Laser Eye Surgery

Anyone had laser eye surgery done. This is getting so cheap, I think I’m going to do it. 33000NT and only 20somethingK each for 2! (people that is not eyes - 4 eyes). Not too interested in hearing about how it may be possibly unsafe (I live life on the edge :wink: ), just wanted to hear from anyone who’s had it done with any tips or things to watch out for.

Brian

Bri, I know an Australian guy who just had it done a few days ago. He’s extremely pleased with it. I’ll talk to him and askif he’d mind you giving him a call or email if yu want.

I got it done over a year and a half ago, and I’m very happy with it. Just remember not to put too much stress on your eyes for a month or two after surgery, and everything should be fine. I went to Daxue yan ke on Xinsheng South Road across from NTU.

How much time on the computer would be considered stress?

I think taking a little break every hour or so, and glancing away to a far point every so often is a good idea. And avoid saunas, hot springs or other places that might have steam that could irritate the eyes for a few months. Also have to avoid getting your eyes wet for a bit after the surgery. I’m sure there’s dozens of good websites about laser surgery out there.

Sorry this breaks the rule of posting if you have had it only, but looking into this, and knowing full well the unbelievably bad medical care available here, I would never advise anyone to have Lasik surgery here in Taiwan. They just don’t have the experience. Yes, it has been done successfully here, but look at the statistics of numbers of operations in Los Angeles compared to here, for example. About 5 years ago I saw that one clinic in the LA area had performed over 30,000 procedures. Can Taiwan even boast of a realistic Lasik presence in Taiwan for that long?
It’s your sight, Bri. Get the surgery if you want, but definitely not in Taiwan. The level of competence here is just not high enough yet.
No joke. Don’t risk it.

I also had Lasik done at DaXue, though they were on Chunghsiao East Road when I had it. They moved to HsingSheng South Road during followups.

First off, I’m not sure that the number of operations done here are as insignificant as the last poster says. When I was there they were doing operations at 15 minute intervals. Also they had (at the time) the latest Visx Star 5 equipment, while the cheaper US clinics were using older, less accurate equipment.

Anyways, before you have it, do lots of reading on the web about the risks. Yes, they are low, but you might be the lucky winner who ends up with the serious side effects. There is also little known about the long term effects, and some researchers fear that Lasik patients are at higher risk of glaucoma later in life.

You also should not go in with too high expectations of recover times. There seems to be a myth about that people can go in, and the next day they can see perfectly. For most people, this is not the case. My eyesight was especially bad before, and it took me about a week to see close to normal after the surgery.

Even then, you will need to have followup visits to check progress for 2-3 months. You will need to put eyedrops in several times a day during this period. Even with the eyedrops you may have frequent dryness in the eyes. During this time your vision will still be slowly adjusting to normal. And because you are still fragile, you will need to avoid getting water anywhere near them for 1-2 months, and you are supposed to avoid contact sports and anything where you might get whacked around for up to 6 months. You may also have side effects like halos and glare around bright objects. This makes night time vision especially difficult because of the large contrast. All in all, it took me about 7 months until all the side effects and so on were gone.

In short, it’s is not a completely painless and easy process where you just wake up the next day and you’re cured of poor vision.

If I had to make the choice again, I’m not sure if I would. I was pretty happy with the convenience of disposable contacts before that. Just stick them in and throw them away a week later. If you just want to get rid of glasses, give disposable contacts a try. Eye exams here aren’t expensive and neither are the contacts.

Thanks Jlick. I can’t wear contacts in Taiwan though.

Brian

I also had it done at Daxue on Xinsheng. No problems and I could see long distance perfectly as soon as I got up from the operating table. Short sight came back after about a week. Took the usual precautions as regards water, rubbing etc and no probs so far. Only “side effect” I have experienced is that when I get tired my near vision gets a bit blurry - but I know folk who have that without the operation.

All in all I was quite satisfied with the professionalism shown at the time pre-op, during and post -op.

I couldn’t wear contacts and with two youngsters to romp with it has been great to lose the glasses.

r

Not a glasses wearer, what is the meaning of “I can’t wear contacts in Taiwan”? Is this some curse you got while visiting evil monks in Yunlin County?

