Key Post: Laser Eye Surgery

My wife wants to get the laser job done on her eyes.

€2,700 per eye in Dublin.
or
€850 (£600) per eye in Belfast/UK

How can a 300%+ price difference be justified?

RIP OFF IRELAND lives!!!

Do you really consider surgery such as this a commodity (to the point where price is the only differentiator)?

Milk, possibly. Elective procedure with a risk of leaving vision impaired, no.

Do you really consider surgery such as this a commodity (to the point where price is the only differentiator)?

Click to expand...

you are talking rubbish in implying that the services offered in belfast are inferior. All their medical people operate in a similarly regulated environment to down here. at the prices quoted they probably get in a lot more practise than the people down here and would therefore be a safer bet if anything.

I'm sure I remember reading before that you can claim tax relief for this procedure? If so, can you still claim it if going north to get it done??

I checked this out recently:

E2000 per eye in Cork
E1995 per eye in Waterford
E2100 in the Blackrock Clinic

Then the UK.... the cheapest was Optimax at ST£850 per eye, but I rang the Revenue and you can't claim tax relief on a procedure done abroad unless it's unavailable in Ireland. So the prices for me were, say:

E4000 in Ireland with 40% tax relief = E2400
or ST£1700 in the UK with no tax relief = E2456

I reconsidered having my eyes lasered after my sister in law who is an opthamologist (eye surgeon type) told me what the risks are. In the UK they are considering taking it off the NHS as they feel the risks are too high. Also no opthamologist that my sister-in-law knows who are short-sighted would ever get their eyes lasered themselves.

oinseach: at a guess I would say thats against EU rules.

Thanks for the figures oinseach.

Hi Setanta,

Tell me more about these EU rules..?

I had it done several years ago. A very good reason to have it done locally is access to after-care. I had PRK rather than LASIK as LASIK wasn't as common back then. I had to see the surgeon the following day, as well as a week and/or several weeks later as far as I remember. That's not very convenient if you have to travel to the UK.
LASIK might be different of course.

Hi diyguyjoe, would you mind explaining PRK and LASIK a bit more?

Another example of a redistribution of tax from the tax payer to, in this case, surgeons. Without this tax relief, they would probably have to charge similar to UK prices, but can get away with charging over double because of this relief.

Yep, rip off ireland lives on.

Bullsh!t

Hi Oinseach,

Slightly off topic. Just wondering if the tax reclaim applies to Northern Ireland. I see some of the dentists in the North say that they will complete Med 2 forms for work done up there.

oinseach; apologies for misunderstanding. What I meant was is it legal for the revenue not to allow expenses incurred in another eu country for this sort of treatment? they are quick enough to tax any profits or interest earned abroad. I suspect that under eu free trade rules you would be entitled to claim tax refund.

Hi sunnyday

PRK is photorefractive keratectomy. There's a good description of various techniques here:
www.prk.com/

PRK doesn't involve the cutting of a flap. The surface of the cornea is lasered directly.

I believe the aftermath of PRK is more painful and it takes a bit longer for vision to clear.

Back in those days, LASIK was not commonly used for moderate myopia. I was -6. I believe LASIK is a lot more common now.

However, I am still delighted with the result today.

My brother in law is an eye surgeon, is short sighted, and has not had the op done. I will follow when he has it done.

There's a site which talks up the dangers of lasik surgery. A summary of the problems is that up to 10% of patients are unsatisfied with the results, usually due to either dry eyes or poor night vision. One Scottish surgeon stopped doing the operation when he realized 10% of his patients didn't get the second eye done.

lasikdisaster.com/
lasikdisaster.com/Scotlan...0risks.htm

Other interesting snippets are that Adam Clayton of U2 no longer drives at night as a result of lasik and Jennifer Capriati has problems playing tennis at night.

lasikdisaster.com/celebrities.htm

The web site is completely biased against lasik, but it's still worth reading as it's possible the medical staff earning a living from the procedure won't give the full picture.

[broken link removed] has a more balanced take.

BTW, it's recommended that you don't get corrective surgery on your eyes untill you have finished your family (this applies only to women!) as pregnancy can affect your eyesight, I think. This would be something to ask your GP/surgeon as it's just something I've heard, and I'm not a medical professional!

Hi Setanta,

I will post a question in the tax forum about EU rules/fair trade, as I only know what the pleasant lady on the phone in the Revenue Commissioners told me.

As I understand it, the technology in use in LASIK is changing frequently, so there is no real long term track record of patients 10 years after the operation.