Laser eye surgery

[lolsteve]

Need to phone them up and get the ball moving. Will be done hopefully before the spring action day so will be able to see as I've been comparing my vision with glasses against others and it's still not brilliant
haven't usesd contacts at work yet

Do get what you mean about glasses being your thing but it would be nice to wake up on a morning and be able to see the world am rather than fumble about

[Matt-Rallye]

Need to phone them up and get the ball moving. Will be done hopefully before the spring action day so will be able to see as I've been comparing my vision with glasses against others and it's still not brilliant
haven't usesd contacts at work yet

Do get what you mean about glasses being your thing but it would be nice to wake up on a morning and be able to see the world am rather than fumble about

This!

I have also been looking into this but have no idea what i need. I cant wear contacts cos of my eyes Had glasses since primary school and never really had a choice to experience life without having the damned things attached to my face. Unreal how limiting it is!

[lolsteve]

Have a free consultation from optical express, it's basically a free eye test ,they'll also tell you pretty much all you need to know and give you a print off of the information about you. Then just go somewhere else when they give you the price

[Orta]

I too live with the constant irritant that is spectacles. I can't wear contacts either as I'm a huge girl and can't have anything going near my eyes. I've tried in vain but can't get the damn things in or out so I'm stuck with glasses.

I Kingdom for the balls to get laser surgery but hold back on a couple of counts: terrified something will go wrong. Life with glasses is better than life in the dark. And I'm as ugly as sin and even worse with my glasses off!

90% of the time it doesn't bother me wearing them. I have ones with good grips so they're not constantly slipping down my nose and I have several pairs so can change my entire look at a moments notice. I also have perscription sports glasses (bit like Edgar David's), perscription swimming goggles (yes I'm that cool) and perscription squash goggles. The other 10% of the time is things like wearing my motorbike helmet, paint balling, roller coasters etc.

[Eeyore]

Good luck Steve

I could never do it as my glasses are kinda who I am but I do wear contacts (daily) and like having the choose.

Sometimes it nice  knowing my glasses can protect my eyes from nasty stuff I work with.

How is it using a computer all day with glasses vs contacts for you?

Yeh your glasses make you look clever mate. At least double figures id say. Get rid of those and we will see if its possible to have a negative IQ

[lolsteve]

Could well be this friday just need to phone up and confirm.
Been trying to get my head around this all weekend as i had the consultation on friday. the doctor seems nice enough and with his office being in a very nice hospital it made me a lot more relaxed about the whole groupon thing.
Only problem is I got that he was really pushing for LASEK (the long healing one) as he said there can be problems with LASIK if you do rough activities like boxing or wrestling(I don't) however LASEK does take a little bit longer to heal. The other side of this coin is that the LASEK option costs are not covered by the groupon voucher and would be an extra £500, when he said this the cynic in me shouted "he's just trying to get more money out of you" as the LASEK option is usually the cheapest method.
Also got worried about the complications he talked about of the flap they cut never properly healing apparently and that it weakens the eye structure however online folks have said they've had it done 10-15 years ago and have a wonderful time with no problems ever whilst doing lots of outdoor activities.
I'm just worried that I'll do something simple like rub my eye one day and it'll rip the flap open. Scared of being even more limited by my eyes and having to spend the rest of my life worrying about my eyes. But I just really want this done now and I've been somewhat trapped since I can't get the £1400 back anymore

[luke306rallye]

Could well be this friday just need to phone up and confirm.
Been trying to get my head around this all weekend as i had the consultation on friday. the doctor seems nice enough and with his office being in a very nice hospital it made me a lot more relaxed about the whole groupon thing.
Only problem is I got that he was really pushing for LASEK (the long healing one) as he said there can be problems with LASIK if you do rough activities like boxing or wrestling(I don't) however LASEK does take a little bit longer to heal. The other side of this coin is that the LASEK option costs are not covered by the groupon voucher and would be an extra £500, when he said this the cynic in me shouted "he's just trying to get more money out of you" as the LASEK option is usually the cheapest method.
Also got worried about the complications he talked about of the flap they cut never properly healing apparently and that it weakens the eye structure however online folks have said they've had it done 10-15 years ago and have a wonderful time with no problems ever whilst doing lots of outdoor activities.
I'm just worried that I'll do something simple like rub my eye one day and it'll rip the flap open. Scared of being even more limited by my eyes and having to spend the rest of my life worrying about my eyes. But I just really want this done now and I've been somewhat trapped since I can't get the £1400 back anymore

My auntie had it done about 15 year ago with no problems, she's since had LASEK done again the same time I had mine done.

