Optical Express

Further to my last post (SEE BELOW)I have just returned from my 1 week post op appointment. I now have 2 lines better than 20/20 vision so am over the moon. I couldn't read the last line when I went for the 24 hours post op appointment. My eyes are eyes very well, but the bruising will still take a further 2 weeks to go. It is getting better but still very apparant! I have stopped wearing the night time goggles (thank god, as wasn't sleeping too well in them!) and have also stopped with all the eye drops, except the tear drop ones which I need to continue taking for another 3 weeks. ALl in all I am thrilled, and still reccommend Optical Express! Just so you know my prescription before was -1.5 in each eye and is now 0.

Had retreatment Lasek surgery @ Manchester 8 days ago after my right eye regressed to a -1.00 prescription. The surgery iteself was fine, Mr Waseem was a star, but I suffered terrible pain for 2 days later (burning sensation). The anaesthetic drops were a great help! My sight is now worrying me! I cannot see close-up and as the majority of my work is computer based, this is quite worrying for me as everything is a blur! I am hoping this improves but at the moment it looks as though the eye has now been over-corrected? I have a check up on Sunday and will no doubt be told to "give it time to settle".

I had my eyes done 4 days ago on Tuesday 27th February at the Optical Express in Leeds. I only thought about laser eye surgery 4 weeks ago, and quickly went for a consulation, and booked in for the treatment there and then. I had done lots of reading up and searching about for prices etc so knew I was getting the cheapest price. The staff were really friendly and helpful and never pressured me into any of the higher cost treatments. I opted for Lasik Wavefront, and had a medium prescription which my surgeon told me on the day of surgery would be perfect for this treatment. My surgeon was Mr Klopper who is a very experienced eye surgeon, and was quite a friendly guy. The surgery itself was not what I was expecting. I wasn't worried at all about the surgery until I got into the seat. I want to stress here that my experience is not the norm, and is a very unusual thing to happen. While the surgeon was trying to cut the flap in my eye, he had a lot of trouble trying to fit the cutter into my eye. After several attempts to do this, he had to resort to using this awful clamp which isn't normally used. It felt like my eyes were been held open by wire. It was very traumatic and I knew how bad it was going to be as the nurses and surgeon kept warning me and willing me on. One of the nurses even gave me a stress ball to squeeze which I couldn'tunderstand why, until the eye was stretched open. It wasn't so much as pain I felt, but more af just been a traumatic experience. Not nice at all and I did come out of the surgery shaking from head to toe. The reason I had to go through this was that my eyes were very small, so to still have Lasik he had to hold my eyes open for the entire procedure. 10 minuteson each eye with these very uncomfortable clamps. All the staff were congratulating me after, including the surgeon as they knew it wasn't nice. The laser itself was no problem at all. In fact it was a weclomed relief as you couldn't feel anything! The pressure on the eye when cutting the flap was also not a nice experience, but lasts seconds. Afterwards I had to walk through Leeds City Center wearing black sunglasses looking like either a blind man or a celebrity, and got lots of people staring as it was pouring down with rain!!!! I could barely keep my eyes open and my eyes were streaming. I went home and laid down for an hour. I couldn't sleep as my eyes then began to sting a little. The goggles are not the most comfortable things to wear, but make sure you do. After an hours rest I woke up for the stinging to be replaced by the grittyness. I took some eye drops and that helped a little. I didn't notice a massive improvement in my eyes on the same day, and was a little worried. By the evening my eyes had settled down with no stinging or grittyness, but one of my eyes had a very bad, large red bruise. I still have this today, it appears to be going down my eye, but doesn't affect my vision at all. The next day I woke up with sticky eyes, butafter the eye drops all was fine and I could see very well. It wasn't crystal clear, but a massive imrovement when looking inthe distance. I went for the 24 hour check up and was told I had a line better than 20/20 vision which was great. The eye sight should have another boost once I have finished taking my eye drops in a weeks time. One eye appears better than the other, but only slightly. It was all worth it though, and would gladly tell people to go with Optical Express as they were brilliant. Like I said it is still early days (4 days since surgery) and will wait and see (pardon the punn) whether the sight gets better or worse! One bit of advise I will say is for people to remember what they are letting themselves in for. It is still surgery, and you have to be motivated to deal with any problems, and allow your eyes to settle down. You must do your drops, and wear your goggles, and follow all the advise you are given. Then at the end of it all it will have all been worth while! I will keep you informed if anythign changes with my eyes.

