7 days ago I was -4.75 with astigmatism in both eyes and large pupils. Today I have gone back for my one week check up to be told that I have no prescription whatsoever and have better than 20:20 vision. Furthermore I've been at work all week in front of my laptop (for 14 hours on Wednesday) and experienced no sight problems or discomfort at all!
The surgery itself was unbelievably easy. Waiting in the waiting room beforehand I ought to have been worried, but it was impossible to be as every 15 mins someone emerged from the surgery room with an enormous smile on their face. Very reassuring. Then it was less than 20 mins from when I was called in to when I myself emerged. There was just no time to get worried. Personally if there's pain to be felt, I'll feel it. So when I read everyone else saying there's no pain I was a little doubting. But they were right, there really is none. In fact, the most pain I experienced was when I woke up the following morning and had to take off the eye shields which were stuck to my face using a type of tape. It was like removing a plaster.

When choosing my clinic I had had no recommendations so they were all starting from an equal position. After reviewing this site I decided upon Accuvision or Optical Express (I also booked with Ultralase and Optimax but their appointments were not for a month and I was so sold after seeing Accuvision I booked the surgery for two weeks later. I had been considering surgery and been to see Ultralase 3 years ago so I didn't feel that I was rushing things but felt that I should go and see another clinic to be sure. Optical Express was booked for the following weekend so I decided to attend that appointment. We got off to a bad start when I turned up on time and then waited for 20 mins before going into my appointment and the staff were not particularly informative or apolgetic about it. My optician was very nice, although had to get some help working the first piece of test equipment as it was set to the wrong settings. I tried asking some questions about the surgery and laser that I had from my research but she was unable to answer properly and I got the impression she had her script and did not know enough to detour from it. After quoting me a price higher than Accuvision I was sat in the waiting room again before speaking to a 'Sales Counseller' who was basically a sales person. Accuvision do not offer Intralase. Optical Express do and think it's amazing. My sales lady proceeded to answer every question and argument I had for the microkeratome with 'But we are best. I can tell you Intralase is best'. that failed to convince me and instead annoyed me. I left knowing that I wanted to go with Accuvision as they had been so helpful, so knowledgeable and completely un-forceful. I felt totally relaxed at the Fulham branch, whereas the reading Optical Express branch left me feeling bothered and untrusting. However I knew I needed to look into the Intralase vs Microkeratome issue further. After much research I concluded that the two techniques are excellent in terms of risks etc. Both have slightly different risks i.e. flap complications (fixable) with the microkeratome or blade and increased light sensitivity and more suction on the eye with the Intralase. I decided that both would give excellent results and that I didn't want to pay an extra £1000 to go with Optical Express. So I phoned to cancel (I had put a deposit down to secure the coming Friday as I was being impatient) which took 4 phone calls. I had to speak to a sales counsellor again who pretty much told me that i would be stupid to not have intralase and made cancellation very difficult and stressful. Their basic technique is to not take no for an answer and eventually wear you down.

Anyway. Accuvision have been amazing form the beginning. From having the phone answered by Joan (one of the optometrists) who was lovely and knowledgeable from the start. My consultation was then with her and as I said before she answered all my questions and seemed to know and understand what she was talking about.

To conclude this long spiel (sorry it's so long!! but this site really helped me because of the level of information some people provided and I wanted to do the same). The procedure itself is amazing, and whether you go with the microkeratome or intralase the risks are very low (do some of your own research and decide whether you want to pay more for Intralase. The high street clinics sing it's praises but that's because it sounds better - who likes the idea of a man with a blade near your eye, although during surgery it looked just like a metal ring, not a blade - and they can charge you more for it. I did also conclude that I would probably have got excellent vision with most of the clinics, I went with Accuvision because they gave me the best feeling. And as everyone says, anyone with glasses should do this. There is NO reason not to.

Finally, thanks to all at Accuvision; Optometrists Vik and Joan were so good, and my surgeons Dr's Prashant and Darius did an amazing job on the day. I went out in the rain today and and didn't get rain all over my glasses. Amazing!!