Optical Express

Had the standard one. The clamping and operation hurt. I wasn't expecting that, so I was a little bit shocked at the time. I was also in real pain with the eyes after the operation. I sat in bed the whole day with my eyes shut, listening to the England match. The tears that you cry (not caused by losing to Croatia) exacerbate the feeling of discomfort. However, after an ibuprofen, the discomfort subsided. I was just getting used to being looked after by my mum and enjoying being a beautiful and vulnerable blind boy, when, after about 6 hours, my eyes opened spontaneously. First impressions were that the sight was very good; I wasn't sure whether a bit of blurred vision was the operation or the residue in my eyes. Next morning, I had a bit of a headache, but vision perfect. The day after that, I was bored of looking after myself...

The surgery seems to have been a complete success. The care i have recieved from all the Bournemouth staff has been very good before and after surgery. Thank you- Bournemouth

I had Lasik eye surgery with Wavefront... Wow, I only wish I had it done sooner The staff were all very helpful and informative. Thankyou very much Woody-Bournemouth

Has anyone else had the same problem as me? I didnt think my eyes were that bad but after a visit to optical express I feel absolutely devastated. Im short sighted with astigmatisim with a prescription of -3.25 r -1.25cyl and -2.00 -1.50cyl. Ive come away after being told that I not only have large pupils(?), thin cornea and night vision problems ( something again I didnt know I had) I like many others have seen the advertising for from £395. per eye. I have realistic expectations and didnt think Id be near that (probably around £700) but I have been quoted £1295.00 per eye!!! (this is the equivalent quote to Moorfields eye hospital!) Does anyone know a more affordable clinic within Hampshire or Sussex area. I went to Optical express in Southampton. The staff were very nice and I cant fault them. But I feel so dissapointed with their pricing. I think there is room to be a bit more honest in their brochures about pricing. I picked them out as I was on a budget and they gave the impression that they offered cheap laser correction. If there is anyone with a similar prescription can you offer any advice?? thanks

Surgeon: Osama Giledi Surgery: Lasik Wavefront Location: Shaftesbury Ave Date: 14 Oct I had a prescription of: +3.5 Longsighted and -2.5 astigmatism in both eyes. Optimax and AVC wouldn’t touch me with this prescription, Ultralase dithered over whether I should have Lasik or Lasek (something to do with my eye socket structure for cutting the flap). Optical Express said they could do it no problem. I’ll summarise my findings first: Optical Express’s admin seems to be organised chaos, the surgeon Osama Giledi is a top bloke who did a great job, and the results after 10 days are encouraging but not spectacular as yet. Having already had admin issues with the Reading branch while attempting to pay for the treatment, arriving at Shaftesbury Avenue for my surgery last Saturday was not the most calming experience. The waiting room was packed with many people sitting on the floor and stairs because there were no available chairs. This seemed to be due to many people having consultations and bringing all their extended family along for a day out. Once the pre-op checks started, things calmed down, well at least I did. I very nearly didn’t proceed with the op. They couldn’t stabilise my prescription (although they knew what it was) as the pre-op WaveScan system was giving mixed results. This is common with longsighted/astigmatism allegedly as the eyes compensate for each other. Dr Giledi the surgeon made it clear that he would not operate unless 100% satisfied. After 10 attempts, I got there. The operation itself was a nightmare – not being dramatic, but that’s the way I felt. I’m a big bloke who’s had lots of pain before on a rugby field, but the eye clamps were horrendous. Due to my prescription, I had a longer than usual ‘burn time’ under the laser.. 100 seconds. And while the flap cutting and laser were painless, the clamps were anything but. Dr Giledi and his assistants were great as they constantly told me what was happening (shouting over the noise of the laser). Result: Initially there was no WOW factor. My eyesite was very blurry for a few days and I couldn’t focus on anything further than 3 feet away. Over the last week, my eyesite has improved greatly. My right eye is now better than 20-20, but my left eye is not there yet. My short vision (looking at a PC) is excellent, my medium vision is OK and improving, but my long distance vision is not good at present. I’m told this is normal and will improve over the next month or 2. (Interestingly although I’m 20-20 in my right eye, my right eye can still not see long distance so these theoretical measures can be misleading….) My advice. Get it done, but be realistic. Try and discard a lot of the euphoria in these reviews (much of it understandable), and be prepared to be patient, especially if you have a complex prescription such as mine. Do not brush over or discard the potential pitfalls and pay attention to the healing process. It may take longer than you think, or are told. Any questions, feel free to email me.

