Health & Wellness

[Merged] laser eye surgery

Poll: Mid twenties a good age to get it done?

  • Total votes: 513. You have voted on this poll.
Yes
 
269
52%
No
 
84
16%
Pizza is yummy
 
160
31%
Deal Addict
Feb 1, 2010
1072 posts
306 upvotes
Alanbchk wrote: So I just got my SMILE at Clearview Vision Institute.

My prescription is -2.0 for both eyes. The surgery was super quick, 25 minutes total. The cost was $4500. Definitely recommend this place.

LASIK MD quoted me this for LASIK:
Standard LASIK: 3680
Advanced LASIK: 4680
Advanced LASIK with laser incision: 5180
Considering this as well, have my consult with Clearview this Friday...feeling quite nervous. Is it true they don't share the treatment type recommended before the test which they require you to pay $300 non-refundable but will go towards your surgery cost?

What was your post-op routine like? Did you do anything that you can say helped your healing? I saw your post history and I too work in front of the computer a lot (IT) so it is imperative I get my sight back in good time. They say what you want to hear but I am feeling skeptic for side effects or any permanent damage. I did a consult with LASIK MD and they said I have a straight forward case, healthy eyes n thick corneas. No astigmatism or anything like that, -2.25 prescription in both eyes.
Jr. Member
User avatar
Sep 3, 2018
173 posts
721 upvotes
freetrade wrote: Considering this as well, have my consult with Clearview this Friday...feeling quite nervous. Is it true they don't share the treatment type recommended before the test which they require you to pay $300 non-refundable but will go towards your surgery cost?

What was your post-op routine like? Did you do anything that you can say helped your healing? I saw your post history and I too work in front of the computer a lot (IT) so it is imperative I get my sight back in good time. They say what you want to hear but I am feeling skeptic for side effects or any permanent damage. I did a consult with LASIK MD and they said I have a straight forward case, healthy eyes n thick corneas. No astigmatism or anything like that, -2.25 prescription in both eyes.

Hey there. They did charge me a no refundable $300 consultation fee but they shared all of the available treatment types at the end of the consults. I picked SMILE because it’s the latest technology and it also cuts the least of your cornea. My post-op went totally fine. I followed the eye drop schedule to the dot and my eyes were only dry and itchy for maybe 1-2 weeks.

My dry eyes were completely gone by 1 month. I don’t notice any night vision problem or Halo.
Banned
Oct 28, 2015
2166 posts
1229 upvotes
Vaughan, ON
I wanted to get Smartsurface(invented in 2016) in Toronto as I do lots of hardcore sports, which clinic has the best reputation?
Newbie
Feb 5, 2023
1 posts
xuanzh wrote: I wanted to get Smartsurface(invented in 2016) in Toronto as I do lots of hardcore sports, which clinic has the best reputation?
According to the Schwind website, the only clinic that does smartsurface in Canada is Pacific Eye Laser in Vancouver.
I am also looking for one in Toronto/Montreal.
Deal Addict
Aug 17, 2008
1727 posts
1547 upvotes
Repeating an older post #3515:
multimut wrote: If TransPRK was offered in your city, sure consider it instead of traditional alcohol wash. But while transPRK sounds better, studies show no difference in results (and there are both pros and cons - minor ones) -- so no reason to travel far to get TransPRK. Recovery with traditional PRK is more "discomfort" than "pain". It's not so bad.

I know quite a few posters in this long thread have been very keen to get transPRK, but we should ask ourselves, why does no clinic in the greater Toronto area, the largest and wealthiest city in Canada, offer transPRK?

I believe the reason is that transPRK is only offered by one laser manufacturer , Schwind, which is a much smaller company than the major companies (Alcon, Zeiss, J&J), combined with the fact that studies do not actually show any difference in results after 3 months or one year. My belief is that it would be offered by more clinics if either (a) it was a major laser manufacturer producing the transPRK equipment, or (b) if transPRK was shown to be better than regular PRK.

One poster from the US (which also doesn't have many clinics offering transPRK) was looking to come up to Canada, and he did a lot of research and did write in post 3452 "There is some view that an alcohol wash may be slightly safer for PRK versus TransPRK. Alcohol is self-safe and removes only epithelium whereas an incorrectly programmed/calibrated laser could unintentionally remove stroma when it is intended to remove only epithelium. I am believing that the precision of a laser is preferable to that of an alcohol wash."