No curse. I think it’s just the air. After wearing contacts for two days or so here, my eyes get ‘itchy’. To be fair on Taiwan, I was the same in London, and it may have actually started back in NZ.

Brian

[quote=“wolf_reinhold”]Sorry this breaks the rule of posting if you have had it only, but looking into this, and knowing full well the unbelievably bad medical care available here, I would never advise anyone to have Lasik surgery here in Taiwan. They just don’t have the experience. Yes, it has been done successfully here, but look at the statistics of numbers of operations in Los Angeles compared to here, for example. About 5 years ago I saw that one clinic in the LA area had performed over 30,000 proceedures. Can Taiwan even boast of a realistic Lasik presence in Taiwan for that long?
It’s your sight, Bri. Get the surgery if you want, but definitely not in Taiwan. The level of competence here is just not high enough yet.
No joke. Don’t risk it.[/quote]

What? Do you have proof of this?

From what I’ve heard, Taiwan is supposed to be one of the most experienced if not THE most experienced country in doing this prodecure. This is because of the high number of near sighted people caused by genetics, lack of outdoor activities for young people, and schoolwork. I don’t remember the exact numbers but it’s something crazy like 60 or 70% of young people in taiwan are nearsighted. Anyways, there are lots of foreigners and overseas Chinese that come to Taiwan just for this procedure. Although it is cheaper here, I don’t think people would be risking their eyes if the quality is not good. Plus if you factor in the costs and time of travel, why would foreigners come to Taiwan for the operation??

i wouldn’t so easily dismiss all of taiwan’s lasik operations. although there are always shady/less than reputable places (as elsewhere around the world), there are a few stellar clinics here with a good record. Many of the doctors are trained abroad in the UK, US, HK and they all vie to boast of the best equipment. just have a good look around, do your research, etc.

[quote=“aceman”][quote=“wolf_reinhold”]Sorry this breaks the rule of posting if you have had it only, but looking into this, and knowing full well the unbelievably bad medical care available here, I would never advise anyone to have Lasik surgery here in Taiwan. They just don’t have the experience. Yes, it has been done successfully here, but look at the statistics of numbers of operations in Los Angeles compared to here, for example. About 5 years ago I saw that one clinic in the LA area had performed over 30,000 proceedures. Can Taiwan even boast of a realistic Lasik presence in Taiwan for that long?
It’s your sight, Bri. Get the surgery if you want, but definitely not in Taiwan. The level of competence here is just not high enough yet.
No joke. Don’t risk it.[/quote]

What? Do you have proof of this?

From what I’ve heard, Taiwan is supposed to be one of the most experienced if not THE most experienced country in doing this prodecure. This is because of the high number of near sighted people caused by genetics, lack of outdoor activities for young people, and schoolwork. I don’t remember the exact numbers but it’s something crazy like 60 or 70% of young people in Taiwan are nearsighted. Anyways, there are lots of foreigners and overseas Chinese that come to Taiwan just for this procedure. Although it is cheaper here, I don’t think people would be risking their eyes if the quality is not good. Plus if you factor in the costs and time of travel, why would foreigners come to Taiwan for the operation??[/quote]

You have got to see if the raio of the number of botched up Lasik surgeries to the number of Lasik surgeries performed is higher than the USA, then you can say that Taiwan is worse at it

Anyway not to say it is easy to do, but the machine is the most important part of it. You programme it with the correct parameters and zap zap zap it does it for you. The laser is “told” by the computer where to shave off some flesh from the eye. Correctly closing the flap thingy ( the corenea I think its called) that was cut to gain access to the eye; at the end of the surgery is also important

Most botched up surgeries come not from the surgery but people who do not take care of their eyes after the surgery

"WOW I can see perfectly right after the surgery, I think I will go to work in the gravel pit tomorrow "

so the eyes end up infected, and then they try and blame the doctor

From what I’ve heard, Taiwan is supposed to be one of the most experienced if not THE most experienced country in doing this prodecure. This is because of the high number of near sighted people caused by genetics, lack of outdoor activities for young people, and schoolwork. I don’t remember the exact numbers but it’s something crazy like 60 or 70% of young people in Taiwan are nearsighted. [/quote]

Experienced doesn’t necessarily mean that they are good at it. Most of these people have very high refractive errors. If the docters correct it and it is a couple of diopters out they don’t even notice that it is not perfect. But the docters know that it isn’t perfect. Many times successfull operations statistics are published, but they don’t mention that they call it successfull if it is within a certain margin of error.

