This is on behalf of my wife Paola. She had bilateral LASIK with Miss Ficker on 18/01/2002. Paola had no myopia or hyperopia but high astigmatism (-6.0 and -6.5). A few private clinics had already rejected her on the basis of her astigmatism alone, so we visited Moorfields to investigate other surgical possibilities. We were quite surprised when Miss Ficker told us that LASIK would be perfectly possible. She was patient and thorough in the consultation and advised Paola to think carefully about the surgery and even gave her the details of a recommended contact lens practitioner in case she wanted to try that instead (she'd only used glasses). We had to wait about 5 weeks for an appointment, and we were both getting rather worried. I read various horror stories on the internet and compiled a list of what I hoped were searching (but were probably just naive) questions for Miss Ficker which I emailed to her. I was particularly concerned that Paola's astigmatism was very high and that other clinics had refused her. Miss Ficker answered my questions and reassured me somewhat. On the big day we went into the main hospital after paying for the operation, and waited a short time for Miss Ficker. After a final eye test, everything was ready. Miss Ficker allowed me into the laser room so that I could translate her instructions to Paola. Paola said that the operation was quite painful (the suction ring especially) but there was very little pain afterwards. We went home with the eye drops. Paola's eyes were very sensitive to light and her vision was very blurred. Over the next few days her vision gradually improved and continues to improve. There have been no side-effects and she's very happy with the outcome of the operation. We would recommend Moorfields. They have good equipment (the latest VisX model) and of course the surgeons are recognised experts in cornea surgery. I'd much rather go to someone who does all kinds of eye surgery than someone who just does LASIK. I also believe that a good surgeon is much more important than having the flashiest equipment.