[imp>dom]

i know this has been asked many times but i just want to gather some recent and accurate information. can anyone recommend a place for this surgery? any personal experience to share? thanks so much

[willystyle]

Coal Harbour Eye Centre..

5th month after my surgery, so far so good.. I had PRK there.

[SoulCrusher]

^^ mind me asking how much you paid all together ?
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[Hondaracer]

My dad also went to coal harbour center it was around 5500 I belive

Edit* although he had to get his done twice because his close vision got all fucked up the first time, and even now he says it's blurry from time to time :s

two friends though also went to coal and both had positive experiances

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[Peanut Butter Jelly Time!]

cost depends on your prescription. coal harbour n pacific laser eyecare centre are both the most reputable places in the lowermainland

[imp>dom]

anyone else had experience with pacific laser eye care centre?

and anyone heard of boydvision in bby?

[imp>dom]

My dad also went to coal harbour center it was around 5500 I belive

Edit* although he had to get his done twice because his close vision got all fucked up the first time, and even now he says it's blurry from time to time :s

two friends though also went to coal and both had positive experiances

Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)


5500 sounds extremely high. when did he do it?

[willystyle]

^^ mind me asking how much you paid all together ?
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)
$2700, paid the extra 300 cause I needed to get wavefront performed on both eyes.

[vancouveray]

I had mine done at London Eye Centre. I got both eyes done for $2700 after a discount. Normally it's $1500 per eye.

[willystyle]

^I had a much better pre-operative exam experience with Coal Harbour than London Eye Place centre. I felt that Coal Harbour was far more professional and thorough in regards to explaining your procedure and examining whether you're a suitable candidate..

I remember when I had my London Eye Place pre-operative exam earlier this year, I was there for about 45 minutes with their machine diagnostics (went through about a total of 4 machines) and briefly discussed about how my eyesight will improve post-operation, the cost, and was let go.

On the other hand, when I was at Coal Harbour, I took 2 hours there cause I was being tested on about 10 different machines, and the discussions that I had with the medical professionals were very helpful and thorough, and answered all the questions that I had. I was constantly being reminded that if I didn't meet the requirements as a candidate, they wouldn't take me in as a patient. I felt like I was viewed upon more as a patient more than a customer who would drop several thousands dollars, and be let go at the end of the day.

Till this day, I am quite happy that I stuck with Coal Harbour.

[bui95]

went with london eye. all my friends went there too. paid $2500(normally its $3000) and thats for the no touch procedure. give them a call for a free consultation. one of my friends go denied since her pupil was too big...or was it too small. in either case, she got declined and that shows you they dont just care about money. if you want to use me as a referral, you should be able to get the discounted $2500 rate. they gave the prices to my friends and also a member on RS here just for mentioning me.

as for the pre-ops and all that stuff. i didnt want to spend 2hrs in a office when i already knew what i wanted. why go thru 2hrs of mumbo jumbo when all you need is 45mins? after the surgery, you come back for 4-5 visits so that they can check on you. make sure you have someone to drive you home after the surgery.

BEST $2500 I'VE EVER SPENT!

[willystyle]

I don't know about you, but I rather spend 2 hours than 45 minutes of my life going through a proper and thorough diagnostic, when it comes down to it, it's my eyes, I'll be using them for the rest of my life, so it makes sense to me that I am getting my eyes properly diagnosed and that I am getting the best possible medical care for what I can afford. but most importantly. that I am getting it performed accurately.

As for the so-called "No-touch" PRK, it's the same as any other PRK procedure, it's just that London Eye Place centre trademarked the "No-touch" slogan, so people think that they are getting a medical treatment that no other laser eye centre clinic offers.

My advice to you is to get your pre-operative exams at multiple laser eye clinics and see who you like best. All of us have our own opinion towards the clinic that we had our eyes treated. See who you like best, go checkout Coal Harbour Eye Place Centre and London Eye Place Centre as well as Pacific Laser Eye. I guarantee that you will find your experience at Coal Harbour a very positive one, regardless of whether you decide to go with them or not.

I've had my pre-operative exams done at both clinics, so I have personal experiences with both, not talking out of my ass cause I don't want to spend more than 45 minutes on a $3000 investment on a pair of eyes that I will utilize for the rest of my life.

[Hondaracer]

5500 sounds extremely high. when did he do it?

