Moorfields Eye Hospital Private Clinic

I went to see Mr Mark Wilkins with my sister for laser treatment as I have worn glasses for far too long and I wanted to be able to see things without my glasses and be able to swim/scuba without contacts.

At the end of the very thorough consultation I was told that I had a severely detached retina in my right eye that needed immediate surgical attention and holes/tears in my left retina. I am just posting this message to say that it was only due to Mr Wilkins’ thorough examination that I still have my sight. I was told that if I had not gone to the consultation (which I had booked 2/3 months in advance) something would have happened so serious that it would have meant that the chances of losing my sight in my right eye would be very high. This was an absolute shock to both me sister and I since I had only gone in for a laser consultation! My sister was a little apprehensive to begin with that Mr Wilkins was fairly young, however, I wanted to post this message to say that the level of service received was far beyond anything one could imagine. Mr Wilkins delayed seeing his other patients in order to find us the best surgeon available in the hospital. Within 20 minutes I was see by Mr Robert MacLaren who is one of the best surgeons in the country for retinal detachments. I had surgery the next day (18th March) and I’m in recovery at the moment.

So, the moral of the story is, look after your eyes, pay to go to a good optician (not Specsavers whom I saw less than 2 months before who said my eyes were fine) and go to Moorfields Eye Hospital!

It is the day after my Wavefront eye surgery with Mr Gartry and I feel 15 years younger! (I’m 30), since that is when I first started wearing glasses. Apart from some minor difficulty in reading very close up and slightly bloodshot eyes (two things I will discuss with Mr Gartry tomorrow morning during my first follow-up consultation), my vision is extremely sharp and crisp. I can read things so small, so far away (I was short-sighted, -2.5 in each eye) It is like wearing the most perfect pair of glasses imaginable and each set of eye drops seems to make my vision even clearer!

I cannot believe how quick and easy the whole process was, from the first 90 minute consultation a couple of weeks ago to the final, 10 minute procedure yesterday. Mr Gartry was fantastic during the surgery, calmly talking you through every small step, which made me very reassured and never uncomfortable. It was at worst like being under water with your eyes open for about a minute (something that I could never do) but since you don’t feel anything, it felt perfectly normal.

Immediately following the surgery, my vision was slightly blurred, but there was no pain or discomfort, just a little feeling of dryness. Luckily, my girlfriend was able to drive me home so I could just close my eyes until we got there and once two full hours had passed since the op. I could put in the first set of eye drops (three different types, one in each eye) and from then on the dryness had never returned.

For the next week I will have to put in the drops every 2 hours, which is already proving quite tedious, but I know it is worth it in the long run. The other minor problem has been sleeping with goggles, which is something I have never done before so I was worried I would push them off at night so I did as they advised and taped them to my face with the masking tape they provided. I guess this will be the most annoying part of the whole thing but I suppose a week of uncomfortable sleeping is a small price to pay.

I had Wavefront Lasik treatment at Moorfields with Julian Stevens about five years ago. I went there for a second opinion after having had ordinary Lasik elsewhere and I was very unhappy with the result. I booked a consultation with Mr Stevens and after lots of tests he said I was an ideal candidate for their Wavefront study (Wavefront was new at the time). I had a lot of aberrations in my eyes, meaning the surface was very uneven which is why my vision was rubbish.

To cut a long story short, I had Wavefront in one eye to start with and after I got home and had a sleep, I woke up to perfect vision in that eye. It was amazing and it’s what should have happened the first time. I went back as soon as possible to have the second eye done, and my vision has been great ever since.

I do get some halos around car headlights at night but some people get that naturally and I can’t remember noticing if I had them pre-Lasik or not. It doesn’t affect my ability to drive at night. In my last eye test they told me I had 20/20 eyesight, although I have the ability to see up to 20/10 with glasses if I wanted them. I declined!

It seems strange to remember that I used to have to wear glasses all the time. I am so glad I went to Moorfields, I just wish I’d gone there in the first place, and I would recommend Mr Julian Stevens to anyone.

