It's not like the laser in James Bond! (LASIK Treatments)

Member Name: rgibo

Product:	LASIK Treatments
Date:	23/04/04 (840 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Vision, Convenience

Disadvantages: Cost

I actually logged on to dooyou before I decided to have the treatment, the reviews pushed me to go for it, so here is my experience of LASIK. Ok, lets start from the beginning, aged 10 I realised that I could not see the blackboard so having to look at my mates paper next to me was the only way I could do my work. Next thing I know the nice man at the opticians has provided me with perhaps the biggest pair of specs the world has ever seen and I no longer had to squint. I quickly realised I didn?t like my specs, it was about the same time I realised I quite liked the look of girls. So contact lenses were the next step and I happily wore these right up until last January having no problems until an eye infection meant no more contacts for me. Bugger. So in a way I was given a choice; specs or lasers. I chose the Lasers.

So it started with who to chose for the procedure, this is probably the biggest decision you will have to make because if you don?t feel totally happy with the team who are going to zap you then you should not have it done. I decided to go for two consultations in Birmingham, one with Optical Express, and the other with Boots. The main reason I thought about Optical Express was the price as they were advertising £1250. So off I went to the consultation, an optician saw me and he took some readings and measurements of my eyes. Once I told him I had had an eye infection recently he decided that it would be best to wait two months to make sure my eyes had settled down properly. Gutted. So I trotted back to the train station and off home I went.

I nearly didn?t go to the consultation at Boots as I thought they would say the same thing but after a lot of tests, measurements, re-tests I heard the words I wanted to hear ?Yes you are suitable?. Over the moon would be a term that would describe my mood I think. Boots price for treatment was £2500, which I know is double that of Optical Express but I felt the consultation was so good I was re

ally confident that it would work. So I booked in for the 9th March at the Birmingham Clinic to get my new eyes.

So the big day finally arrived and I found myself on the way to Birmingham with a trusted friend (I say this because you do need someone to look after you when you have been zapped). Some more tests later and I was given the green light, so off into the laser room I went. I won?t go into too much detail about the procedure as you can find this out from loads of different sources. All I will say is that it really is painless, I would describe it as nerve racking and you can feel the laser on the back of your eye but it does not hurt one bit. Oh yeah and to clear up the myth that you can smell your eye being burnt, it?s the smell of the gas that is used to power the laser, not the back of your eye being vaporised!

As I had a really high prescription, -7.00 in each eye the procedure took about one minute for each eye, if your prescription is lower the time goes down accordingly. Before I knew it the eye protectors were taped into place and I sat up on the table looking like a bumble bee in a tracksuit. Off to the recovery room I went and half an hour later I was walking through the Bull Ring with near perfect vision. It really was amazing. The vision in my right eye was near perfect and my left a little blurred but I could see! My friend drove me home and I went of a rest in a dark room. I did experience some pain in the back of my eyes for a couple of hours but I chalked that down to the fact I used to be blind as a bat and had quite a bit of laser work done. Anyway that went and in the evening I watched a Man Utd game on the TV with no problems at all. They won by the way.

I had booked three days off work for the treatment so then next day I rested and looked at a lot of things, testing my eyes as much as possible. It?s the weirdest feeling to wake up an be able to see the clock without getting so close to it your nose is t
ouchi
ng it. I noticed that my right eye was considerably better than my left, which was still a little blurred but I didn?t worry as I had my first after care appointment the next day.

I went back to the clinic the next day and told Mark (the surgeon) my worries about my left eye and he took a look. It turns out that the flap that he had cut in the procedure had moved ever so slightly, and looking back now I can remember it happening as I walked back to the car after the procedure. My eye lid seemed to get stuck mid blink and then my eye watered. I thought nothing of it really but that was it. Anyway Mark said that the best thing would be a lift and clean, where they lift the flap and reposition it again. I agreed and I was there again on the table with people playing with my peepers. On went the eye shield, this time I looked like a pirate as only one eye was covered.

I went home and put my drops in and things were good for the first day, I kept putting my drops in all was good. I experienced some ?dry eyes? which is very common after the procedure and is when the eye develops dry patches which make things blurred. I found that these were getting worse so again back to the clinic and it turned out I was having a reaction to the eye drops so some others were prescribed which were a lot better. I was signed off until my next aftercare appointment, which went without a hitch.

So what?s it like now? Nearly perfect, it really is amazing. I still get dry patches from time to time but on the whole it?s changed my life and the dry patches go with time. Sure I an £2500 lighter and that?s a lot of cash but if you think long term, taking into account the price of contacts, it?s well worth it. Boots did interest free credit also which helped otherwise a lot of saving would have had to take place, and nobody likes saving.

Should you do it? I have done it and it was by no means straight forward in my case mainly as I had a couple of comp
lications
I.e. flap moving, eye drops etc. but on the whole it?s the best money I ever spent. The best part of all is being able to fall asleep on a Sunday in front of the football without having to go take your lenses out, or lying in bed and looking at the stars out of the window (sounds a bit soppy for a 24 year old man of the world but it?s true). I would recommend it but it?s a personal decision and everyone is different. The consultation?s free, you?ll never know if you don?t look into it. It may change your life??it changed mine!

Richard Giblin, 24

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