Laser treatment advice? 1st treatment on wednesday and i'm really scared

McOwarth

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Hi, so, i'm 26, diabetic 22 years and it seems the 5 years i didn't look after my sugars has caught up with me.

i have to go for 2 laser treatments, the 1st to ease the pressure in my eye, apparently this will stop the migraines i get when they use they eye drops to see the back of my eye. and a second treatment to zap the small bleeds in my eyes.

Has anyone else had this? What can i expect?

The hospital have told me very little and i'm really scared about it
 
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Grant_Vicat

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Hi, so, i'm 26, diabetic 22 years and it seems the 5 years i didn't look after my sugars has caught up with me.

i have to go for 2 laser treatments, the 1st to ease the pressure in my eye, apparently this will stop the migraines i get when they use they eye drops to see the back of my eye. and a second treatment to zap the small bleeds in my eyes.

Has anyone else had this? What can i expect?

The hospital have told me very little and i'm really scared about it
Hi @McOwarth I had this done when it was a new idea back in the late 70's. I was indeed scared! BUT, they put your head on a rest in front of an adjustable lens, having put a lubricated lens in your dilated eye. I remember distinctly the surprise at the first "burn." It was a very bright sort of turquoise beam that was no worse than somebody flicking the side of your finger moderately with their nail. Be prepared for what seems an eternity. My eyes in 1979 were in a bad way - the right one had fully haemorrhaged and the left was well on the way. So just over 1400 burns were required on one retina. If you have had small bleeds, it MAY mean that you need less treatment, but without having seen photos of your retinas, I couldn't say. All I can tell you is that it is absolutely natural to fear any eye treatment, but in addition to what I have already said, eyes are tough, and I have not had anything done since 1983 and can still see well out of both eyes. I had Type 1 from 1959 - 2013, at which point I had a kidney/pancreas transplant. I hope you are less scared and feel free to ask any questions you like about this. Good Luck
 

McOwarth

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How was it afterward? Does it take a long time for the drops abr stuff to wear off and the effects of the laser to ease?
 

Lauriem1967

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Wishing you the best, anyone would be scared to have this done, that’s totally expected.

Remember that the medical team does this many times a day, everyday, you’ll be in good hands.

Please let us know how it goes. Big hugs, I’ll be thinking of you.
 
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Grant_Vicat

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How was it afterward? Does it take a long time for the drops abr stuff to wear off and the effects of the laser to ease?
From my experience over the years (bearing in mind that the last time I was lasered was in 1983), it is difficult to give a realistic assessment. I would say that my experience of dilating drops is better now than then. I used to have to be led across roads by my future wife in 1979! All I can remember about the laser effects was that I was pleasantly surprised. I could not believe that I had been so frightened. Successive visits were not a big deal. I was more concerned about retinal deterioration. Would it stop? Well, I can still see without glasses - I only wear them for close work.
 

McOwarth

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Wishing you the best, anyone would be scared to have this done, that’s totally expected.

Remember that the medical team does this many times a day, everyday, you’ll be in good hands.

Please let us know how it goes. Big hugs, I’ll be thinking of you.
:) thank you
 

McOwarth

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From my experience over the years (bearing in mind that the last time I was lasered was in 1983), it is difficult to give a realistic assessment. I would say that my experience of dilating drops is better now than then. I used to have to be led across roads by my future wife in 1979! All I can remember about the laser effects was that I was pleasantly surprised. I could not believe that I had been so frightened. Successive visits were not a big deal. I was more concerned about retinal deterioration. Would it stop? Well, I can still see without glasses - I only wear them for close work.

I get cripling head aches with the drops, apparently it's cos of the pressure in my eyes, which the 1st treatment will fix.
Round 2 will be to stop the bleeds.

Very nervous but with the sounds of it it'll not be as bad as í think.
Fingers crossed
 

Lhardy5973

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Hi McOwarth,

I was diagnosed with severe proliferative retinopathy in both eyes in January 2017 aged 25 (teen years of not giving a monkey and wanting to be normal certainly caught up with me too!!) like you I was incredibly nervous before my first lot of laser- but was remarkably suprised!! It genuinely isn’t as bad as you’d think.
As it stands I’ve now had 4sets of “standard” medical retina team laser on both eyes- this was at most uncomfortable but I always found the doctor doing it to be watching and attentive to this. Unfortunatly, the laser in my right eye wasn’t as successful as they’d hoped (its worse) leading to a “big massive” (according to one of my hospital letters ) vitreous heammorage which led to me being unable to see out of half my right eye. This led to a referral to a vitro retinal team who initially did “aggressive laser” the same principle as standard but lots more of it and higher power. I’ve had this now to both eyes twice (I’m at the stage of if I need more it’s likely to begin effecting my pheripheral vision which as yet thankfully is completely present). I’ve been offered numbing injections for this laser but have always managed with just drops- I did find that it felt as if I’d been kicked in the head repeatedly for afew days on one eye but then on another this was more like a toddler kick - so this does hurt more (eg. Couldn’t keep eye open and sunlight killed!!) but again this is much more aggressive form of laser- and it’s not disasterous by any means.

Normally- with the standard laser- I’ve had to adjust the brightness of my phone screen etc but I’ve been perfectly fine to return to work afterwards. They say to take some paracetamol and ibuprofen before anyhow- although I don’t it may help for you.

Let us know how you get on- and don’t panic- you’ll probably laugh at yourself after - I know I did!!
 
