Does anybody now how much laser eye surgery - LASIK - costs in Australia compared to the UK?

Not sure on costs but timberfloor has just had it done and I think he put the costs in his blog ...

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ht=eye+surgery

I would love to have it done ... I'm just not brave enough

Spoke to my mate who's an optician and he wouldn't recommend it.

What did your mate say ? was it about the risks involved ?

I have read up about what could go wrong and this is what scares the hell out of me to the point where even if the cost of having it done was a tenner each eye ... I still couldnt do it, but I would love to be glasses/lenses free

I wanted it done but he say's it wasn't worth the risk. They don't last forever and you may need it redone every 7/10 years.
He asked me why do you thing so many opticians wear glasses?

I had it done January 2005 in South Africa. I can totally recommend it - it has made such a difference to my life. My father-in-law had it done in the early days about 20 years ago and he had no problems so I reckoned with the advance in technology I'd might as well give it a go. I'm fully aware that my eyes could still deteriorate further and I might end up wearing glasses again (or I could have surgery again) - but for now it is great to go swimming with my boys and see everything! I wish I had done it years ago instead of battling with dry eyes and contact lenses and then glasses for as long as I did!

Now my hubby wants to have it done. But I don't think he'll have time to have it done here before we go to Oz. I was just wondering if there was much of a difference in price. (It was half the price in South Africa R10,000 - around £1000 for both eyes).

Try to find out who has been in the business for the longest time doing laser surgery. Then try to find out about their reputation. If their reputation is okay, go for it and don't try to find the cheapest place. A mate of mine did the latter and lost one eye.....

I am having it done on the 22nd April, but in the UK before we go to Oz in June. Cant wait. It will be so good to be able to buy sunnys without paying the earth only to get them scratched and be able to go swimming and be able to see at the same time.

Having mine done at Optical Express, costing £1400 for both eyes.

LibbyX

What do you guys make of this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Laser-Eye-Surg...QQcmdZViewItem

There's lots of good feedback.

I had mine done two and a half years ago and so far am thrilled with the results. I went to Christopher Jenkins at www.kentlasik.co.uk.
He is an ophthalmic surgeon who does laser surgery once a month. I have worn specs and contacts with varying degrees of success for some 30 years, always knew my eyes were different , but he was the first person to tell me that one eye was normal for my age, and no reputable doctor should want to touch it. He offered me help with the other and I went for it. I paid £800 for a single eye. No optician had ever told me one eye was normal.
Get lots of opinions, and in my experience, go to a doctor, not one of the chains where you are seen by an optometrist and do not actually see the surgeon until the day of the procedure. I found this was the case when I challenged the staff at one of the chains. I believe the optimum prescription for a successful result is around +5. A friend who followed on from my recommendation was advised that she would be best to stick to specs and contacts.

I totally agree with you. I saw an ophthalmic surgeon as well. Luckily I did as he discovered I had retinas that were starting to detach and he needed to do some laser on my eyes a few days before he did the LASIK. Looking back I did have a lot of floaters but I thought it was because my glasses were so scratched. I later discovered that detached retinas seem to be quite common with people that have worn contact lenses for years (I guess that is another reason why so many opticians wear glasses).

Wearing contacts for long periods of time can damage your eyes long term because they don't let oxygen in, However there is a new contact lens on the market which lets in 95% oxygen. I don't normally where contacts but when I tried these they were great and felt really comfortable unlike my other contacts.

Detached retinas have nothing to do with wearing contact lenses. It has to do with the shape of your eyeball itself. With people who are very nearsighted, the eyeball is longer and more egg shaped and people who are farsighted have a shorter more round shaped eyeball. With a longer oval shaped eye, the retina is stretched more and with time will be more likely to tear or detach. It is a physiological thing and can happen to anyone. Lots of people experience retinal detachment after trauma to the head as well.
If you think of your eye like a bowl of jelly, and the retina like the film on top, over time if it is stretched enough it will tear.

Well thats just put me off my brunch