Optical Express

After much deliberation, research and recommendation from a friend I opted for MaxiVision in Manchester. I had surgery in February 2003 with Mr Aziz. I found the actual procedure very distressing but nurses etc were great, and the results are fantastic (my right eye is better than the left) and although I had a few initial problems I have no regrets. Two weeks after surgery I experienced extreme 'dry eye' to the extent that I had plugs inserted to my tear ducts, and I also had a reaction to the preservative in the eye drops. I now use preservative free drops which were initially provided by MaxiVision on request. Now I buy Allergan from the chemist. I live in Coventry, West Midlands, and what I liked about MaxiVision was the fact that for 'aftercare' I could go to their appointed optician which was very local to me ie a five minute drive, and which I found to be very convenient, for checkups and given the problems I had initially with 'dry eye' etc. Now since MaxiVision have been taken over by Optical Express, I will have to go to Birmingham for future checkups which is not as convenient. I am due for my three month check this month so I guess I will be off to Optical Express in Birmingham ........... Incidently, as a patient I have had nothing in writing from either MaxiVision nor Optical Express about the takeover. I was informed by my optician and I phoned MaxiVision directly to get more info.

I had Lasek at Manchester a month ago, from reading the the latest comments sounds like I just missed all the problems. I have had to change opticians for my follow up appointments, luckily for me there is an Eye Clinic close to my place of work. As for the surgery itself, I would like to reassure anyone worried about Lasek. I was extremely nervous (take the valium, it helped me) the surgery was completely painless. I did have some discomfort after and my eyes have taken about a month to settle completely. My vision is now -0.5 in both eyes, I was -2. I don't need glasses anymore which is what I wanted! I thought Maxivision was good, the staff were friendly I don't really have any major conplaints.

Please see previous comments dated 10th May 2003 relating to MaxiVision. I have now had my 3 month check and for this I went to The Eye Clinic in Birmingham which was my first visit there. I was a bit apprehensive as I had been used to going to a local optician for my aftercare but since the takeover by Optical Express the aftercare locations are now different I had no need to worry - The staff at the Eye Clinic were super. My eyes are now very close to 20/20 which is fantastic. My eyes are still on the dry side so just need to keep on using the drops four times a day. I am so pleased I had the op - my confidence has improved as has my quality of life as a result.

I have been to the Southampton branch twice now for an initial assessment and then to see if my eyes have settled down enough to have laser treatment. I am seeing Mr Jain, the Southampton branch surgeon, next week to discuss the surgery as my corneas are only just thick enough apparently. Has anyone had him as their surgeon and if so, what is he like/how were your results? I am flying back from my home in Dubai to have it done so am a bit nervous and want to make sure it is okay. There don't seem to be many postings about treatment at Southampton!

My experience was the cup slipped and only made a half flap so they could not finish the surgery. I had the other eye done the next day and plan to have the right eye done again soon. I have not seen anything where this has happened to anyone else but would love hearing from a clinic or anyone that might could tell me just how common this is and the liklihood of it happening again. My surgery was done by Lasik in Atlanta, GA

I had Lasik surgery in both eyes on 3rd September in the Milton Keynes Eye Clinic. The actual surgery itself wasn't too bad - no pain whatsoever. In fact the hardest thing for me was looking at the little red spot because the white light around it was just a bit too bright for me to be able to do it comfortably. Unfortunately during the surgery some fibres found their way under the flaps on my eyes. This meant I had to go back and have the flaps lifted so they could be removed. Again this wasn't too bad (the bright light being the only issue). Because of these problems I have been suffering from some inflammation (DLK or 'Sands of the Sahara') but that doesn't hurt and has been controlled by increased dosage of steroid drops. I've also had appointments for check ups every couple of days or so (even on Sunday!) to make sure it is being controlled. Since then I have been able to see my vision improving daily. My eyes have been a little dry at times and I have been a bit sensitive to light (perfect excuse to invest in that pair of raybans I;ve wanted since watching top gun as a kid though!) Also they don't seem to focus as quickly as they used to (right eye especially) but I'm told this will settle down in a couple of weeks. I do experience halo's when driving at night - but I have to say, other than the halo's my night vision is superb. On the whole it's been a very worthwhile experience and I would recommend it to anyone. Also at the moment the Eye Clinic are knocking £300 off the cost of having both eyes done, so it comes in at a little under £1700, which seemed like a good deal to me!

Had the wavefront procedure in London on 18th August. Professor Clive Mortimer carried it out - a really nice guy. Had a chance to talk to him for 15 minutes or so as we had to wait for the room temperature to come down to be back in the laser's operating range. It was hot outside! Everything went well. Absolutely no pain whatsoever. Had the op at 2pm & was watching "Calamity Jane" in the Shaftesbury Theatre that evening - that's how well it went! One month check-up shows everything to be fine & healing has gone well. Vision isn't 20/20, but still pretty good. I would have rated the Eye Clinic as "very good" but front-desk staff aren't as good as those that take care of you for the procedure and I had a mix-up with follow up appointment dates/times back in Glasgow.

