey, but a stop-over might be possible, really appreciate it, thanks!

david

Larissa

Thats alright!
If you find out anymore useful info, we'd be grateful if you could post it - quite a few of us have been researching it. BTW, we're headed for Perth, but it seems much the same price etc. as here.
Good luck,
Larissa
PS The US seems much more expensive than the UK. We like the sound of Turkey as it is a huge hospital and they do thousands of procedures... plus they have pick ups, hotels booked for you etc.

davidw

Yes, if anything, Perth seems more expensive than UK. Bumgamgrad Hospital in Bangkok which has a great reputation seems the best, about USD600 odd. Added advantage of being on many flight paths between UK and Oz. Will keep you posted!

Offline for a few hours as am returning to Perth but look forward to picking up thread.

Best wishes

David

Ailsa

I considered this about 10 yrs back, when it really was new!
The company I contacted sent me quite a lot of information and the main factor for my negative decision was the strength of my prescription ( approx -11 both eyes)

I did not even make an appointment as this company had a very ethical stand. The prognosis then was that laser surgery would approximately halve the diopter value and anything over 6 you would still need corrective lens ( glasses) and anything over 8 this company would not even operate. The improvement may be better now but I have given up considering it.

After discussion with my optician my best option for the past 10 yrs has been contacts which give me the best vision for reading, screen viewing and close work with top-up glasses in a low prescription for comfort in driving, TV / cinema etc. I could have had the contacts prescription skewed the other way.

I still use hard gas-permeable contacts which allow a more precise prescription. Even my daughter with diopter value around -6/-7 found soft lenses (how they love to push the monthly option) left her with 'halo vision' . She still uses her gas-permeables for main wear and keeps some soft for wearing during sporting activities or where she thinks there is a greater risk of losing a lens.

I am due for a check and probable revision of prescription and I am hoping they have come up with a light-weight option for the ordinary glasses I must have for emergencies. How I hate having to pay out a small fortune for glasses I only use for maybe 10-15 mins morning and evening.

jensteve

Hi, I had my eyes lasik'd November last year, its gone fairly well but does have a long list of problems that do tend to occur. My eyesight was pretty awful, and decided to have it done, I was warned by surgeon that reading sight is lowered as soon as your distance sight is fixed, he said I would notice the difference immediatly. As it happens my eyes have not been corrected to zero, and am left with a very small prescription 0.50 and 0.75 that really does not bother me, therefore my reading sight has benifited and I have not lost any, which in hind sight is really good as I read quite a bit and the computer. Night time vision is odd to say the least, not so much glare but lack of depth perception with brake lights which I find annoying, I have been given the option of getting a set of glasses made just for night vision, it would seem even the tiny prescription would make a difference. Before you have it done look into it carefully and have your surgeon checked out, they do give you lots of b--ls--t, dry eyes are also a problem, so if you like your reading vision don't get it done.
Jenny

lippy

Everyone I know who has had it is really impressed. There is a company called Optimax in the UK that does it also 'The Eye Clinic' but I'm not sure if they are UK wide.

sophia

hi there

I had lasik surgery before we flew out to Australia in 2002. I have to say I am very impressed with the results so far! I haven't had any problems and apart from when I'm very tired, haven't noticed the dry eye thing (I suffered badly from that when I wore contacts tho)

I would agree that the night vision is a bit weird, but not so much that it bothers me, i still find my eyesight is much better than it ever was with glasses/contacts (I've now got, apparently better than 20/20 vision in both eyes now...although how they worked that one out I don't know!)....and it's worked out a lot cheaper in the long run.

I haven't had any problems with my reading sight either.

One very impressed lady!!

love sophia xx

ps, I used the Eye Clinic in Newcastle, very good!!

debsy

What about the new method they are offering called wavefront - has anyone had that done?

Zebra4

I'm in Perth & had Lasik done 2 years ago at Murdoch. I can see, and I don't need reading glasses. You can still wear contact lenses after, but don't find I need to. The only downside is night vision, but I'm told that will right itself when I'm 60!!!! And it's only because I have large pupils.

The Lions Institute at Nedlands also has a good reputation. Had it done here believing that eye surgery is way up in the world standards.

It isn't cheap, but you get a tax refund. It's a walk in the park really.

sandradee

I have had both eyes done because of short sightedness. The first one was done about ten years ago when it was relatively new and has since deteorated. The other one about seven years ago (through Optimax) is perfect. I have had no problems at all even with night vision, and would say from a personal point of view that it is one of the best things I have ever done. Although I think that there are now several different ways of getting your eyes treated it is definately worth looking into it in greater detail.

donna

both myself and my husband had ours done 18 months ago and havent looked back,pardon the pun.
No pain involved and we were driving the next day.
donna