Optical Express

Newcastle upon Tyne - October 4th 2007. Standard Lasik. Booked through the Metro Centre store and treatment carried out at Newcastle branch. My first appointment was cancelled and put back a day, not to worry - I arrived for my appointment at 11.00am the following day. I'll try and describe each part as accurately as I can. Checked in with receptionist then had a wait of around 30 mins before a nurse took me in to have some checks of my prescription etc, all pretty straightforward. A further wait of around 25 mins then I was called in to see the consultant, Mr. Lorimer Esselaar. He checked my eyes again and asked if I had any questions, a nice man. My final wait was around 20 mins then another nurse called me in to the procedure room (theatre). I was asked to put on a hair mask and to lie on the bed (which I can only describe as a flat dentist chair). There were all sorts of checks going on and the nurses informed me that they were testing the laser etc. My nerves started getting the better of me here and I felt a bit tense. Although I had done loads of research and had an idea what to expect I still felt a little uneasy. One of the four nurses/assistants in the room applied some cleaning stuff to my eyes which was nice and cool. Then some drops were put into my eyes (anesthetic I presume). My right eye was first to be done so a patch was placed over my left eye for the time being. I was then placed under the laser machine and Mr. Esselaar talked through the procedure as it was happening. First I had to concentrate on a flickering orange light in the machine above my head, then heard a buzzing noise. I was told my vision would go dark/blurred at this point and think this must have been the corneal flap being created. I could vaguely make out a pair of tweezers or similar to peel back the flap. I was then told a clamp would be placed over my eye and my vision would move about a bit. This is the part that felt most uncomfortable - a sort of silicon / plastic clamp was placed onto my eyeball and then a vacuum was applied to hold the eyeball in place. I must say this is one of the most unnatural sensations you can have, I felt myself squirming a bit but composed myself as knew it wasn't long to go! Another nurse started counting down from 17 and this was the laser firing, didn't feel anything although it was quite tricky to concentrate on the flashing orange light as it seemed to be moving about. Thankfully there was an iris tracking sensor so even if I did move my eye the laser would still be accurate. One the laser was finished a solution was squirted into my eye and the flap put back in place. I could see a small 'spatula' spreading the flap into place which was a bit surreal... Right eye done, same procedure for the left, seemed a bit quicker (maybe because I knew what to expect!). I was then asked to sit up (relief) and was taken through to the aftercare room where I was told the do's and don’ts and given my drops. My partner took me home (about a 20 min. drive) through which I kept my eyes closed. At this stage the anesthetic was starting to wear off and my vision was blurred. I got home, took some painkillers and went straight to bed. My left eye was really sore, but my right seemed okay. I managed to grab a few hours sleep through all the eyes watering and wearing the night goggles. Woke up early evening and eyes felt ok (apart from having a headache), went back to bed around 9pm and woke up Friday morning feeling fine, right eye perfect, left eye about 5% blurred, but still visually okay. Went for my post-op 24hr check up and told I now have better than 20/20 vision. Corneal flaps healing fine and was told that the blurring is perfectly normal; this will correct itself over the coming days/weeks. Getting used to putting the drops in correctly and at the right time is important, I like having the 'Blink' eye drops in the fridge so they are nice and cool when they go in. Back to work the day after and although I still have a little blurring in my left eye I am very happy with the results. It will probably take a week or so for the fact that I'm not wearing contact lenses or glasses sink in - looking forward to the weekly check up now to see how I'm doing.

I had Intralase lasik done on both eyes. Very unusual sensation but pain free. minor irritation afterwards - like feeling tired. had twenty twenty or better in both eyes within 24 hours. amazing. best thing you could do if you wear glasses. took a couple of weeks for redness to go away but now eyes look perfect and feel perfect.

HAD MY TREATMENT DONE IN CAMBRIDGE I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE RESULTS AND AFTERCARE ALL THE STAFF WERE BRILLIANT TO MANY THANKS TO EVERY ONE THERE

I had my treatment at the Newcastle branch yesterday ! I can already see well without glasses or anything even though it's still a bit sore ! I am hoping everything heals perfectly and I'll have good vision. I am absolutely thrilled with my results and the way everything was handled. I must say a VERY BIG THANK YOU TO THE STAFF AT NEWCASTLE !!! :) From the start to the finish I was looked after well and the customer service is brilliant. The resident surgeon at Newcastle is Dr/Mr Lorrimer Esselaar. He is a quiet gentle man who puts you at ease from the start and explains everything as it happens. At the consultation he explains everything and gives you an opportunity to ask anything you want to know about the surgery. I didn't have many questions as I had read and have been looking into having laser surgery for a very long time !. It's a real shame I took this long to make up my mind !!! Having said that I have been collecting money for a while for this !! :-) The Newcastle resident laser optometrists (Andrew, Dean and Rachel) are very friendly as well and knows about the surgery very well. You are able to speak to some of the staff who have had it done themselves and they will share their experiences. The laser counselor (Janice Stobbart) I had was very good and was a very nice lady. I will keep you posted on how my eyes progress in the coming months !! The best thing is if you are thinking about having surgery is to go for a free consultation and ask any questions you may have.

