I have just had Wavefront Lasik at the Shaftsbury Avenue clinic to correct my prescription of –1.00 and –1.75.

Mild perhaps but it stopped me from driving, cinema, recognising friends on the other side of the pub etc without needing glasses or contacts and I wanted to invest in the benefits of better sight for the long term.

Optical Express offer a free consultation and whilst this is comprehensive do be prepared for a bit of a hard sell afterwards where they try to get you to book dates for surgery. If it doesn’t feel right think about it for a while.
As others have said the £395 per eye advertised is for very mild prescriptions – even for mine the price offered was £695 per eye but then they recommended wavefront as my pupils were 7mm. (Anyone with pupils > 7mm is said to benefit from Wavefront which helps reduce any unwanted glare or haloes at night. Of course this bumps up the price and I ended up paying £995 per eye.

My advice to anyone would be to ask about a discount at this initial consultation as I have since found out that if you mention other competitors are cheaper (e.g. ultralase) and ask to price match they will often offer a 10% discount.

They do offer interest free instalments over 10 months however which is a good option.

Having said all that I was very keen to go ahead anyway and was lucky enough to get a Saturday slot for the surgery just 10 days after my initial visit.

The surgeon was Stefan Klopper who had replaced Mr Giladi at the last minute due to illness. The slot is 3 hours long but most of this is waiting around and getting a few final checks. This is also the time when you’ll get the wavefront scan if you opt for this. Finally I was called in. The staff were excellent and great in putting me at ease. They were very reassuring and good at explaining what was happening at all times.
The surgery was completely painless. I would describe it more as mildly uncomfortable but very quick. It seemed to take just 10 minutes. My advice would be to relax as much as possible. The stretchy thing they put on your eye to hold it open can apparently hurt a little if you try to resist it so I just relaxed and kept my eye wide open. I didn’t notice any difference in the surgery between each eye. Stefan Klopper had a good professional manner and did an excellent job.
Immediately afterwards I was surprised could see quite well. My vision was a little blurry but not bad at all. How you rest afterwards is as important as the op itself. I went home, put on the goggles provided and lay in bed for 4 hours with my eyes shut. Then watched a bit of telly but it did feel like I was straining my eyes. Used the eyedrops provided and went to bed and next morning was a HUGE improvement. Still felt like eyes were adjusting/repairing but I could notice a major improvement. Went in for my next day check up and it seems my eyes are much better than 20/20 on day one and due to improve (stabilise) over the next week if I continue to use the eyedrops as instructed (very important as infection can cause complications). I plan to be back at work on Tuesday. Aftercare is very important so be sure to not rub your eyes and follow the nurses advice, avoid dusty, smokey environments etc.

Also be prepared to give your eyes time to fully stabilise after the surgery – everyone is different in this respect. It can take 3 days or several weeks so its good to be patient. Overall I’m extremely pleased with everything to date and the Optical Express service. It can seem a little like a production line but the standards are extremely high and my surgeon was excellent. Based on my personal experience I would thoroughly recommend Optical Express to anyone who has decided to proceed with Lasik. I’m a happy man.