Avoid Lasik (LASIK Treatments)

Member Name: Keely

Product:	LASIK Treatments
Date:	31/05/07 (1373 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Improved vision - if all goes perfect

Disadvantages: Could end up with even worse vision, night visions problems, dry eyes and many more!

To get straight to the point I am glad I didn't have Lasik surgery done! I had been curious about it for a while and decided to go for a free consultation at Optical Express (as I saw them advertising for approx £390 per eye).

On the day of my consultation the staff were pleasant but I got the feeling they weren't completely sure what they were talking about and didn't have much experience. I had numerous amounts of tests done on my eyes including one where they put drops in your eyes to relax the muscles and dilate the pupils (which by the way leaves you unable to focus on anything and very sensitive to light). I was told I was an good candidate for the surgery and was recommended to have the Wavefront Lasik done and was then told this would cost £2590 for both eyes!

After being told this I was a little put off by the idea of spending so much money but the consultant I had was very pushy. Despite me saying I wasn't sure I'd be able to afford the monthly installments he insisted I should go ahead and said "If you think about it too much you won't go through with it" - Great advice for someone making a serious decision about a very important aspect of life, my sight! Anyway the consultant kept pushing me and even started filling my details into the loan agreement on the computer before I had totally agreed, this made me very uncomfortable and pressured to the point where I agreed. When it came to signing the loan agreement I suddenly realised the drops they had put into my eyes were still having an effect and I couldn't read a single part of the paperwork. Once again the consultant had some great advice "It's ok I;ll be giving you a copy of it all you can read at home" - No good reading an agreement at home that you've already signed! In the end he told me to sign where he was pointing his finger on each page as I couldn't see a thing.

I was then told I wouldn't be able to cancel this agreement as you have to cancel a week before your appointment to receive a full refund and he had gone ahead and booked my appointment for 5 days time - therefore voiding the cancel policy on the agreement (nice tactic!).

I was extremely worried about the whole procedure during the next couple of days, after reading some horrific stories on the internet of surgeries going wrong. I think I rang Optical Express about 4 times in a day to speak to someone to try and put my mind at rest but I still couldn't help but think I had made a huge mistake rushing into this. However the consultant kept insisting it was too late now and I wouldn't be able to cancel without loosing all of my money.

In the end I went to have the surgery done and on the day they retook some tests. I insisted on seeing the surgeon before I signed any consent forms as I had a lot of questions to ask her about possible risks and complications (as this was never explained to me during my consultation). It was a good job I had asked to see her as when she was speaking to me she took a look over some of the tests that had been done on my eyes and noticed something strange. Apparently every time they took my presciption it was coming up different (including 3 tests that had been done one after the other). She then decided to have a look into my eyes and noticed I had a natural shake in my eye - the eye was shaking from side to side. She seemed shocked that this hadn't been noticed until now and told me the laser would be unable to following the shake in my eye and would end up correcting the wrong part! She also noticed one of my pupils was larger than the other and that the strengths of my eyes kept changing too. So that was at least 4 reasons why I was unsuitable for Lasik which had only been picked up as I was sitting in the waiting room about to have the surgery done! The surgeon told me if I went through with the surgery I would ruin my eyesight completely and she wasn't willing to go through with it.

I'm just so thankfull I had a good surgeon who knew what they were talking about and was looking out for my best interests - It just goes to show I was probably right about the other people not knowing what they were talking about!

It was a scary near miss situation and if I have any advice for people it is this:
If you are thinking about laser eye surgery take a step back and REALLY think about it - afterall you only have one pair of eyes and ito only takes one mistake.
Really read up on everything before you go ahead with it - especially make yourself aware of the risks and complications and view the following sites before committing to anything

www.lasiksucks4u.com
www.lifeafterlasik.com
www.lasikmemorial.com
www.lasikdisaster.com

Although these sites may seem horrific, I feel I didn't have the best understanding of the surgery until after reading them. I have been told I will never be a candidate for laser correction and I am glad, even if I was told I could go ahead and have it done and it wouldn't be a problem I would still not go through with it now.

Your eyes are so important, and you just might not realise that until its too late.

Thanks

Summary: A lot of risks and complications surrounding this so called "simple surgery" - read up on it!