Laser Eye Surgery

Has anyone had this done? Could you give me some in-sight into it? I'm thinking of getting it done soon. Is it worth it? And do you feel anything? The only thing that's putting me off the idea, is the thought of someone operating on your eyes, I mean what if something goes wrong? :eek:

Thanks

Reply 1

Chi3f

1

its a machine operating not a person

Reply 2

Auditt123

i would be interested in this too, contact lenses are fine, but it would be great not to have the hassle of them

Reply 3

G.A.K

4

Don't you have to be 21 to have it done? Or have they changed it now? I'd like it done too, but I quite like my funky glasses!

Reply 4

Hayley_2k4

OP

12

Chi3f

its a machine operating not a person

a machine? :eek:

Reply 5

tbm

13

Wouldnt mind having this done myself but cant afford it obviously!
I know people who have had it done though and they've said its not too bad, its more uncomfortable than painful. It can leave your eyes a bit red and stingy for a while after, but I guess that varies from person to person. You do hear horror stories about things like this (as you do about everything!) but things like that are really rare so I wouldnt worry too much! Its basically a laser machine that is pointed into your eye I think, and you just lie down and wait for it to do its magic!

Reply 6

Chi3f

1

they use the laser to cut the top layer. Obviously it wont be a knife...

Reply 7

hugatree

11

Ooh this thread actually made my eyes water at the thought. :afraid:

Think I'll stick to contact lenses. They won't be able to correct it all anyway, at -8 and astigmatism..

Reply 8

Leisure17

8

When you are shortsighted your eyeball is too long and the refraction is thus projected to a point in front of your retina. What ends up at the retina it therefore blurred. This gets worse the "longer" your eyeball is.
Corrective lenses (also specs) change the refraction so that the projection hits the retina properly.
There are different parts of your eye responsible for altering the refraction:

•

the cornea

•

the lens

The lens can be changed when you have surgery for a cataract and it is replaced by a plastic lens. This is a chance to change the eye's refraction.
The cornea can be "sculpted" as well. This is done by laser and changes the refraction. It does depend on how shortsighted you are and on how thick your cornea is (there are individual differences).
Nightsight can be more impaired, especially the "blurry edges around lights effect", why is rather difficult to explain, but I could if you pm me.
Long term (20 years) effects are not known yet, but it does seem to go quite well, if you do not get an infection.
If you happen to do aerobatics you should not do it, because the negative g-forces can be harmfull and it is not recommended.

Reply 9

Cortez

17

Ive thought about this a lot. I hate wearing glasses and only ever where them in my house so when i can afford it i might have it done.

When you have it done do you end up with 20:20 vision or is it not that good?

Reply 10

Cortez

17

jesus christ, something went wrong there lol!

Reply 11

Chi3f

1

Cortez

Ive thought about this a lot. I hate wearing glasses and only ever where them in my house so when i can afford it i might have it done.

When you have it done do you end up with 20:20 vision or is it not that good?

i had hope its 20:20 at the price laser surgery goes for

Reply 12

Applying4Maths

Both my mum and a good friend of mine have had this procedure done and it's the best thing either of them have ever done. it's only £500 or so per eye and when you think how much glasses and contacts are (my contacts are £20/month), you'll quickly earn all the money back when you don't have to wear them anymore. My mum's paying for me to have the surgery as my 21st birthday present.

There are at least two types of treatment you can go for and for one of them they slice your eye open but for the other one they just use the laser over your eye as it is: that's the one I'll have, it's the one my mum and friend have too.

Obviously as with any operation there's a small risk, but it's definitely not too high to consider the operation!! I think the benefits far outway the risk!!

Yes your sight will weaken with age, but if you have it done when you're 21, you'll get a good 25-30 years of glasses and contact-free perfect vision, which is definitely worth it.

Reply 13

FireDeuce

14

25-30 years is AGES and AGES.
And then surely it'd just get worse over many years again?
So say you had it done when your 21, when your 51 you might have to wear glasses for watching TV, which is no big deal.

Reply 14

Helenia

20

I wouldn't do it, personally. Not until there's been a lot more research done into the long-term effects of it. Maybe I'm being over-cautious but I really don't want that sort of thing to end up causing me problems. Contacts are expensive, it's true, but I think I'll stick with them for now.

Reply 15

louise28k

1

i dont know if anyone remebers that programme that used to be on in the afternoons about how to save money, but, the guy on there said that these companies that do eye surgery often sell packages cheaper on Ebay, just to get the places filled. might be worth a try if u really want it doing

Reply 16

Ghost

20

I suffer from a squint when I look to my right, and the temptation of laser surgery has gone through my mind many many times before. My doctor told me that if I called him up at any time, he'd be able to do the surgery that same week and it would be over within a few seconds (or minutes, I cant remember).
The squint has plagued me with sometimes low self esteem, self consciousness and anger, and the thought of simply making a call and having that all go away just seems too good to be true. My vision is perfect, and I wouldn't but my sight at risk (even a minute one) just to solve such a ridiculous problem mainly caused by ***** in society. I couldnt live without my sight.
Even though my doctor offered this, he did however say that he didnt recommend it at all, and that there was a risk that the problem would be made irreversibly worse. Maybe in 10 or so years the technology will be good enough that I can get this problem fixed without any worries, but I guess there's no rush yet - I've lived with it for 18 years, I can wait a while longer.

I'm not sure why I posted this - it's only vaguely related to the issue at hand!

Reply 17

Cortez

17

louise28k

i dont know if anyone remebers that programme that used to be on in the afternoons about how to save money, but, the guy on there said that these companies that do eye surgery often sell packages cheaper on Ebay, just to get the places filled. might be worth a try if u really want it doing

Yeah ive seen some laser eye surgery stuff on eBay - i think it was Ultralase.

Reply 18

sjuthani

6

Does anyone know if it'll work on people with stigmatism?

Reply 19

bewithoutyou

Helenia

I wouldn't do it, personally. Not until there's been a lot more research done into the long-term effects of it. Maybe I'm being over-cautious but I really don't want that sort of thing to end up causing me problems. Contacts are expensive, it's true, but I think I'll stick with them for now.

I feel the same. My eyesight is so important to me that I don't want to take risks on something where the long-term effects aren't fully known.

My best friend's mum had it done a couple of years ago but unfortunately she became quite short-sighted again quite quickly. The difference is that, after laser eye surgery, you can no longer wear contact lenses, so she's stuck wearing her glasses everyday.

Laser Eye Surgery

Related discussions

Articles for you