Laser Eye Surgery Blog

With the increasing availablity – and the competition-driven lowering in price – of Laser Eye Surgery, it is understandable that people will be more and more persuaded by the idea of having the treatment. However, the truth of the matter is that LASIK and other forms of Laser Eye Surgery are not for everyone. While most – the vast majority of – clinics will be diligent in ensuring that you are a suitable candidate, another effect of competition is that some clinics will do whatever is necessary to get the customer and, while this will not generally extend to acting illegally, it can mean a lower quality of care for you.

Before going for any kind of elective surgery, it is important to consult your family doctor. This may seem like a pain. After all, if you have public healthcare, you may expect that the doctor will take a dim view of people going private for surgery that they may deem unnecessary. While it is true that some doctors will be cynical about a patient going for treatment that they do not consider to be essential, most will not. They will simply look to offer advice that will ensure that any elective treatment is carried out in such a way as to ensure a positive result for you. [Read the rest of this entry...]

With any kind of elective medical treatment, there will be one consideration that everyone must pause to think about. This consideration is cost. If you live somewhere with public healthcare, then there will be options for free treatment, but if you want to have surgery that outstrips those options in terms of efficiency and benefits, you will have to pay. LASIK eye surgery falls into this category. You can go public and get glasses or contact lenses, but surgery is strictly a private option.

Therefore, it is important to consider the cost of LASIK surgery. It is fairly common to see advertisements on television and in the daily press offering treatment from £395 per eye. If your problems are confined to one eye, this may seem like a very reasonable price, but it does seem that the operative word in that last sentence is “from”. While it is possible that people will get the treatment they require at that price, it is the least you will pay, and the chances are it will be upwards of £1,000, and possibly of £2,000 or more. [Read the rest of this entry...]

One attractive aspect of having LASIK laser eye surgery, for a number of people, is the idea of being able to do away with needing glasses or contact lenses in the future. Although wearing glasses is something that does not bother many (perhaps most) people, for a lot of others it is annoying. Either they don’t like the way they look with glasses on, or they are sick and tired of losing or breaking pairs of glasses or contacts. For a lot of people, the taunts – usually silly playground barbs – that they remember from their first pair of glasses can continue to hurt.

So, if you are suddenly offered the opportunity to cast off the need for adornments to help you see, it is understandable to take the opportunity with enthusiasm. Often, companies will sell LASIK by suggesting or openly stating that you will be able to throw away your glasses for the foreseeable future. Indeed, it is often implied that this will be a permanent solution to your vision problems. However, this is not wholly true. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Although LASIK surgery is a procedure with many benefits and a great number of satisfied customers, the unfortunate truth is that it is not right for everyone, and for some people it is unavailable and/or impossible. While this may not apply to you, it is important to be aware in advance of what your situation is as regards the treatment, and the potential drawbacks which might disbar you from having the treatment.

The first, and most simple, thing which may prevent you from having LASIK eye surgery is age. Unless you are over eighteen years of age, you will be strongly and correctly advised against having it. Your eyes and your vision change considerably during childhood and adolescence, and any surgery you may have during that time may well be less positively effective. [Read the rest of this entry...]

With any kind of surgery, or even non-surgical medical treatment, it is not at all uncommon to suffer side effects. This truth is enough to put some people off having medical procedures. Others, understanding fully that side effects are a part of the medical landscape, balance the potential side effects against the benefits and consider that, although things might not be absolutely as they would like in the immediate aftermath, they will certainly be better than they might have been without the treatment.

It is undeniable that LASIK treatment, although a highly popular way to improve the performance of your eyes, has some side effects of its own. While this is a fact, there are still many people who see it as their best bet for a future free of compromised eyesight. Setting the negative side-effects against the positive effects, one must make a decision on whether they are prepared to accept the negative. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Although it is unfair to generalise, there is a perception that people in their teenage years are reluctant to wear glasses because of the possible reaction of their peers. In some cases this is certainly true – and not just true of teenagers, either, as interaction with many adults will demonstrate. This may well lead to situations where teenagers with sight problems, mindful of the potential mocking behaviour of their friends and others, will resist efforts to encourage them to get and wear glasses. Furthermore, they may ask why they can’t have Laser Eye Surgery to fix the problem.

