Lasek after Intacs?

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Dubai Gal
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby Dubai Gal » Sun 22 Mar 2009 1:56 pm

Silly me, I have just realised you mentioned it on my previous thread! I have considered Moorfields and may go to see them as I have nothing to lose and would like to get as many opinions as possible. Where is your Dr from? Do you know where he was educated etc? Sorry I am a bit pedantic about it here as they are not exactly in the business for the good of man kind...dubai the city of gold and all that. Been to so many idiotic Drs for other things not willing to risk my eyes because they are running a business!

Dubai Gal
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby Dubai Gal » Sun 22 Mar 2009 2:11 pm

About the pain, it will probably be the same as CXL as they take away the epithelium (sp?) but not to the same extent as it is only a flap with LASEK whereas CXL is more like PRK where it is removed completely. And yes it was agony for about a day, I just took some really strong painkillers and slept. After that I was fine and when the bandage lens came off it was scratchy like I had dust in my eye but that was it. It was far worse for me wearing lenses than enduring a few hours of pain from CXL.

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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby Graeme Stevenson » Sun 22 Mar 2009 4:19 pm

For me the question would not be LASEK after Intacs but LASEK for a KC Cornea.
The healthy cornea is only 550um(approx 0.5mm!) thick and we know that it becomes thinner in KC.IMO why would anyone take a chance and reduce that thickness even further by carrying out LASEK?Especially when we do not know how quickly the KC will progress and how thin the cornea will eventually become in any individual case.

ce2-batson
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby ce2-batson » Tue 24 Mar 2009 4:00 am

Hi Dubaigal,

My doctor is Spanish he has about 10 qualifications after his name! I think they have a pretty good website he may be on there. I would definitely go and see him. A friend of mine had an eye problem and went to somewhere in the Fairmont offices and it was awful! I rarely have confidence in people in this place, but I have never doubted this guy at all. He used to work at Moorfields in London. The whole staff there are great and their technology is super smart.

Thanks for info re the pain. I have sort of gotten my head around that, but I am still concerned about the corneal thinning as per the other posts. Think I will email the doctor and see what he has to say.

By the way Edmondo won't do CXL on patients yet so not sure what he will say to you about that.....

Let me know how you get on!

ce2-batson
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby ce2-batson » Tue 24 Mar 2009 4:04 am

Thanks Graeme, you are right. I think I need to probe my doctor a bit more as to why he thinks this is suitable

Thanks again

Dubai Gal
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby Dubai Gal » Tue 24 Mar 2009 10:16 am

Lol, no way! I am with Dr. Grimm from GEC in the Fairmont Hotel! I have serioulsy never heard anything bad about her and she has been here at least 15 years (she was here when I was at school here!) Everyone has their own opinion though and she is a little 'odd' sometimes, don't quite get her sense of humour! I also saw Dr. Gauba here in Healthcare City and he was very good too, I am just waiting for his final say on whether he thinks I would be suitable for PRK/CXL.

I want to get as many opinions as possible so I will go back to Moorfields and see what they say; I am intrigued about Dr. Edmundo as I went there before my CXL and was going to have it there as it is such a good UK hospital, but then I decided on the GEC as it had such a good reputation here. I was also told that the UK based/trained Drs can be more conservative and more reluctant to try these 'new' methods that are not 'tried, tested and available on the NHS' (it seems the NHS is the benchmark for whether a treatment is deemed worthy, lol!) so I thought maybe the Moorfields people might not have the same experience doing it since it is not available on the NHS and they are primarily NHS Drs (though I know they see people on a private basis also) I highly doubt Moorfields would suggest PRK/CXL and would probably strongly say 'no' but its worth going just to get a balanced view from all sides and hear their reasoning etc, no point only going to see Drs who are going to tell me what I want to hear no matter what.

Personally I don't thinkI would have any form of laser done without CXL following it to 'restabilise' it, but maybe that is because I know it has worked for me and it has stabilised (plus even reduced my cone and making the cornea thicker due to the reductions of the cone) so in my mind I can see that there is a strong possibility after laser that it will maintain its stability after another session CXL (or even maybe without but I would have it done again anyway to be sure.) I want to try and get somewhat permanent good vision and this is my only real option now. Been down the contact lens route and they carry as many risks to they eye's health, though I will give Soft K and Kerasoft a go for the sake of completeness so people don't ram them down my throat anymore, I can always say that I tried and if it turns out they work for me then great stuff!

Good Luck, let me know how it goes. :)

Yes
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby Yes » Tue 24 Mar 2009 11:54 am

Nice to see some clear thought Dubai Girl - its about your research for your medical care.