I have an appointment with Optical Express in Reading tomorrow. I have a -2.25 in both eyes. Has anyone had similar and if so what the cost was?

I had lasek wavefront done on 2/2/07 at Milton Keynes OPtical Express & was expecting it to be uncomfortable at least. This is honestly the best thing I have ever done in my entire life!!! The results have been amazing straight away, I had mild discomfort on the day my lenses were removed but other than that..nothing! Also night time driving is now really easy as I have less glare due to having had the wavefront treatment. Surgeon was fab, staff were great, wish I had done it years ago!! If you can do it, dont hesitate, it really will change your life!

Please do not use these people, this was the worse mistake of my entire life. Not only did I sit around and wait for 3 hours before I saw anyone with a medical degree (I hope) and the doctor spoke very poor English, I ended up walking away when I found out that they mixed up my file and that I actually couldn't have it done (which does happen for some people). I had to pay upfront a month in advance and it has been 4 weeks and I still haven't got my money back. I get excused "we sent it to the wrong place" or "its on the way". Lucky I didn't trust them with my eye sight! The customer care is appauling (even for British standard) and I have been told I would get a call back but this never happens. I went to the Shaftsbury Ave clinic. Laser eye surgery is fantastic if it works for you, but don't try these people! Pay the extra and get proper care! I can not stress this enough.

I had wavefront lasek done nearly a week ago at Harley Street by Rodney Blumenfeld, who was excellent. My prescription before was -3.25 and -3.00 with astigmatism in both eyes. All went (so far!) very well and smoothly and my vision is pretty much as expected at this stage (anything between excellent and a bit blurred as my cornea is still healing). Whilst there was no pain on the day itself, the next couple of days were uncomfortable, particularly first thing in the morning and during the night. Overall, this was excellent. My only criticism of the intital consultation stage at Optical Express (but it is also true of Ultralase as I had a consultation there too) is that, being suitable for Lasik, they automatically assumed that this was the treatment I was going to choose. My conversation subsequently with the surgeon was much more balanced. I read a lot about the risks of both treatments and Lasek was my (clear) choice.

BRISTOL LASEK WAVEFRONT Surgeon: MR ANDRE OBERHOULSTER Consultant: Ahmed Hilmi at TORQUAY Had surgery 4 days ago. Andre was really good and is work is excellent. Pain free procedure. After 10 mins I could see ! Very sentsitive to light, Disconfort for 3 days so use the pain killer which allowed me to sleep by 3 hours. Contact lenses removed last Saturday and felt gritty all day so spent all day on the bed with my eyes closed and have used lot of Blink as per Ahmed advised and it works very well. He also suggested to drink lot of orange juice (or take vitamin C) which has been proved to help the cornea to heal. Sunday : vision still blurred but eyes are OK, first time since the procedure. So far I have been very happy with Andre the Surgeon (I could not find any feedback about him, so yes he is very competent and honest). So far so good !

From £395 per eye? Try £3090 which was quoted to me after a visit to the Torquay branch. I most certainly have not gone with Optical Express and will be looking for a clinic with better reports. To say £395 per eye and then charge £1545 is ridiculous and I don't care if it's "from" - that's the sort of thing you'd expect from a cheap flights website, not a clinic responsible for the fate of your vision! I was also promised a discounted rate which was later withdrawn.

Has Lasik treatment yesterday with Mr Aziz and i can only describe it as FANTASTIC! Didnt have intralase or wavefront and Im completely delighted with the results. It was a bit uncomfortable last night for about an hour, but took some co-codomol. Already recommended two other people to have the treatment.