Laser eye surgery at bargain prices!

[Spacemonkey]

I have finally booked myself in for laser surgery for 12th December as I now have 3 weeks off work and it seems an ideal time as i will be starting a new business in January and won't get any time off for quite some time. I have decided for EpiLASEK which is a relatively new tecnique which involves scraping the surface epithilieal cells to create a flap from the front of the cornea (clear bit in front of pupil) so that the underlying tissue can be re shaped by the laser without harming the surface, which is then pushed back afterwards. This has advantages over standard {PRK as the surface does recover. With LASIK, which involves cutting a small flap in the cornea surface then lasering and replacing the flap, the flap never 100% heals and is a potential weak spot. It can be dislodged by rubbing or an impact injury. Food for thought... With me, getting very dodgy chemicals in the eye or infectious matter is probably not a good idea after Lasik...


Anyway, the point was that the charge for EpiLASEK is £1190 for the pair, but the same company, Optimax, is offering the services for £795 the pair on eBay, which they do quite often. See here:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.co.uk%2Fws%2F&fkr=1&from=R8&satitle=laser+eye+surgery&category0=

:borgsmile

 

[Doc]

I'm quite interested in laser refractive surgey.

LASIK (where a corneal flap is made, and as Spacemonkey says, never actually heals - surgeons can relift the flap years later) is easily the most popular technique, particularly in the US. Recovery is very rapid and virtually painless.

In PRK, the laser is applied straight to the cornea. It has been around 15-20 years. Recovery can be painful.

LASEK (Optimax call it epi-LASEK, to reduce confusion) is a refinement of PRK, where only the epithelium is lifted from the cornea, the laser applied, and the epithelium replaced. Visual recovery sufficient to drive may take a week or more, and it is less painful than PRK.

As it was my own eyes, and I am a doctor trained in critical appraisal of scientific papers, I spent 26 hours in the medical library and on medline reseraching it all. Complications with LASIK can be sight threatening, and arise because of the corneal flap. The main risk with LASEK is corneal haze, which develops in the first few months but then usually improves. With all techniques, under or over correction is possible.

Weighing it all up for my level of myopia (about minus 5 dioptres both eyes) I decided that the risk/benefit equation was heavily loaded in favour of LASEK. I'm now nine months down the line and can read 6/5 (bottom line on my Snellen chart) in both eyes. In very bright light I can sometimes detect a trace of ghosting in one eye if looking at high contrast writing. No problem with shooting, even with open sights. Overall I'm delighted. When living outdoors/canoeing etc, glasses and contacts really suck.

Personally, if only LASIK was available, I would either not have had it, or just had one eye done.

This is a personal opinion, not meant as medical advice or recommendation to any individual.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Doc, that's pretty much the conclusions I came too. It appears from much research that I have carried out that most complications can be treated to an extent, and the risk to me is acceptable considering the benefits. I'm -1.75 and -2.25 with astigmatism and so am a good candidate for success.

It just made me laugh when they asked me if I had been in contact with anyone with MRSA in the last 6 months... then I told them my job!

 

[Doc]

Good luck with it mate.

There is a website called lasikdisaster.com listing some people who've come unstuck with LASIK. Also LASIK often seems to have caused problems with night driving vision.

Although I could see well enough to drive after a few days, it took a few weeks for the night driving in one eye to be good. Also, for some reason, one eye was stuck at 6/9 for about a month, before settling down to 6/5 over time.

It's possible taking 1g acorbic acid dailyreduces the haze risk in LASEK (single small RCT study, not yet replicated, so benefit not actually proven)

 

[Spacemonkey]

Sounds interesting, where would one acquire such delights?

I assume that I'll be on the lemon tea for a while then!!!

ps, yes, I have seen the doomsites such as the one you list, which put me off for ages, but then found counter sites which outweighed the disaster ones. Then i flipped a coin and it came up heads...