I hadn’t considered laser surgery until earlier this year when I discovered that NHS hospitals also carried out the operations, albeit on a private basis. I was curious to learn more, so requested further information from Moorfields and carried out additional research online. This site was particularly helpful in coming to a decision and preparing for surgery, so I would also like to share my experiences so far. After my initial research I booked a consultation with Dr Gartry at Moorfields in October. I figured that even if I didn’t go ahead, it would be worth £150 for some expert and impartial advice. I’d agree with some earlier posts that Dr Gartry can appear a little brusque, but he answered all the questions I had preprepared in a straightforward and professional manner. From the tests I underwent that morning he told me that I was suitable for surgery but in no way did I feel that he was encouraging me to do so. My prescription was -2.50/-2.25 with no astig, and he said that a reasonable expectation would be for him to achieve a 90% correction (i.e. to around – .25/-.5). Dr. Gartry has a strong preference for LASIK owing to the rapid visual recovery and good results that he has seen (his biog says he has performed more than 11,000 Lasik ops to date.). I came away from the consultation feeling undecided, but reassured that if I did go ahead, I should be a straightforward case for a surgeon of Dr Garty’s experience. I spent a few days trying to weigh the risks and benefits. On the one hand I could wait a few more years for the technology to improve and the risk of complications to diminish, but having reached my mid-thirties I was also keen to enjoy the potential benefits as soon – and for as long – as possible. A few days later, I decided to book a surgery date, still telling myself that I could always pull out up until a week before (when you have to pay) if I changed my mind. About ten days before surgery I did have some serious doubts and I started to convince myself that the whole thing was a bad idea. Around the same time I received a call from Moorfields to say that the surgery needed to be postponed by two days. Although this was annoying, in a strange way it also calmed me down by giving me two more days to reflect, and from that moment I was surprisingly relaxed leading up to the surgery. I had a 9.30am appointment which allowed just enough time to drop the children at school and get to the hospital, but not too much to brood on the impending surgery. The operation takes place on the 4th floor of Moorfields eye hospital. For an eye hospital, it is not the most straightforward place to navigate (I overhead another patient saying he had difficulty finding the ‘low vision’ unit…), and on arrival at the fourth floor a small printed sign pointed Dr Gartry’s patients to a rather small and dingy waiting room. There was no-one to meet and greet or confirm that this was the right place, but a small cardboard box for unwanted specs hinted that we might be on the right track. Finally a nurse did confirm that we were in the right place and that we could make a cup of tea while we waited. A small thing perhaps, but a little bit of human reassurance 10 mins before a significant op wouldn’t have gone amiss. A few minutes later I was called and taken to a surprisingly small room where the surgeon and laser awaited. Dr Garty was masked but I recognised his eyes and distinctive voice and he greeted me cheerfully. Seconds later I was in the chair with the seat reclining. From this moment everything was clearly and calmly explained to me as we went through the procedure. I found Dr Gartry very calm and reassuring throughout and the whole thing was over very quickly (20 mins max). And while I wouldn’t say the operation was pleasant, it was certainly not painful. I had read enough posts (and even watched a u-tube video of an op) to know what was going on and I think this actually helped a bit. The second eye was slightly more uncomfortable, partly because I knew what was coming and partly (as Dr Garty later explained) because the body uses up most of its adrenalin dealing with the first ‘attack’. In any case the whole thing was over remarkably quickly and before I knew it, I was walking down the corridor (in a mist but seeing ok) to run through the aftercare procedures with a nurse. My partner had barely had time to get to Starbucks and back in the time it took me to have the operation. During the 40 minute drive home the anesthetic wore off and my eyes started streaming and stinging and I had to keep them closed behind dark glasses for most of the journey. That was as bad as it got. Once home my eyes were still light sensitive and sore for a few hours but this improved with every dose of the drops. By evening I could see reasonably well, watch a bit of television and make my way very comfortably around the house. The next morning my sight had sharpened to about 90% as many people describe. I had a bit of dryness, and slight haloing around street lamps at night, but my vision was amazingly clear. I took the tube for a brief follow-up appointment with Dr Garty who confirmed that my eyes were healing well and that I could expect a good final result. I’m due to go back in a month or so. I am now 48 hours post-op and I’d say that my sight is pretty close to what it was with contacts or glasses. I drove this morning with no problems and I’ve been reading/using the computer for short periods quite comfortably. Still a long way to go, but so far the results and lack of serious discomfort are pretty remarkable. My eyes are still slightly sore and dry but I was anticipating far worse. If you’re after a shiny 5 star customer experience then perhaps Moorfields isn’t for you. On the other hand, I had every confidence in Dr Gartry’s surgical ability and the reassurance of being treated in one of the world’s leading eye hospitals should anything go wrong. To me, those were the most important things.

I had my both my eyes lasered a week ago. Before the surgery I was unable to do anything without my glasses on and had worn them non stop (except to sleep) for about 20 years. I can not believe that I was too scared to do this before it has been a total revelation.
I chose Moorfields because of its reputation and Mr Vincenzo Maurino because he did a friend's eyes about 3 years ago and she said he was wonderful. She was right. Everything was great. He is very much as you would like a surgeon to be, straightforward and reasonably kind without being emotional. He answered all my questions and did not even get irritated when I asked for the 10th time if I could go blind! The nurses were great and one of them held my hand all the time, without me having to ask, as she could see I was very nervous. The proceedure is completely pain free but a LITTLE uncomfortable – and I am someone who has an extremely low pain threshold. It is true that you can see better straight away than you could before the surgery. Amazing – I would have cried with joy but for the fact I did not want to wash out the drops. If you are thinking of having it done please do – it took me at least 10 years to pluck up the courage and I am really cross with myself for not doing it sooner and believing the scare stories – I really could see perfectly by the next morning and I would like to thank everyone at Moorfields for being so great.