St Thomas’ Hospital

I have just had my first eye treated with the LASEK procedure by David O’Brart and I was so surprised I could see better straight after the operation but my sight did go blury after a while and I am now slowing getting clearer vision. There was slight pain in the first 24 hours but after that the bandage lens I had in my eye, just left me feeling like I had grit in my eye, but once that was removed it was fine. I am now looking forward to having the other eye done. I would certainly recommend Mr O’Brart.

I had my first eye LASEK’d by Dr David O’Brart on August 31st 2001 and the other eye done on 1st March 2002. It was a long time between having my eyes done because I had various holidays and things already arranged. Upon reflection I wish I would of had the second eye done sooner! I would definately recommend David, he explains everything to the minutist detail and the operation is quick and painless. I myself had very little pain afterwards, more like what I would call a ‘mild stinging’ for 36 hours (like conjunctivitus). I am extremely pleased with the outcome. Before the operation I was:
Left eye: -1.25 Right Eye: -1.25 (6/15 on the snellen eye chart)
After the operation I am:
Left eye: 0 Right eye: 0 (I can now read 6/5 on the snellen eye chart, better than the average person).
I also had astigmatism in both eyes. I have still have a very small amount in my left eye, but hardly enough to notice.
I have no side effects such as ghosting, halos etc, these soon disappeared within a few weeks after the operation. My pupils are 7mm dialated.
My girlfriend goes in for her first eye to be LASEK’d next Friday. I will make sure she lets you all know how she gets on!

Well it has been 1 year now since I had my left eye done and 6 months for my right eye. Having read some of the problems other people on this site have had, I can honestly say how happy and grateful I am for the success results of my operations. My right eye which was approx (-1.5) is now perfect and its as though there was no treatment on it. My left eye was (-3.5), 1 year on the vision is perfect in daylight. No dryness or any other complications. At night, in very dark conditions, my left eye tends to dilate and this can cause slight eye strain and halos around rear car lights. But generally the halos are reduced when using both eyes. Its only when I use my LEFT eye on its own when halos are significant. As soon as I use both eyes, the halos pretty much go. This is not a major factor anyway as I am right eye dominant.

Overall, very pleased with the outcome and now just need to book and appt with Mr O’Brart for that 6 month check up!

My wife wanted Mr O’Brarts phone number to go and see him, so I looked it up from this site. I then read my reports from now over 1 year ago!
So how have I got on? Well I haven’t done eye number 2 yet.
The dryness I used to get is now much much better, but I do still get some dryness, although now I find a little moisture and all is fine. I have not had the rush to the bathroom for tap water whilst in pain for well over 6 months, so that is now behind me.
The night vision is now perfect. The brain has now compensated perfectly.
So why haven’t I done eye number 2? Well I now have 20/20 vision, so why risk the operational risk. So I am content to stay where I am. A year on I have 20/20 vision, don’t wear glasses, and have no trouble with my night vision. A very small amount of dry eye, which I believe will completely go over time is a fantastic result.

Now here’s something different – and you might be wondering why I´m posting a score of 5 when ….. Anyway, read on. As noted earlier on this website (PS glad that Ariana had the courage to migrate) I went for LASEK on the left eye on 14th June. The eye was anaesthetised, alcohol solution applied and the epithelial layer carefully pulled back. David O´Brart placed me under the laser and the zapping started. David had informed me that the operation would take about 30 seconds … so I was surprised when he shut down the laser after about 5 seconds. He then said those words which none of us want to hear under these particular circumstances “We have a problem. I´m aborting the procedure as it´s not safe to continue”. Bloody hell! David guided me back into the waiting room and informed his waiting patients that they should go home as there was a problem with the laser. David apologised profusely and was totally perplexed. Apparently, after about 3000 safe operations – and 4 to 5 of those immediately before mine (they were subsequently checked out and are fine) – the laser, despite it’s multiple fail safes, decided to misalign of it’s own accord DURING the operation. Now, remember what I said in my first posting to this website – my Rolls Royce analogy on man v machine. So there I am, under the laser, and David notices (percentage by luck, but largely through experience I would guess) some “fluorescent flashing” on the masking which is laid over the eye. Now THAT shouldn’t have been happening So, what happened next! Concerning the laser, technicians were called – and were equally baffled. The only conclusion they could come to was that the machine had received a heavy knock – and we are talking about a substantial knock here. Trouble is, no-one can think how this could have happened. Certainly neither David nor I had done anything of the kind. I am informed the machine is back in use and is working 100%. Concerning my eye ….. At the time it was too early for David to assess what damage – if any – might have been done to the eye. His advice to me was to leave the eye open and unprotected by the normally applied surgical contact lens. He told me it would be very painful but it would be the safest course and he would see me again on the Monday. Well, pain was not an apt description. I needed knock out tablets to get me through the night and during the day I had no choice but to over-prescribe myself on anaesthetic eye drops which would give relief for up to 30 minutes at a time. No joking, it was like having a huge piece of grit under the eyelid and not being able to touch the eye in any way. The pain lasted the full three days – and then diminished rapidly thereafter as the epithelial layer started to repair itself. Results …. For four weeks after the op I was experiencing two disturbing side effects. Firstly, you’d be looking at lines (say, in the road) and they would double up and separate with distance – although the image would be weaker than the actual line. And then there was the doubling up of all images – especially disturbing at night with lights. All cars had four stoplights – plus halo effects. I have to admit I was worried up until very recently. Over the past week the double imaging is much reduced and my eye seems to have settled to within, say, 10% of the original starting prescription. I have seen David about 4 times since the operation and at all times he has been attentive – even calling me a few times to see how I was over that first weekend. (He was just as upset as me about the whole episode. Quote “My patients come to me and expect to leave in a better state – not worse”). I delayed this follow up report until today because I was in England last week and took the opportunity to have some further scans on the eye. Looking at the scans, it appears that the laser was aiming a fraction of a millimetre above the targeted area – and you can quite clearly see that the area of ablation was still in the process of “filling in”. This means that there is still a little improvement to come and this will hopefully get me back to within a couple of percent of where I was before all this started. Next steps ….. David has been looking at some new wave guide (?) lasers in Germany and I understand he’ll be using these in the future. I had already expressed a lack of confidence in his current kit and we originally mused over the idea that I would be put under the new technology. However, we have decided that it would be far better to continue the treatment under the current machine as we know exactly where we have left off and what we have to do to finish the job- we didn’t really want to introduce other variables. We have also agreed that the left eye would be re-zapped on ….. yes …. Friday 13th September. Foolish or what?. In summary then, I’m really glad I went for a someone of David’s calibre. I am convinced that as machinery can and does go wrong, you really do need an expert to spot that fact very quickly indeed. I am also lucky, I suppose, in that I chose LASEK. With LASIK, the cornea would have been sliced and the damage would have been done inside the cornea, thus requiring further cutting on the same lines in three months time. All other aspects of the operation went fine. David got a “really nice” edge on the epithelial layer and he was able to return it with very little loss. I had no dry eye, I had no other after effects. Lessons to be learnt…… 1. Machines can cock up. 2. Get the best man for the job. 3. If at first you don´t succeed….. I´ll keep you posted but it’ll be all quiet for a while until after I’ve had my second op.