I've been quite disturbed by the postings of Craig Ross. Whilst he's obviously spent a considerable amount of time researching refractive corrective surgery his knowledge cannot in anyway approach that of a corneal surgeon. This site has been designed to assist individuals reach an informed decision as to which treatment is most suitable to them. Non experts like ourselves should really restrict our advice to our experience of eye surgery consultations rather than present a one-sided view on our preferred surgical technique.

I had lasik surgery performed in May of this year. I previously had a prescription of -4.75 in both eyes. Shortly after surgery I had a zero prescription and 6/4 result (two lines better than 6/6) in both eyes. I attended a private clinic where lasik was the only corrective option. The surgery was performed by a consultant opthamologist/corneal surgeon. The possible complications of the creation of the flaps were fully explained to me. My surgeon however reassured me that should this very unlikely complication occur either during or subsequent to surgery and even then he was more than qualified to deal with it - corneal grafts etc. are his bread and butter work.

My surgeon only started performed corrective surgery within the past 18 months or so as he felt that techniques weren't of a sophisticated/advanced enough nature to justify risks involved with any type of corrective surgery. He does not perform lasek as has no confidence in the technique - he cited the use of alcohol on the eye as one of his reasons.

Like the postings from the corneal surgeon on this site he is in charge of a tertiary referral centre. From the comments posted by "Corneal Surgeon" I know that they are not the same person. We therefore have two UK corneal surgeons who do not perform lasek surgery due to reservations about the technique. Opinion among the experts is therefore very divided as to which is the preferable technique - lasik or lasek. It is therefore unfair/unwise of Craig Ross to post such strongly worded material on a subject he is not an expert - no matter how well read he is. Lay visitors to this site such make decisions on experiences of others who have undergone surgery and advice from corneal profressionals as to the best technique for their needs.