Over the last few weeks I have been discussing all the things that seem to put people off having laser eye surgery. The previous 3 blog posts have discussed how long laser eye surgery lasts, what laser eye surgery is actually like, the laser eye surgery recovery and finally the long term effects of laser eye surgery.

Along with those things mentioned above, one of the most likely reasons people decide not to have eye laser surgery is the costs involved. However, the majority of people who say laser eye surgery cost is the main reason for them not having the surgery, have not actually been for a consultation to find out the price!

You may have seen advertisements on the television quoting things like ‘laser eye surgery from £400’ etc. However, it is very unlikely that you will qualify for these prices. This starting price of £400 will normally only relate to very mild prescriptions and the vast majority of people will fall outside this range. For example this starting price may only be applicable to prescriptions up to -1.25 dioptres (this is what prescriptions are measured in) but the vast majority of people will be higher than this. If your prescription is for example -4.00 Dioptres then expect to pay double this price and remember prices are per eye.

Like many things in life you can’t simply quote the cost of laser eye surgery as there are various options that you can choose from. It would be like asking someone who works in a shoe shop ‘How much do your shoes cost’. Shoes made out of the best material and by the best designers will cost a lot more than a basic non branded pair. Laser eye surgery is similar in this regard, if you want the very best treatment with all the premium options then you will have to pay more. The 2 main add-ons to consider with laser eye treatment are as follows:

• Wavefront laser eye surgery: Wavefront can be added to either Lasik or Lasek eye surgery and increases your chances of achieving 20:20 vision following your surgery. It also greatly cuts down on any night vision problems that you may encounter following standard laser eye surgery.
• Intralase: Intralase a type of Lasik (Intralase Lasik) and describes the way in which the flap is created during the procedure. It is regarded as a safer and more accurate treatment that reduces the chances of needing a laser re-treatment.

In some instances you may be required to have the premium treatments regardless of whether you want them or not. This will be as a result of some of the measurements taken in your laser eye surgery consultation. Such factors are as follows:

• Your prescription: If you have a high prescription then your surgen is ilkely to recommended that you have wavefront as it is a more accurate procedure.
• Your pupil size: People who have large pupils are at a higher risk of developing night vision problems following laser eye surgery. It is because of this that your surgeon may insist that you have wavefront laser eye surgery which significantly reduces night vision problems.
• Corneal thickness: During your laser eye surgery consultation your corneal thickness will be assessed. It is important that you have enough corneal thickness to safely carry out the procedure. If you have a thin cornea then your surgeon may insist that you have Intralase lasik rather than standard Lasik as the flap (layer of cornea) created is thinner.

As you can see there are many things to consider when discussing the price of laser eye surgery. Different clinics will charge different amounts, but one thing is certain, the more expensive premium procedures will increase your chances of safely achieving 20:20 vision.

I hope this post has been helpful and please let me know if you have any further questions. Either comment on this blog post or ask a question in our laser eye surgery forum,

Thanks for reading

Tim

One of the most common reasons that I hear that puts people off having laser eye surgery is the worry of the so called ‘long term risks’ or ‘long term effects’ of laser eye surgery. When I ask people exactly what they mean by this, I typically get the following responses:

• Laser eye surgery has not been around long enough to be certain it is safe.
• We don’t know what the long term effects are on the eyes, as people have not been having the surgery for long enough.
• Laser eye surgery has only been around for a few years so I am waiting for the technology to get better.
• Laser eye surgery only lasts a few years and most people have to have it done again.

When I question people as to where they have heard about the long term risks of laser eye surgery, they normally say they have heard someone else saying the same thing. The person who they have heard it off, has probably also heard it off someone else and so on! It’s one of those things about laser eye surgery that just seems to ‘stick’ and people keep repeating it, without ever actually being certain if it is true. In response to the questions above, let’s answer them one by one:

• How long has laser eye surgery been around: Laser eye surgery has been around a lot longer than most people think, with the first procedure carried out over 25 years ago. When I ask people how long they think laser eye surgery has been carried out for, their typical response is about 5-10 years. In the early days of laser vision correction there were lots of complications, recovery times were long and the vision often reverted back to what it was prior to the surgery after only a few years.
• Long term effects on people’s eyes: People have been having laser eye surgery for about 25 years, which you would think could be considered as long term. As of yet, there have been no long term effects of laser eye surgery as people have got older. This is especially reassuring as the earlier laser eye surgery techniques were far more invasive and much less refined than today’s procedures.
• Laser technology is still not at its best: You could argue that no technology is ever at its best as improvements are continually being made. Laser eye surgery has however shown considerable improvements over the past 25 years or so and is now considered an extremely safe, accurate and well understood procedure. The laser eye surgery results are at an all time high, whilst the laser eye surgery risks and complications have never been lower. The best laser eye surgery you can have is Intralase lasik with wavefront and this really is cutting edge technology.
• Laser eye surgery only lasts a few years: Again this is one of those things that people hear and repeat without actually really knowing if it is true. For the vast majority of people, laser vision correction lasts for their lifetime – this is backed up by the fact that only 5-10% of people need a laser re-treatment. No surgeon would ever guarantee that the surgery will last forever but for the majority of people this is the case. If you want to know more about these issue you can read my previous blog post titled how long does laser eye surgery last.

