Optical Express

Had the treatment 6 days ago fro a -6.5 with -3 astigmatism in both eyes. The pre op care and the surgery all was very good, courteous and professional. At present I am extremely disappointed with the results and am wishing that I never went ahead with it. I was expecting a vast improvement when I got the contact lenses removed 2 days ago. However my vision is blurred and I am seeing all the characters on my keyboard in double. The computer screen is impossible to read.. And driving is not possible, my vision is nowhere near this standard. I cannot go to work as I need good vision and use computers all day. I was led to believe I would see a vast improvement when the lenses were taken out and according to the info I was given and what the consultant said I would have vision as god as my glasses. At the present rate that my vision is stabilising I just don't see how this is going to happen. I was expecting an increase in my quality of life and waving goodbye to glasses and contact lenses...huh. At present I feel I my just be waving goodbye to my job. My employer doesn't have the luxury of waiting for months until my vision to improve.

I had my surgery just 3 days ago and am very happy with the results. Prior to the surgery I had read lots of reviews on-line and in fact probably researched it a bit too much to point that I had really freaked myself out. Now my advice to anyone considering laser eye treatment would be - Don't make the same mistake as me and read horror stories on the internet as it will only add to your anxiety. As long as you are a suitable candidate, go to a reputable clinic and want to have the surgery then JUST GO FOR IT! Although I was happy with my initial consultation, the surgeon on the day (Manek Patel at Harley street), and the aftercare so far, I have really had a bad experience with customer services at Optical Express. After my initial consultation I had received an email from head office offering £200 off eye surgery, so I contacted customer services the next day to enquire whether I could use the voucher even though I had been given a corporate discount and had already booked a date for surgery. They advised me that I was still eligible to get a further £200 off and that I just had to contact the store to amend the direct debit details. When I phoned the store they said that I could not be given any further discounts. Following this there were several calls made between customer services, the store and myself to try to resolve this. At the end we managed to locate the person I had spoken to and he then denied agreeing the discount with me on the phone. This really put me off the company as a member of customer services lied and made me look like a fool. Instead, if he had apologized and explained that he had made a mistake then I would have totally understood! Furthermore, after I had arranged to take a day off work, sorted out childcare and a lift for my surgery day, Optical Express phoned me a few days before the surgery to say that they had to cancel all surgeries for that day. I was therefore offered different dates. As I had already made all the arrangements I insisted that I wanted to be seen on the same day. I was then offered an appointment at a different surgery with a different surgeon that I knew nothing about. This only added to my anxieties prior to the surgery. This also meant that I had to spend a lot extra to get to the clinic in Harley Street (including parking, congestion charger etc). Optical Express were not even apologetic about this and said that I should be grateful that I was given another appointment for the same day. I have made a formal complaint to customer services about my experiences and although they had promised to get back to me within 24 hours, I am still waiting to hear from them - it's now been over a week. I have also tried calling them and have left messages for the person dealing with my complaint but she has not yet returned my calls. Overall, I would say that if you do not have to deal with Head Office or customer services, then you will probably be fine using Optical Express. If you however have a problem or complaint, don't expect it to be resolved! I have now given up any hope of hearing back from them and am just glad that the surgery went well. Having said all this, if any of you are planning to book a consultation with Optical Express, I have a £50 off voucher towards laser surgery - just let me know. Also if any of you want to contact me about any of my experiences then feel free to email me by clicking on the link associated with this posting.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.

I originally had my first set of treatment in February (and reviewed this procedure on here - see below). Since then my eyesight deteriorated to approx -0.75/-1 in both eyes and therefore the optician recommended that I could have a second go at surgery (free of charge). Whilst I was disappointed that it hadn't worked, I had been advised that it may not work 100% first time and so it was not wholly unexpected. As I had been advised thin corneas for the first treatment, I was advised that I would have to have Lasek treatment for the second treatment. I was a bit concerned about this as I was aware that it could be more painful. I found that the first 24 hours were fine (a contrast to the lasik treatment) however after this I became very light sensitive, which meant I couldn't do anything apart from sit in a dark room! However the pain was totally bare-able, I had no need for the anaesthetic eye drops that were provided. I actually went back to work 4 days later but struggled to use a computer screen, however the following day (5 days after treatment) I was fine. Originally I found my close up vision was quite poor, whilst I was able to read it was slightly blurry and not as good quality as before the treatment. However about 6 weeks following treatment this has returned to normal. My after care treatment from Optical Express (Westfields) has been really poor. I have never been seen on time, with anywhere between half an hour and one hours wait. The staff at the front of the shop barely communicate with the opticians and it has been very frustrating. The end result is good (apparently I am back to 20/20 again) but again, this is only 3 months later, so I can't advise on the long term impacts.