I went for my assessment yesterday at the Milton Keynes Eye Clinic. The atmosphere is very pleasant and the staff are friendly. I was first led to one room and had the pressure testing on my eyes. I was then introduced to the Clinical Manager, a really nice lady called Dasi. In a further room she carried out sight test and a measurement of the shape of my eye. 3 types of drops in all, one to see a certain part of the eye, one drop to dilate the pupil and then a 3rd drop was a slight anaesthetic when she had to use another machine which was a very small probe that touched my eye, with Dasi holding and this measured the thickness of my cornea. Dasi was explaining every step of the way during each test and made me feel very comfortable. At this point I suggest my husband come back to meet me as the counselling session would begin and he too could ask questions. My eyesight at this point had taken effect to the dilation and wow, what an experience that was! The counselling session with Michelle was very useful - she explained in simple terms with the difference between LASIK and LASEK and also summarised the main risks of surgery. She answered all our questions and showed us around the laser room. The counselling session was carried out in the quiet cosy area within the laser area which is where you go and sit to recover after surgery. The assessment was what I expected and was pleased to learn that I am suitable for surgery, I am -2.50 in each and pupils are normal size and thickness of cornea is good. I have decided to go ahead with surgery but have not as yet decided whether LASIK or LASEK. I did not realise that the choice is mine.. but I can now take my time and decided what is best for me. Some 24 hours after the assessment I still have some of the effects of the dilation. I did not realise that it would make my vision go a bit weird, this is all normal apparently. As I am short sighted, I have had some long sightness which is very confusing and the pupils are almost back to their normal size. However yesterday my pupils were bigger than my cats! I must admit I did feel the need to lie away from light and to stop focusing so went to bed for a few hours. Walking away from the shops with busy shoppers made me feel a bit weird, although not having an breakfast probably did not help! I would certainly recommend MK so far - word of mouth is the best recommendation and my friend's friend has been and had surgery last year there and has no complaints. I did not realise that the appointments for surgery are just 5days a month so am planning to fit in with busy diary sometime in end of May. The clinic was very busy yesterday and obviously the offer is popular but I did hear that the offer is unlikely to end.... seems like the cost of surgery is coming down and patients can benefit. MK does have 24 hour telephone support and will do any unfortunate enhancements for no extra fee. Overall I was very pleased with the assessment although wish I knew that the dilation bit may take more than just a few hours to recover. Good luck to anyone thinking of going to MK and let me know how you get on.

The surgeon and support staff were excellent and deserve five stars but the general eye clinic staff, call centre etc messed me about a lot initially and I feel could do with some training. Therefore overall four stars Lora Kennedy l.kennedy@wkac.ac.uk I had LASIK surgery at The Eye Clinic/Optical Express in Southampton on 22 February 2004 with Mr Giledi. My eyesight was -4.25 in my left eye with slight astigmatism and -4.75 in my right eye. I found the procedure itself very uncomfortable and unpleasant although I do have small eyes and am a bit of a wimp! Mr Giledi and the nursing staff were excellent, really friendly, answered all my questions and went through everything with me. After the procedure yesterday, I slept all day and night except when putting my drops in. I went for my checkup today, my vision out of right eye is really good. Although my vision is still quite blurred out my left eye and I can't really see close or far away writing very well. There's lots of double vision in that eye and blurring. Almost as if something has been smeared on my eye and it is still very gritty where as my right eye is fine. It's quite distressing at the moment because it's so much worse than my right eye but the optometrist today said to wait a couple of days and return if the blurriness has not gone. She said that it could be because the healing is taking longer on that eye or because of the swelling or could be undercorrection but for the moment I have been keeping my eyes closed as much as poss and everytime I wake up see if my eye has improved but it has only been a day and so I need to wait and see now.

I had my lasik at shaftesbury avenue last friday, 14th may. The procedure was totally painless. Everything was explained to me from the moment i arrived. I was first given a couple of eye tests to map the eye and cornea. Then i went to meet the surgeon Mr Jain. He did a standard look at the eye chart and see what you can read type test to ensure my prescriptopn was accurate. Then offered me LASEK or LASIK i still insited on LASIK for a quicker recovery. So he gave me a valium pill (did not help much!) after signing the consent form. I then waited in a room with 2 others, 1 had been operated on and looked dreadful. I was slightly concerned until her mother said she was always a wimp. Then my time had come, off to the laser room. The nurse cleaned my eye with liquid and gauze. My head was positioned where they wanted and kept still by a head cushion, shaped appropriately. Then Mr Jain came in and talked through what was about to happen. I needed to look at the light above and would feel pressure as the flap cutting machine, for want of better words, was lowered onto my eye. This did not cause me any discomfort. Then he raised the flap out of the way and cleaned my eye, then it was case of staring at the red light and trying not to move my eye as the laser was applied. Again, no discomfort. After this, Mr Jain cleaned my eye and repleaced the flap, he seemed to take great care doing this. I was impressed/releived. Then the second eye was done the same way. My prescription was only about -1.50, so the actual laser took just an amazing 11 seconds. Mr Jain the saw me in an adjoining room to look very carefully at the eye and make sure he was happly with the flap etc. Again no problems. I went home less than an hour after surgery. My eyes stung like anything for the next 4/5hours despite sleeping as advised in a darkened room. Then came the real grittiness. This was very uncomfortable. That evening i had to use the eyes drops provided. One was a lubricating drop for dry eyes, an antibiotic, and also a steroid drop in case of any inflammation. The first time i used them i.e. night of surgery, the drops stung like hell. But they were fine the following day and beyond. Sleeping with the plastic eye shields is fun, not. But you get used to it,the wife says i snore, so must be sleeping ok! I had an eye exam the day after surgery and my vision was 2 lines better than 20/20, absolutely amazing. I just stare down the road and cannot believe it. You do get used to the eye drops, although the steriod one is awkward, it is a milky liquid and very messy. Tomorrow i go back for my 7 day check up, see what happens then. All i can say is my close up vision is not brilliant, maybe my age, 41. Or maybe i have overdone it at work on the computer, who knows. I was told the eyes are just adjusting. The whole experience is as i say amazing, go for it. I must also say thank you to Mr Jain and ann at shaftesbury avenue. They were great. ps.sorry ann about all the questions, you were very patient and the wife is coming to you next.