2-3 years ago now i guess

although the 2 friends i know who both went there within the last 2 years also paid about 4500 each

[way2quik]

anyone else had experience with pacific laser eye care centre?


That's the one my optometrist recommended as he only gives out "the best".

[bui95]

I don't know about you, but I rather spend 2 hours than 45 minutes of my life going through a proper and thorough diagnostic, when it comes down to it, it's my eyes, I'll be using them for the rest of my life, so it makes sense to me that I am getting my eyes properly diagnosed and that I am getting the best possible medical care for what I can afford. but most importantly. that I am getting it performed accurately.



well i know that if i only need 45mins for my diagnostic then thats all i want to spend. i dont want them to waste another hour on me when its just the same information that gets repeated over and over again. whatever extra information you learned in that extra hour, what has it gained you? nothing, you still have the same perfect vision just like i do, but i spent an hour less talking about it.

just because london eye spent 45mins with you instead of an hour, are you saying they didnt properly study your eyes or do their jobs properly? if that was the case, then my friend who got declined would've had the surgery done because london eyes just wants to make their money.

really, if someone can do an oil change in 15mins, why would you want them to spend another 30mins looking at it? its all about quality and not quantity. me and everyone i've referred to london eye is happy with the quality they received from them so i dont see why you wanna bash them just cause they didnt want to spend 2hrs with you.

[willystyle]

^ Comparing an oil change to a laser eye surgery. What a great comparison. I am not even gonna bother posting a further response, think however you want.

To the OP, I hope my advice helped. Happy hunting.

[bui95]

^ same analogy. i took it to revscene level since this whole site is all about cars.

in the end, how can you say spending 2hrs at coal harbour is better than 45mins at london place when the end results are the same? you cant.

imp>dom, if you need a referral to get the discount at london place, let me know.

[imp>dom]

bui95: i'll definitely remember that for later hehe... so the discount is like $500 off?

[bui95]

yeah. at least thats what it was in feb 2009 when another member called LEC and told them my name. sent ya pm

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time!]

At the clinic that I worked for, the optometrists mostly recommended pacific laser eyecare centre or coal harbour. Dr. Lin and Dr. Holland are from Pacific and our optometrists constantly referred them to patients. They also have a stellar rep. I have a friend of mine who will be going to do their prk procedure within the next month. from london eye center, I do recognize Dr. Neima's name as he was also an opthamologist that one of the previous OD's that I worked for made referrals to.

I'm not sure about the exact quoting of fees, however I do know that fees are prescription dependent and probably they or your optometrist might need to do a consult before being able to give you either a ballpark or actual figure.

I've said this once before and I'll say it again. You only have one pair of eyes, should price really be the determining factor of where you go for something as important as corrective surgery for your eyes?

I would suggest doing what willystyle did, go for their consultations/pre-op exams. They're free (at least I'm pretty sure they were) and they will be able to assess where you are an appropriate candidate or not and give you a figure to sleep on. Go see which eye care professionals you're more comfortable with. Don't just decide based soley on what someone else says, go see for yourself.

Good luck OP!

[imp>dom]

how about doing it in the States? i haven't done much research yet but things could be cheap there now. and there are lots of places that do it in close range like WA

[willystyle]

Assuming that you will be doing PRK, How will you be able to make your way down to the states for post-operative care? If I remember, you have to get your eyes examined like 2-3 times in the first 2 weeks. You'll have problems reading the text on your monitor during that span, nevermind trying to drive down there, unless you have someone thats willing to drive u..

If anything, it would be cheaper here, as I was told that americans come up here to get it done.

[imp>dom]

fair enough... i do have someone to drive for me but never mind. i'm just thinking too much about this lol

[racerman88]

london eye centre $2500 for both eyes. My wife and a few of my friends have all gone there. Never had a problem.

[acurael]

FYI

Pacific Laser (Dr. Lin) - he was one of the first docs to start doing laser refractive surgery in North america - even before the states. He pionnered the technique.

No touch is a just a marketing technique as stated previously. Its PRK - which is older technology than Lasik. They rub your cornea off and it has to heal completely. Lasik a flap is made and vision is clear much quicker because it heals faster.

[KrAyZiE TRD]

Does anywhere in lower mainland offer lasik?
Anyone had experiences with that instead of prk?

