laser eye treatment and photography

marky.b

marky.b

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ive worn glasses most of my life, but on thurs im having eye test at optimax , and if all goes well im having laser treatment on sat morn
anyone on here had it done? and if so how was it when doing photography
with my glasses on i struggle to see the info in the viewfinder, but if i take them off im fine, but then i cant see nothing else LOL
anyway i read that having treatment for distance can cause one to need reading glasses so may still struggle
 
I had my eye's zapped in 2005 (aged 25) and would have to say it is the best thing i have ever done.

There were no real issues, i used Optimax too. Sounds like you are going for the consultation on thursday, make sure that you ask questions no matter how silly they feel.

It was before my real interest in photography so can not comment how it changed using the camera. But i was back driving within 4 days and contact sport in a couple of weeks. Depending on what procedure you get done everything will be sorted a couple of weeks after the treatment.

Good luck.
 
Had mine done in 2008 at the age of 31, as Martyn said it's the best thing I ever did!

I word contact lenses so from a photography perspective there wasn't much difference but the overall resuts were fantastic and my eye sight was better than 20/20, in fact only a week after treatment it was nearly 20/5!!!! (20/10 is what you need for a pilot's license)
 
My wife has just had it done a few weeks ago, her distance vision is perfect but in a few months she got told she will probably still need ot wear glasses for reading.

apperently they can only correct distance vision, hence the need for reading glasses.
My wife used to wear contacts for every day and she was getting to the point of having to use reading glasses so it is not biggy ofr her to still use the reading glasses as she does not have to wear contacts anymore which was the whole point.

her eyes where quite bad though lol. her distance vision is as good as 20/20 now

spike
 
I had refractive surgery in 1998. It definitely wasn't using a laser as I had corneal incisions, so I think it was "radial keratotomy". I used to wear glasses and then contact lenses, and once I decided to go travelling, I thought I could do without carrying / finding all the lens solutions etc.

It's been fantastic, right from day 1, although I think it really depends on how well I've slept etc. Today is almost spot on with vision, but some days it's a bit off or less in terms of sharpness. They also said when I was older I would need glasses for reading. I am coming up to 40 and yet still to need glasses, although, I do have a pair in the car for emergencies. Things like flying through the night, arriving back in the UK and then driving home in the dark...I might put on my glasses as my eyes are very tired. I also 'sometimes' wear contacts for golf or watching football at a proper stadium if I was behind 1 goal looking at the other end of the pitch, but these occasions are few and far between.

I do still wonder why I haven't heard or seen of any opticians that have had the procedure though!

My eyesight is great for close up or for distance, so it's fantastic for photography. I hope this helps you a bit?
 
my eyes were really bad, worse than -8, and my eyesight was corrected with laser to bring them up to -1 and afterwards I didn't need correction at all. But I also have astigmatism and within 5 years I needed glasses for driving. Now I'm over 40 and I need them for driving only, except some days when my eyes misbehave and I need them to recognise people in open places. Best thing I ever did. (my eyes are -3 now, over 10 years since having it done)
 
thanks for the replys
im 46 now, ive always needed glasses for driving and everyday use
although never for reading.
ive not had an eye test for about 9 yrs. yes i know i should have had one
but last yr i had my medical to renew my psv licence and i passed the eye test with existing glasses,
looking at my last test results of 2004 i was - 1.00 and -1.50 so i dont think thats too bad
 
I think that if you are -2 or better then laser correction would be a waste of money - only because I don't think it's needed. yes it will work, but -2 is not that bad. As you age your vision should correct itself (get more long sighted) anyway. At least they tell me it happens, I'm 46 and still waiting. I 'think' reading glasses are a result of becoming long sighted. Perhaps you should go to a high street optician first to get an idea, they can also advise you about getting laser correction. Make sure you mention that you do photography :)
 
I'm 58, and I've been using reading glasses since I turned 50. I can manage without them, but it's a lot easier with them! The last time my eyes were tested, the optometrist said that my distance vision was getting close to the point where I'd have to think about glasses/contact lenses. I don't like this idea - it'll be a nuisance - and I'll probably think about laser correction when I get there.
 
Hi

I had it done 3 years ago and but I had big problems, after 3 weeks I got up in the morning only to be so light sensitive that I could not bare to have my eyes open, (TLSS) Transient Light Sensitivity Syndrome It lasted for 6 months, and I had to go to London 3 times.

I would really think hard befor I did it again, l am lucky that I have people work for me, but say I was lorry driver I would be without a job as I could not drive,
you could say I was unlucky but i think there is a 3% chance it could happen to you, I would suggest doing some research on Transient Light Sensitivity Syndrome, and then make your own mind up


Peter............
 
you can also get permanent blurring and night blindness. Peter's the 1st one I've heard of with any problems and I've met lots more success stories, but it does pay to be aware of potential problems. good call Peter
 
Eyes normally get less short sighted from about 35 onwards. I was -3.25L -2.5R at that age and have noticed that every few years I loose 0.25 and I'm now on -2.5L -2.0R 10 years later.

