Optimax

It's now 18 months since I received corrective eye surgery, and can honestly say that it is one of the most gratifying things I have ever done. From the first consultancy to the completion of the work I was looked after extremely professionally and was made to feel at ease throughout. My eyesight is absolutely superb and is better than 2020. I can't praise the staff at Optimax in Croydon highly enough.

Paul Childs,
Rainham
Kent

I am booked to have Femtosecond Wavefront Lasik in a couple of weeks with Dr. Patel at the Finchley Road clinic- does anyone have any comments about the procedure? We are booked to go skiing 4 days after the op, am I dreaming?! Thanks:)

had epi-lasek at the liverpool clinic on 21 oct 06 and it is the best thing i have ever done. First 24 hours were not painful for me. i would say more uncomfortable and definately like peeling lots of onions as previous people have described. The next couple of days eyes were sensitive to light but by weds much better. I returned to work after one week but really should have taken another week off as my job involves alot of computer work. The worse thing i found was the endless amount of drops you have to use – a pain but you get used to it. Epi-lasek is slow in getting perfect vision. it took 6 weeks for my eyes to totally feel 100% but be patient you will get there. 10 weeks on my eyes are now 20/20 from -1.75/-2.00.its fantastic.

Visited the Brighton clinic on 2nd December 2006 for a consultation with the surgeon, Dr. Hoe, and opted for Epi-Lasek to both eyes (incl. 'wavefront') that same afternoon.

(I was a little concerned that being diagnosed with MS 8 years ago, I may be unsuitable for treatment, but this was fully discussed with Dr. Hoe, and no problems anticipated in my instance.)

I had the following week booked as leave, so that took care of any major urgency of recovery.

Well, I won't kid anyone – the op was unpleasant (but not painful) and the smell of burning flesh as my eyes were being treated was rather stronger than I expected !!

Immediately after the procedure (which only took a few minutes), both my eyes and nose were streaming profusely – like I had really bad hayfever?!!

Having been kitted out with painkillers, eye-shields, artificial tears, antibiotic eye-drops and steroid eye-drops, I was allowed to travel home by minicab (unaccompanied …my choice) within about 20 minutes of the operation.

Once the local anaesthetic wore off, my eyes were tender to say the least (quite understandable in the circumstances) so the painkillers were most welcome.

Vision was very poor for about 2 days, and it was actually quite uncomfortable to open the eyes at all.

However, after 2 days of inconvenience, I started to become aware of how well my eyes were healing and saw glimpses of the joys to come.

Day 3 saw me returning to the clinic to have my 'bandage lenses' (fitted to offer a level of protection and aid in the recovery process) removed and getting around alone in an unfamiliar area was no problem, despite some minor lingering blurriness.

The recovery rate has been slightly different for each eye but returning for a check-up 17 days after the operation, my eyes were tested at slightly better than 20-20 each.

I had been wearing glasses or contact lenses for the preceeding 18 years and had a prescription of -3.00 & -3.25, with mild astigmatism in each eye.

I can't begin to describe the sense of freedom I am now enjoying and, as many other have already said, I wish I'd done this years ago.

For the sake of 2-3 days discomfort and inconvenience, the outcome is absolutely worth it a thousand times over.

The staff in Brighton have been so helpful and friendly, I can't thank them enough.

I have already had no hesitation in recommending treatment to friends, family and colleagues who have expressed even a passing interest ;-)

My consultation was on 14th November at the Birmingham clinic. Mr Masilamani (a man of few words) recommended that I went for femtosecond (laser cut flap) LASIK with Wavefront. I asked a number of questions and the surgeon replied by telling me he would get me 20/20 vision or better with no anticipated problems. I even asked if I would be able to return to work in a couple of days, even though I had a week's annual leave booked after the proposed op date, and he confirmed that this was a very real possibility. Especially with femtosecond and Wavefront. So, after a few days to think things over I confirmed my provisional booking for 20th November. I was kept waiting for 2.5 hours on the day and nothing has happened the way I was told it would in terms of recovery. Over 2 weeks later I am struggling to drive at night because of lights etc, have read that it can take time but my problem is with the fact that I was told there would be no side effects for me and it would immediately be the best thing I ever did. The surgeon was completely silent during the op so I had to quietly work out what he was doing for myself, I couldn't see 3 feet in front of me for the first 3 days because of fluid, which was apparently most unexpected, I am still struggling in dimly lit rooms (both naturally and artificially lit), driving at night is avoided if possible (it goes dark before 4pm at the moment!) etc etc. No doubt it will all improve as I have now been reassured (and i'll somehow struggle through the winter months without driving too much at night) but I have a big problem with the communication from the surgeon. Sorry to unload this on the forum where so many are immediately pleased with their results, but if you're thinking of getting the op done please please please do your research before going ahead. That said – all the best…

I feel a bit better after that. Thanks!!