Laser Eye Surgery
Discussion
paoloh said:
What are peoples opinion on this?
Anyone recommend a clinic?
I'm based in Sussex.
The unit in East Grinstead is very good.Anyone recommend a clinic?
I'm based in Sussex.
http://www.centreforsight.com/default.aspx
It's worth digging out as there's a lot of good information in there. It was one of the things that convinced me to have it done.^ What he said. (gingerpaul)
+1 for accuvision in fulham. I had bilateral wavefront LASIK on a -2.5/-2.25 prescription in september. Only mild discomfort for the first few hours, vision took about a week to properly settle and now 10/20 (line below 20/20 on eye chart)
Best money I ever spent.
Linky to main thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
+1 for accuvision in fulham. I had bilateral wavefront LASIK on a -2.5/-2.25 prescription in september. Only mild discomfort for the first few hours, vision took about a week to properly settle and now 10/20 (line below 20/20 on eye chart)
Best money I ever spent.
Linky to main thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Edited by djmck30 on Friday 27th November 19:46
djmck30 said:
^ What he said. (gingerpaul)
+1 for accuvision in fulham. I had bilateral wavefront LASIK on a -2.5/-2.25 prescription in september. Only mild discomfort for the first few hours, vision took about a week to properly settle and now 10/20 (line below 20/20 on eye chart)
Best money I ever spent.
Linky to main thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Accuvision is very good indeed. I have recommended many PHers go there for treatment, but certainly centerforsight in east grinstead is excellent too.+1 for accuvision in fulham. I had bilateral wavefront LASIK on a -2.5/-2.25 prescription in september. Only mild discomfort for the first few hours, vision took about a week to properly settle and now 10/20 (line below 20/20 on eye chart)
Best money I ever spent.
Linky to main thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Edited by djmck30 on Friday 27th November 19:46
I went to get my eyes tested, and I asked all about having Laser surgery. I was told:
1/ The surgery puts your eyes right for now. Your eyes change all the time and so if the surgery puts it right today, then in a year or two, you will need to wear glasses as they change (unless you have more surgery done).
2/ As the corneas of your eyes age, they thin and this is why older people often have poorer eyeslight than younger people. The laser 'ages' the corneas of the eyes as it does it's work. This means that when you get to, say 60 years old, your eyes might actually be quite a bit 'older' and so you will have poorer vision. If you repeat option 1/ above, your corneas will be even older, and poorer.
It seems that laser surgery gives, at best, improvements in the short term but studies show that it may well give you much poorer eyesight in the long run (blurred vision in your 60's).
Just wanted to warn anyone thinking of having it done.
I went for a new pair of glasses in the end!
1/ The surgery puts your eyes right for now. Your eyes change all the time and so if the surgery puts it right today, then in a year or two, you will need to wear glasses as they change (unless you have more surgery done).
2/ As the corneas of your eyes age, they thin and this is why older people often have poorer eyeslight than younger people. The laser 'ages' the corneas of the eyes as it does it's work. This means that when you get to, say 60 years old, your eyes might actually be quite a bit 'older' and so you will have poorer vision. If you repeat option 1/ above, your corneas will be even older, and poorer.
It seems that laser surgery gives, at best, improvements in the short term but studies show that it may well give you much poorer eyesight in the long run (blurred vision in your 60's).
Just wanted to warn anyone thinking of having it done.
I went for a new pair of glasses in the end!
JumboBeef said:
I went to get my eyes tested, and I asked all about having Laser surgery. I was told:
1/ The surgery puts your eyes right for now. Your eyes change all the time and so if the surgery puts it right today, then in a year or two, you will need to wear glasses as they change (unless you have more surgery done).
2/ As the corneas of your eyes age, they thin and this is why older people often have poorer eyeslight than younger people. The laser 'ages' the corneas of the eyes as it does it's work. This means that when you get to, say 60 years old, your eyes might actually be quite a bit 'older' and so you will have poorer vision. If you repeat option 1/ above, your corneas will be even older, and poorer.
It seems that laser surgery gives, at best, improvements in the short term but studies show that it may well give you much poorer eyesight in the long run (blurred vision in your 60's).
Just wanted to warn anyone thinking of having it done.
I went for a new pair of glasses in the end!
1) Don't get it done unless your prescription has been stable. If your eyes keep changing then laser treatment would be a waste of time as you would need glasses again.1/ The surgery puts your eyes right for now. Your eyes change all the time and so if the surgery puts it right today, then in a year or two, you will need to wear glasses as they change (unless you have more surgery done).
