I can see clearly now the blur has gone' (LASIK Treatments)

Member Name: pdogg

Product:	LASIK Treatments
Date:	18/06/03 (831 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 20-20 vision now!, Quick painless surgery, Great customer service

Disadvantages: Cost, Glare lasted quite a while

I decided that I was going to opt for laser surgery treatment in December last year and made it my new years resolution to do it for the start of 2003. The money did not bother me too much , I will come to that later. It was just the fact that I didn't know of one person who has had the treatment so obviously I was a little nervous. I had recently tried for contact lenses but my eyes were too sensitive to get them in(even the softer lenses). The opticians said it would be impossible for me to wear contact lenses and suggested laser surgery with Boots. Boots use the LASIK treatment which I will explain more about momentarily. I thought to myself, 'there is no way I can afford that' ,they then mentioned about paying monthly installments of 80.00 a month for 3 years. The surgery costs 2500.00. It does sound a lot of money but I had already decided that it was worth it. If I add up what I would have spent on decent frames and lenses for the rest of my life, It would have come to more than 2500.00 anyway. Now my eyesight was extremely poor, 0.7 prescription in each eye, which is really shortsighted. Trust me, if I did not wear glasses, I wouldn't be able to do anything all day(go to work, read the paper, cross a road, etc). My prescription though did fall into the range of prescriptions that can apply for LASIK. Apparently long sighted people are not so lucky, Laser treatment really specialises for short sightedness.

So I booked up a free consultation, and went along to the Boots laser clinic in Regents St. They were extremely thorough,examined my eyes for about 3 hours, taking precise measurements of the thickness of my cornea. Measuring how my pupils would react to dim, normal and bright lights. They did the lot including glucoma tests, eye sight tests, more measurements, etc. At the end of the consultation they told me that I was a perfect candidate for LASIK eye treatment, I was really shortsighted so the treatment would be really beneficial
to me , I was at the right age, still fairly young at 23. My prescription hadnt changed for years, all the measurements were fine. I thought to myself, 'why not?'.



They told me the risks involved, the worst being a 0.03% chance of infection, which if i reported that immediately, should be fine to deal with. Other risks were glare at night, which should die down after a few weeks and also there was a 6% chance of under correcting or over correcting an eye. If this happened, then they would do another operation on the relevant eye to correct it free of charge. After waying up the prosand cons, I decided to go for it!

The morning of my surgery, I was fairly nervous, first off they put drops in my eyes to dialate my pupils, it took about 40 mins to completely dialate and made me look like I was on some sort of class A drug. After that they put in anaesthetic drops so the surgery would not be painful(thank god). By this time I was bricking it but a bit sedated by the anaesthetic. Time for the surgery! This is how LASIK works. A hinged flap, a bit like cling film is made on your cornea(surface of your eye). They lift that and use a very fine laser beam to gently reshape your cornea to re-focus your sight. The flap is then replaced and your eye will heal naturally. The surgery actually wasnt too bad, It took about 3 minutes an eye and the surgeons talk you through it, saying 'you are doing well' and 'only 1 minute left' to ease your mind. The surgery wasnt painful but it was a bit of discomfort, felt like a bit of pressure on my eyes. The only off putting part was the smell of burning which thankfully was the laser and not my eye! After the surgery they put eye patches on my eyes so as no grit would get to them, and I had to wear sunglasses while out to protect from the sun. I only wore the patches for 2 nights though so as no dust gets to your eyes at night.

After the surgery, I just wanted to get home, put in
some eye drops they gave me and go to sleep. This was the worst part of the whole treatment. There was quite a lot of discomfort, felt like grit in my eye. So I just went straight to bed. When I woke up the next day, My sight was a lot better distance wise but extremely blurry, I had the week booked off work. Theresno way I could drive or go to work, like They said to me some people go to the work the following day. I was a bit paranoid about my eye as I had a big red mark on the white of my eye. Immediately I thought the worst(infection) but obviously that would have hurt. It turned out to be a burst blood vessell, no pain and cleared up after a few days. I had been given drops to put in my eyes, because your eyes feel dry after surgery, all they basically did was moisten my eye.

After a few days, the blurness went almost completely. It took longer than I thought, They said to me that It was because I had such a drastic change in my sight. I would say the blurredness lasted about 4 days. I went to 3 aftercare appointments with Boots and to my joy they put my mind at rest, told me, no damage has been done. Tested my sight and it was 20-20 3 days after surgery. Amazing! I had to carry on taking drops for 2 months but I was ok with that and now no longer need them. My next check up is my last and now is scheduled for the end of year.

Overall, The surgery was a success. Obviously I dont know the long term, how long it lasts. They told me, the only thing that may happen is I may need reading glasses when I'm older but I can live with that. I will never need glasses again, I can play sport without worrying, swim and see at the same time and do all the other things people take for granted who have good sight. The drastic change in my sight still amazes me today as my eyesight was so bad and now 20-20. The customer service at Boots was just as good. You can ring them at any time with queries and they put your mind at rest or book you an appointment
. They were extremely good at the consultation, day of surgery and subsequent aftercare appointments. The only bad points was my vision wasnt great the next day as promised and the glare at night lasted quite a while, probably still get a bit now, but nothing serious to affect me at all.
I would definitely recommend the treatment if your eyes fit the criteria. I would only go for it if your eyes are very shortsighted ,not if you can live with or without your glasses, just because of the money it costs. You could get it cheaper, perhaps at 2 grand but they way I look at it, you might as well go for a well known brand name such as Boots rather than a cheap advert in a paper saying they will do it for 1500.00. Your eyes are important after all!

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