So I think you can see from this blog post that the so called long term effects of laser eye surgery are somewhat unfounded. Up until now, there have been no reported long term effects of laser eye surgery and the procedure has been around for over 25 years. Yes there are risks involved with laser eye surgery but these typically manifest during the actual surgery or within the first few months following your treatment. Once your eyes have fully healed it is extremely rare that any complications will arise. You can think of the process as similar to that of a healing wound. Once the healing has taken place and the wound has scarred over, complications will not occur later down the line. It’s the same with laser eye surgery – once your eyes have fully healed then that is the end of it.

Hope this blog post has been helpful and please feel free to leave a comment if there is anything you are still unsure of. Alternatively you could always ask a question in our laser eye surgery forum.

Thanks for reading

Tim

Carrying on from my last blog post, I am going to continue on with the theme of discussing the reasons that put people off having laser eye surgery. When I ask people to give me the reasons that put them off having laser eye surgery, one of the most common responses is ‘ the thought of having it done ’. On questioning them further, I typically get responses like:

• The idea of someone poking around in my eye.
• The thought of needles in my eye.
• The thought of a laser burning my eye. The smell of the eye burning.
• The fact that they think laser eye surgery is painful.
• The thought of someone cutting their eye open.

Well to be honest if any of the above were true, then I think it would be understandable that people would put off having laser eye treatment. At least I certainly wouldn’t want to have it done!

Let’s try and put a few things straight and talk about whether any of the above fears are justifiable.

• Firstly there is no poking around inside your eye and your eye is not opened up as I think some people imagine. A very thin layer is separated from the surface of your eye for a few minutes and then gently replaced back. Your eye is not being cut open or anything anywhere near as drastic as that. The layer that is separated from the surface of your eye is far smaller than a millimetre. Imagine removing an incredibly thin layer of skin from your arm. It’s not the same as actually cutting into and opening up your arm.
• Are there needles involved in the laser eye surgery procedure? Absolutely NOT! Your eyes are numbed using eye drops, which at the very worst sting for about 10-20 seconds. I have had the drops in myself and it’s no worse than getting a little bit of shampoo in your eye whilst having a bath or shower.
• The thought of a laser burning my eye: I have heard people talk about the smell of the eye burning as a reason to put them off laser eye surgery. Well the first thing to mention is that the laser does not burn anything. Contrary to what most people believe the laser beam is actually cold. Occasionally there is a smell resembling burning during surgery, but this is a smell that is given off by the actual laser machine. It is NOT the burning of the surface of your eye. The actual lasering of the eye is completely painless and in fact you won’t even feel it at all. It is just like having a light shone in your eye for a short period of time. The higher your prescription the longer the laser is applied. For every 1 dioptre (this is what eye prescriptions are measured in) the laser is applied for 10 seconds. So if your prescription is  -3.00, then the laser is only applied for 30 seconds!
• The fact that laser eye surgery hurts: The laser eye surgery procedure does not hurt at all. Some people report mild pressure on their eye but that really is it.
• The thought of a blade being used during surgery: I think people envisage their surgeon coming towards their eye with a knife and no wonder they get nervous! Nothing could be further from the truth – You won’t even see a blade. The surgical blade (also called microkeratome) is incorporated into the equipment. As the machine is so close to your eye it will just look like a black blur. You wouldn’t even know a blade was being used if you weren’t told! If the idea of a blade really does put you off, then you should consider Intralase which is a bladeless procedure.

So I think you can see that what people imagine about laser eye surgery is nearly all untrue and the procedure itself is quick, painless and very straight forward. To read about what to expect after laser eye surgery then you can read the guides I have written on Lasik recovery and Lasek recovery. If there is anything you are still not sure about or have any questions you want answering, why not leave a comment on this blog or ask it in our laser eye surgery forum.

Thanks for reading,

Tim

As I promised in my previous post, today I am going to discuss some of the reasons that I regularly hear, that put people off having  laser eye surgery. Having laser eye surgery is not a decision that can be made lightly and people have also sorts of worries and concerns about the procedure. Over the past month or so, I have been asking patients whose eyes I have tested to give me the reasons that would put them off having the procedure.  One of the most common things that kept coming up, was the worry that laser eye surgery does not last forever.

As a result I thought I would use this blog post to address this issue, to see if I could help reassure people in any way. As with all surgical procedures, no one could ever say with a hundred percent certainty that something is going to last forever. The same can be said about laser eye surgery and any surgeon claiming otherwise is simply not telling the truth. However there are certain facts about how long laser eye surgery lasts, that may help you make your decision:

• Only 5-10% of people having laser eye surgery need to have a laser re-enhancement (re-treatment). So that means for every 100 people who have laser eye surgery between 5-10 people need to have it done again. Most clinics will do the retreatment (providing your suitable) for free, if it is within a certain period of time from first having your surgery. You need to check the exact policy regarding this before you agree to have the surgery.
• High prescriptions (over -5.00) are more likely to regress than lower prescriptions.
• Plus prescriptions (eg +4.00) are more likely to need a re-treatment than minus prescriptions.
• The re-treatment rates are the same for both Lasik and Lasek.
• The chances of your prescription returning back to what it was before surgery is almost zero. What typically happens when your eyes regress is that your prescription partially returns. For example if you were -5.00 before surgery, then your eyes may regress to -1.00.

As you can see from this post, having laser eye surgery is not an absolute guarantee that you are going to have perfect vision for the rest of your life. However, the chances of needing a re-treatment are small and in most cases your eyes can be re-lasered, often at no cost to you.

Hope this post has been helpful and please let me know if there is anything you are still unsure of. Either comment on this blog post or ask a question in our laser eye surgery forum,

Until next time