Ultralase

I had my left eye operated end of Jan 2003 and right eye end of Feb by David Jory. The person who measures your eye and consults with you is the same person who performs the operation. At the first consultation I recommend everyone take sunglasses, he used drops to dilate the pupils and walking outside was extremely bright afterwards! He was very open and ready to discuss the procedure, I had read the literature back to front before going. I was happy with the consultation. I had my first op later that day (after time for lunch and collect thoughts away from the clinic). Some of the drops during consultation stringed greatly, but the operation itself is completely painless. You are equipped with pain killers for later on. I thought I could manage without them but the pain the first evening was too much so I did take the tablets after all (good night's sleep ;-), kept the last dose for the next night. After 1st eye (left) was done vision was exceptionally clear as soon as the pad was off, quite amazing. Starbursts were very visible at night, and I avoided night driving where-ever possible. Stinging or scratchy sensation when tired. At 2nd eye surgery (right), he tested left eye at that metered in at -0.25 (I was worse than -4.00 in each eye). Second eye experience was same as first. On checkup two weeks after 2nd eye surgery, my left eye had regressed to -0.75 and right eye was +0.25. I am conscious that left eye image is slightly blurred and Mr. Jory explained that a pair of eyes working together only had a single focus, so dominant eye wins and other eye is blurred. When I cover right eye the left eye does focus better, but not as clear as when it was first operated on. Mr. Jory will not operate unless vision is worse than -1.00, and he said that as left eye had regressed slightly, it was probable that right eye will too. When the prescriptions are closer difference will be less noticeable. - Watch this space! I still suffer starburst effect at night, although this is decreasing with time (2 - 3 months so far). Mr. Jory said this will diminish over time. I used to suffer with dry contact lenses before surgery, now my eyes can get dry and feel uncomfortable occasionally. Mr. J recommended 'artificial tear' drops from a chemist - which work ok. I am delighted with my new eyes, I selected this procedure because of apparent (?) long term dangers of LASIK. I will post again in a few months after I've been to local optician to get eye prescription.

I recently had LASEK treatment back on the 9th May 03 in my right eye. If there's anyone out there that has also had the same treatment, i would love to hear from them. I would like to know how long it took for the eye to heal.

I was treated (Lasik)at the Manchester clinic at the end of February. Some 2 1/2 months later I feel that my eyesight couldn't be any better than it is - its amazing being able to see clearly after wearing glasses for more than half my life. I don't really understand all the technicalities of eye surgery but my eye were both about -3.5 and I had astigmatism. The first 6 or so weeks after treatment I was badly affected by bright lights to the point where i felt unsafe driving. I went to Ultralase just before Easter and saw Dr. Koehler (very pleasant man) and he prescribed Pred Forte drops. This worked a treat and since then had no problems at all with bright lights or anything such as haloes My advice to anyone thinking about getting their eyes done would be a) not to worry because the procedure itself is nothing to be frightened of; b) take a few days off after the op to rest and relax - don't be tempted to do very much even though your eyes feel fine ; and c) get some sunglasses with polarized lenses - you can get them at Next for less than £20 - they really cut the glare down, especially when driving. Anyone want any more of my (humble) advice please e-mail me

I had bilateral wavefront lasek at St Albans with Vinod Gupta on 16 October 2003 for -3.5/-4.0 myopia. I had been assessed last year for conventional lasik, but although the clinic were prepared to undertake the surgery, I decided not to proceed due to the risk of glare/halo problems with largish 6.5mm pupils and thin corneas meaning retreatment would not be possible. When I heard that wavefront lasek could address these issues I was reassessed and decided to proceed. On the day everything seemed well organised and professional. I experienced very little discomfort during the proceedure or since, though I was very sensitive to light for a few hours. When the laser was firing I found it difficult to keep my eye still and the laser was stopped a couple of times, however Mr Gupta said that the proceedure had gone very well and I was able to leave after 30 minutes in the recovery room. Since then my eyesight has been pretty good though it is a little unstable and varies through the day. I seemed a bit longsighted at first, but 1 week after treatment I can view my computer monitor without problems. My right eye is healing faster than the left so I have a slight imbalance which is improving daily. Night driving is OK, I don't have a problem with halos though car headlights seem very much brighter than when I wore glasses. I was aware from the outset that the healing time for lasek was longer than for lasik so am not disheartened that some problems remain at the end of week 1. I am able to function without glasses for the first time in 20 years and feel confident that my vision will have improved further at my 1 month check up.