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McOwarth

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Hi McOwarth,

I was diagnosed with severe proliferative retinopathy in both eyes in January 2017 aged 25 (teen years of not giving a monkey and wanting to be normal certainly caught up with me too!!) like you I was incredibly nervous before my first lot of laser- but was remarkably suprised!! It genuinely isn’t as bad as you’d think.
As it stands I’ve now had 4sets of “standard” medical retina team laser on both eyes- this was at most uncomfortable but I always found the doctor doing it to be watching and attentive to this. Unfortunatly, the laser in my right eye wasn’t as successful as they’d hoped (its worse) leading to a “big massive” (according to one of my hospital letters ) vitreous heammorage which led to me being unable to see out of half my right eye. This led to a referral to a vitro retinal team who initially did “aggressive laser” the same principle as standard but lots more of it and higher power. I’ve had this now to both eyes twice (I’m at the stage of if I need more it’s likely to begin effecting my pheripheral vision which as yet thankfully is completely present). I’ve been offered numbing injections for this laser but have always managed with just drops- I did find that it felt as if I’d been kicked in the head repeatedly for afew days on one eye but then on another this was more like a toddler kick - so this does hurt more (eg. Couldn’t keep eye open and sunlight killed!!) but again this is much more aggressive form of laser- and it’s not disasterous by any means.

Normally- with the standard laser- I’ve had to adjust the brightness of my phone screen etc but I’ve been perfectly fine to return to work afterwards. They say to take some paracetamol and ibuprofen before anyhow- although I don’t it may help for you.

Let us know how you get on- and don’t panic- you’ll probably laugh at yourself after - I know I did!!
im hoping afterward there is no complications and í will still be able to drive.
Fear of the unknown with this one lol
 

Lhardy5973

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im hoping afterward there is no complications and í will still be able to drive.
Fear of the unknown with this one lol
It is the fear of the unknown I agree. I’ve always worn glasses for distance, the laser hasn’t had any real impact on my vision. I had to have a vitrectomy operation on my right eye in December 2017 as the blood wasn’t clearing and causing damage to my retina- that’s done more damage (tho I’m still road legal and it’s actially returned my distance vision but made my near sightedness worse!!! )

It’s a waiting game. But if your only having one eye done it’s not even delayed reportable. Good luck
 

McOwarth

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It is the fear of the unknown I agree. I’ve always worn glasses for distance, the laser hasn’t had any real impact on my vision. I had to have a vitrectomy operation on my right eye in December 2017 as the blood wasn’t clearing and causing damage to my retina- that’s done more damage (tho I’m still road legal and it’s actially returned my distance vision but made my near sightedness worse!!! )

It’s a waiting game. But if your only having one eye done it’s not even delayed reportable. Good luck
Both eyes im afraid.
Get the morning out of the way and I'm sure I'll laugh at how nervous í got
 
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Grant_Vicat

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I get cripling head aches with the drops, apparently it's cos of the pressure in my eyes, which the 1st treatment will fix.
Round 2 will be to stop the bleeds.

Very nervous but with the sounds of it it'll not be as bad as í think.
Fingers crossed
Wishing all goes well.
 

NicoleC1971

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Hi. Was lasered 14 years ago and it was uncomfy but not painful Eyes blurry so you cannot drive for a few hours and there are no effects after that.
Good luck and don't feel bad that your 5 years of poor control might have caused this or not.
Àlso I understand this is a very successful procedure. I think I was advised to take ibuprofen for the slight discomfort x
 
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McOwarth

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Hi. Was lasered 14 years ago and it was uncomfy but not painful Eyes blurry so you cannot drive for a few hours and there are no effects after that.
Good luck and don't feel bad that your 5 years of poor control might have caused this or not.
Àlso I understand this is a very successful procedure. I think I was advised to take ibuprofen for the slight discomfort x
Thank you
 

buckmr2

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Hi
I've had both eyes lasered numerous times for small bleeds. You'll not be allowed to drive for 12 hours It's "uncomfortable" as if you're looking at the sun. You'll likely feel some burning from the very bright laser which caused me slight discomfort. My eyes were streaming with the intense brightness so had to ask the specialist to stop a few times. For up to 30 mins afterwards on a few occasions I could only see shades of grey another time it was yellow and grey. Got to the point where there was so much scar tissue from years of lasering it left nowhere to laser so in subsequent treatments I had to have eye injections (lucentis).
My peripheral vision hasn't been affected noticeably (backed up by easily passing the peripheral vision sight test for my driving licence medical)
Good luck and don't worry about it as if you need a quick rest they'll stop.
(Last treatment I had was probably 2 years ago).
 
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McOwarth

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Just wondering how you’d got on mcowarth? All well I hope
Hey. Not too bad. Lots of waiting around which made me more anxious, but thankfully my friend was with me to keep me calm.
It was uncomfortable, one of the nurses had to press my head against the holder thing cos í kept flinching. Eyes were quite bad after for distance but í could see up close, and everything seemed a little too bright.
Eyes are a lot better this morning just got a killer head ache.
I'm not as worried about ríe next lot cos í know what's coming lol

All in all it was a lot of worrying for something that's all done in 24hrs bar the headache.
 
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Lauriem1967

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Hey. Not too bad. Lots of waiting around which made me more anxious, but thankfully my friend was with me to keep me calm.

That’s great, I’m so glad everything went well and it wasn’t too bad or painful. It’s so true that the nerves we get before a procedure are usually the worst part of the treatment.
Good going, I’m glad it’s done and you can try to focus on other things now.