Two points:

1) If someone (a Dr) "does not do it" (the "treatment") then they may say its not good or not know enough to comment because they are doing something else, not the treatment which is being asked about. Everyone will say what they are doing is "the best" but clearly that is not the case. Patients vary a lot.

2) Laser surgery is seen as being "elective" (a luxury) to the NHS and the NHS don't do elective treatments - partly due to the cost to them.

All the very best

Yes

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Andrew MacLean
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby Andrew MacLean » Tue 24 Mar 2009 1:12 pm

Yes

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that the NHS does not do "elective treatments". In any understanding of that term, they do, of course, offer all sorts of "Elective" treatments.

You don't tell us much about yourself, in fact you tell us nothing at all. Please feel free to introduce yourself to the group: do you have KC or does someone close to you suffer from it? What is your experience of treatments offered? Are you in the UK, or like Dubai Gal do you live in another part of the world?

Andrew

Dubaigal, all the best with your visit to Moorfields.

A
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rosemary johnson
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby rosemary johnson » Tue 24 Mar 2009 11:56 pm

I think yes means what the insurance companies would call "cosmetic" - that is, if you can see perfectly well in glasses, the NHS won't fund laser surgery for you because you think you look better without the specs on.
Applies in lots of other areas too - for example the hideous clumpy medical special shoes that are the only ones the NHS will prove. Provided you can actually hobble down the corridor in them, the NHS reckons they're fine and you're now suitably kitted out - even if you'd be soon sent for an unpleasant interview with HR if you turned up at work in them, and wouldn't have a hope of surviving a job interview.
Rosemary

ce2-batson
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Re: Lasek after Intacs?

Postby ce2-batson » Thu 26 Mar 2009 5:47 am

Yeh the person I know had quite a painful experience there and when he went to see another doctor (as the problem was not fixed). They said it should not have been as painful as it was and he had it done again and it was fine. I just went straight to Moorfields (rightly or wrongly) as like I say I don't trust anyone out here. Also, I loved the head nurse there who is English and a pretty straight up lady - exactly what I wanted. She also gave me her mobile number for any issues, and I did call her about the pain and she was great. I would definitely suggest going to see Moorfields and at least asking for their advice. Edmondo's concern with CXL is not lack of experience - he said there is not enough long term research yet which concerns him because of the light or something they use? I don't know much about CXL, but I just thought what he was saying made sense - Intacs is reversible so it was a less risky option for me. I should probably research CXL a bit more though.....

Let me know how you get on with them

Best


Dubai Gal wrote:Lol, no way! I am with Dr. Grimm from GEC in the Fairmont Hotel! I have serioulsy never heard anything bad about her and she has been here at least 15 years (she was here when I was at school here!) Everyone has their own opinion though and she is a little 'odd' sometimes, don't quite get her sense of humour! I also saw Dr. Gauba here in Healthcare City and he was very good too, I am just waiting for his final say on whether he thinks I would be suitable for PRK/CXL.

I want to get as many opinions as possible so I will go back to Moorfields and see what they say; I am intrigued about Dr. Edmundo as I went there before my CXL and was going to have it there as it is such a good UK hospital, but then I decided on the GEC as it had such a good reputation here. I was also told that the UK based/trained Drs can be more conservative and more reluctant to try these 'new' methods that are not 'tried, tested and available on the NHS' (it seems the NHS is the benchmark for whether a treatment is deemed worthy, lol!) so I thought maybe the Moorfields people might not have the same experience doing it since it is not available on the NHS and they are primarily NHS Drs (though I know they see people on a private basis also) I highly doubt Moorfields would suggest PRK/CXL and would probably strongly say 'no' but its worth going just to get a balanced view from all sides and hear their reasoning etc, no point only going to see Drs who are going to tell me what I want to hear no matter what.

Personally I don't thinkI would have any form of laser done without CXL following it to 'restabilise' it, but maybe that is because I know it has worked for me and it has stabilised (plus even reduced my cone and making the cornea thicker due to the reductions of the cone) so in my mind I can see that there is a strong possibility after laser that it will maintain its stability after another session CXL (or even maybe without but I would have it done again anyway to be sure.) I want to try and get somewhat permanent good vision and this is my only real option now. Been down the contact lens route and they carry as many risks to they eye's health, though I will give Soft K and Kerasoft a go for the sake of completeness so people don't ram them down my throat anymore, I can always say that I tried and if it turns out they work for me then great stuff!

Good Luck, let me know how it goes. :)


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