2/ As the corneas of your eyes age, they thin and this is why older people often have poorer eyeslight than younger people. The laser 'ages' the corneas of the eyes as it does it's work. This means that when you get to, say 60 years old, your eyes might actually be quite a bit 'older' and so you will have poorer vision. If you repeat option 1/ above, your corneas will be even older, and poorer.
It seems that laser surgery gives, at best, improvements in the short term but studies show that it may well give you much poorer eyesight in the long run (blurred vision in your 60's).
Just wanted to warn anyone thinking of having it done.
I went for a new pair of glasses in the end!
2) I haven't read anything about this laser treatments aging the cornea and I did a hell of a lot of research before getting mine done. I would be interested in 968's view opinion on that. It is true that you will need reading glasses later on but I believe this is due to the muscles that control the lens becoming weaker with age and is something we all suffer from.
I know people who had their eyes lasered over a decade ago and their vision is still pretty much perfect. Equally I know someone who had it done 4 years ago and who needs glasses again because their prescription wasn't stable when they had it done. I would be interested to know which studies say people will get blurred vision in their 60s though.
I would question the source personally. If you have asked your optician about getting your eyes lasered under which circumstances would they win or lose. If you read the other thread you'll see a few completely fabricated stories have been given out by opticians trying to scare people into not having the treatment done. Why? Because they have nothing to gain by giving you positive information and everything to lose. Did it work? Well, what did you end up doing? You spent a couple of hundred quid at your opticians buying glasses.
One of the most interesting statistics for me was that your sight is under less risk by having laser treatment than wearing contact lenses. The other interesting one is that the safest option for your eyes was wearing glasses.
Edited to add that's not to say that the people at laser surgeries aren't goiing to be biased too. You just need to use common sense. I was pleased to find out that some of the people at Accuvision had their treatments done on themselves, including the girl who did my initial consultation. That's got to be a pretty good endorsment.
Edited by gingerpaul on Sunday 29th November 11:27
gingerpaul said:
Don't get it done unless your prescription has been stable. If your eyes keep changing then laser treatment would be a waste of time as you would need glasses again.
...but there is no such thing as a stable prescription with regard to your eyes. Eyes change as you age, there is nothing you can do about it. I'll stick with my glasses, as it is much easier to change lenses/complete glasses every few years than to change your eye balls !
JumboBeef said:
gingerpaul said:
Don't get it done unless your prescription has been stable. If your eyes keep changing then laser treatment would be a waste of time as you would need glasses again.
...but there is no such thing as a stable prescription with regard to your eyes. Eyes change as you age, there is nothing you can do about it. I'll stick with my glasses, as it is much easier to change lenses/complete glasses every few years than to change your eye balls !
For someone with good long vision that means just reading glasses and for someone with glasses already it means bifocals or varifocals. With my eyes it actually wouldn't have been possible to get bifocals or varifocals so I would have had to had two pairs of glasses, one pair for reading and one pair for distance.
JumboBeef said:
I went to get my eyes tested, and I asked all about having Laser surgery. I was told:
1/ The surgery puts your eyes right for now. Your eyes change all the time and so if the surgery puts it right today, then in a year or two, you will need to wear glasses as they change (unless you have more surgery done).
No, that's rubbish frankly. The changes are minimal in a year or two and has been advised here already, you must have a stable prescription. People have had these procedures over the past 15-20 years without significant re-treatment rates.1/ The surgery puts your eyes right for now. Your eyes change all the time and so if the surgery puts it right today, then in a year or two, you will need to wear glasses as they change (unless you have more surgery done).
JumboBeef said:
2/ As the corneas of your eyes age, they thin and this is why older people often have poorer eyeslight than younger people. The laser 'ages' the corneas of the eyes as it does it's work. This means that when you get to, say 60 years old, your eyes might actually be quite a bit 'older' and so you will have poorer vision. If you repeat option 1/ above, your corneas will be even older, and poorer.
Utter utter rubbish. Whoever told you this has no idea about ocular physiology at all. The thing that changes in the cornea as you get older is the endothelium count, which is the layer on the inside of the cornea, which is unaffected by lasik or lasek which treats areas a couple of hundred microns above the endothelium. Again the person that spoke to you is talking utter rubbish here.JumboBeef said:
It seems that laser surgery gives, at best, improvements in the short term but studies show that it may well give you much poorer eyesight in the long run (blurred vision in your 60's).
Just wanted to warn anyone thinking of having it done.
I went for a new pair of glasses in the end!