There is an answer to this question. It is true that teenagers are advised they should not have Laser Eye Surgery, and with very good reason. Although it may be desirable to have treatment which negates the need for external aids, a teenager will not find that the cure to their vision problems lies with surgery except in specific and rare circumstances. Most vision problems are a result of the cornea of the eye – which happens to be constantly changing in shape during our teens and even into our early twenties. There may be clinics which are willing to operate on teenagers – but they should be avoided. [Read the rest of this entry...]

There is a lot said about laser eye surgery. In common with many of the “newer” forms of surgery or medical procedures, a lot of it is less than 100% true, and some of it is absolutely untrue. Some of it is scaremongering and some is down to excessive “pushing” of the medium. Laser eye surgery is neither as risky as some would have you believe, nor as certain a cure for eye problems as others claim. Here are some of the myths, and the truth about the statements. [Read the rest of this entry...]

For people considering Laser Eye Surgery, there is no doubt that the medium itself is somewhat controversial. Some people simply refuse to countenance the idea of having a laser beam anywhere near their eye – which is understandable – while others wonder about the long-term effectiveness, and still others have questions to ask about which kind of Laser Eye Surgery they should have. There are, after all, numerous different types of surgery you can have. Which type of Laser Eye Surgery you should have depends very much on yourself. Both LASIK and LASEK have their advantages and their disadvantages, and it is important to consider these before having the surgery.

While LASIK surgery is, without a doubt, the more popular of the two methods, it is not the right method for everyone. It will depend very much on the make-up of your eye (no, not mascara – the physical composition of the organ). For some people, they will find after the initial consultation that there is not enough corneal tissue to make the LASIK procedure viable. That being the case, they will need to make the trade-off between the more immediately painful LASEK surgery and its benefits of greater versatility – and, for that matter, less haze in the immediate aftermath of the surgery. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Ask a hundred people if they would consider having laser eye surgery to correct vision problems, and there’s a pretty good chance that twenty-five or more would say “I don’t know – I don’t like the idea of a laser pointing at my eye.” To be fair, it is easy to see their point. We’re used to seeing lasers in films, after all, and their use on the big screen is almost invariably destructive. Although it may not be a hundred per cent rational – health and safety have to be observed, and laser eye surgery passes those tests – a fear of the concept is natural.

Of course, science has managed to stay almost entirely out of the hands of rogue madmen, and the power of laser beams has been harnessed for positive reasons, rather than enslaving the human race. And it does what it does very effectively. For the most part, people who undergo laser eye surgery come out with their vision problems corrected and their supposed “gamble” a winning endeavour. Undoubtedly there are some for whom it fails to pass muster – but this is almost entirely due to the fact that, for one reason or another, they were unsuitable candidates for the treatment. [Read the rest of this entry...]

While side effects are a necessary and accepted part of any surgical procedure, and most patients are completely prepared for the risk of short-term problems as a result of their surgery, it is important to be aware of the difference between a side effect and a complication. Laser Eye Surgery is no exception to this rule, and in the aftermath of LASIK surgery it is important to pay close attention to the condition of your eyes. While some downside is expected in the immediate aftermath, persistent problems need to be referred to a doctor.

One potential complication that occurs after LASIK surgery for a minority of patients is Severe Dry Eye Syndrome. While the procedure is considered to be among the safest surgical operations you can undergo, everyone’s eyes are different. What appears to be the correct treatment may not have the desired effect, and some LASIK operations have the unexpected effect of preventing the tear ducts from producing the necessary amount of moisture to keep the eyes protected from dust and impurities. Some dryness is expected for a few days afterwards, but if it is persistent then you will need to consult a physician. [Read the rest of this entry...]