Here's a study that compares transPRK with alcohol assisted PRK:
In our study in which the latest version of the tPRK algorithm was used, we did not observe statistically significant differences between the tPRK group and the aaPRK group
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4753858/
The study notes a number of potential disadvantages and advantages of each approach (nothing too major).
In that post, also notes Alcon's laser now has a software update that enables transPRK, but it has not been widely adopted yet.
Video linked in that post compares and says: No difference in discomfort or results or vision. From point-of-view of "patient perception" it's better, so that's good for the doctor and clinic. But no difference in results.
Member
Dec 16, 2020
394 posts
565 upvotes
multimut wrote: Feel bad for you, butthanks for sharing your experience as it is very important for everyone to consider.

So many people will say "it's the best thing I ever did" and "wish I had gotten laser vision correction earlier". That's because the odds of a good outcome are high. But everyone must consider the downside risk.

Stats suggest 98% of people are very happy with laser vision correction. That means 2% are not totally happy. That's 1 in 50 people, who are not satisfied.
And among those who are not satisfied, some, like you, will have a very bad outcome and will wish that they never decided to do this entirely elective procedure.

I always tell people, that if you can see fine with glasses, that you should be cautious about going with laser vision correct. Sure the vast majority are very happy with the outcome. but if you don't do laser eye surgery, you continue to see fine with glasses. if you get laser vision correction, and you are one of the unfortunately ones who have a very bad outcome, then you will wish you never made the decision to go with an elective procedure, when you could see fine with glasses.

Don't know if this helps you, but the extremely expensive eye drops from Germany that you referred is probably HyLo. Very expensive.
Theoloz Duo is not quite as expensive, and just as good for most people (slightly different ingredients).
My eyes are the single most important health thing for me, glasses do the trick its crazy rolling the dice with this and completely **** it up. The story like this kids are nightmare fuel. Its like imagine you can grow half and inch but if slight chance it **** up you can't walk anymore..
xtreme to the maximum
Member
Aug 25, 2013
412 posts
536 upvotes
Hi all,

I am considering the surgery and wanted your opinions on where to get it done: Montreal or Toronto. I go back and forth between the two cities, giving me equal access.

Toronto: My optometrist recommended Bochner and TLC.

Montreal: I was recommended Laservue and Iris.

If Toronto, I would probably go to Bochner, but I wanted to know if anyone has experience in Montreal and specifically those two places. I read somewhere that Montreal is less expensive, but the cost is not a deciding factor, I'd happily pay more for quality.
Newbie
Nov 22, 2019
35 posts
5 upvotes
Hey everyone,

I know many people recommend Bochner with Raymond Stein, but has anyone completed LASIK/PRK with his daughter Dr. Rebecca Stein, or Dr. Gilani? The wait times for Dr. Stein are longer compared to other doctors so just wanted to hear about experiences (positive or negative) with anyone else besides Dr. Stein himself.

Thanks in advance!
Member
Sep 23, 2011
310 posts
8 upvotes
Toronto
Does anyone know for the SMILE surgey if any clinic uses Carl ZEISS VisuMax 800 Laser?
Deal Addict
Aug 17, 2008
1727 posts
1547 upvotes
strickmans wrote: Does anyone know for the SMILE surgey if any clinic uses Carl ZEISS VisuMax 800 Laser?
I don't understand why anyone would opt for SMILE. There are very few clinics in Canada that offer SMILE (and one of them markets it heavily), because the unbiased majority know SMILE is not better; Don't believe the marketing; the unbiased experts will tell you that while SMILE is the newest technology, but in its current form it is inferior to both LASIK and PRK.

I've posted on this often, but here are some notes and links again (after reading this, don't know why anyone would pick SMILE):

Moorfields Eye Hospital in London England (the top center for ophthalmic treatment, teaching and research in Europe) tried SMILE for one year, and dropped it because they found results were less predictable than LASIK. They only offer LASIK and PRK.

https://wimpoleeyeclinic.com/wavefront- ... -vs-smile/
"Following a 1 year trial period investigating SMILE between April 2015 and April 2016, consultants at Moorfields have now abandoned the procedure citing the following reasons;"

https://theophthalmologist.com/subspeci ... n-to-smile
"SMILE also brings the risk of a unique, novel complication of incomplete lenticule removal."

And a debate between a pro-SMILE doctor (who gets money from Zeiss), and anti-SMILE view is from a neutral doctor from a famous clinic).
https://www.reviewofophthalmology.com/a ... e-vs-lasik

And another excellent blog article comparing SMILE, PRK and LASIK. It concludes that at present, LASIK and PRK are superior to SMILE.
https://shapirolaser.com/smile-vs-wavef ... k-and-prk/

Bochner has put up an excellent info video on LASIK and PRK vs SMILE on their website: (at bottom of page)
https://www.bochner.com/lasik/

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