Hello to all,
Firstly I would like to begin by saying how sorry I am to read all of your stories, many of you are in a living hell as a result of Laser Eye Surgery.
I too have had Lasik and am suffering similarly to many of you. As with most of you I feel it was an extremely bad decision based on half truths from Optical Express as well as failure to explain the proper risks as well as the almost inevitable outcomes.
Unfortunately, one only explores in great depth these symptoms once faced with them as I'm sure is the case with many. You have no reason to not believe what OE are telling you they make it out to be as simple as getting a new pair of glasses. Well, now we all know better and any new readers please take note of the stories on this site.
I would like to provide some information here:
I appreciate these are clinical studies and contain a degree of medical terminology, I would ask that you specifically read the purpose of the study, the results and conclusions sections if nothing else.
Please judge for yourself as to which ones provide conclusive findings.
First Study:
patiencepositivehappy.blogspot.co.uk/201...anell-burch-phd.html
FDA Hearing Presentation of Lauranell H. Birch, Ph.D.
Second Study:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16209440
Cohesive tensile strength of human Lasik wounds with histologic ultrastructural and clinical correlations.
Emory Eye Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
I specifically challenged Optical Express' Clinical Services Director on this point and his response was to dismiss this study as it was not carried out on a large enough test group.
25 human eye bank corneas from 13 donors were used and then a retrospective study was done on 144 eyes that had Lasik flap-lift re treatments, providing clinical correlation.
I then asked for Clinical Studies that Optical Express have carried out to refute these findings and was supplied with the following study:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16814069
Stability of the laser in situ keratomileusis corneal flap in rabbit eyes
John M. Laurent, OD, PhD, Steven C. Schallhorn, MD, Jennifer R. Spigelmire, David J. Tanzer, M
That's right folks, Optical Express have provided me with a study carried out on
RABBITS!
To refute the findings of one of the most highly regarded research centres in the world please note that this study states this SHOULD CORRELATE TO THE HUMAN EYE.
Bear in mind OE would like me to have an enhancement to my already problematic eyes and provided this as reassurance.
I am unable to find any clinical studies with conclusive findings to refute the findings of the Emory Eye Centre.
Anyone considering any kind of Laser Eye surgery please think very carefully. My advice as someone that has had Lasik using the most up to date technology with a well regarded surgeon is PLEASE DO NOT HAVE LASER EYE SURGERY. Especially not with Optical Express as their after care is abysmal.
The reality of the complication figures they provide is wholly inaccurate and to put it into context I was told by OE Clinical Services Director that around 1% of patients have permanent complications.
I probed further and asked how many patients they treated and the answer was 150,000. That means that around 1500 people in the UK alone have permanent adverse effects. This is just from OE.
Any way you look at it those are not good odds.
Please be aware that what they do not tell you is that there is a very real risk of permanent dry eye which could mean the requirement of eye drops daily for the rest of your life. Dependant on age I would estimate that cost to be around £260 a year. Let’s say you need eye drops for 30 years that would be £7800 which I suspect is more than most people will ever pay for the surgery in the first place.
Laser Surgery can permanently damage the nerves that enable the eye to produce tears. Fact.
The figure I provide is based on one bottle per week at a cost of £5. Looking at some stories I believe that to be an extremely conservative figure in terms of use. Also consider that if one were to require something similar to Hyco San eye drops the figure would be double that - £15,600.
There is also a very real risk of permanent and debilitating night vision problems such as halos and starbursts that mean you could never drive at night again. If you have large pupils you are extremely susceptible to this.
Strange then that their Custom Vue Wavefront treatment actually claims to be very good at resolving this issue in their own literature. False advertising I would think. I had this wonder treatment and previously never suffered with any night vision problems. Well I certainly do now.
The figures provided are also absolutely false as I can tell you that you are asked to fill out online questionnaires based on your treatment as such. The moment I made it clear I was unhappy with my vision and care I was never asked to do one again.
It is worth noting that many of the people that pushed for Laser Eye Surgery to become available to the public are heavily affiliated with Optical Express. It is after all a lucrative money making scheme.
I will update this with my specific story when I have more detail to provide.
Please do not lose hope!
Mr. X