epi-lasek eye surgery

[valentin]

Hi guys,

I new to this forum, and I actually landed here because of a google-ing for epi-lasek. There aren't many resources on the net for this (new) eye surgery procedure, at least compared with Lasik (I could find tons of diaries for Lasik pacients, but none, well except a topic "Wish me luck!" in this forum), so I was wondering if anyone else has made this step.

I've checked out the optimax site, which seems to be very well made, but I am uncertain as to what the results of this procedure are, regarding well-known complications (especially night-driving affecting complications - like halos, glare, ghosting).

I would like to see the opinion of people that have done this, they "recovery", etc. so that I can make an opinion of my own about this procedure.

Thanks a lot!

[SMHarman]

I don't think we have any post op people on here, just a few discussions about eye surgery of late.

Originally Posted by valentin

Hi guys,

I new to this forum, and I actually landed here because of a google-ing for epi-lasek. There aren't many resources on the net for this (new) eye surgery procedure, at least compared with Lasik (I could find tons of diaries for Lasik pacients, but none, well except a topic "Wish me luck!" in this forum), so I was wondering if anyone else has made this step.

I've checked out the optimax site, which seems to be very well made, but I am uncertain as to what the results of this procedure are, regarding well-known complications (especially night-driving affecting complications - like halos, glare, ghosting).

I would like to see the opinion of people that have done this, they "recovery", etc. so that I can make an opinion of my own about this procedure.

Thanks a lot!

Hello Valentin While i'm not a post-op patient so have no 'real' opinion on it's efficacy or possible complications as a result of first hand experience..... i can and have found information/medical literature on the procedure and it's success rates etc and could forward them on to you.
The real issues are.... why you're having the procedure in the first place? i.e. what is the problem that is being corrected (this would seem to affect the clinical outcome), who decided that you should have Lasek and not Lasik? Do you have a choice in your course of treatment? (sounds like you do) What country are you having the treatment in?

There are other questions that are relevant..... but PM me if you'd like further information. Please bear in mind that any information i'd be able to give you is taken from medical databases and not from the patients' perspective

Up to you

[Neil]

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/se...earchid=299673

[Xaccers]

I'm post op
Very pleased with my results.
I was about -2.5 in both eyes with an astygmatism in one too.
Night vision is better than with glasses!
No grubby finger prints or dust in front of your eyes
Of course everyone is different, and there's more chance of night vision/haze problems the higher your prescription, so if you're on the border (about -4 I think) then LASIK (slice and flap) might be a better option)

You'll need about 5 days to recover with someone to do everything for you for the first few days, don't try opening your eyes until they are ready ok?

They lay you back and put a small metal ring on your cornea, then pour in alcohol.
This lifts off the epithelum which they move aside.
Then they zap your eyes.
Then they move the epithelum back and patch one eye and put a clear shield over the other.
They may give you bandage contacts but that increases the risk of infection of course so most surgeons don't.
Make sure you have plenty of toilet paper at home and a large bag/bin to hand!
About 4 hours after the operation, the anethetic drops wear off and my eyes started to feel hot/burning.
My nose ran. God did my nose run!
Your eyelids will glue up (this is good) and fill with tears to keep the lids off the cornea.
You'll look like someone's punched you in the eyes actually
When the pain starts, take the sleeping pills and sleep, don't try and fight it ok?
In the morning, there was no pain at all.
A few days after the operation I could open my eyes (don't rush this) and see although it was a bit hazy.
I was driving by the 4th day.
Make sure you go to all your follow up appoinments too!

My dad did no research and went for LASIK through BUPA and it cost him over £2000!
The dissadvantages of LASIK are that with the flap, there's the risk of infection getting in, with epi-lasek any infection would be on the surface and easier to treat.
Also, if dad ever had a blow to the eyes, the flap could pop off leaving him visually impared.
That's why things like the police force don't accept LASIK treated people.

[valentin]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

I don't think we have any post op people on here, just a few discussions about eye surgery of late.

You do have some, cuz that's how I found you on google.
I am having a mild myopia case with left -2.25D and right -2.75D diopters, with a combined -2.5D, probably with a small asigmatism (some doctors say I have some, others say I really don't ), but this is enough to make me unable to drive, watch TV, go to cinema without glasses or contacts.

