Laser Eye surgery

[Fled74]

Originally Posted by ken2903

How much for the surgery that turns my eyes into lasers?

I want to know this too...

Seriously though, I've been considering a Lasik-type procedure. I've been wearing glasses & contacts since I was 10.

[Turbo6FG]

Originally Posted by jonk

Geez you're a bunch of tools for wasting money on that crap.

Purchase a set of 'Pinhole Readers'. Learn to use it. Follow the exercises.

When the laser burns you're eye, that 'burning' exist in stasis, forever. So, what looks good now, won't last forever.

You are absolutely mad for wasting money on laser stuff. All your doing is lining the pockets of some, ophthalmologist who decided to go for the more 'value added' routine career slant.

You lot are really rank, for promoting that stuff.

& a very satisfied bunch of tools too I might add.

Last time I went to the optometrist there was a gay guy working in there & I couldn't face the prospect of being in a room with him for half an hour while he checked my eyes. It tipped me over the edge & I went ahead with the laser op. (I'm not discriminating I'm just homophobic - it's a condition too)

What are pinhole readers? Can you use them while you scuba dive?

[XW WA]

Laser Sight . its in subiaco square just across from the train station . very professional - i rate them .the surgery gets done at a private eye hospital in west perth

[spebgtsprint]

CHEERS MATE!

Will make some enquiries soon!

[AlanD]

Hi all,

Long post so be patient, please.

SWMBO visited her retinal surgeon, hopefully for the last time, in December, after 6 years of consults and operations. As a consequence I have learned quite a bit about the things that can go wrong with your eyesight and procedures that are available to restore your sight.

And something that follows might prevent a member (or someone they know) from ending up blind.

Firstly laser surgery simply shifts a correcting lens from outside the eye (contacts or specs) to the surface of the cornea by shaping the corneal surface. It can assist people who are either short or long sighted achieve "20/20" vision so long as there are no other problems and is entirely appropriate for the young person who has otherwise healthy eyes.

Would I have it done? No, because a) afterward I would still need glasses to read (At the moment I need them to see at a distance) and b) there is always a risk factor with any surgery. I queried SWMBO's surgeon for an opinion - Answer was a resounding NO! I guess that, from time to time, he gets to try to repair damage that laser surgey has created.

As we get older (post 45) a number of things can start to happen and laser surgery will not fix any of them.

1. The eye lens gets less flexible and is thus not able to focus through the same range as previously. Laser surgery can alter where you can focus but glasses will be needed for the limits - esentially this is my situation, so the laser surgery doesn't really fix things entirely.
2. You can get cataracts (Most older people do). In this case there is a slow deterioration in acuity in the vision centre owing to the cataract - fixable by removing the cataract affected lens and substituting an artificial one. Problem is this is a fixed focal length (usually correct for distance sight) and specs are required for reading/close work.
3. Macular hole - this most often affects post menopausal women but can affect younger people and men. Here there is a quite sudden inability to see tiny stuff at close distance ie small print. If letters in words seem to be missing this is a good indicator. The effect can be due to other transient reasons but if it persists for a week or more get expert opinion because it can be fixed and it requires mind numbing surgery (I usually refer to it as having micro-embroidery done on your retina - yep things stuck into your eyeball to get the job done) - SWMBO has required this kind of procedure on each of her eyes, thankfully she was referred to a great surgeon who really knows his stuff. If you don't get help the problem will result in you becoming legally blind in the affected eye - if both eyes get the problem (unusual but SWMBO got unlucky) then you will not be driving for very long. There is an unfortunate side effect of the surgery, which is that cataracts develop quite quickly and cataract surgery is required.
4. Macular degeneration. The effect is the same as Macular hole but takes longer to develop and is thus less easy for the person to detect the problem owing to its gradual onset. Last time I looked there was no cure but the onset speed can be reduced or even halted with proper treatment so getting help is wise.

There are other things such as glaucoma (excessive eyeball pressure - I believe this can aggravate macular degeneration) which is treatable with medication, detached retina (usually due to a blow to the head) which can be reattached if speedy action is taken usually. But don't wait because if you have a detached retina the blood supply to the vision sensing elements is disrupted and they die - no coming back from that.

If you have vision problems get things checked out by a professional. If you are looking at laser treatment get independent advice. I'd avoid a laser treatment centre owing to the interest they have in performing the treatments - which isn't to say that they would recommend surgery if it's contra-indicated.

SWMBO's surgeon practises in Victoria - anyone who wants the name should PM me, I might add that if I need eye surgery I know who is going to be doing it.

Thanks for reading

Alan

[colinl]

It's something I've considered for a while now. I've always worn glasses, but now that I'm an old fart I need two pair. I tried those blended lenses, but I hated them. I persisted with them for weeks, but just couldn't hack them. I hated the lack of peripheral vision. I couldn't scan through documents and they made feel sick when walking through shopping malls. It's a real pain in the **** when working underneath a car because you're constantly looking between distance and short vision.

[jonk]

I must say, I deeply apologise, for me coming across too strong. I am sorry.

When you have lived through an eye issue like myself, since I was born, and made it better, spending money just to fix it won't work.

You're eye changes through life, as you get on in experience (years) The ten year stuff they sold you on, good luck with that. You do know that once you've had it done, it never stops (treatment wise)

They blast you're outer eye with beams, to fix stuff. I researched that stuff in the early 80's, radio keratotamy, now it's a laser procedure.

