Accuvision Laser Eye Clinic

I had my op done nearly 4 weeks ago at Accuvision and I'm sorry its taken me till now to post this. The truth is that its taken me till now to realise that I don't wear specs any longer as today was the first day since the operation that I looked into the mirror to apply makeup, and it suddenly dawned on me - I dont wear glasses anymore!!!! I've been wanting to get my eyes done for a while, not because I hated my glasses but because I hated being so utterly dependant on them. I was -6.50 and -7.00 with a slight cyl and had worn specs for more than 30 years and I felt Iwas blind without my spectacles! My husband is an optometrist (and a very handsome one at that!) and had been against getting corrective surgery for ages until he went to Accuvision to sus them out! To my surprise he came back and said he'd booked me in on valentines day! For anyone who knows my husband at all, this change of heart was a complete revelation as we'd spent hours in the past with other optom friends discussing the merits of laser surgery and he was never convinced by any of it. In fact he was so sure of Accuvision that he said he was going to stay at home in the Midlands with the kids for the weekend whilst I had it done!!! (We'd been to Accuvision over Xmas for the assessment and got the green light). So on Friday 14th Feb I went to Accuvision and had my eyes done. I was amazed at just how quick the surgery was and how painless, (though I was sure that I could feel them cutting the flap at the time, I know that I couldn't really!). I was incredibly nervous and totally unprepared because I'd done very little research - well, having a husband in the business meant I was quite complacent - if he was happy then that was good enough for me. The staff at Accuvision were all brilliant, especially when minutes before my operation it hit me that I might never see again! Absolute rubbish. Minutes after the operation (about 30) and I was seeing! Sure my eyes were sore and they watered a lot, but I could see. I remember going next door to Starbucks for a coffee and I could see to mind the lampost and I could see to cross the road. I stayed with friends that night and I think I was a pretty good house guest as all I did was crawl into bed and sleep. The next morning I went in for my post-op check and I was able to read the bottom line on the chart, something I was never able to do with my glasses. I've got to hand it to the guys - Vik, Mike, Will, Joan and Darius -you've changed my life. Thankyou for your patience and humour - you made me feel at ease and my husband thanks you from the bottom of his heart as for the first time in 5 years he's been able to sleep through the night since I can see enough to make the baby’s milk without having to search for my glasses now, so it’s me doing the night shifts! Of course as soon as he could, my hubby had me in to check my eyes under the slit-lamp and at 4 days post-op he wasn't able to see my flaps...(corneal!).My vision has steadily improved so that I have very little glare now, and the vision is great. Things are going very well at the moment and I can safely say that I am absolutely delighted with the results of my Lasik op courtesy of the experts at Accuvision. I would strongly urge anyone considering Lasik to get in touch with the guys at Accuvision. They seem to have the perfect blend of professionalism, technical ability, knowledge and that uncanny knack of being able to make you feel comfortable and relaxed about the entire process of Lasik, from the moment you first enquire to the moment you walk out the door with your new eyes. Accuvision – they’re the muts nuts!

I was very impressed with the consultation I had at Accuvision but I have two concerns and I'd be very interested to hear comments from those who have undergone the treatment. Firstly, I'd love to hear from monovisionists! Did it work out for you or have you had to go back for further surgery? Secondly, I'm worried about losing that wonderful, clear near-vision that short-sighted people have. Joan rather delightfully described it as 'super-vision'. Does anyone out there miss theirs or was it a reasonable pay-off? Thanks for sharing your experiences with me.

I had waveguided surgery done in early December. The results are fantastic. It's been very easy to get used to not needing glasses, particularly around swimming pools and spas. :-) I have one quibble though and that's why I'm writing. The procedures for dealing with patients who have dry eyes aren't all that great. At my check up in January the optometrist discovered a dry area in one of my eyes. I was given a bottle of eye drops and told to pop in some drops as soon as I felt my eyes be the least dry. As far as it goes, that's good advice. But with the excellent pre-op care I got, I would have expected better post-op care when it comes to dry eyes. After a few days of constant eye dropping, I noticed that my eyes actually felt worse after I had taken the drops. Through my own research I found out that it's very common to become allergic to the preservative used in eye drops such as the ones given out by Accuvision. (At this point I should mention that I could have called Accuvision and asked them about it. But being unimpressed by their approach to dry eye care so far, I didn't.) Since then I've tested a number of eye drops and gels and found that for me Liquifilm in single dose containers works best. Here are some links for other people with dry eyes: General about dry eyes: http://www.goodhope.org.uk/departments/eyedept/sore%20dry%20eye.htm The list of artificial tears at the bottom of this page is useful: http://www.prodigy.nhs.uk/guidance.asp?gt=dry%20eye%20syndrome Guidelines for treating dry eyes, not only applicable to people with Sjogren's. http://www.sjogrensyndrom.se/100-site/spdfs/S24.pdf Ideally Accuvision should give out an information sheet about dry eyes to those who have that problem at one of the first few post op check-ups. It could contain information about preservative allergies and eye brightening ingredients as well as advice on where to get artifical tears, pros and cons of drops vs. gels and environmental factors to be aware of. Instead of pushing a bottle of Hypromellose into patients' hands, people could be given a few samples of preservative-free single-use containers of different kinds of eye drops so that they can experiment with what kind works best for them. That would actually work out cheaper for Accuvision and improve the level of care at the same time.

