Having looked over this website (which I found very helpful!:) I decided to try consultations at two clinics: Optical Express in Reading and Accuvision in Fulham. I was hoping to prefer Accuvision to be honest because it was half the price, but decided on Optical Express for the following reasons:

1) Although the Accuvision optometrist was very explanatory and informative, he had a definite salesman vibe to him which I did not like.

2) The equipment, setup and to some degree his methods seemed more amateur compared to Optical Express.

3) I was expecting Accuvision to quote me £1100 (pounds) for both eyes and Optical Express £2200 (including Wavefront) but Accuvision quoted me £1500 whereas Optical Express was actually cheaper than I expected at £1990 (£695 per eye plus £300 for wavefront). Accuvision told me the quote was based on pupil size, cornea thickness, prescription, etc. but although I do have very large pupils, it wasn’t made crystal clear why I was being charged more.

I chose to have a second eye test at Optical Express as I was given an unusual prescription, and the second test seemed to be more accurate. They said that it could have been because of me not having worn my lenses for longer for the second check, and because I’m fairly young and I wear continuous-wear lenses which I rarely take out. I accepted their explanation and decided to go ahead with the surgery.

All checks were done by opthamologists/optometrists, and although the surgeon checked the paper work the physical checks on my eyes done by her and my final chat with her was very brief, but I guess their time is precious and everyone else is supposed to be well trained anyway.

The surgery was just strange rather than overly uncomfortable or unnerving, and the twenty minutes was over in no time. The discomfort hit after the local anaesthetic wore off (ask for a top up before you leave!) which was about half an hour, and my eyes ran and felt uncomfortable every time I opened. My slight cold didn’t help either. However the following morning I could see brilliantly and had only slight discomfort occasionally in one eye for another two days. The biggest continuing challenge has been getting out of the habit of rubbing them!

It’s now been over a month and I have 20:16 vision. The starburst effect around lights at night still hasn’t gone totally yet probably because of my large pupils but it is actually better than before the surgery (I just didn’t notice it before) so I can’t complain!

My thanks go to the people at Optical Express Reading.