Just Google pin hole readers. They're glasses but it's not glass you look through. It's dots. The eye, by itself, needs to develop from within. Punching a laser beam on you're iris isn't it.

It's all about the receptors in the eye, at the back. You're eye focuses from the rear not the front. Macular degeneration can be overcome with treating the eye like a muscle.

But every eye specialist thinks/knows that the receptors don't heal/regain strength, it ain't true. I've got better eye's now than ever. Again, real sorry to the bods who spent... on this, but you're eye's are far more resilient than you could ever imagine. Eye's don't just give up 'focusing'.

[deesun]

Apology accepted. I can see why you don't like the procedure but you should have explained yourself properly rather than just go off. So far from the posts most people have had a good experience. As yet I am not sure one way or another and my appointment is with an optometrist not just the Laser clinic so he will win either way. Thank you to those who have posted their experience.

[XW WA]

jonk - all cool mate , glad your eyes are better . nothing worse than bad eyes

[deesun]

jonk I am very happy your eyes are better now than before. I myself am open to all sorts of sugestions and when as part of your last post you suggested we Google pin hole readers I did and got this http://www.foate.co.nz/index.cfm/You...ole_Spectacles. Now what was it you were saying in your first post about people promoting certain items?

[AlanD]

You're eye focuses from the rear not the front. Macular degeneration can be overcome with treating the eye like a muscle.

This would be possibly the most dangerous bit of mis information I have witnessed on the forum.

And any one who goes "looking" for muscular exercises to over come Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is going to be very dis-appointed and probably will lose their sight.

For a general account about AMD, go here:

http://www.mdfoundation.com.au/page122150.aspx

Note that the stats indicate 1 in 7 people above the age of 50 are likely to develop AMD and the best defence is early detection and treatment.

And remember that once damage is done it currently can not be repaired. Treatment aims to slow or halt the progress of AMD, so early detection is important.

If you are over 50 then annual eye checkups are important so the problem is caught early. People with good eyesight are less likely to have such checks and thus the likelihood of early detection is less. By the time you begin to notice sight problems due to AMD there is already ir-reversible damage.

And back on topic - if you are over 50 and considering laser corneal shaping to improve your sight because "I can't see things as well as I could" ask a simple question, which is "Will I (still) need glasses after the procedure to read or see clearly at a distance?"

Also remember that corneal shaping is not reversible, unlike an improperly made pair of glasses which the optical people can change to overcome the problem.

[jonk]

.AlanD, appreciate the PM. I couldn't connect to the FF for a while. So couldn't reply via PM, I tried...

You're pushing something that sounds too much of 'indoctrination'.

You sound a bit spiel likeness.

?

[deesun]

Well I went to the opto today and explained a little. Before the check up he gave me a number of reasons why he wouldn't send me to have it done but was happy to send me if there was the right condition. About a minute later he says, well you could well be good to go and have it done. Apparently I have Presbyopia which is long sight in one eye and short sight in the other. This means that only one eye needs to be lasered, half the price. He said that it is only 80% and that the laser clinic might ask me to wait a while longer till 100%. As a coincidence, whilst driving down to my appointment I heard an add on the radio for one of the major laser clinics that is holding an information day in our local area on Saturday so I have booked a spot. I am 400klms from Sydney so this is a bonus. Opto also has a test to see if my brain may or may not be able to handle the change. So there are some positives and some negatives so far but I believe I am leaning more on the positive side.

[Kieron]

MY father in law had this done last year in Kuala Lumpur, i'll be there on Thursday and try to find out how much lasik costs there for comparison purposes if anyone is interested??

It might be that you can get it done cheaper there and score a holiday from it at the same time!

[FTe342]

Originally Posted by colinl

It's something I've considered for a while now. I've always worn glasses, but now that I'm an old fart I need two pair. I tried those blended lenses, but I hated them. I persisted with them for weeks, but just couldn't hack them. I hated the lack of peripheral vision. I couldn't scan through documents and they made feel sick when walking through shopping malls. It's a real pain in the **** when working underneath a car because you're constantly looking between distance and short vision.

I can relate to your situation exactly. Here's my story.

Needed glasses from the age of 10. Short sightedness progressively deteriorated to the point at age 50 I was minus 6 in one eye and minus 7 in the other. This means that you can't read a newspaper at the end of your nose. However all was good with 100% correction from glasses that ended up as thick as Coke bottles. Until age catches up and close vision started to go meaning I needed bi-focals or two sets of glasses. I opted for the latter but it drove me crazy so decided on laser and was tested and found suitable.

It was a big correction as you can imagine and at times for the first year I wondered if I should have had it done as now and again one eye would take time to adjust to distance. Also I found my eyes dried out when in air con but time has fixed this after my eyes being in their own little environment for so long (behind the specs)

All in all its been the best thing I've done. Made such a difference in my life. To be able to wake up and tell the time etc you have no idea. I have reading glasses but rarely use them. If the light is natural or nice & bright I can read anything. I am typing this with my glasses on the desk and now 58 yrs. And my distance vision is 20/20 - crystal!

I go for a check up every two years with the last just before Xmas. The script for my readers has never changed and my macular is fine. The optometrist, not the one who did the laser surgery, is amazed.