I had my eyes done yesterday, I must say the the clamping of the eyes open for the procedure hurt a bit but it only felt like the operation took two minutes max. I didn't feel any pain or discomfort on the eyeball whatsoever and only once had a brief and faint smell of burning. While my eyelid felt like lead for the rest of the day the discomfort was minimal, I would liken it to wearing your contact lenses for too long and they are irritating you. Twenty four hours later my eyesight is great, i have no discomfort whatsoever so much is the improvement I must remind myself that it is only a day since the op and I need to carry on taking my eye drops. The staff at the York shop are ever so friendly and are ready to laugh with you, I am a cheeky chap, the people at the Leeds clinc while kind and courteous are not so ready to laugh with you, come on people relax, chill a bit, would I recomend others having laser eye surgary, most definately, just remember, every ones body reacts differenty to pain and the recovary rate will also be different from other tough i would not think that different. now looking forward to my second aftercare visit to york. my advise for anyone who is considering eye surgery is go for it,

I read practically all the reviews on this website before making my decision to go with optical express. Futhermore I was familiar with them having used them in the past for my contacts and glasses. So I had my lasik/wavefront surgery on the 27th september 2006 and will give my honest account of the procedure and my progress since then. Background: My left eye was -1.50 and my right eye was -2.00. One of my colleagues commented that I was going to do laser surgery for "only that" and I thought why should i wait until it was -18! So if you are thinking you will wait until it's worse - forget it! Do it now! The day: Staff were very friendly despite the centre being very busy that morning (i had a 10 am appointment and probably 5 people had done their eyes before me and more pouring in!) I felt really good especially seeing that other people had the faith to do it at the same place that i chose. The procedure: They wiped around my eyes with alcohol to clean the area and dropped a few anaesthetic solutions in both my eyes, then covered my left eye and laid me down on the flat chair. The surgeon "wheeled" me under the machine, taped my eye lids and asked me to look up at the red light. He the put a clamp around my eye which was very uncomfortable but bearable and NOT painful. He then cut the flap on my cornea which definitely did not hurt because my eye was numb and asked me to look at the red dot. He kept saying it over and over so I got a bit scared that i wasnt loking at the right spot but he calmed me down and eventually (after a few seconds) I got it right. I spelt something burning like singed hair but only for a few seconds. He then pasted down the flap and covered my eye (i had asked previously what are the chances of something going wrong with the incision and the surgeon said 1 in 400 - good enough for me!). Although I felt a bit anxious over getting things right for the left eye, we successfully repeated the same procedure and all was over in about 10 minutes. I opened my eyes a bit and through the solutions in my eyes i was able to see (which confirmed that i was at least not blind!) The aftermath: Funnily enough none of the reviews I read mentioned the burning pain I would feel for an hour after the procedure. I was placed in a room with a couple others and we all felt the burning (like plenty onions in your eyes). So I kept my eyes closed and endured my pain. I was scared to open it when I was called by the surgeon for a check up but i managed to open it and the pain actually subsided a bit. He said that the flap had a little wrinkle which he straightened out after numbing the eye again and then i was given some solutions and instructions and told to sleep for 5 hours and come back the next day. The after aftermath: I went home (and yes you need someone to take you home - i thought i could do it on my own but i couldn't), slept for 5 hours et voila no more burning. My eyes felt gritty though which is normal. The next day i couldnt feel anymore grittiness but my eyes were a tiny bit sensitive to too much light. Off to the opticians the next day and all was declared perfect - 20/20. During the following week my eyesite kept getting blurry off and on - sometimes in the right, sometimes in the left. Also sometimes I would get a white film over the eye. I was worried I tell you. I thought - "oh GOD something's gone wrong! and kept keeping myself calm by saying dont panic they said this would happen. But you can't help all the thoughts that go through your mind - would my eyesite deteriorate?, would i be able to do the surgery again? Also I was getting headaches! My eyes would hurt, then my head! Worrying I tell you! But when i went for my 1 week checkup and told the optician she said everything i experienced was in fact very normal nd regarding the headaches, they were being caused by the dryness of the tear duct (who would have thought!). So I had to double up on the eye drops or just take it as often as i can. I have done this for the past 2 weeks and i am feeling great! Absolutely wonderful! I am looking at everyone and everything. My confidence has risen- i can look people in the eyes and not see blurry faces. I get up on mornings and i can see the time on the Breakfast program! No more scrambling for glasses! By the way my vision is now 15/20! My advice: Do the eye surgery. Do not be afraid. Millions are doing it and feeling so much better about themselves.