I've not had a problem with mine, the doctor told me to go for LASEK over LASIK because you can't have LASIK done more than once and when you get older your vision can deteriorate again.
LASIK is more expensive afaik and it was going to cost me nearly double what LASEK was.

You won't have any issues with the flap opening again because once its healed its healed.
You should be fine after a week or so but you'll just need to use the eye drops they give you because they get VERY dry.

[Eeyore]

Just to say I know nothing about this... but in my view if EK you can do multiple times and IK you can only do once.... do the EK! It seems to be cheaper, less complications and when it deteriorates you can have it done again.

[lolsteve]

It often is cheaper but in this it isn't it's an extra 500 which is confusing. Somewhat upset as feeling ivery just been talking to sales people this whole time who are more interested in the expensive option than my eyes.
The consultation in summer said go lasik as it's better and will have faster healing etc
this guy keeps brining up lasek and says it pays off more in the long term, something that no one else has mentioned online

In terms of future surgery I was thinking of avoiding the laser stuff again and going for the contact lense implant as it's the most effective and can be done overy and over nut is currently 5000 so in 10-15 I'd like to think I'd have some money saved or it would at least have come down in price

[j-n-88]

Wish they did eye surgery for colour blindness! Does my head in haha

[luke306rallye]

It often is cheaper but in this it isn't it's an extra 500 which is confusing. Somewhat upset as feeling ivery just been talking to sales people this whole time who are more interested in the expensive option than my eyes.
The consultation in summer said go lasik as it's better and will have faster healing etc
this guy keeps brining up lasek and says it pays off more in the long term, something that no one else has mentioned online

In terms of future surgery I was thinking of avoiding the laser stuff again and going for the contact lense implant as it's the most effective and can be done overy and over nut is currently 5000 so in 10-15 I'd like to think I'd have some money saved or it would at least have come down in price

I don't know if you can but it might be worth you getting some consultations from different places.
I had mine done at Optimax in Leeds if it helps.

The thought of not being able to have laser eye surgery again was what put me off LASIK, the price didn't matter to me because I'd lived with short sightedness for too long.

[lolsteve]

Im going for LASIK on Friday. Got myself all worked up and panicking so just said "fk it lets go" they wouldn't do the surgery unless it was suitable (i'd hope)
Not so worried about future re-treatments since I'd want to go for the implant next time, besides in the 20 years or so that it wont need redoing they'll develop some sort of new treatment thats even better , maybe even able to grow me a new eye or something

The flap thing still worries me but apparently it's more or less healed fully in 24+ months so long term it should be okay

[lolsteve]

Had the surgery yesterday at 3pm. The surgery was very....surreal as you basically have to watch them cut your eye then fold the flap over, you can also smell the burning eye flesh as they do what they do.
First 20 mins after was awesome could see brilliantly nearly straight away and then the anesthetic wore off. A few hours nap helped fixed that a bit.
This morning was rough felt like I'd slept with my contacts in and rubbed some sand in them for good measure, some drops and time helped a bit but now it feels like the morning again. Drinking some whiskey to ease the pain.

In terms of vision, it's incredible. I have to keep reminding myself im not wearing contact lenses and when not complaining about the gritty eye feeling ive been smiling and reading every license plate I can see haha

Would recommend

[procta]

nice one steve! how is your night vision? as my mate had to wait for that to settle abit

[Nathan1305]

Had the surgery yesterday at 3pm. The surgery was very....surreal as you basically have to watch them cut your eye then fold the flap over, you can also smell the burning eye flesh as they do what they do.
First 20 mins after was awesome could see brilliantly nearly straight away and then the anesthetic wore off. A few hours nap helped fixed that a bit.
This morning was rough felt like I'd slept with my contacts in and rubbed some sand in them for good measure, some drops and time helped a bit but now it feels like the morning again. Drinking some whiskey to ease the pain.

