I am considering...

[robinbloke]

...having laser eye surgery; does anyone know anyone that has, or has had it done, or have any more concrete information on it? There is a centre in Cambridge that does it (apparently) and I have some cash saved up...

Comments

[borange.livejournal.com]

hmm funnily enough I was thinking about this the other day (again)

the only thing I'd like to know is how long would it be before I could work again -- I know you dont stay in the clinic long but realistically how long is it before you could stare at a monitor for 18 hours a day again :o0

anyhooo no answers for ya here but if you find anything out can you pass it on to me ???

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Will do, about 400 an eye apparently - and the time off would be a bonus ;)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

An old friend of mine had it done a few years ago.

You can find her at alexkells and ask her?

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

I've had it done, but not the same type you would have, so my expierence is of limited usefulness. For me it was completely painless and had no after effects, but then they we only removing a cateract sac.

[zotz]

It's mostly done at private clinics, so there aren't really any statistics on rates of complications - such clinics don't have to submit any. It's probably fairly safe and effective, but that I think is as far as anyone can really go on the matter.

Once upon a time...

[k-lioness.livejournal.com]

Years ago I worked as a waitress with a girl who had it done. She went to the clinic in the morning and was back at work for the evening shift. Her vision was "perfect" within a week, and she thought it was the greatest thing to ever happen to her. Granted, that was in 1994, when the cost was about $4,000 (£6,000) per eye and it was still considered dangerous.

For the longest time, the US government considered it "experimental," which meant that if you were in the military and you had it done on your own time and money, you could be discharged on the basis of "destruction of government property" or something like that. Now, there are some military hospitals that do it, so I think they've decided that it's safe.

If there's anything like a Better Business Bureau (where people who've had problems with a business file their complaints for all the world to see) you might want to call them and see what kind of a reputation the clinic has before you go in.

Re: Once upon a time...

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Good idea, thanks :)

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Someone at work's had it done, but I don't know where. She had one eye done Monday, one Tuesday, recovered Wednesday & was back at work on Thursday. I reckon we spend about half the day staring at a scren, but the other squinting at columns of numbers.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Ayy chance you could have a word with her about it?

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

not 100% up on it but from when I had a look into it and went 'eeep!' at the cost I do remember them saying that it was only worth it if your eyesight was stable, ie not getting any worse, as if its doing down hill the treatment will only last for as long as your eyes stay on the same level.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Andy has a point there.
However, if your eyesight is really bad, let's say 8 or worse, you would start from 0 and then downgrade again so it would give you a number of years with good eyesight.

Another thought

[k-lioness.livejournal.com]

Another thought is to find out what procedure they use and look the procedure itself up on a dependable site like WebMd.

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

One of the London players had it, was talking about it last mounth, saying how glad he was he had done it, if you like I'll get him to contact you.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Please :)

[souldier-blue.livejournal.com]

I had it done at a clinic somewhere in North London (I can probably dig out the details) about 5 years ago - it cost just under £1000 in total, but I believe it's closer to £2000 these days. At the time, each eye was operated on 6 months apart - it was quite painful for a week or so afterwards and vision was weird for a couple of months (longsighted in one eye, short sighted in the other!). But other than that perfect! I know someone who had it done a couple of months ago - both eyes at once and they were back to work a couple of days later, so the procedure has improved immensely since I had it done. I would definitely recommend it. However, do read all the details of the possible complications! (Loss of nightvision is a possibility for example). Make sure you check out which type of surgery the clinic is offering, as some types are more risky than others.