Nonsense. The person who told you these 'facts' needs to be spoken to, seriously. These are lies based on nothing at all. There are no studies which show poor vision into the 60s. This is pure fiction. The changes in vision beyond the 60s are the consequence of cataract, which is a natural process that happens to everyone and can be eliminated with surgery also. I've personally treated people who have had LASIK/LASEK and then I've done their cataract surgery. They now have perfect vision 6/4 unaided, but need reading glasses.Just wanted to warn anyone thinking of having it done.
I went for a new pair of glasses in the end!
JumboBeef said:
1/ The surgery puts your eyes right for now. Your eyes change all the time and so if the surgery puts it right today, then in a year or two, you will need to wear glasses as they change (unless you have more surgery done).
Even from an optometric point of view this is accelerated at best, complete tosh at worst!My experience has been that maybe 5 or 6 years down the line your myopic prescription slips to -0.50 each eye which is the beginnings of the need for glasses to drive at night. Certainly by the time you reach -0.75 R+L you will need these. Add to that the need to use reading specs and that is your spectacle need.
Assuming you start from -5 or more then the prescription is still tiny but enough to need to start spending on glasses again.
Again I find lasered people notice the change from 0 (ish) to -050 more than they would have preop from -5 to -5.50.
Unless you have it done in your mid twenties, if you include the cost of the surgery, you are unlikely to actually save money on your optical spending. But that is far from the whole story regarding motivation and a successful outcome. It is a factor nevertheless.
JumboBeef said:
quoted other spurious anecdotes
Very very odd, misleading if you're being generous, scaremongering if you're not.There's plenty to consider if you look at this path without the realms of fiction being brought in!
Edited by DKL on Sunday 29th November 21:34
I had both eyes done at Optimax in Manchester in 1995.My perscription before the treatment was -2.50 in both eyes and afterwards had perfect vision for many years.2 years ago I noticed my eyesight wasnt perfect driving at night so I went for an eye test and now my eyesight was -.50 in each eye.I bought a pair of glasses for night driving and watching TV however because I am a bit forgetful and lazy I have ended up wearing them all the time.
Im not going to bother with laser surgery again as my perscription does not really warrant it plus I am 40 soon and in a few years as I get older it is possible that my eyesight will regress into longsightedness and I may end up with perfect vision again.(my mum had a very mild perscription but as she has got older her eyesight has regressed into longsightedness and she does not need glasses anymore)
Im not going to bother with laser surgery again as my perscription does not really warrant it plus I am 40 soon and in a few years as I get older it is possible that my eyesight will regress into longsightedness and I may end up with perfect vision again.(my mum had a very mild perscription but as she has got older her eyesight has regressed into longsightedness and she does not need glasses anymore)
bonsai said:
I would get my eyes lasered but I spend so long staring at a computer screen I'm worried I'd wreck them again in a year or two!
It would make no difference to your vision, if you stared at a computer screen. That should not be a restriction to getting refractive surgery done.Hey, fine! I did (alot) of research, and I'm very happy to keep my eyes as they are. If you are happy with what you have had done to yours, that's fine too!
The deal breaker for me was the fact that this sort of surgery hasn't been around long enough for anyone to be totally sure of the long term effects: look what happened to women who had the early breast implants for example.
As I say, everyone is free to do what they want to themselves.
The deal breaker for me was the fact that this sort of surgery hasn't been around long enough for anyone to be totally sure of the long term effects: look what happened to women who had the early breast implants for example.
As I say, everyone is free to do what they want to themselves.
JumboBeef said:
Hey, fine! I did (alot) of research, and I'm very happy to keep my eyes as they are. If you are happy with what you have had done to yours, that's fine too!
The deal breaker for me was the fact that this sort of surgery hasn't been around long enough for anyone to be totally sure of the long term effects: look what happened to women who had the early breast implants for example.
As I say, everyone is free to do what they want to themselves.
I wasn't getting at you personally, rather the person who gave you 'advice' which was complete bThe deal breaker for me was the fact that this sort of surgery hasn't been around long enough for anyone to be totally sure of the long term effects: look what happened to women who had the early breast implants for example.
As I say, everyone is free to do what they want to themselves.
ks.If that's the research you've done, then you need to seriously re-appraise it.
I'm an Eye surgeon, FWIW, though I don't do refractive surgery, however I can see the advantages and disadvantages. The ones you've quoted are rubbish.
With regards to the length of follow up, also what you've said is not true. PRK has been done for over 30 years or more in Russia, with few adverse effects. LASIK has been done since the early 90s again, with no major adverse effects (or even minor ones).
I agree that people should give any decision to have surgery due consideration, but I take exception to the arguments which you state, as they are based on supposition and no factual basis, whatsoever, particularly the bit the optician told you. So if people are to make a considered decision, they should be in possession of accurate facts.
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