In terms of vision, it's incredible. I have to keep reminding myself im not wearing contact lenses and when not complaining about the gritty eye feeling ive been smiling and reading every license plate I can see haha  

Would recommend

I have been considering it to be honest but have no idea of cost and where I should go. Never where my glasses unless I'm driving so would love to have perfect vision at all times to be honest 

[lolsteve]

nice one steve!  how is your night vision?  as my mate had to wait for that to settle abit

It's not that bad actually, not as good but it might take 6 months before it all goes back to normal. Not getting the halo effect or anything but still a bit sensitive to lights 


I got this on a groupon deal with a private practitioner rather than the high street, cost 1400 for both eyes which is a good price  
 

[Nathan1305]

nice one steve!  how is your night vision?  as my mate had to wait for that to settle abit

It's not that bad actually, not as good but it might take 6 months before it all goes back to normal. Not getting the halo effect or anything but still a bit sensitive to lights 


I got this on a groupon deal with a private practitioner rather than the high street, cost 1400 for both eyes which is a good price  
 

Fair enough  glad it's all gone well I've seen vision express do it for £395 per eye

[7057sam]

Got your eyes done then went and bought another rover !!

FAIL !!!

In all seriousness hope your recovering well

[WiNgNuTz]

Got your eyes done then went and brought another rover !!

FAIL !!!

In all seriousness hope your recovering well

*BOUGHT!!!!

[7057sam]

Got your eyes done then went and brought another rover !!

FAIL !!!

In all seriousness hope your recovering well

*BOUGHT!!!!

Edited apologise for dyslexia/laziness 

[bigcheez2k3]

Also, *you're

Can you shoot lasers from your eyes yet?

[Eeyore]

Congratulations on being able to see! Maybe you wont agree to sleep with me again now you can see.

[lolsteve]

Got your eyes done then went and bought another rover !!

FAIL !!!

In all seriousness hope your recovering well

Just cant get over the rover
Eyes are getting better but very dry, putting in a lot of drops like every 30 mins or so otherwise i feel like I've got contact lenses in that have been there for 2 days too long. Very uncomfortable but the vision is brilliant even better than glasses everything just seems so much sharper than every before especially when looking at stuff like brick walls and I can notice all the lines in the motar rather than it being a orange haze. Sounds weird ill admit but i know what I mean  

Also, *you're

Can you shoot lasers from your eyes yet?

I've been trying and trying but only managed a little led style flash. With time and practise though I should be soon able to blast people away

Sam there'll always be a space in the rover bed for you

[lolsteve]

Bit of a update for these considering the procedure themselves:

About 2 months on and still not gone blind but I am getting glare from lights such as leds, street lights etc, also still very sensitive to bright lights car headlights can be quite blinding. Trying to sneak a peak at the eclipse the other day was stupid and left me feeling sick and headachey

Started suffering quite badly from dry eyes a couple of weeks after the procedure doesn't help I work in an air-conditioned office and spend alot of time looking at computer screens so tend to be putting in drops every 20 minutes at work to ease the eyes.

Vision for the most part is not 20/20 it's good and much better than before however it takes applying drops to the eyes to get the 20/20 vision. Have a benchmark at work which is a fire exit sign, without drops I can make out there being writing but a couple of drips and it's clear as day for a few minutes. Doctor says this will resolve itself though when the nerve endings that got cut repair a bit more as currently i think it's that my eyes are not sensing they're dry so don't release any tears or something

Have gained a few more eye floaters from the blood around my eyes apparently getting all up in there, a common side effect the doctor neglected to tell me about. For the most part it's not too bothersome and only really noticeable when looking quickly between two white objects such as paper or screens (which is 90% of my work day opps) Again should settle down over time which I have plenty off

Would I recommend? Yes but I advise don't expect even with the LASIK treatment for it to be a 1 week recovery thing and be done like it's advertised as there's quite a bit of working out the niggles afterwards however I am noticing improvements so should hope that this time next year I'm more or less cleared up

[Paul Baldwin]

Glad it's worked out for you. I've a couple of friends that have had it done. My one mate had been wearing glasses his whole life pretty much. Beyond about 5 feet away he couldn't make anything out, proper mole like vision. He's never needed glasses since he had it done about 7 years ago now. He said the strangest part of it was smelling your eyeballs burning, they didn't prepare him for it lol.
One strange outcome is his mannerisms haven't changed. If I come out with a really sarchy comment he still looks over the top of his glasses at me even tho he isn't wearing them! Old habits die hard I guess?
They even got it done for free at a new practice that was setting up so they could say they had already had so many successful ops!

[luke306rallye]

It gets better with time, just keep using drops whenever you need them.
I'd randomly wake up with one dry eye causing pain.
Driving at night is annoying sometimes but that gets easier too.