Today I had my one week consultation and things have improved considerably ! Andrew the optometrist said it's healing well and he's happy with things. As always the ladies on the first floor (laser surgery floor !) were fantastic and very friendly. They do a nice cuppa as well ! :-) If you want to know anything about laser surgery at Newcastle upon Tyne just go straight to the first floor at Optical Express. If you are lucky you might be able to get a free consultation on the same day or book one within days. If you want 50 pounds off your treatment make sure you contact me and I'll give you a voucher !!! :-) Few people have emailed me and asked me questions on how I went about selecting which provider and whether I knew much about how to judge the laser technology standards. To be honest, judging the laser technology is a tricky one as unless you are an expert in this field or know a thing or two about science it's not that easy. I have a science degree and I still found it difficult to understand some of the claims made by all the providers about their laser technology. WHAT ANNOYS ME IS THAT MOST UK LASER EYE PROVIDERS CLAIM TO HAVE THE BEST TECHNOLOGY AND THE MOST SOPHISTICATED EYE LASER MACHINES. THEY ALL CLAIM TO HAVE THE BEST SO ONLY GOD KNOWS WHO IS TELLING THE TRUTH !!! MY POINT IS THIS CAN NOT BE TOTALLY ACCURATE AND SOME PROVIDERS MAY BE MAKING FALSE CLAIMS ! For the average person this can be quite confusing and I fully understand the concerns of those of you who emailed me and asked these questions. I am not paid by Optical Express (OE) to write all this but what I can say is this. The OE laser has got pretty good reviews and there is lots of info out there if you bother to do some web searching ! It's been in use for a while and that was important to me. I also appreciated the fact that OE was part of the UK laser association so I knew they had agreed on some good standard practices. Just because a laser is recommended by a celebrity it doesn't mean it's any better than the others. What people need to understand is that our eyes are just as important as the celebrities eyes. So my opinion and testimonial is just as important as a celebritiy opinion. One thing I like about OE is the fact that I am treated as a person and with respect and dignity. I like the fact that all patients eyes are treated with the same care and importance whether you are a celebrity or not as well as not on how much you have spent on your laser treatment. End of the day most of us have gone for treatments on what we can afford and made personal sacrifices and it's important that we are all treated equally with respect and good customer service. So I believe it is important to go for a provider (such as OE), who will give you good aftercare and that should play an important part when it comes to deciding who you go with ! Hope this has been useful to some of you out there ! I will keep you all updated on how things progress !! :)

Day 6 now and vision is great - better than 20/20 after only 12 hours. The whole procedure was handled very well by the professional, courteous and reassuring staff.

Quick surgery, nice friendly staff, all questions answered satisfactorily, would recommend to friends.

At this stage am extremely satisfied with the end result! customer service generally good although initial appointment had to be rescheduled (Eastcheap)...was at 8am and staff could not get into shop, person with key was late. experience at rescheduled appointment at Shaftesbury ave was all positive, all questions answered and staff all very professional. surgery day the surgery staff were again professional, the procedure was actually even more swift than i expected! after completing surgery i experienced a lot of soreness and eyes watering a great deal, i possibly could have been reassured more, then the check with surgeon was extremely quick, after getting home and sleeping for a few hours though i immediately noticed a huge difference and felt the process was entirely worthwhile

Very thorough and professional service from the first contact. Results are fantastic and the aftercare treatment has been great. Thank you

I had my lasik surgery on 12/12/07 with Osama Gildi at the Shaftesbury Avenue branch just before my 26th birthday and it's now just over a week since the operation. Originally my eyesight was Right -5.0 and Left -5.5 diopters and used contact lenses to correct my shortsightedness. I could barely read a book more than 25cm away A week on I've been told I now have -0.5 in both my eyes and have better than 20/20 vision which is a vast improvement than before and I can now drive without glasses! My only gripe is with my post operative vision, I see less clearly than with lenses and glasses. The only reason I can think of is that I used to wear lenses that were 0.25 diopters less than my actual prescription in both eyes and now my vision is -0.5 (-0.25 than I am used to). I was also told they don't normally give people glasses with my current prescription of -0.5. However, I have been told my eyesight should continue to improve as they settle after the operation so will have to be patient with this. Short distance vision is a massive improvement and a lot clearer than before and I do not suffer from dry eyes or halos/starry lights. Everyone was very friendly and helpful on the day of the procedure. My only gripe was that I felt a bit rushed between the surgery of each of my eyes as I found it difficult to keep them open and even focus into the laser beam. After the procedure my eyes were extremely painful with continuous streaming for an hour and was not able to open them for nearly 4 hours. Still, the staff were very helpful after the procedure ensuring I was made aware of the post operative eye drops I was required to take for the following week. Once I could open them I was very happy to see my eyesight was much better than before. I now have my 3rd check up in 3 weeks.