Laser Eye Surgery
Help, Advice & FAQs

Find answers to common (and not so common questions about Laser Eye Surgery including whether you are eligible, and what to expect before, during and after treatment. 

Laser Eye Surgery
Help, Advice & FAQs

  Introduction

• How does Laser eye surgery work?
• How many years will my laser treatment last?
• Nervous about treatment?
• The laser eye surgery dictionary

  Eligibility

• Age Limits
• Dry eyes and laser eye surgery
• "High" prescriptions
• I’ve been told I can’t have laser eye surgery
• Pregnancy and laser eye surgery

  Before Treatment

• Can I wear my contact lenses before surgery?
• Preparing for laser eye surgery
• Eye makeup and laser eye surgery

 During Treatment

• Preparing for laser eye surgery
• What happens on the day?
• Blinking during laser eye surgery

• Eye makeup and laser eye surgery

 After Treatment

• How long will my laser treatment last?
• Eye makeup and laser eye surgery
• Swimming and exercise after laser eye surgery
• TV and screen time after LASIK
• Working after laser eye surgery

 Further Information

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Therapeutic Laser Treatments (PTK)

For corneal scarring or injury or to prevent recurrent erosions

Recurrent Corneal Erosion

Superficial corneal scarring

• Does the procedure hurt?

  No. Anaesthetic drops are used to numb the eye so that no pain is felt during the procedure. If you are really nervous, a sedative in the form of a tablet can be given to help you stay relaxed.

• How much of the cornea is removed with PTK?

  For recurrent corneal erosions, Mr Gore’s standard protocol removes just 15 microns, less than 3% of the central corneal thickness. This is based on recent clinical trial evidence from the University of Hamburg showing success rates of 90% with a single treatment. To remove scars from the front layers of the cornea, the depth of the PTK treatment is programmed based on high-definition scans taken as part of your consultation.

• Will my vision be blurred afterwards?

  Yes. Initially your vision will be blurred, before beginning to recover during the first week. Depending on the underlying reason for PTK treatment ,it can sometimes take a few weeks for the vision to fully stabilise. You will need to wear a ‘bandage’ soft contact lens for at least one week to support the new epithelial cell layer as it heals. This lens stays in day and night (no need for you to remove it), before being removed by Mr Gore’s team in the clinic.
  
  One advantage of modern laser technology is that the ablation profile is refractively neutral – this means that it is very unlikely that your spectacle or contact lens prescription will change. Similarly, if you don’t currently require spectacles, PTK is unlikely to change that.

• What are the risks?

  Overall, laser eye surgery is very safe. The risk of a serious complication (e.g. infection, scarring) requiring a corneal transplant to restore vision is approximately 1 in 5,000. This compares with the risk of a serious corneal infection due to the wearing of contact lenses of approximately 1 in 3,000 per year.

• Can you correct my short-sightedness at the same time?

  This is possible in some patients, depending on the underlying need for treatment and your existing spectacle prescription. Because scars or surface irregularity can affect the accuracy of laser treatment, Mr Gore may advise a two-step plan if you’re keen to additionally correct your short-sightedness: PTK to treat the initial problem, then a few months later PhotoRefractive Keratectomy (PRK) to get rid of glasses.
  
  PTK treatment is normally covered by insurers; PRK is not covered.

• Does PTK need to be repeated?

  Rarely. The success rate for recurrent erosion treatment are approximately 90%.
  PTK for corneal dystrophies sometimes need to be repeated if the original opacities re-occur.

Make an appointment today

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What our patients say

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Who We Are

Eye Consultants Limited trading as “Daniel Gore”  (‘we’ or ‘us’ or ‘our’) gather and process your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant data protection regulation and laws. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and our obligations, and explains how, why and when we process your personal data when you are using the company’s website

Our registered office is at Normanby Gateway, Lysaghts Way, DN15 9YG Scunthorpe. We are a company registered in England and Wales under company number 10515711. We are registered with Information Commissioner's Office [ICO] for data protection and privacy matters (ZA248388). We act as the data controller/data processor  when processing your data . Any consent and privacy related queries should be addressed to Eye Consultants Limited, Moorfields Private Out-Patient Clinic, 9-11 Bath Street, London, EC1V 9LF

Information That We Collect

We process your personal information to meet our legal, statutory and contractual obligations and to provide you with our products and services. We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than as specified in this notice.