I am booked in for wavefront treatment at Bristol on 3rd November, my prescription in both eyes is -8.00. I f anyone with as high a prescription has had the surgery please let me know your views. It would also be a good idea if it was compulsory to put your precription as you have all these good reports but no mention of their prescriptions.

I had Lasik Wavefront nearly 4 months ago. My left eye is 20/20 but my right did not go so well and after a referral to the surgeon for 'enhancement' of the right eye I was told I shouldn't bother as it may not end up any better - but possibly worse. I paid extra for wavefront as it was told it would enhance my night driving vision. It didn't. The imbalance between the vision in both eyes means my eyes get very tired and sore by the end of the day because they are competing with other to find a mean average. Some days wish I hadn't bothered.

Company: Optical Express Consultation:Watford Branch Surgery:Milton Keynes Surgeon:Mr Waseem Aziz It’s been 3 weeks since my surgery and I’ll try to give you an honest account of my experiences. I had the initial consultation back in June at the Watford branch, and not knowing what to expect, or what should have happened I undertook the tests and was informed that I was suitable for LASIK Wavefront. £200 deposit was paid and I was scheduled to have the surgery in September. This is where it all goes wrong. Some may think it’s trivial, but a whole series of administrative errors from the Watford Branch made the pre-op build up a nightmare. Things like letters about surgery date changes (to the same date and time), cancellation of surgery on two occasions etc made me question how the company was being run. Finally on the day of surgery at Milton Keynes, I re-took the check up. I had more detailed tests, tests which were not undertaken at Watford, literature given to me that I never received at Watford (about what the eye drops were and what they would do). It was all together a much more professional experience than at Watford, and I subsequently learned that Watford should have done all this, but never did. The result was that, when the surgeon crossed checked the Watford results against the Milton Keynes results, there was a huge discrepancy, so much so that he cancelled the surgery. I was told to phone Watford to re-book the initial consultation, hugely disappointing, but grateful the surgeon was taking the cautious side. I called Watford, and asked whether I could use the next day post op slot I had pre-booked there to have the tests re done. Imagine my horror when I was told there would be no trained staff or surgeon available – what if my procedure had taken place and I had turned up for the post op check up and there was no one there ! Watford then clamed that my surgery could take place, as they had simply not bothered to put all my test results onto the computer system, so it was skewing the results. They said they would put them on the system, and I should return to Milton Keynes and proceed with the surgery. However, returning to Milton Keynes, the surgeon was still not satisfied with Watford’s data. I lost all confidence in Watford so asked for the consultation to be redone at Milton Keynes. So, administrative errors – trivial? Maybe, but when you are having someone operate on your eyes and paying £2200 for the surgery, you want everything right first time. As for the surgery, I have to admit Milton Keynes were ultra professional. I got accurate results, far more thorough consultation and pre-op check up’s and the whole team were thorough and knew what they were doing. The Lasik procedure was uncomfortable (the pressure to create the flap), but not painful. However, the anaesthetic wore off very quickly and I experienced quite severe pain and hyper light sensitivity for about 2 hours after the op, but the pain subsided as quickly as it came. By the time I was home and slept for 3 hours (I really recommend this), I opened my eyes for the first time and was amazed. My recovery was excellent, no bloodiness or bruising of the eye, but I have experienced very dry eyes first thing in the morning for about 2 weeks post op. That is already much better, and regular use of moisturising drops really helps. I literally had one day where my vision went distorted as the eye healed, and have had better than 20:20 vision since then. The summary – go for it ! Follow the aftercare rigorously, and use moisturising drops all the time, even if you don’t think your eyes are dry. Mr Waseem Aziz is an excellent surgeon, and so are the staff at Milton Ketynes, but my advice is avoid Watford branch at all costs !