It's now nearly 18 months since my LASIK surgery at Accuvision. I can truely say that I've forgotten what it's like to be short-sighted,(I take it for granted that I can now see so well without glasses/contacts all the time). There was an initial period of "settling in" after surgery, and I opted for what they call monovision,where one eye is left a little undercorrected to avoid needing glasses for near vision as you get older. I cannot thank the team at Accuvision enough, all so professional,knowledgable and courteous throughout. You pay for what you get, cutting edge technology and a brilliant result.

I had laser surgery yesterday (17th March) and I must say, so far, so good. Whilst having your eyes clamped open obviously isn't enjoyable, I found the whole experience to be surreal rather than painful. In a way, it's a bit like a bungy jump - you have make a leap of faith in order to go ahead and put your life in someone else's hands in order to make get through it all. The whole thing was very quick, the actual procedure only took about 20 minutes. The staff were all good, the nurse was reassuring and told me what to expect (minus the gory details), the surgeon took time to make sure all my questions are answered beforehand and I was sure I wanted to go ahead (in fact I felt like I was convincing him). I found out at my check up today that I have 20:20 vision. My eyesight is a little hazy, but that is to be expected and having spoken with/emailed several people, this is normal and my eyesight is expected to improve. I found the diary of Steve Mercer (see 'links' above) very helpful and feel he has described the process well (but not for the squeamish).

Together with getting married and travelling around the world, this is the BEST THING I EVER DID. No regrets, it's miraculous. 2 years ago I was refused treatment at Optimax due to my astigmatism. After receiving a recommendation for Accuvusion, I booked in for a free consultation and was informed that my 3.25 / 3.50 impaired dvision could be corrected, as well as my severe astigmatism. I haven't looked back since. Accuvision have been absolutely fantastic from day one. I had a thorough examination with Vik who immediately made me feel comfortable and relaxed. There are no secrets at Accuvision. They tell you the whole story - details of the intricate procedure, the advanced wavefront technology they use which is currently unrivalled in the UK, potential side effects. I was initially advised that there was a chance I may need very weak glasses for driving (not a problem I said), I was also informed they may not be able to fully correct the astigmatism in both my eyes first time around. This is an example of Accuvision's honesty. They painted me a picture of the worst case scenario, which in either situation I was happy with. But unsurprisingly, neither of these issues occurred. I am now on my 3rd week post-surgery and my vision is perfect. It's been perfect for 2 weeks now. Amazing. Believe me they ARE right. The surgery does not hurt. I promise. It was a huge comfort to be able to hold the nurse's hand, just for a bit of reassurance as you are fully awake during the procedure. You are aware of what is happening, as the procedure is explained to you many times beforehand. After surgery you are told to rest your eyes as much as possible - listening to the soaps on TV is no problem! Next day I felt no grittiness, just felt like I'd been punched in each eye. You administer eye drops several times a day during the following week and you are told your vision may fluctuate. My only symptoms were my eyes felt tired at the end of each day (this only lasted 1 week) and they were sensitive to bright artificial light (this has reduced in time - only brightness now is some car headlights). I have had my 1 week checkup and my vision is close to 20/20 in left eye and better than 20/20 in right eye. I am absolutely delighted. It's hard to believe it's true. Waking up in the morning has taken on a new dimension now that I can see, I no longer watch TV in bed with my specs on! and I can't wait to go on holiday and be able to see my surroundings when I'm in the swimming pool! AMAZING. One of the very special things about Accuvision is the people who work there. That's one of the things that makes Accuvision stand out from the rest. Their honesty and integrity is second to none and you are made to feel special and important on every visit. They have all the time in the world for you, no matter how many questions you have or how many times they've heard those questions before! I called Mike (the practice manager) twice after booking surgery with questions and we were on the phone for 25 minutes. No problem, they are dedicated to their patients. Hugest thanks to Mike who was absolute star throughout and Vik the opthamologist and to Darius who's thoroughness and expertise has resulted in a truly professional, dedicated and caring environment and of course to Mr Rostrum who performed my surgery (though you don't really get to talk to the surgeon much). THANK YOU. It's a whole new world when suddenly you're no longer short-sighted. If anyone would like more detail, no problem, please mail me: helenlcollins@hotmail.com My mum was short-sighted and also had to wear reading glasses and she had surgery on the same day as me. They corrected her long-distance vision in one eye and short distance vision in the other eye (monovision) and she also has had no problems and has close to 20/20 vision.

