Surgeon: Osama Giledi
Surgery: Lasik Wavefront
Location: Shaftesbury Ave
Date: 14 Oct

I had a prescription of: +3.5 Longsighted and -2.5 astigmatism in both eyes. Optimax and AVC wouldn’t touch me with this prescription, Ultralase dithered over whether I should have Lasik or Lasek (something to do with my eye socket structure for cutting the flap). Optical Express said they could do it no problem.

I’ll summarise my findings first: Optical Express’s admin seems to be organised chaos, the surgeon Osama Giledi is a top bloke who did a great job, and the results after 10 days are encouraging but not spectacular as yet.

Having already had admin issues with the Reading branch while attempting to pay for the treatment, arriving at Shaftesbury Avenue for my surgery last Saturday was not the most calming experience. The waiting room was packed with many people sitting on the floor and stairs because there were no available chairs. This seemed to be due to many people having consultations and bringing all their extended family along for a day out. Once the pre-op checks started, things calmed down, well at least I did.

I very nearly didn’t proceed with the op. They couldn’t stabilise my prescription (although they knew what it was) as the pre-op WaveScan system was giving mixed results. This is common with longsighted/astigmatism allegedly as the eyes compensate for each other. Dr Giledi the surgeon made it clear that he would not operate unless 100% satisfied. After 10 attempts, I got there.

The operation itself was a nightmare – not being dramatic, but that’s the way I felt. I’m a big bloke who’s had lots of pain before on a rugby field, but the eye clamps were horrendous. Due to my prescription, I had a longer than usual ‘burn time’ under the laser.. 100 seconds. And while the flap cutting and laser were painless, the clamps were anything but. Dr Giledi and his assistants were great as they constantly told me what was happening (shouting over the noise of the laser).

Result: Initially there was no WOW factor. My eyesite was very blurry for a few days and I couldn’t focus on anything further than 3 feet away. Over the last week, my eyesite has improved greatly. My right eye is now better than 20-20, but my left eye is not there yet. My short vision (looking at a PC) is excellent, my medium vision is OK and improving, but my long distance vision is not good at present. I’m told this is normal and will improve over the next month or 2. (Interestingly although I’m 20-20 in my right eye, my right eye can still not see long distance so these theoretical measures can be misleading….)

My advice. Get it done, but be realistic. Try and discard a lot of the euphoria in these reviews (much of it understandable), and be prepared to be patient, especially if you have a complex prescription such as mine. Do not brush over or discard the potential pitfalls and pay attention to the healing process. It may take longer than you think, or are told. Any questions, feel free to email me.