The personal data that we collect from you is: -

• Contact details: including name, email, telephone number and physical address
• Personal details: including gender and date of birth
• Medical eye data: Specific eye history, including prescriptions and previous eye surgery. These are collected during your appointment with our medical staff.
• Other health data: General health conditions and allergies. These are collected to provide your treatment plan.
• When interacting with our Sites, data is automatically collected and shared with The Company by the technology platforms providing the experience. For example, your web browser or mobile device may share certain data with The Company as those devices interact with our Sites.
• Sensitive data: race. We collect this information as some eye conditions are more common in certain races such as keratoconus.
• We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research and marketing purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
• We collect information in the below ways: -
  • Registration Form (electronic or paper), Website Contact form, From your GP/Doctor(referral) and any notes from your consultation with the specialist during appointments & treatments.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We take your privacy very seriously and will never disclose, share your data without your consent; unless required to do so by law. We only retain your data for as long as is necessary and for the purpose(s) specified in this notice. Where you have consented to us providing you with promotional offers and marketing, you are free to withdraw this consent at any time. The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data are detailed below: - 

We collect your personal data to provide service(s) related to your medical care (vision related) and to ensure that we provide relevant ongoing care

We collect and store your personal data as part of our legal obligation to the General Medical Council, for business accounting and tax purposes

Your Rights

You have the right to access any personal information that we process about you and to request information about: -

• What personal data we hold about you
• The purposes of the processing
• The categories of personal data concerned
• The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
• How long we intend to store your personal data for
• If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source
• If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing ( where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information and the right to be informed about any automated decision-making we may use.

If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.

Sharing and Disclosing Your Personal Information

We do not share or disclose any of your personal information without your consent, other than for the purposes specified in this notice or where there is a legal requirement. We  use other processor(s ) to provide the below services and business functions; however, all processors acting on our behalf only process your data in accordance with instructions from us and comply fully with this privacy notice, the data protection laws and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

Hospitals/Medical Centers

All procedures are carried out at Moorfields Private Eye Hospital, part of Moorfields NHS Foundation Trust. We are obliged by the law to enter your personal and health related data onto their system, in order for us to provide you the safe treatment and care.

Trustpilot 

We use Trustpilot to gain your feedback independently about our services, and your experience with us. Trustpilot may process your personal data such as your name, email [not medical data] to obtain your feedback.
For more information about Trustpilot and their privacy notice, please visit their website

https://uk.trustpilot.com/

AnswerConnect Telephone Answering Services

We use AnswerConnect  to answer your calls and take messages while our admin team are busy, or we are closed for business [out of office hours]. They are instructed to collect your personal details and pass on to us in order to process your queries effectively.
For more information about AnswerConnect  , and their privacy notice, please visit their website at:

https://www.answerconnect.co.uk/privacypolicy

Safeguarding Measures

Eye Consultants Limited takes your privacy seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We comply with UK data protection law and all the applicable medical confidentiality guidelines issued by professional bodies such as the General Medical Council . Your confidential medical information will only be disclosed to those involved with your treatment or care, or in accordance with UK law and guidelines from professional bodies.

Data Minimisation and Data Retention

We aim to never collect or store any information that is not required for the delivery of the services to which you subscribe. Any information that we do collect is and will always be explicitly accounted for in this Privacy policy. We will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information we hold if it is no longer needed for the purposes set out above, or required for us to maintain a high level of care, in accordance with EU General Data Protection (GDPR) regulation and the ePrivacy regulation.

We retain your personal data for as long as we hold ‘legitimate interests’ to fulfil the purposes for which we collect it, until the interests cease to exist unless if otherwise required by law. For example, we retain your medical records for minimum of 8 years.

Where you have consented to us using your details for direct marketing, we will keep such data until you notify us otherwise and/or withdraw your consent.

Lodging A Complaint

We only process your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.

Our Supervisory Authority

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
www.ico.org.uk