I've been hearing a lot of this lasering stuff lately, the wonder cure, but as I find it, much of it is purely commercial. When I first started reading about Lasik, I thought it to be the safest thing in the world. However, I soon managed to find the "unhappy customer" sites, which gravely depict what happens if this goes wrong. Basically all people that had complications after lasik were not able to solve their problems, and for many of them it ment even loss of their formal visual acuity, as long with some microns of corneea layer.

I am fully documented (from what I was able to scrap of the net) in what each procedure is about, and some of the risks that are involved. But I always want to hear also the pacients that "went wrong" to see if they were actually helped somehow. I do not live in UK, but in Romania, which is pretty far away, so if I decide to go for it, I need it to be a one-time trip for me .

Xaccers, could you please share with me some minor details of your pre-op status, like how large your pupils were (I haven't got mine measured yet, but they are pretty large compared with other people's!, even in the light), and how thick your corneea was before / after ?

Marina, can you please supply me with some statistical data about Intacs (sometimes also called Intacts) that you might have? They seem a much better option than any laser surgery, since it's somewhat a reversible process ... I haven't been able to find almost any on the net, but it seems that they got FDA approval in 2003 (US Food and Drug Administration = it's kinna safe), and the tech's been around since 1999, however not many are doing it. Maybe because everyone just wants to make good money off lasik's back?

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by valentin

You do have some, cuz that's how I found you on google.
I am having a mild myopia case with left -2.25D and right -2.75D diopters, with a combined -2.5D, probably with a small asigmatism (some doctors say I have some, others say I really don't ), but this is enough to make me unable to drive, watch TV, go to cinema without glasses or contacts.<snip>

Like Xaccers, I stand corrected.

Originally Posted by valentin

I am fully documented (from what I was able to scrap of the net) in what each procedure is about, and some of the risks that are involved. But I always want to hear also the pacients that "went wrong" to see if they were actually helped somehow. I do not live in UK, but in Romania, which is pretty far away, so if I decide to go for it, I need it to be a one-time trip for me . <snipped here and there or should that be eximated>

One thing that Xaccers said, and that is often noted on some of the US discussion sites is that aftercare and follow up is important, really this should not be a one time trip for you, but you need to budget for 2-3 return follow up trips, also if any problems do arise, that could be many more trips. With the slow FDA approval process, many US Citizens went to Canada for LASIK (Wavefront was approved there about 3 years before the US) and when they had problems found this very expensive with lots of unbudgeted returns to Canada to see their consultant.

[valentin]

Well what I ment was more of a figure of speech

[Xaccers]

Valentin, no idea what my figures are, best bet is when you go for your consultation, ask the surgeon, he will be able to give you an idea of what the outcome is likely to be if you have large pupils.

A colleague who had really bad eyesight chose not to go through with it because of his large pupils. He was looking into implanted contacts due to his high prescription.

The main reason for going to all of your post op appointments is that if you don't, then you are not following their instructions and they "could" try and claim any future complications were due to this.

How old are you?
At about 45 you'll need to wear reading glasses, but a lot of people at that age need them.
Both my parents use reading glasses so I wasn't too worried.

[valentin]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

The main reason for going to all of your post op appointments is that if you don't, then you are not following their instructions and they "could" try and claim any future complications were due to this.

How old are you?
At about 45 you'll need to wear reading glasses, but a lot of people at that age need them.
Both my parents use reading glasses so I wasn't too worried.

I am 21 and a half right now, but anyway I plan to do this later (if ever!). I know about the reading glasses after 40-50 years old, so that's why I am thinking about alternative solutions, like monovision, or intacs, the latter seeming to be at advantage. It seems that if you have a mild myopia, as you get older, this compensates with pres...ria (or whatever that disease which appears at 40 yrs old is called) giving you the possiblity of seeing both near and far without glasses.

In plus, living far away from UK, US or any other high-tech western country, I simply do not trust our little un-experimentated-incredibly-greedy doctors here to do anything right so I like to be very well documented before I proceed with anything. After reading about stuff on http://www.lasermyeye.org or http://www.lasiksucks4u.com/ and even your own English clinics that gaved up on this procedure: http://www.lcrs.co.uk/menu/Lasereyesurgery ! and they seem very serious about it ...

[SMHarman]

www.surgicaleyes.org is a good resource for horror stories.

[SMHarman]

Interesting development on this in the news today (or NHS money saver).

Originally Posted by Safety fears stop laser eye op

Jonathon Carr-Brown, Health Correspondent

THE government’s clinical watchdog is blocking laser eye surgery on the National Health Service because of concerns over its long-term safety for patients.

