Ultralase

I had my eyes corrected back in 1991 at Clatterbridge. 17 years ago!! I am now 42 and still have no need to wear glasses. Can't remember the name of the surgeon - he was Indian. Anyone know?

excellent!! Wish i had it done before now!! 20/20 vision!

I thought ill leave a comment as this site helped me decided who i went with. I had a consultation with accuvision and ultralase, both in london, in November. I decided these two places as they both had very good reviews from this website. My prescription is -4 in both eyes and -1 agtism in both to. I had been wearing glasses for 12 years. My first consultation was with Accuvision where I thought the consultation was very good and informative. I couldn’t fault the optometrist who spent a lot of time in answering any questions and made me feel at ease. The clinic seemed very professional and spaced out leaving me with every confidence in them. I was quoted £1700 both eyes, ultralisik non wavefront. The next day, I had a consultation with Ultralase in Tottenham court road, London, who i had been recommended by a friend. The clinic was very small and seemed a bit cramped. Although the staffs there were friendly, I just seemed like i was rushed around and never really felt at ease. I honestly got the impression that they were trying to sell me their most expensive operations (intralase and wavefront) and were trying to serve me as quick as possible so they could serve the next customer. This didnt give me a very good opinion of the place. However, on the plus side, it did seem like they used more advanced technology. I was quoted £3770 Intralase ultralasik +wavefront which was much more then i thought i would pay before i decided i wanted surgery. Before, i went to ultralase, i was 80% certain that i would have my surgery with them, However, since my visit didn’t leave a good impression, this left me with a dilemma. After thinking about it (for about an hour). I decided to go with Ultralase. Although they were more expensive and i didn’t have the best experience, I just kept thinking that there must be a reason why they charge so much. As everyone says ‘its your eyes, so give it the best’ so I guess the higher the price the better the service. So, I managed to get the operation next day with Dr Gupta, who is a genius (according to my optometrist). For any one who is scared of this operation, DON’T BE!!!! Its just feels a bit uncomfortable and I had a little problem with staring at the shiny light with my left eye (but its not a problem). About 30min after the operation, I had a little eye test, I could only read up to half way down the letters, but they said that is only normal and it takes time. I then went home and spent the rest of the day in bed hoping to wake up, with exceptional eyesight. To my disappointed, I woke up and my eyesight was slightly worse, which got me a bit worried. However, Ultralase do next day check-ups after surgery, hence this allowed me to see an optometrist the next day so they could do a check up and answer any questions that I may have. I still could barely read half way down the letters, and was thinking if something has gone wrong here. But the optometrist said that with my current vision, I am able to legally drive which I thought was funny cause I couldn’t see much. She also said that my eyes are very dry and to the eye drops more frequent (like once every 40-60min). I was still a little scared that my eyesight wouldn’t improve but the optometrist was reassuring that my eyes will slowly get better. I ended up taking two weeks of work for it to recover, but that was because I was being extra safe. Four months on, my eyes are 20/20, although my left is slightly worse than my right, but I can’t complain as I don’t have to wear glasses anymore. Just to end it, I would recommend laser eye surgery to anyone (if they could do it). Ultralase are excellent, I get seen fairly efficiently and get eye drops whenever I need to. Don’t be scared of the operation and it doesn’t last long. Don’t expect instant recovery, it takes a while before you get good vision!!!! Thanks for reading, hope it help!!! Good luck to anyone wanting to do it.

Although upon my first visit to Ultralase Tottenham Court Road I found my Personal Adviser to be something of a used car salesman - I did ultimately have a very good experience with my laser eye treatment. The process was quick and took my eyes from -8.5 and -7.25 to 20/20 the following day. I had slightly dry eyes for a about 3 months and I took the first week after my treatment off work on sick leave as my eyes were getting uncomfortable at the computer - but not everyone has this problem. My only complaint with the procedure - and this may be something to expect particularly in London - was that the nurse doing my treatment had a bad grasp of English yet was doing all the talking to me throughout the procedure. When she said 'Is that ok Darren?' I thought it obvious I was required to respond with Yes or No - but when I did say Yes she then exclaimed that I should not be talking at this point in the procedure and that my movement could effect the job! Obviously I was not happy about this bad communication and complained about it later – of course it could have been to late. Luckily everything was fine. They signed me off last week still having perfect 20/20 vision 8 months later. Something to bear in mind is if you have hay fever plan ahead and avoid the time of year when you’re likely to encounter irritation. If it hadn't been for the confusion during surgery from the nurse then the surgeon would have got a 5 star rating from me.

