Hi all,
At the ripe old age og 501, I'm considering eye surgery. I have one pair of glasses for genral seeing and one pair for reading. When I walk the dog, they slide down my nose and make it sore. I went to the optician to investigate contacts and he asked me if i'd considered surgery. Has anyone had this done? Any down sides to the procedure? I'd love to hear your comments.
:) Annieee :)

Should say 51 :D :D :D

At 501 I would think you are lucky to even HAVE eyes :D :D :D

I would love to have laser eye surgery and know several people who have had it very successfully ....but I can't afford it . Mind you ...I am only 49 ;) :p :p

and to think I thought my sister-in-law was old at 97.....a mere child :D :D :D

Thanks Melody!!!
You can tell its the school holidays :D Haven't got my typing head on (or my glasses and i can't edit any more . Apparently its £600 per eye. Last year it was £1000 per eye. with interest free credit, its about manageable.

I know two people that have had the procedure done.  They were both home within a couple of hours of having the surgery done, but they both still have to wear glasses.  Obviously their eyesight isn't as bad as it was (I know they both had really poor eyesight).  I would get information from as many clinics as possible and hopefully others on here will be ablle to offer more opinions.

Michelle :)

Please be very careful as there are side effects that do not manifest for years afterwards like the increase in risk of developing Glaucoma in people from families with no history of Glaucoma-which happened to a lady who used to come to a dog club I went to

Independant advice should be sort before going down the laser route

I've thought about getting it done, but am a bit worried about any long term problems. I'm short-sighted and have got to the stage where I can't use the computer or read with my glasses on - but the optician says that I don't need bi-focals - so I have to take my glasses off at work but then I can't see people at the other end of the office :D It's a pain - but I feel that eyes are too precious to play around with just for cosmetic reasons.

Daisy

Hi Annie

Like all procedures it has its risks - which vary from the mild to the very severe. Do lots of research on the net (like I did, when considering it). I would just mention that if you have slightly dry eyes (which you may not be aware of, i.e. they may not feel 'dry', but if you have problems wearing contacts they probably are) eye surgery can make this much worse and believe me, it's a living hell.

Also, really grill your surgeon - I heard it reported on tv a while ago that a number of people whose operations had been carried out by Boots (the chemist chain) had major problems following their surgery. You can't just rely on a 'name' ...

Have you considered contacts? They're dead easy and much less risky!

Jo

Hi all
Thanx for the replies. I've considered them all and read the ones on the other 'eye' post about contacts. I think I'll try that route first. I'm fed up with wearing thick lenses for general wear (long site +astigmatism) I also need other glasses for reading!!! Varoifocals are useless for reading anything longer than a menu :)

Jo: Did you eventually reject the idea of surgery? What have you done instead?

The cost of new glasses + contacts seems to be a bit much but you can't put a price on your vision. I too have dry eyes. I wore contaccts about 20 years ago and gave up cos of dry eyes (they were semi GP hard lenses) The optician said technology has moved on since then and my eyes are not considered to be too dry for toric lenses.

Thanks again
I'll keep you posted :) :) :)

I must admit i would worry about long term affects - both laser eye surgery and laser hair removal haven't been around long enough to gauge the true risks IMHO.

Lindsay
X

My brother had surgery about 10 years ago and he's never looked back :-D
Really -he'd worn glasses or lenses all his life until then. He had no problems folowing the surgery andhis sight has been excellent since then.

Unfortunately as in anything the benefits of surgery are well publicised the downsides are not; do your research all surgery can go wrong and you could end up off worse than when you went in; weigh up all the pros and cons and decide if you can live with the level of risk.  There HAVE been documented cases of unsuccessful surgeries which have resulted not only in reduced vision but pain.

Be very careful; it is great when it goes right..............

I had mine done a year ago and as someone has said the dryness is increased, but I only get a problem at night.

As far as I am concerned its the best thing I ever did.

Have a look at this web site www.lasek-eyes.co.uk, its a forum like this one where people post the views on surgery.

Good luck.

Juliet

Hi Annie

Yes, I did eventually reject surgery - for me, the possible risks outweighed the benefits. I wear glasses most of the time but also have daily disposable contacts (which are fab) for sport/social occasions. I have a slight astigmatism so don't see quite as well in my contacts as I do my glasses, but the difference is so minimal I can't tell the difference.

It's quite possible that I will reconsider surgery in the future - when the technology has advanced. Already, if you read about the types of procedures they conducted 5 years ago they seem quite barbaric compared to today's operations.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Jo

My hubby was I believe one of the first to have this treatment, he was a merchant seaman, glasses not practicle, he says best thing he ever done, apart from marry me of course :) His eyes are still good and it must have been at least 10 yrs ago.

Hi Jo
I have to agree with you. I can quite believe the people who say it is the best thing they have ever done. I would love to have trouble free eyes. as I have dry eyes to begin with I do worry about the problem of dryer eyes. I looked on the website and most of the comments were positive unfortunately it is the occasional negative comment that sticks in your mind. I went for my contacts yesterday (see other posts) and the optician said that Boots would not consider me for the surgery anyway. They said that as I have a lazy eye, they wouldn't consider me. Another optican at another company said they would do it as my eye isn't very lazy - this difference of opinion is enough to put me off. I think i will do as you do and have specs and lenses. The problem with that is the cost!!!
Thanks for all your comments Champdoggers :) :) :) :) :) all were greatly appreciated.
Annieee :)

Shop around as much as you can Annie - the difference in prices is amazing. I get my daily disposables from Vision Express - can't recommend them enough, as they've been massively helpful trying to find me a pair of contacts that (as a dry eye sufferer) I can wear. They've given me lots of free extra checks etc ... and spent ages talking me through the options. And this is at three different branches.

Get yourself a really trendy pair of glasses - I often wear mine when I go out, 'cos I like them! I find I wear contacts less and less now, because (a) I like my glasses, (b) glasses hide my wrinkles ( :D ) and (c) I'm lazy, and can't be bothered with contacts unless it's a really big night. So, they probably only cost me around £50 a year.

Interesting that you got two different responses from the clinics you visited. I was speaking with my optician the other day, and he mentioned anecdotally that although 'dry eyes' is always listed as a 'minor' possible side affect to lazer treatment, in his view it is one of the worst - it may not be immediately threatening, but there is no cure so you have to live with it. And anyone who's had severe dry eye knows how much it can affect your quality of life. That said, everyone I know personally who's had the procedure has never reported any problems - I just don't want to be one of the statistics that isn't so lucky ...

Let me know how you get on with the specs!

Jo

sorry, sent twice.