A year-long review by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has concluded that “current evidence� on the treatment’s safety does not justify its widespread use in the NHS.

The decision will add to the controversy over the surgery, which has grown on the back of celebrity endorsement by stars such as Nicole Kidman.

Lured by the promise of “freedom� from wearing glasses and contact lenses, at least 100,000 people a year in Britain are now paying between £2,000 and £3,000 for “cosmetic� eye surgery to correct myopia.

Chains such as Boots, which sold its eye surgery business to Optical Express, used to claim “there are no known long-term side effects or complications� from the popular Lasik treatment. Another company, Ultralase, boasts a 98% success rate.

However, a draft of a Nice report, to be published on December 15, has concluded: “There are concerns about the procedure’s safety in the long term and current evidence does not appear adequate to support its use without special arrangement for consent (from the NHS).�

While the report concedes there is evidence laser surgery can help people with mild or moderate myopia, there is no clear evidence backing the safety claims made by many companies.

Nice points out myopia can be corrected safely with spectacles or contact lens. Therefore, “an alternative treatment must have excellent safety to be suitable for use�.

The Medical Defence Union, Britain’s largest insurer for doctors, has reported a doubling in the number of claims against clinics offering laser eye surgery since 1998. There is also evidence that many clinics have made overblown claims leading to exaggerated expectations and disappointment.

Last year the American Journal of Ophthalmology said the failure rate for eye surgery was one in 10, not the one in 1,000 figure widely advertised.

Which?, formerly known as the Consumers’ Association, has warned that people having surgery are “gambling with their sight�. It found that some clinics do not highlight possible side effects until after patients are signed up for treatment.

Boots was censured last year by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for giving the impression that anyone having Lasik treatment would no longer require glasses or contact lenses and that complications with the operation had only arisen in America.

One potential complication, corneal ectasia, can lead to patients having to undergo a corneal transplant. According to Nice, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the US Food and Drug Administration have identified more than 20 other possible complications.

The surgery uses a laser to cut a piece out of the cornea, the transparent protective covering over the eye’s lens. This procedure can correct a mis-shapen lens, which would otherwise require glasses or contact lenses. The operation, which is irreversible, takes 30 minutes.

Among those concerned about its safety is Rebecca Petris, who set up the patient pressure group Lasermyeye when she suffered complications after Lasik surgery. She came out of surgery with severe double vision and no night vision. She can no longer drive.

Petris said she hoped the report would alert the public to the difference between the claims made by clinics and the concerns of the medical profession. She stressed her organisation was not against the surgery but wanted to see higher standards.

Professor Bruce Campbell, chairman of Nice’s interventional procedures advisory committee, said: “This is a problem that can easily be corrected by spectacles or contact lenses, so any risk of damage to the eye by Lasik is a real concern.

“Although many people have had Lasik treatment there is very little information about how many are harmed as a result.

“We know that vision gets worse in a few people after Lasik. Eye specialists are also concerned about the effects of thinning the cornea of the eye in the long term. We need to know more about these potential problems.�

A spokesman for Ultralase, one of the first companies in the UK to offer laser eye surgery, said: “We believe this treatment is extremely safe.�

The company disputes many of Nice’s figures and claims that since 1991 there have not been any longer-term side effects from the surgery among its patients.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFr...389350,00.html

There is a second similar article here.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFr...390686,00.html

[lasiksucks4u]

As a lasik casualty, i've experienced first hand the disastrous results from this procedure. given that i was not a candidate to begin with, i can only suggest that you take as much time as needed to weigh all options before you decide to have lasik done. DO NOT RUSH to make a decision, and by all means, even a 2nd or 3rd opinion if possible. Also, even though the technology is more advanced than in 1998 when i was done, it still does not not matter. The doctor, the laser, and most importantly whether or not you are a candidate are the key elements in deciding...

www.lasiksucks4u.com

[Jefferson T]

As some will know after reading my blog - I recently found out I have to have laser surgery on my eyes.

And each time I read a 'horror' story about it - it puts me off just that little bit more

I don't know what to do to be honest - I just don't like the idea of ANYONE going near my eyes with lasers.

[allieyoung666]

We deal with lasik and I do not know of any problems that have occoured with this treatment. What even eavsive treatment is done there is always a risk, but good luck with it!