Thank you for your prompt reply. This is the essence of my treatment from Optical Express throughout time with the Cambridge store ie; prompt,friendly but professional. I had my laser 'ops' done around July 2007. From the moment my wife and I visited the Cambridge branch we were impressed with the way the staff put us at ease. We had varied tests and because of the way it was all explained I decided to go ahead with the procedure. This has turned out to be the best decision of my life with regard to my eyes. I can now see better than at any time since I was 15 years of age. Thanks to Tom Matterman (the surgeon). But my reason to write to you is heap praise on the following staff and commend them to your company. If you have an internal award, this group of people are most deserving. Elaine the manager, Paul Ortiz the counsellor, Lorna at the desk, and of course Mitesh the Laser Optometrist were the most caring and efficient staff we have ever dealt with. As you can probably tell from the tone of this letter we cannot thank them enough for the pre 'op' honest information, and the post 'op' care that was given. One other bit of praise is due and that is for Paul Carey, counsellor, who was an integral part of the above team until moving to another branch in Ireland. It would be nice to know if their service to us and your company is appreciated, and rewarded. One final bit of information for you,thanks to the above several of our family and friends are going to consider having this treatment done, and will attend the Cambridge clinic. Best Regards Peter and Joan Ryde

I had been thinking about laser eye surgery for many years and, after seeing many Ultralase ads on the web, decided to go for a free consultation with them. While their service was initially perfect (full brochure describing the procedure, friendly customer services team), I was very disappointed when I arrived at the Tottenham Court Road clinic. First of all, they made me wait for at least 30-40 minutes. Then I was rushed through several rooms – in the first room the eye test machines did not seem to work properly. The consultant took me to another room, where he struggled as well. He called some of his colleagues. Very soon three people were standing behind the eye test machine, telling me to focus, blink, etc. again and again. During the whole procedure nobody explained to me what they were doing and why this was taking so long. Once they had managed to print out the results of the initial tests (shape of my eye, cornea, etc) another consultant ran me through the procedure and explained which treatment would be most adequate for me. Granted, he was very competent and answered all my questions. I was then asked to return to the initial test room, where they tried some more tests – again. They ended up saying it would not work today and asked me to come back a few days later. Before leaving, though, they were very eager to book me for a treatment already, at £3800 for both eyes (wavefront lasik). I realised that this was clearly one of the higher prices in the market and, while cost was clearly not a top priority in my decision, the very mediocre impression of the clinic combined with the high price made me sceptical. I came back a few days later to complete the tests – this time it worked out. I also booked surgery for a few weeks later. However, I kept growing more sceptical after booking treatment as (1) I would have liked to meet the surgeon before treatment day, (2) I felt Ultralase was putting the money above everything else. I therefore ended up cancelling treatment with Ultralase and went with Advance Vision Care, who were excellent from beginning to end (and cheaper!). Ultralase might have made me as happy as AVC, but my decision was just taken on the basis of a bad gut feeling. Making the patient feel comfortable and confident is a key priority, in my view, for this kind of treatment, and here Ultralase clearly failed.

The procedure took 10 minutes per, and was painless. Before treatment, i couldn't read any of the lines on the opticians chart, and one hour after treatment, i could read all but the bottom line on the chart, and had better than 20-20 vision and better than driving standard vision. I am so happy with the results of my treatment, i have recommended Ultralase to all my friends and family. Thank you Ultralase

Looking at Darren's post below, I also had consultations at the Tott Court Road clinic and I have the same personal advisor so I know exactly who you mean (the "used car salesman" - haha!!!) I was scheduled to have the surgery done yesterday and met the nice nurse etc, beforehand, only to then be told by the surgeon that he did not want to perform on me. This is due to my high prescription (-7 and -8 , with astigmatism) and large pupils, therefore he did not want to remove too much tissue. It really angered me because I had the consultation and tests WEEKS ago and they obviously thought I was a suitable candidate to go ahead with it. The surgeon should have reviewed my file well before the procedure, not 10 mins beforehand - then at least I would not have completely wasted my time in booking days off work, paying the money, cancelling direct debits for my contact lenses, etc. I am being referred to another surgeon (Paul Cherry) to see if he is comfortable performing on me. Nonetheless, the experience yesterday highlights a gap inthe process somewhere and has really disappointed me.

Mr Stevenson is very thorough at the consultation ensuring you are suitable for the procedure. I was very nervous on the day but all the staff were very reassuring. The results are fantastic - I wish I had known about Mr Stevenson years ago, the best money I have ever spent!! Just had my first eye test with my local optician a year after the surgery and she was really impressed too. Thoroughly recommend it to everyone.

I waited over 40 minutes for first consultation before finally being told that my appointment had been double booked, staff really didn't seem to care how long I'd been waiting. Went through all the usual tests then which seemed to take forever. Optician gave some good explanations, but the staff who did the other tests explained nothing of what they were doing or why. When all the tests were finally complete I was told that my personal advisor would now discuss treatment options and prices with me. I wasn't happy at the discussion not being with an optician, but I ended up leaving as the pa wasn't available and would be about another 20 minutes. I was so fed up at this point that I said I was going home and they assured me that she would ring me later that day with prices. No call came. I rang back a couple of days later to be told that she was probably busy and would get back to me as soon as possible. Finally got a call back two weeks later, in the meantime I'd had a consultation and treatment at Accuvision who were amazing, professional, friendly and half the price. I couldn't fault them, whereas I could find nothing worthwhile to say about Ultralase.