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With 20 years performing vision correction surgery under his belt, Mr Julian Stevens has been a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital since 1988.
The good news? Mr Stevens makes the list of the 10 best laser eye surgeons in the UK, based on thousands of patient reviews since 2002. Hundreds of former patients have left positive reviews, praising his surgical skill and caring manner.
Is there anything I should know? You’ve probably already guessed this, but Mr Stevens’s experience and prime London address also makes him one of the most expensive eye surgeons around. As with all Moorfields surgeons, his prices can be double that of competitors.
So is he the one? If you would like a second opinion, you can find the top-rated eye surgery clinic near you using our simple tool here, and book a free consultation with an eye expert to discuss your options.
1. About Mr Julian Stevens
Julian Stevens won a scholarship to study Medicine at Merton College, University of Oxford, where he was then awarded a Postmaster scholarship. He graduated top of his year in 1980 and was awarded the Oxford University Prize in Medicine for the top First Class Honours Degree.
He continued his clinical medical training at Clare College, University of Cambridge and at the Cambridge Medical School. Higher training was undertaken at the Oxford Eye Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London.
2. Training
After completing his general ophthalmic surgical training, Mr Stevens undertook two years of sub-specialist training, with Fellowships in Lens, Corneal and then Refractive Surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
Mr Stevens was appointed as Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in January 1996. His main interest is laser refractive surgery.
He has been involved in the development and application of wavefront refractive surgery and has personally performed over 10,000 wavefront procedures. Mr Stevens was the first Director of Refractive Surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
3. Qualifications
Mr Stevens joins Professor David Gartry in being one of the UK’s most qualified eye surgeons. He is an examiner for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and holds the Certification of the Royal College in Laser Refractive Surgery. He is an advisor to the British Society for Refractive Surgery and is on the Board of the International Society of Refractive Surgery.
He has won prizes from both the American and the European Societies of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. He is the recipient of the 2007 American Academy of Ophthalmology (ISRS/ AAO) Lans award for innovation in refractive surgery.
Internationally recognised as an expert opinion leader, Mr Stevens has published peer reviewed papers on refractive surgery and is regularly invited to deliver keynote lectures at national and international ophthalmic meetings.
Mr Stevens trains Ophthalmic Surgeons in advanced refractive and cataract surgery. He founded the Moorfields basic and advanced IntraLASIK courses and the Moorfields wavefront training course for Ophthalmic Surgeons.
4. Patient Reviews
“My husband and I had lens replacement by Mr Stevens last year, and are both thrilled with our results. After years of wearing glasses, we feel liberated from them from the moment we wake up. I would personally recommend Mr Stevens, and would not hesitate to refer any of my family to see him when the necessity arises for them to seek eye treatment.” – June Clayton
“I had LASIK in 2005, performed by Mr Julian Stevens at Moorfields Eye Hospital. I have absolutely fantastic vision and it stills shocks me just how well I can see. The procedure was quick and painless, and Mr Stevens and his team made me feel at ease throughout the whole process.” – Rosie
“Mr Stevens was fairly brief in his pre-op time given for discussion but you could say, efficient and utterly knowledgeable. His junior doctors were not so well informed and one lady even fobbed me off with false information. His receptionists (especially Janet – a star) were much better informed. Overall I received all the answers I needed (I was annoyingly inquisitive) but had the sense that as a customer of an expensive and commercial procedure, time for chat was necessarily not huge. Delighted with the results.” – Andrew James
5. Prices
As you would expect at Moorfields Private, Mr Stevens does not come cheap.
Laser refractive surgery costs twice the quotes at other leading UK clinics, although the prices for lens replacement surgery are only around a third more, given the higher base cost of the lens itself.
- Consultation: £150 – £600
- Wavefront laser refractive surgery: £4,370 – £4,970
- Refractive lens surgery: £3,825 – £4,430 (per eye)
- Cataract surgery cost: £3,825 – £4,430 (per eye)
Unlike at many other clinics, initial consultations with Mr Stevens are not free – you’ll be paying between £150 and £600, depending on the surgery you’re interested in. If you would prefer to have the option to pay monthly for your surgery, it’s worth looking around, as Moorfields will need the full payment up front. At Optical Express or Ultralase, for instance, you could pay around £50 a month for two years.
6. The Verdict
So, is Mr Stevens the right eye surgeon for you? Of course, that all depends on where you live, and what you’re looking for. His prices are some of the highest in the industry, but he can also justify them, as one of the UK’s most qualified surgeons.
You’d be in trusted hands with Mr Stevens. That said, with eye surgery considered a safe elective surgery by the General Medical Council (GMC), no one should feel obliged to spend any more than they are comfortable with. You can always attend free consultations with a range of surgeons to see where you feel most comfortable.
☝ To find a top-rated laser eye surgery clinic near you, just click here to use our simple quote tool, and receive a tailored match and quote from a clinic you can trust.