One benefit from short sight is that you can take off glasses to read closer once the eye muscles start to pack up (usually about from 50 onwards).
 
marky.b said:
thanks for the replys
im 46 now, ive always needed glasses for driving and everyday use
although never for reading.
ive not had an eye test for about 9 yrs. yes i know i should have had one
but last yr i had my medical to renew my psv licence and i passed the eye test with existing glasses,
looking at my last test results of 2004 i was - 1.00 and -1.50 so i dont think thats too bad
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Marky
46 is just at the age the eyes will start to deteriorate and it's likely that you will require glasses for reading as the eyes get older. A fact of life. THat cannot be corrected with laser treatment.

I was -5 and -6 in both eyes and after surgery 11 years ago I had better than 20:20 vision. Still today I have 20:20 vision. I think I paid £1800 for it back then.

Been amazing but I've been told that over the next few years I can expect to see my eyes deteriorate and will eventually need glasses for reading.

You've left it late at 46 (I'm 43) but you can still enjoy it.

:thumbs:
 
I have looked at the laser surgery as i'm -4.0 in both eyes, but the thought of problems and possible loss of sight are enough for me to stick with the contacts for the time being.

I'm not sure I would ever have both eyes done at the same time, I think I would have 6 month gap between. Better to lose one than both.

Having worked with lasers for 10 years they do have issues.
 
tris101 said:
I have looked at the laser surgery as i'm -4.0 in both eyes, but the thought of problems and possible loss of sight are enough for me to stick with the contacts for the time being.

I'm not sure I would ever have both eyes done at the same time, I think I would have 6 month gap between. Better to lose one than both.

Having worked with lasers for 10 years they do have issues.
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I looked at the risks and they are very low. Many problems (not all) are down to people not following the post op routine correctly.

I hesitated for a minute after smelling my eye burning as to whether to get the second eye done but thank goodness both were done at the same time. Had I gone away I'm not sure I'd have wanted to go back although the results were spectacular.

Yes there are risks - but you prbably have as much chance of being knocked over by a car crossing the road!
 
I'd not get it done. don't care that I wear glasses and it does not intrude on my lifestyle. if anything went wrong you'd be ****ed so I'm not going to take even the smallest risk with my eyes. you can get problems later on when you are older too
 
POAH said:
I'd not get it done. don't care that I wear glasses and it does not intrude on my lifestyle. if anything went wrong you'd be ****ed so I'm not going to take even the smallest risk with my eyes. you can get problems later on when you are older too
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20 years without glasses or any problems...

Like anything else you need to be careful where you get the work done. It amazes me that people choose where they get it done based on price.

The only reason I had it done was the person doing it was the top eye surgeon in the country, I can't believe people go to places like Boots to get it done....:cuckoo:
 
I had mine done just over a year ago, and thankfully no problems. My mate had the same procedure and has had issues, this happens mainly with night driving.

I believe the cause was due to what his company told him, as when we discussed aftercare, he said he was told only to put the eye drops in when his eyes were tired, i was told 2-3 times daily to start with.

Don't dismiss the specialist places, i went to the Focus Group on Wimpole street in London, the next street is Harley street, so not the cheap area. Focus charged me the same as Optical express (would you trust an eye company that has express in the name?) Focus picked up a condition that most contact lens wearers get and wouldn't operate for a month, as doing before would have not alloowed my eyes to heal correctly and get the best sight, Optical express said they could do it in a few days.
 
POAH said:
I'd not get it done. don't care that I wear glasses and it does not intrude on my lifestyle. if anything went wrong you'd be ****ed so I'm not going to take even the smallest risk with my eyes. you can get problems later on when you are older too
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I find there are actually advantages to wearing glasses. I cycle a lot and they actually help keep bugs/gnats etc out of my eyes and I reckon they actually saved my sight once when a small stone loudly clacked against the lens when I was in the car at speed with the window down - a small dent in the polycarbonate lens indicated it would have hit my eye without glasses.

Not overly worried about not easily seeing the in-viewfinder display on my camera as I don't think I have ever adjusted settings using that display anyway - I prefer using the LCD display on the top panel of the camera.
 
Best thing ive ever had done :thumbs:

No more squinting and looking cock eyed trying to focus on something. Be sure to have some pain killers in your house and also i'd definitely recomend some sunglass's to wear around the house for a few days after. My eyes were extremely sensitive to light the first few days- extremely sensitive, like ouch my eyes are streaming and there barely opened :help: I recall receiving a text message and doing the normal thing of reading the message- probably would have been o.k except it was pitch black nightime and the screen was :cool: BRIGHT !

Dont let this put you off though. Its still the best thing ive ever had done - life changing ;)

Coley

One more thing. People told me i'd need atleast a week off work to recover. Me being stubborn and probably a bit ignorant thought i'd be back after a few days- it knocked 7 bales out of me so i'd say a week is probably bare minimum.
 
boliston said:
I find there are actually advantages to wearing glasses.
Click to expand...

Having your eyes lasered doesn't stop you wearing glasses if you don't want to :)
 
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