Prior to having the Bilateral Wavefront Lasik surgery in April 2004 I had worn glasses for about 8 years. Initially I had needed glasses for night driving and for definition in reading a screen at a presentation or movie, for example, but it developed to a point where I needed them all the time (albeit my prescription was relatively minor at -1.50/-1.75 (right) and -0.75/-1.50 (left). I am very physically active (golf, skiing, fitness) and found the hassle of glasses a major factor. I first became interested in eye surgery when I heard that Tiger Woods (Ranked No.1 professional golfer) had it done. I decided that for to him have the surgery, from a risk perspective involved hundreds of millions of dollars and being totally reliant on the quality of his eyesight, then the success rate must be pretty good.

To be honest, the deciding factor for me in chosing LaserVision as opposed to a cheaper high street option was a combination of three factors (1) if they were good enough for Richard Branson then they must be damned good (2) they were more expensive than a lot of their competitors and (3) the surgery would be carried out by the same surgeon that is advertised on their website, Michael Jeffrey i.e. I was guaranteed a level of experience. Wrongly or rightly I made the assumption/linkage that price was a reflection of quality (you get what you pay for) and that their equipment would be as good as you could get. My thinking was "you can save £500 on your holiday, but don't mess with your eyes, you only have one pair!"

I have nothing but good things to say about LaserVision. I have recommended them to friends, one of them has since had the surgery done and feels the same as I do. I have just had my final check up after 12 months and have to say other than a couple of minutes of mild discomfort during surgery, followed by a few hours during which your eyes sting a little, that is it. I tell my friends that on a scale of 1 to 10 in comparison to having a filling at the dentist, the process is about a 4. It is amazing that the surgery takes as little as 40 secs per eye (I understand that this increases slightly depending on your prescription).

Over this last 12 month period I have been doing a full time MBA at Henley Management College. This has involved a huge amount of reading and work on the laptop and it has never been a problem. The first month or so I experienced dry eyes after long periods on the laptop but that was sorted out by the drops that I prescribed. This only lasted a month or so and now I never have to use the drops even after long intensive periods on the laptop or reading.

The staff at LaserVision are all incredibly supportive and know what they are doing. A major reassurance was that everything that happened in surgery was exactly as they had explained to me the day before - nobody likes suprises!

I believe that the quality of my vision is better now than when I wore glasses and the feeling of freedom is fantastic. No more lenses and cleaning glasses!

Having been through the treatment I attribute a lot of the negative perception relating to laser eye surgery to two main issues:

(1) ignorance - the technology has progressed massively over the last 10 years and this is reflected in the process. Somebody that had surgery 10 years ago would have a totally different perception of the process and recovery time.

(2) After care and taking care of yourself. I was very careful about not touching my eyes and covering them overnight with the guards provided and followed the instruction regarding the anti-biotic drops and moisturizing drops religously. I hear stories about people that have taken short cuts in this respect and link the "horror stories" to perhaps an element of not following the post operative guidelines (which are explained in detail to you).

There is obviously an element of risk in all these things, but in my case the risk has been far exceeded by the benefits.