 

[Doc]

Sorry, keyboard playing up. Should read Ascorbic acid, ie vitamin C. The big orange fizzy tablets sold in tubes of 20. They are 1000mg, ie 1 gram.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Yup, figured as much! The later the night, the worse these keyboards get...
I believe my lemon tea is 500mg a cup, so that should do it nicely, or I might start eating oranges...

 

[directdrive]

Hello, All: Lasik works, as many of my friends can attest. My only recommendation is to go to the very best doctor and to hell with the cost factor. I mean, how much are your eyes worth? One of my friends who is a real tight-wad, had his surgery done at a discount eye glass chain in a back room for $250 per eye!!! Lucky for him, the doctor doing the work did a good job but there would be no way I'd ever try that. I always kid him about it and tell other people he had the work done by a Haitian immigrant in New Orleans who used an oxy-acetelene torch... Good Luck with your Lasik surgery, Bruce

 

[Spacemonkey]

Went in today to get Epi Lasek done, but apparently i have od shape eyes. Typical... I have astigmatism which is ok, but the top portion of the front of the eye is very different to the remaining 3/4s. So, laser treatment can make my vison worse to the extent that it might never be good again, even with glasses. Bloody wonderful.
However, it turns out that they do INTACS at their London offices which I coul dhave (at about £2000 the pair), so I'm meeting with their top bloke (Proff Ventor) to discuss this tomorrow and to re check my eyes.

Has anyone had any experiences with INTACS? i have read about them in the past but didn't think that anyone did them in the UK.

Doc, have you read anything about them good or bad?

 

[Doc]

Hi Spacemonkey. Sorry to hear that. Bit surprised they didn't check your corneal topography beforehand.

I know they use INTACS for keratoconus and myopia. Apparently reversible. There is rather less info on medline (you can search abstracts only at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

One trial of mild myopia (up to -4.5D) found 95% got to 6/12 or better, and 72% got to 6/6 or better. Driving standard is between 6/9 and 6/12. These results are not all that different from LASEK. Seems about 5% ask for them to be removed - again similar to LASEK retreatment rates.

Sorry I don't have much info. Given you are a low myope, and assuming you have less than a dioptre of astigmatism, you could be eligible. Unlike LASEK it is reported as being reversible. The downside is that it is newer and therefore less well proven.

A lot of outdoorsmen feel strongly motivated to bin the specs and contacts - with this in mind I think it's certainly worth discussing it with the consultant.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Thanks for the answer.
They did the topography during the consultation (which was to be an hour before the LASEK procedure) and it was then that it was discovered. This is why contacts are incapable of giving me perfect eyesight. From what I have read on the 'net, I would agree with everything you have said. I have not been able to find the horror stories associated with some laser treatments (most of which are correctable I might add) and of course, there is the option of reversability or later re correction, which is not available with laser surgery. It might cost more, but what price for perfect vision? There are still people charging up to £2000 PER EYE for laser treatment, so INTACS for £2000 seems ok by me. It doesn't appear that i have keratoconus, but I WILL be discussing this with the Proff tomorrow...

ps Boots do some very nice 1000mg chewable Vit C tabs. 60 for £5 or so. It's a shame I can only pop one a day, as they are lovely!

 

[qweeg500]

I opted for Epi-Lasek myself and on the 13th Of Feb (12 days ago) went ahead with the proceedure. I can honestly say it's probably the best grand I've ever spent. I'm now 20/20 in both eyes and my vision is still improving.

Thanks for the thread on this subject as it played a part in my decision.

Matt

BTW The actual proceedure was a doddle but the first 48 hours were very uncomfortable. Good job I had the missus to make me cups of tea.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Glad it worked out fine!
Yes, I knew epi lasek would be painful for the first 36 hours or so, which is why I had originally arranged to have it done over christmas as it is one of the few breaks I get.

Hopefully, somtime in the next few months I shall return for the INTACs treatment.

Good luck with it!