If the refractive error is really big enough than the chance of being dissapointed isn’t big.

So 45K at Daxue Yanke, or 30K somewhere else.

I don’t mean to skimp on my eyesight, but is there really a difference between clinics?

How long after this op before you can go swimming?

Brian

Most Laser surgery clinics I have seen have English speaking doctors who were educated in the USA … don’t know if that means anything. I assume though they are all certified to do this and all their equipment is calibrated correctly.

I would go visit both and have a nose around.

Maybe they up the price to sell it… if it’s expensive it must be good!!

I think it’s 8 weeks after surgery before you can swim.

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]So 45K at Daxue Yanke, or 30K somewhere else.

I don’t mean to skimp on my eyesight, but is there really a difference between clinics?[/quote]

The primary difference in the clinics boils down to whether they have the latest equipment, and how experienced the doctor is who will be doing the surgery. When I had mine done, Daxue had the latest equipment which was at the time the VISX S3, and they had a lot more experience than the other clinics popping up around town. It’s now a couple of years on, so the S3 is no longer the latest and greatest. Ask around which equipment the clinics have and check up on the web how old it is. Also ask how long the doctor who will do your surgery has been doing these operations.

You are supposed to keep away from any possible contact with water for one month. (Wear goggles when bathing and no swimming.) Then for another month you are supposed to avoid water getting in your eyes, so still no swimming, but you can take a bath normally as long as you are careful. You also need to avoid any contact sports where you might get hit near the eyes for a whole six months.

Hi everyone. I’m new to this site and I came here only for this lasik topic and I’m so happy all you wonderful people are here.

I’m Taiwanese American and working in Shanghai – about to get Lasik done on my eyes and I’m FREAKING out. Mostly because I’m stuck here in Shanghai, China, with the only lasik center 10 blocks away on the second floor of a remodeled old building with shabbily painted PURPLE walls next to doctors so senile or young that they argue amongst themselves at the front desk…

I was about to cry until I found this site! I’m going to Taiwan in a few weeks to get my eyes done and was frantically looking for a place. I’m so happy that some of you got it done at Da Xue - people recommended that place to me. Is there a specific doctor people know? Someone experienced, high success rate?

I’m a wimp when it comes to any type of surgery so you can imagine my heart rate when I found out two weeks ago that I can’t wear contacts anymore – sniff

Can you guys give me some more information about Da Xue? Is that the best place? I wanted to go back to the states for this but there weren’t any more tickets left. And I’m afraid to take a 13 hour plane ride back 7 days after.

Someone please help calm my nerves… it’s safe to do it in Taiwan, right? 7 days or more after the operation means I"m safe to fly, right? And the doctors at Da Xue are professional? New equipment? I’m so scared.

I was about to cry because I couldn’t find any information on lasik in Taiwan from people who’ve experienced it… really.

This is not a ‘don’t do it’ posting, but is a cautionary note.

A good friend of mine is a very experienced eye surgeon here, Dr. Wang Taiyuan at RenAi hospital. We had conversations about this awhile ago, and he was of the opinion that the results were usually pretty good, but that it was a risk you’re choosing to undertake with a very important organ. He also pointed out that many people are less near or far sighted but may still end up needing to wear eyeglasses for the remaining correction!!!

So then what’s the point of spending all that money, the discomfort, the risk, only to end up wearing glasses again. That said, some are lucky and end up with perfect vision. But that may only last 5 years, and as their eyesight gets worse again, they may need glasses again. I asked whether he’d recommend it and he said that since glasses also protect your eyes against drying (as a windscreen) and small object impacts, like the occasional pebble flung up by a car tire, and given all the other abovementioned factors, he’d advise against it, although not strongly so.

Oh, he also said the field and the equipment are improving at such a rate that it’s better to wait another 5 years before doing it.

So this isn’t a don’t do it post, but you should at least consider these cautions so that you make a more informed personal choice as to whether the cost and risk are really worth it.

EDIT: see later posting updating this info.