6 days on from my surgery and so far total success, operation was interesting rather than painful, the flap cutting slightly uncomfortable, vision 20/20 within 24hrs, very little discomfort, initially some fluctuation in vision as expected but this now ceased. Night vision not noticeably better (yet?) but have not driven so not really tested. At 1 week check up am expecting 20/10 vision. You get you what you pay for as every body posting here mentions. What you get at Accuvision is a laser 4 times faster than competitors allowing for quicker operation time and less time for flap to dry out. Flap healing is therefore quicker and less chance of complications. Quicker telemetry so laser is repositioned quicker when eye moves and therefore increased accuracy. Finer laser so more accurate "burning" of corneal tissue. "Wavefront" technology measures thickness of cornea in 168 places giving topographical map of corneal thickness. More tissue can be taken from thicker "peaks" of cornea and less from "troughs". This allows less corneal tissue to be taken for same correction. This is important as the residual thickness of the cornea is cteris all things being equal better thicker than thinner. The recent adverse publicity should help thin out the competition in provision of lasik surgery. Those following Accuvision lead will no doubt survive, those not updating their technology and employing pushy sales consultants rather than opthamalgic consultants and pressuring clients into signing up for surgery on the day of consultation with discount offers should not be (in an ideal world) in the market place as they are giving lasik an unnecessary reputation as a risky procedure. Thanks to ALL at Accuvison.

I've recently had two consultations for my short sight (-2.75 / -3 + astigs.) Ultralase - after 45 mins they gave me the go-ahead without even dilating my pupils, having checked the thickness of my corneas by poking me in the eyes without anaesthetic. Then they leaned on me to book treatment right away. Cost: £1849 for both eyes. Accuvision - spent nearly 3 hours checking & re-checking my eyes with state of the art equipment, spotting various irregularities treatable with Wavefront technology. Answered my huge list of questions patiently & were very friendly. Cost: £3600 for both eyes, with Wavefront. Conclusion: you get what you pay for. I will be going ahead with Accuvision.