Just had my 1 month check up following bilateral wavefront lasek for -3.5/-4.0 myopia. Tested as 6/6 in both eyes on the Snellen chart (left eye a little weaker than the right), but slightly longsighted. I am told that the longsightedness is due to overcorrection to compensate for the effect of healing of the cornea and should disappear over the next couple of months. Generally my eyesight is pretty good now though it remains a little unstable. Night vision is worse than daytime as my acuity seems to reduce in low light conditions, but is still OK for driving. I do not experience glare or halos though I still find the ocassional car headlight dazzling (which I did not seem to notice when wearing glasses). Overall I am happy with the outcome and expect the problems I am having to reduce over the coming months.

Ultralase at Tottenham Court Road was one of the Centres I checked out for potential surgery. Whilst I was treated very professionally and cannot fault anybody for the level of service I received, I found it rather offputting that I would not see the surgeon until the actual day of surgery. Establishing a 'relationship' with a potential surgeon before the actual procedure has always been important to me, so why should it be different when it comes to one of the most important senses - my eyes? In addition, I was rather annoyed about the 'advertising campaign' that started after I had gone for the initial consultation. At least once a week, I would receive a letter in the post trying to 'entice' me to go ahead with the procedure. I felt that Ultralase was treating my eyes as a commodity and this was the reason why I decided against Ultralase. I decided to go to the Centre for Sight instead and had the procedure on 12 May 2003. I shall add my comments to their site in due course.

The staff are very helpfull and understanding. I had surgery 1½yrs ago now and only recently found this site in error. In total I've had 3 operations. My vision has never been the same since, Some days I can see better than others. I still see halos and big starbursts and glare from lights. Due to this I cannot drive at night and therefore have undergone some serious changes in my lifestyle. But I would say on a plus side having day vision is a good feeling. If I could turn the clocks back I would but hey life goes on so think seriously before messing with your eyes. You only have 1set. If anyone else has problems with night vision contact me as I am still hopefull that maybe time will heal? But I have been informed otherwise by an optician. Thanks

I had bi-lateral LASEK for a prescription of -7.5 in both eyes on 15/11/03. The procedure was carried out by Vinod Gupta at Tottenham Ct Road. The procedure was painless although the first few days after did feel uncomfortable because of the contact lenses that I had to wear for 4 days. I have been for 2 aftercare check-ups and have been told that I am nearly near driving standard. I still cannot see clearLy though and am wondering whether this is normal for LASEk patients. Is my vision likely to improve further? I would love to hear other people's experiences following LASEK.

I had my consultation at Cardiff in Nov 02. I was told I was suitable but that I had a complicated prescription as I was very short-sighted and astigmatic. The optician who saw me told me that I could loose two lines of vision from the chart and that I could experience dry eyes. When I left him I was against going ahead with the surgery and was disappointed. However, I next saw a consultant/sales woman who was supposed to help me to make my decision. She allayed my fears by telling me that it was doubtful if I would have any problems, that this was a "worse case scenario" that they had to warn me about, but was very unlikely. She has had the surgery herself with no problems and I began to wonder if I had heard the first option correctly. I found myself agreeing to have surgery three days later. I should have asked for a second opinion but unfortunately I didn't. I have lost some vision in right eye but can just about manage but my left eye is very bad and I struggle to see anything with it. Also I didn't realise how painful dry eyes can be and I have permanent discomfort, like having a displaced contact lens in the bottom of my eye. Drops and cream do not help. On my last consultation an enhancement was mentioned but I am afraid of having this in case it worsens things. All in all I regret having the surgery and on reflection feel that the saleswoman misled me and I ended up into making a quick decision which was wrong for someone with such a complex prescription.

I had a consultation with Ultralase approx 6 weeks ago @ Totenham crt rd. The consultant checked my eyes thoroughly (or so I thought), and proceeded to book me in for surgery the following week. I must add here that my prescription was -9 & -8.5 with slight astigmatism - being such a high prescription I asked a number of times during the consultation if my eyes fell within the safe parameters for surgery and was duely assured. Day of Surgery - I arrived at the Totenham crt road branch and was prepared for surgery - the surgeon, Mr Pererra ran through his pre-checks. I was at the point of just going into the theatre, iodine around the eyelids and first set of anesthetic drops administered, when the surgeon did a final check on pupil size - it turned out my pupils were dilating to 7mm and ultralase could only treat a maz area of 6mm - which would result in poor night vision. All credit to Mr Pererra for spotting this - and he was amazed that it hadn't been picked up in the pre-consultation - obviously the surgery was aborted! My experience with Ultralase leeds me to believe that because they are churning through so many patients, they are becoming careless at the consultation stage. I'm off to Accuvision - read my post there.