Refractive Lens Surgery

[Dillinger]

Refractive lens exchange, rather. Or lens replacement surgery , which is cataract surgery really.

Anyone had it done?

Been thinking about it after being told I'm too old for Lasik

[Iceman123]

Refractive lens exchange, rather. Or lens replacement surgery , which is cataract surgery really.

Anyone had it done?

Been thinking about it after being told I'm too old for Lasik

I cannot understand how you are too old - My brother recently had laser surgery at 54 yo

I had lens replacement surgery done in September 2019.

I needed glasses for reading and distance glasses for driving.

Lasik would have given me a good compromise - I tried contact lenses for one week to emulate what the results of laser surgery would give me. Wasn' t quite good enough so I opted for Lens replacement surgery.

The operation was done one eye at a time one day apart - Painless was out for approx 30 mins. Used eye drops for one month.

Results have been way above my expectations - Eyesight now back to 20/20 tested one month after op. Slight haloing effect from far away lights at night, but normal, nothing to worry about.

Had the op done at Adelaide Eye and Laser Centre - Very professional, extensive testing on all aspects of your eye health prior to surgery.

Cost was A$8,000 - well spent imo.

I was very concerned about having my eyes operated on however it is a standard op and very little can go wrong - very glad I did it.

I was disappointed after the operation when I looked at the wife - I could have swore she was better looking!

[cyrille]

Another bungee jump should sort it.

[panama hat]

I was disappointed after the operation when I looked at the wife - I could have swore she was better looking!

She doesn't read your posts . . or this would have been your last one

Anyone had it done?

Yup, here in MY - brilliant - never looked back. (PI)

https://www.vista.com.my/pages/locations/pj-the-curve/

[Headworx]

I had cataract surgery / lens replacement done and the difference is something quite hard to put into words. I guess you don't really notice your eyesight degrading as it's a gradual process, but after the op (both eyes done one after the other) I could see the world in ultra hi-def again instead of it being grainy with not much colour. But I didn't realize just how shit my eyes really were till getting them fixed.

Had the op at Bumrungrad but Rutnin was the other option which was researched, cost something like 60 or 70k per eye a few years back. Totally painless as Iceman mentions above, I believe the anesthetic drops they put in your eyes are liquid Cocaine but they wouldn't put any on my tongue to know for sure despite requests...

[Pragmatic]

Been thinking about it after being told I'm too old for Lasik

LASIK is FDA-approved for anyone aged 18 and older. This is the only hard and fast rule when it comes to an age limit for this procedure, but since adult vision is typically at its healthiest from age 19 to 40, anyone within this range is a great candidate.

I had Lasik done about 17 years ago aged 50. Never a problem.

[panama hat]

It's really an eye-opener!

(thank you, ladies and gentlemen . . . I'm here every Tuesday and Thursday)

[Latindancer]

Dill, Unless you have cataracts, I think lens replacement at your age would be unwise.

extensive testing on all aspects of your eye health prior to surgery.

He's a smoker....that stuffs up circulation a bit and makes some doctors a bit leery about certain ops.

Solution : give up smoking for a while and then have it done. Then for some time afterwards. When you have cravings, promise yourself that you will take it up again, then renege on your promise.

[David48atTD]

Dill, you and I might be about the same vintage and I've only just started considering this seriously last year.

What made you evaluate yourself as ineligible for Lasik, or was it a professional opinion?

LASIK or Lasik, commonly referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism.

So, to add to Dill's question ... who/where/how much for Lasik in Thailand or SE Asia?

[katie23]

@d48 - a colleague of mine had it last year at Shinagawa eye clinic. (Shinagawa dot ph, Japanese owned) They have lots of ads here & quite popular as many celebrities endorse them. The cost for my colleague was 70-80k pesos total, for both eyes. He's in his late 20s. Feedback was good - posted it with a thumbs up on FB. We kidded him that he could now be an endorser, lol. His eyes were at +6.0 or +7.0 before.

I know of another person who had lasik surgery, cost was ~150k pesos total. It was more costly than the usual 70k since he had other eye problems. I saw him wear sunglasses & laboratory goggles for 1 or 2 months after the operation, but now he's fine. Good feedback too. Guy is in his early 20s.

Btw ~51 pesos = 1 USD

(I've no plan for lasik since my eyesight is still OK)

[Attilla the Hen]

Had lens replacement surgery five years ago. Best money I've ever spent. Eyesight now at 62 the same as when I was a teenager.

[Dillinger]

Cheers for all the replies.

Been humming and harring about it for a week now.

Here in Malaysia the place I've heard great things about, the price is 9999myr per eye which is twice the price of Lasik there.Then its another 1999 per eye to have the lenses lasered instead of them using blade, which they said doesn't always cut a perfect circle like the laser.
I was thinking they may be trying it on at first, seeing as they haven't even checked my eyes yet.
So thats about 180,000 baht or 8700 AUD
I had the consultation now need to go there for 3 hours of tests.

The other reason they said it would be no good for me is because I'm long sighted, +3.50 in both eyes and after age 48 they don't recommend Lasik.

My eyes have been awful for ages now though. I wouldn't recognise someone without glasses on and must just walk straight past people I know sometimes without knowing, plus I need them for everything now, reading, driving, squinting at food jar labels, walking around.

So I've heard more great reports on here to add to others I've seen and will see you fuckos when I get my new eyes.... hopefully.

The one thing that was putting me off is that its not FDA approved but is legal and there can be problems in surgery but thats a slim chance and most can be rectified through further surgery.

The other thing in its favour though is you will never get cataracts afterwards and they will last the rest of my life.