Having been tempted by laser eye surgery for well over a decade I decided to take the plunge and see if my eyes were suitable. After reading the positive comments on this web site I decided to have a consultation with Accuvision and another clinic where a colleague had been treated. I was much more impressed with the team at Accuvision who spent longer with me, explained the procedure and possible consequences in detail and answered all my questions. I then decided to find out more for myself about the different types of laser and their advantages. There is lots of information on the internet – some of the best sites are those for eye professionals such as Eurotimes, Ophthalmology Times and Review of Ophthalmology. Here you can find out about the clinical trials carried out by eye surgeons around the world who have been using the Allegretto flying spot laser which Accuvision use since 2001 and what they thought of this latest technology. In clinical trials more than 50% of patients actually gained one or two lines of best corrected vision ie. were able to see better post Lasik than they did when their vision was corrected with glasses or contact lenses. Surgeons were impressed by the accuracy and speed of the laser and one commented that his results were the best ever experienced with any laser. I also found studies by surgeons comparing broad beam with flying spot or scanning lasers and they all concluded that superior and more accurate results were achieved with flying spot lasers and that they would eventually become the industry standard. The key points that I discovered about Allegretto were these :- The energy profile is Gaussian rather than the top hat or flat profile used in older broad beam lasers. This Gaussian profile creates a smoother corneal surface and takes away less corneal tissue per diopter of correction which means the visual recovery time is faster, there will be less aberrations (ie.night vision problems and loss of contrast sensitivity) and no risk of corneal ectasia. The narrow beam at 0.95mm is an advantage because it gives the surgeon the ability to customise the ablation (tissue removal) profile both according to ablation zone diameter ie. to match your dilated pupil size and also to vary the ablation zone to address pre-existing irregular corneal shape. Unlike other lasers, Allegretto is designed to produce a prolate (closer to the normal shaped cornea) rather than an oblate profile which lessens the possibility of any night vision problems or loss of crispness of vision. The laser is extremely fast which means that the surface of the tissue does not get a chance to dry out which would cause problems with healing and possibly affect the end result of your surgery and is coupled with a closed loop tracking system with a very fast response time. Obviously the team operating the laser are just as important and I felt confident that the staff at Accuvision were highly competent and had been achieving good results. So now to the important bit – the end result. I wore glasses from the age of 8 to 18 – remember those snazzy NHS frames with the wire ends that curled around your ears – and then hard gas permeable contact lenses for the next 21 years. My prescription was –9.00 and –3.75 which made it very difficult to tolerate wearing glasses because of the difference in image size in each eye. You have to stop wearing contact lenses before having a consultation and treatment to allow the eyes to return to their natural shape. I had assessments at 3 and 6 weeks out of gas permeable contact lenses and was then advised that this was long enough out of lenses to proceed with treatment but the length of time will vary from person to person. I had non wavefront guided Lasik treatment on 17 February at a cost of £3600. I believe that the cost of treatment at Accuvision varies from £3000 up to £5000. The procedure was very quick and completely painless and certainly nothing to worry about. I had slight soreness about 2 hours later which disappeared almost immediately. I had to wear bandage soft contact lenses for 48 hours to help keep my corneal flaps in position as they were hinged from the bottom of the eye rather than the top. This meant that I had very foggy vision for 24 hours and needed to be accompanied to the first check up. As soon as the contact lenses were removed my vision improved and continued to clear slowly. On the second day I spent a little time working on a computer which made my vision mistier and my eyes were quite tired so I would suggest if you work a lot with computers you might need to take several days off work. My eyes have felt a little dry but no more than when wearing contact lenses if that is what you are used to. My prescription was –9.00 and –3.75. At the first day check up my vision was tested and found to be 20/20 . The initial reading for my prescription was –1.00 and –0.25. This may well change as my vision stabilises over the next three months but even at this level I am absolutely delighted. My vision is now BETTER than it was with both glasses and rigid contact lenses. My two major worries about having Lasik surgery were loss of crispness of vision which definitely had NOT happened and night vision. I am experiencing some minor haze around street lamps at night but this may well clear up in the next few weeks and my night vision is clearer now than when wearing rigid contact lenses which always cause their wearers problems at night with glare and starbursts from artificial light sources. I was also worried about the corneal thickness that would be left in my right eye and the risk of ectasia. The industry standard is not to go below 250 microns but Accuvision state they will not go below 300 microns and I was left with 323 microns which I am very happy with. Other lasers could also have achieved the same end result but would have taken away more tissue. The team actually confirm that the microkeratome has cut the correct flap thickness before proceeding with treatment as an extra safeguard. So, for me it was definitely the right decision to go ahead and have Lasik surgery but I am NOT advocating that everyone rush out and have it done. Results are not predictable and there are many people out there who have ended up with worse vision than they started with and in some cases are no longer able to work. Some bad results are due to the patient eg. your cornea could form scar tissue through no fault of the surgeon but other problems are arising because of lack of expertise/knowledge and in some cases treating patients who are not suitable. One of the reasons I chose to use Accuvision was because around 30% of their patients have been turned away from other clinics who refuse to treat them because they are viewed as being difficult cases with a lower chance of obtaining a satisfactory result eg. high prescriptions, thin corneas. If you are interested in having Lasik performed I would say that you must research the subject thoroughly, spend a long time considering the pros and cons and find a clinic with the ideal combination of expert staff using the best possible technology. That is what I firmly believe I found at Accuvision and I have no hesitation in recommending them.

I went for consultations with a three different clinics including Accuvision at the end of last year, of the three I was in no doubt that the right choice for myself was Accuvision. As most of reviews on this site have stated previously the staff are very professional and knowledge as well as very nice people. With the help of the consultants I decided the Wavefront Guided treatment was the right choice for me. I had read up on the benefits of wavefront treatment before attending the consultation as well as contacting previous patients of Accuvision to ask them of their experiences. I made a booking for the beginning of January. My prescription pre-op was -8 in the right eye and -7.25 with astigmatism in the left. I am now nearly 7 weeks post op, and the vision in both eyes is better than 20/20 in fact in both eyes the vision is better than when I wore glasses and as a bonus my vision at night is much better. Due to my high prescription one of the main reasons for choosing Accuvision (other than the wavefront treatment) was that Accuvision create a much thinner corneal flap. Most clinics create a flap around 160 microns but Accuvision customise the treatment for the individual and the flap they created for my treatment was 110 microns, corneal thickness post treatment is extremely important. The higher you prescription the more corne is removed to correct your vision. Most clinics will tell you that as long as you have around 250 microns left (not including the flap) you should be safe. However before deciding to undergo the treatment I did a lot of research into the issues that can occur after lasik treatment one of the main concerns is that 250 microns is the minimum that most people believe should be left post op. Accuvision belive the minimum amount should be 300 microns, and as they tend to create a smaller flap they are more likley to achieve this. The consultants set a very clear expectation of what to expect during the op and the hours, days, weeks and months post op. My eyes felt very gritty for the first few days. I didn’t really experience dry eyes maybe just slightly for around 3-4 days. For the first 2-3 weeks at night or early morning, lights were very bright and I experienced starbursts and halos. But after the first few weeks this has gone away. I would say that now I don’t have any problems seeing at night, driving at night is no problem at all. For myself personally I have had a very good experience having entrusted Accuvision to carry out the lasik treatment. For anyone who is considering lasik I would highly recommend that you at the very least have a consultation with Accuvision.