At the Ultralase consultation both the optician and the sales girl were very knowledgeable and I was impressed with the fact Ultralase had the cutting edge technology to offer "Ultra" treatment which gives you very sharp peripheral vision. I decided just to go for wavefront (which corrects an 8.5mm diameter area for good night vision) because the "Ultra" treatment was £600 more. I was also had a history of problems with anaesthetic and Ultralase were happy to talk about different options although it turned out the normal local anaesthetic was fine.

I went with Ultralase not because I had heard anything bad about the other clinics (in fact I was very tempted by Optical express who offered the Wavefront treatment for £2,500) but because they felt more like a clinic than a shop and I had more access to the optician who could answer my technical questions than the sales person.

I had astigmatism of -2 and -1 and a prescription of +3.5 and +3.75.

Having read all the other review here I just have a few things to add about the procedure itself. To my mind the risks breakdown in to things they do wrong eg the technology/surgen and things I do wrong eg sensitive eyes, not using the drops and getting an infection. For the first I believe there are very few risks with the technology but the one area of human intervention was when they put the suction on my eye to hold it still for the cutting of the flap. For my left eye it hurt and for my right eye it didn't. If I'd had my wits about me I would have immediately said something because in retrospect the surgeon had probably not position the sucker correctly so more suction was needed to hold the eye in place. The result was it hurt at the time and my left eye was significantly more blood shot and uncomfortable for a week after. Having said that I'm am now fine. The other thing I would say is after the anaesthetic wore off I would describe the "discomfort" as like when I have been swimming under water with my eyes open and got chlorine in my eyes and they sting - for 3 hours. I can't recommend audio books enough for the recovery period because it was an excellent distraction and I could lie in a dark room with my eyes shut.