I had the lasik wavefront procedure at the Southampton branch. The team were very efficient and professional, the nurse who looked after me was very reassuring which helped to settle my nerves. Mrs McGraw herself was very nice and also reassuring and the whole operation was done with a calm but highly efficient air. The nurse will stress to you that you must not move during the op, and not tense up whilst wearing the eye brace because this causes the skin flaps around the eyes to interfere with the procedure - this did become the focus of my attention perhaps more than what was going on, which may not be a bad thing. The position you are in with one eye covered and the other experiencing alternate blurring/focussing on a red light becomes very disorientating and I found it difficult to tell whether I was tensing or not, or even if I was moving! However, it was all over very quickly, there was no pain and the whole thing was only mildly uncomfortable. I experienced mild pain when the numbing drops wore off, for which painkillers were very effective. I kept my eyes pretty much closed on the way home and for a couple of hours, but even half and hour after the surgery I could already tell my sight was good. A few hours later I was pain and discomfort free and my sight was comparable to wearing my contact lenses. The next morning my sight was excellent and I could have easily driven with no problem.

The whole experience was much better than anticipated and the pain and discomfort were less than I expected, and I would absolutely recommend the procedure. I have to say I had been very, very nervous beforehand, but I would assure you that you will be so delighted not only with the results but with the pride of having overcome your fears.

My only maybe negative observation was that we were treated a bit like a conveyor belt, I could not believe the number of patients having the procedure at the same time as me, which led to some waiting time, which in itself is not a good thing if you are already nervous.

As regards to Optical Express themselves, I would urge other patients to make sure they have been made fully aware of the monovision versus single vision procedures, ie whether your prescription will leave you needing reading glasses following the treatment. I was not given all the information on this at my original consultation, but luckily saw a further optician leading up to procedure who was able to change the prescription to a distance one. Another patient who I talked to had no idea until the day of the procedure that she would need reading glasses with the treatment she was scheduled for, which was a total surprise to her, so she decided to go for monovision at a later date. In actual fact I myself have ended up not only with good distance vision but my reading vision is much better than they said it would be, and I can manage most reading, and computers, without glasses.