I had my surgery at Optimax Finchley Road in London by Dr Patel.
The whole experience from start to finish was very professional and all the staff did their best to put me at ease.

After seeing the advert on TV for cheap eye surgery, I decided to look into it and booked a consultation (£30 which was taken off the final cost of the surgery).
You are taken through the usual eye tests plus a few extra to see if you are a candidate for surgery and if so, which type. My prescription was -2.25 in each eye with a mild astigmatism in one eye. I was told I could go for epi-Lasek or Lasik. I decided to go for Lasik which was the most expensive option but I felt the best. I also opted for Intralase (where they make the incision with a laser rather than manually) and had to have Wavefront as I have large pupils. However, as the Wavefront procedure is more tailored to your individual eyes, I would have taken this option anyway. The consultation was with an Optician, not the surgeon. You do not meet the surgeon until the day of surgery.

On the day of the surgery, I had a few quick eye tests and then a chat to the surgeon. Dr Patel was lovely and very quickly put me at ease. Then unfortunately, I had to wait about 3 hours before my surgery took place. This was due to one of the other surgeons having to leave for a personal emergency so Dr Patel was trying to cover. When it was time, I was taken into the first room where the incision was made. You have aesthetic eye drops which stop you from feeling anything and one eye is covered while the other is being worked on so once the incision has been made, you can't see anything either. The experience was a little uncomfortable as you have a ring fitted into your eye to keep your eye lids open and slight suction is applied to the eye before the incision which feels quite strange.
I was then taken into the main theatre for the actual laser surgery. At this point, it was like looking through frosted glass as the incisions had been made but the flaps had not been yet opened.
During the surgery, all you can see are tiny little coloured dots. The laser is quite loud and I did jump when it first started but you soon get used to this. There is also a slight smell of burning but this is by no means over-powering and dissipates very quickly. The whole procedure from start to finish takes about 15 mins.
I was then led back to the waiting room and told to sit still, without talking whilst wearing sunglasses for about 30mins. After this time, the surgeon took another look at my eyes just to check everything was ok. I was then given all my drops and instructions and sent home. I did experience some pain about an hour after surgery but it just felt like i had shampoo in my eyes and after taking 2 ibuprofen and 2 paracetomol, the pain went away. Make sure you have someone with you to administer the eye drops on the first night as I found I was unable to. You have to sleep with eye guards taped to your face for the first week which is quite uncomfortable and also have to wear swimming goggles to shower. Ladies, no eye make-up for at least two weeks either.
The next day, i went back for my first after care appointment. One eye was up to 20:20 vision but the other was taking a little longer to heal which is normal. I found I was very sensitive to light and wore my sunglasses inside and outside for the first week. I was back at work 3 days after surgery. Following my second aftercare appointment, I now have 20:20 vision in both eyes and couldn't be happier.
You have to go through a couple of weeks of discomfort, wearing the eye guards, goggles, sunglasses and constantly putting eye drops in, but within a month this is all over and you are left with perfect vision!!!
I'm very happy with the results and very pleased I chose to go with Optimax.
One good hint, you can get money-off vouchers from eBay to reduce the cost of your surgery. I got £400 taken off the cost of mine.