I had my procedure at Optical Express in Milton Keynes and can recommend them wholeheartedly (provided you are satisfied and comfortable with the risks). All the staff have been wonderful, particularly Trevor (optometrist) and my surgeon Mr. Stefan Klopper.

There is quite a lot of information around but I thought it would be a good idea to share with you a couple of things I came to discover after surgery which I hadn't read on the web or seen on the many videos available on YouTube.

As many have already said, while the surgery isn't painful, it was bit uncomfortable, I felt a lot of pressure on my eyes as they were secured just prior to the lasers doing their work. The operation lasts 10-15 minutes, it's all over very quickly. After the operation I immediately noticed an improvement in my eyesight; for some folks with high prescription I imagine the difference can be quite stunning.

Once the local anaesthetic wore off, I found that my eyes became very heavy, light sensitive and streaming with tears. About an hour later, the pain sensation I experienced was about the same level as a severe toothache (definitely not as mild as peeling onions!); I realise this isn't the same for everybody. I couldn't lie down for the first 4 hours, preferring to sit upright to manage my pain. I found myself feeling very thirsty, drinking a lot of water during that time. If I had to go through the process again I would take a stronger pain-killer than paracetamol, maybe something with codeine in it. After 4-5 hours I was able to rest properly for a couple of hours before venturing a peep without the protective goggles they provide.

It's important to realise that while some people are claiming excellent vision literally after the surgery, your experience may be different. Especially if you have a moderate prescription and have a very high level of expectation. In my case, I had some reservations at the one week check up. It appeared to me that one eye gave me slightly better vision than the other (despite both having the same prescription pre-op and having the same treatment). I was having a little difficulty focusing and maintaining a perfect sharp image in various light conditions with a little blurring in one of my eyes. Despite that I was able to read the eye chart at better than 20/20 (which did little to reassure me!)

The optometerist tried to reassure and said my eyes were still healing and seemed confident asking me to visit again in a week. I continued to stick to the regime of instilling eye drops meticulously (I had completed my course of antibiotic and anti-inflammatory and continued with the artificial tears).

Over the next weeks I noticed improvements in my vision every 3-4 days; after applying artificial tears I noticed my eyes find it much easier to focus and obtain a very sharp image in different ambient light conditions.

Now in my third week and my eyes are much more settled and I'm very happy with the outcome!! 20/10 apparently!! The optometrist confirmed my observations and said that what I was experiencing is normal particularly if you like I have a 'high tear break-up' (i.e. your tears don't stay for long before breaking up and disappearing). Over the coming months the nerves around the flap will continue to heal and hopefully my tear production will hopefully be back to normal (which is essential for the best vision). In the meantime the optometerist has supplied me with Celluvisc eye drops for dry eyes which only need to be instilled four times a day. They seem to do the trick very nicely!!

All in all I've had a very good experience, and I hope my post has emphasized the importance of patient after-care which has been excellent at Optical Express - Milton Keynes branch.