I'm trying to weigh the benefits right now...
So far it seems lasik heals quicker but there's a quick surgical procedure to create the flap.
PRK on the other hand is touchless but takes longer to heal.. however it seems to be more commonly done.

Also...... does it hurt?

[too_slow]

hey bui, pm'ed you thanks!@

[impactX]

Does anywhere in lower mainland offer lasik?
Anyone had experiences with that instead of prk?

I'm trying to weigh the benefits right now...
So far it seems lasik heals quicker but there's a quick surgical procedure to create the flap.
PRK on the other hand is touchless but takes longer to heal.. however it seems to be more commonly done.

Also...... does it hurt?

I had lasik done at Coal Harbour. It doesn't hurt, but putting on the suction ring in order to cut the flap may create some minor discomfort. They had to fit the suction ring in one of my eyes multiple times as (may be) one of my eyes is smaller than the other haha.

Anyway, I did the surgery in 2005. It's 2009 and I still have 20/20 vision. You have to follow the post-surgery procedures religiously though... like putting in the eyedrops, not swimming for x amount of time, not playing active sport for y amount of time, etc. I had clear vision the next day after the surgery and I already started driving. Make sure you get a letter from them so you can remove the "must wear corrective lense" condition on your license.

FYI, I got the halo effect which disappeared completely around 2-3 months time. The halo effect also lessened when you put eyedrops in. The doctor provided all the eyedrops and all the post-lasik tests came back ok.

[DancingTeg]

Has anyone had the surgery in Victoria lately?

[KrAyZiE TRD]

Any of you experiencing side effects like dry eyes or problems with driving at night?

[willystyle]

i have dry eyes waking up in the morning, but after a drop of eyedrops in each eye, i can go on and about my day. I'm 6 months into my post-surgery and had PRK.

Have u gotten a pre-operative exam yet?

[too_slow]

^My friend did the PRK proceedure in October.. After the operation, his eyes were incredibly sensitive to light for a good 2 weeks.. His eyes also became very dry and itchy.. He had to constantly put eye drops in.. After the two weeks of torture, he's all 100% now.. No problems with night driving, etc..

I went to LEC for my consultation with Michael (as bui95 had suggested), and he was able to hook me up with his special discount (Thanks again Quoc!).. I'm definately doing it this year, but have yet to schedule an appointment (still negotiating with work as to when I can take days off, etc).. Ideally I want to have it done before the summer

[willystyle]

Yeah I remember my first 2 weeks was a nightmare. I practically stayed home most of the time cause I couldn't see anything.

I was using so much eyedrops where a 30ml bottle of eye lubricant only lasted me for a week. I thought I was gonna go broke buying eyedrops, considering it cost like $14/bottle. lol

[KrAyZiE TRD]

i have dry eyes waking up in the morning, but after a drop of eyedrops in each eye, i can go on and about my day. I'm 6 months into my post-surgery and had PRK.

Have u gotten a pre-operative exam yet?

I'm going in next week to coal harbour but still unsure if I should get it done...
Still worried about side effects, long term effects, and if there might be better techonology/methods coming out soon?
Plus it's not helping that I'm reading other people's reviews online and they're complaining about having to go in to do "touch ups" because their eyes didn't turn out right

[willystyle]

That depends how complicated your prescription was before you had it done.

I actually might have to go in for touchups too, but I was expecting it all along as my prescription is far more complicated than the average.

[ericpoker]

I have a friend who`s eyes are -12 and -11 respectivley. She had the Lasik surgery done and now has attained 20/20 vision despite going agains't her family eye doctors orders to not have the procedure done.

[willystyle]

^ That's horrible, your friend was next to blind.

[too_slow]

I have a friend who`s eyes are -12 and -11 respectivley. She had the Lasik surgery done and now has attained 20/20 vision despite going agains't her family eye doctors orders to not have the procedure done.

WTF, they were able to operate on her with such crazy #'s ?

[ah_cat]

Got mine done at London Place Eye Center

BEST INVESTMENT EVER

i basically slept the days away for the first couple of days
stayed in the house for about 2 weeks, and was right back at work the week after!

adding the eye drops were a pain in the ass though... but well worth it in the end!

cost: $2500 cuz i work for corporate.

[StealthFighter]

i just saw something funny on the front page that relates to this.


I saw
laser eye surgery
by ah_cat


looked like laser cats

http://www.iranian.com/main/files/musicimages/lasercats.jpg