So yeah gonna get it done now, thanks

Will let you know how it goes.

[Neverna]

I admire your quick decision making, Dill.



And good luck with the op.

[Headworx]

My eyes have been awful for ages now though. I wouldn't recognise someone without glasses on and must just walk straight past people I know sometimes without knowing,

This may explain why you think you're in great shape and are going hard on the bread/gelato

The other thing in its favour though is you will never get cataracts afterwards and they will last the rest of my life.

There's actually a good chance you will get cataracts again afterwards but it's no prob, they just zap them out with a laser and you're out the door with no chance of them coming back after that.

[David48atTD]

... and after age 48 they don't recommend Lasik.

...

Well then ... I'll be A OK ... David48

I just need glasses for reading ... everything else is fine.

[Iceman123]

Well then ... I'll be A OK ... David48

I just need glasses for reading ... everything else is fine.

You may be surprised and find your distance has deteriorated slowly without you realising.

If I’m right it will aid your curtain twitching no end.

[Dillinger]

Ahh, so Chitty and Mendip bought the monofocal package then

[marcusb]

I had a retina detachment - emergency operation at Chiang Mar Ram. Fixed it but side effect was a cataract that developed within a month. Put a new lens in but I could not get new glasses as they put a 20/20 lens in the operated eye. I wear a pretty strong prescription. They said if they made lenses (glasses) for both eye the difference in prescription would mess the brain up and create headaches. They then wanted to operate on the good eye. I declined. Following that it developed another cataract and then a year later the lens came off. Its been floating around in my eye for two years now.
All those adventures cost me 300,000 baht. Tentatively they will operate in April this year and put in a lens that matches my good(but poor vision) eye.

I wouldn't try and talk you out it but it doesn't always go great. Good luck.

[Dillinger]

I had a retina detachment - emergency operation at Chiang Mar Ram. Fixed it but side effect was a cataract

The weird thing is one of the slim dangers from this cateract surgery is that you can detach your retinas.
So a reverse of what you've had.

Whats it like having a detached retina?

They advise you not to bend over and stop any rigorous exercise for a Month after the op.

[marcusb]

Before the retina blew all the way off I had a black triangle that would appear on the left side of my left eye. It would bounce from the edge to the centre. Kept jerking the motorcycle thinking something was coming. At night in total dark I'd close my eyes and see shapes and bizarre colours, like a lava lamp or something. I spent good money on drugs when I was a youth for those kind of effects, but in this case it was scary.

"They advise you not to bend over and stop any rigorous exercise for a Month after the op." I will do that in April,proper rest. Last operation was done at 9:00pm, I was unconscious. Next morning at 9:00 a.m. I was on my bike for a 5 hour ride back home. I do take blame for some of the problems.

Sister (nurse) strongly suggested I quit smoking prior to another op as the recovery is much better. (damn it)

[Headworx]

They advise you not to bend over and stop any rigorous exercise for a Month after the op.

If that doesn't drag Tomcat out of posting retirement, nothing will.

[Chittychangchang]

[Seekingasylum]

There seems to be some confusion here.

IOL replacement is a procedure lasting about 15 -20 minutes by which your own lens that has become cloudy with age is removed and replaced by a plastic lens inserted inside the old lens "wallet", a capsule shaped sheath inside the eye.

LASIK is a procedure whereby the cornea is cut in such a way that reshapes it to cure myopia and astigmatism.

Two different tings entirely.

IOL is relatively safe with only a 2-5% risk of adverse outcomes.

The monofocal lens implant is fine for a fixed median distance judged to offer the best "cover" but often reading glasses will be nvessary and a prescription for shortsightedness might still be required but usually this is marginal. Variofocal lenses can be prescribed but these are more expensive and may induce some "halo-ing" at night with bright lights.

Rutnin is the "gold standard" eye hospital in Thailand. A racist policy is pursued and farang will now pay 100,000 per monofocal lens plus medicines - eye drops are required for up to three weeks after the procedure. Thai pay 60,000 baht.

Often, after the procedure the other eye may well flip in a year or so and require the same procedure.

The brain is pretty nifty in sorting out things that go wrong with the eyes and can absorb changes i.e exclude floaters and accommodate strong prescriptions for different glasses but there is a limit. The brain can cope with both eyes that require a difference of three diopters between them but once you hit four then the imbalance is too much and the brain starts to fight over which eye should be favoured and in the end it says 'fuck it' and tries to process both images which gives it one big headache and double vision.

Which is why there will come a time when your ophthalmologist says it is time to re-balance your eyesight with an IOL replacement.

The biggest noticeable difference is the brightening and clarity of your vision - from a smudgy yellow tint you assumed to b normal to a brilliant blue crisp hue.

The procedure is permanent but up to 30% of recipients experience an opacification behind the implant which is your own cells re-growing over the back of it. This is easily removed permanently by YAG laser.

No professional ethical surgeon will do both eyes together - there is a chance of infection afterwards, hence the eye drops, and if this were to take hold in both eyes then.....

Personally, given the increased costs, eight years ago it would have cost 40-50,000 baht in Rutnin, and taking into account the poor exchange rates I would have the procedure done now in the UK. Some NHS hospitals offer a self-pay option costing £2,000 per eye.

The thing is, if it goes wrong, and it can, then in Blighty they can sort it for free - provided of course they assume you are a Brit Brit and not living/working elsewhere.

[Pragmatic]

They advise you not to bend over and stop any rigorous exercise for a Month after the op.

You'd best stop watching 'Pornhub' then. Probably what affected your eyesight in the first place.

[Seekingasylum]

Don't be crude.