Mr Julian Stevens Reviews
Testimonials
Just had my 3 month follow-up appointment with Mr Julian Stevens and both high astigmatism (-4.25 on the right eye!) and short-sightedness are completely treated. My prescription prior to the LASIK treatment was Right eye: -0.5 / -42.5, Left eye: -1.75 / -1.75 .. and now reads 0 / 0 on both eyes and have better than 20/20 vision which is a 2-line improvement to what I could see before with my expensive glasses on. I had been wearing glasses since I was 8yrs old and due to my high astigmatism I could only wear hard contacts (which were awful and can cause serious damage to your cornea) or custom made soft contacts which were still very very uncomfortable after a few hours of use. Of course at the beginning (like anyone considering laser treatment) I was sceptical and kinda scared given that your eyes are on the line. So I did my research and after going to 3 free-laser assessments offered by high street companies I took as much information as I could and to be honest felt quite comfortable with the way technology has evolved. Though I always knew that if I went ahead with the surgery it d be at Moorfields (which to be honest in the end wasn’t that much more expensive). So in deciding how to proceed you have to consider 3 things: the laser, the surgeon and the place – usually surgeons operate one type of laser so the first two go hand in hand. After reading the reviews on this site and checking other surgeons’ CVs I decided to go with Mr Stevens who operates one of the most advanced lasers with iris-registration (tracks the movement of your eye). And what a great decision that was! He was probably the only person who didn’t have to sell it hard to me and he even cautioned me that there may be a small chance that I ll need re-treatment due to my high astigmatism; in the end of course I didn’t need it but point is that he was being very realistic. So, 3 months later and the results speak for themselves.. I didn’t need a second treatment and my eyes are in a perfect condition. The procedure itself was absolutely painless (felt nothing) and you shouldn’t overthink it as you don’t want to panic during the treatment – he is a very experienced surgeon. I honestly wish I had done it years ago. It was painless both during and after. I only experienced a slight discomfort but that went away few hours later and most importantly my vision not only improved drastically straight after treatment but kept improving progressively ever since. The thing is that once treated you take it for granted but now writing about my experience and thinking about the change it has made in my life it’s unreal.
I’m a Doctor. I had 6/36 6/60 vision with significant astigmatism and refractive errors and was fed up not being able to see the world properly. I understand the risks associated with laser eye surgery and considered very carefully who I was going to let operate on my eyes. After extensive research and canvassing of my ophthalmic colleagues, the name that kept on coming up was Mr Julian Stevens at Moorfields. His clinical pedigree and international professional standing is without equal.From the initial consultation, I had total confidence in him. He has a superb bedside manner backed up by professional excellence. Literally hours were spent assessing me, the work up was meticulous and extensive. His team were superb and unbelievably helpful. The procedure was (speaking as a doctor) a virtuoso performance, smooth, unhurried and utterly professional.It is now three months since I had my Waveform Lasix. My confidence in choosing him has been totally vindicated, I wish I had done it years ago. I am now (as planned: we had decided on blended vision) 6/5 6/9 with no astigmatism or other refractive errors. I have no star bursts, no halos and no dry eyes. It is unbelievable. I am now seeing detail in the world I didn’t even suspect existed. The man is a genius. He is in my professional opinion the best and I would recommend him without hesitation, as the surgeon of choice for laser eye surgery.
I had a wonderful experience with Mr Stevens and his team. I was very uncertain about whether I could face the procedure initially. However, Mr Stevens and the whole team were so enthusiastic, helpful and professional that I booked up straight after the consultation.I spent a week worrying about it and then when it came to the procedure I cannot believe how straight forward it was. I was not worried about pain it was more that I was squeamish about my eyes being operated on.I am sure there are so many people out there who feel the same way. I want to tell them that the procedure is so simple with no pain, no scary operating equipment, virtually no funny sensations, all you had to do was look at the red dot. It only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish.You can see really well straight away, but your eyes are a bit watery. Each day that goes by they feel a bit better. I am one week on and I feel amazing. I have gone down to taking drops every 4 hours and I have almost forgotten that I ever wore glasses.Mr Stevens spotted that my eyes were dry and is treating me for this too. All in all this has been a wonderful experience and I recommend every one out there who is nervous about it, not to be because there is nothing to be worried about and to be able to see so well after all those years is fantastic.A big thanks to Mr Stevens and all the team but especially to Daphine who has been a great help and support from the first appointment.
Julian Stevens is amazing and has changed my life more than I ever expected as I walked into his office for the first time. To put my eyes into context I was born short sighted around -9.00 in both eyes with astigmatism in both eyes. I have pretty much worn glasses since bith. I was never able to see the black board at school unless I was sat three meters from it and as I approached 17 I realised thst I would never be able to drive as I could not see the number plate on a car from the required distance. Without glasses on I could not see anything further than 10 cm from my face. Before surgery I was still unable to drive. Straight after surgey I could see for the first time in my life unaided by glasses or contatct lenses. I am also able to see the number plate on a car and I am shortly about to sit my driving test. I could actually read a whole extra line on the letters chart. Julian and his team have been fantastic from the first consultation through to surgery and the after care. I cannot thank him enough for virtually opening my eyes to a new world, I am able to see first thing in the morning instead of reaching for my glasses first. If you are in any doubt in regards to surgery please trust Julian and go for it, you are in safe hands.
Went for a consultation with Julian Stevens in late 2012. Mr Stevens was plain talking and inspired confidence. Had Intralasik surgery in December 2012 and so far so good. Words cant decribe how life changing it is. Not needing to worry about glasses or contacts. What a relief. My vision is 20/20 and just from a morale point of view its great. I should say that just like any surgery there comes with it implicit responsibility namely that you need to make sure you put in the eye drops on time which is vital to assist the healing.I am happy with the results so far. My advice is not to deliberate too long, make up your mind and go for it!