Optical Express

I had lens replacement on 5th and 6th may 2016 by Mr jan ventor in clane general hospital Co kildare and from start to finish it has been great Mr ventor was excellent no pain during op or after so now I’m 2 days after op a bit of flashy sort of lights round the outskirts of my eyes but my eye sight is 20/20 I can’t believe the difference in my sight I ve been told that they will settle down its all completely normal so I’m very happy if your thinking about going for it definitely would .

Thank you to you and your team at Westfeild Clinic, for my new lenses, now I can see better than I could before I wore glasses all the time, twenty years ago. I am so happy and will only need glasses for reading.

Dimitri is reassuring, knowledgeable and importantly a really good surgeon. He takes the time to explain fully what will happen, the benefits and any side effects that may occur. You will be in very capable hands

I had LASIK eye surgery with Dr Manek Patel at the Shaftesbury Avenue Optical Express a month ago and am extremely happy with the result. I only wish that I had had it done sooner. Dr Patel is a very experienced surgeon and he and the other medical staff were very professional which put me at ease straight away. The surgery was unbelievably quick and painless and the recovery also very quick. I had a bit of discomfort (itchy sore eyes) a few hours after the surgery but that had gone by the next day, and the day after that I was back at work. I now have better than 20/20 vision. The surgery wasn’t cheap as I was very short-sighted in my left eye, but I would definitely recommend it and definitely recommend Dr Patel.

I had LASIK in 2013 and my surgeon was Luca Antico. In my opinion, he was rude and completely rushed the surgery. I am left with poor night vision and sensitive corneas (very painful).

My complaint with them was dealt with by Stephen Hannan and I have never come across a ruder person. His manner is completely unprofessional and his responses were full of spelling mistakes. He has lied to me in order to defend Optical Express. He says that I signed a disclaimer saying that people with a higher prescription are more likely to develop night vision disturbances but I actually made a copy of the disclaimer that I signed and it’s not in there. When I pointed this out, he kept changing the subject.

I asked to meet my surgeon prior to the surgery but Luca Antico was apparently too busy to meet me and answer my questions.

The day after my surgery, I had an abrasion on my left eye. I strongly believe that this was due to Luca Antico’s poor surgical technique.

I have now been contacted by Laura Ventre, Optical Express’ in-house solicitor and she has oddly given me optical advice, despite being a solicitor, not an ophthalmologist. She has also said that Optical Express has closed my complaint, despite me still having several unanswered questions. What a way to treat a customer who’s spent £2500 on a product that hasn’t worked at all.

I am now wearing glasses again and my prescription is -1.50 dioptres in each eye. This is above the legal limit for driving in the UK so I am now reliant on glasses again.

Summary – disgusting company that just want your money and will lie to protect themselves.

All of the above is the absolute truth and views are my opinions only.

Big massive thank you to shaftsbusy and team Aks (manager) thank you so much for reassuring me making me feel comfortable. Supporting me. Showing me guidance. You and your team have been amazing. I was sceptical and scared worried you made me feel positive and put my worries to ease. BIG massive thank you Akshay.

Very good service. Surgeon Mr Waseem Aziz was brilliant. I saw him 20 minutes before the surgery (Birmingham branch). He answered all the questions I had plus I made him aware that I like to as a hobby contact sports, he advised me to change my procedure to Lasek instead of lasik which was cheaper (recovery is slightly longer then lasik and can be painful for the first few hours after surgery but it is worth it. It also means the flap on the iris does not have to be cut and lifted for the laser to do its thing as it is with lasik. This means chance of any violent impact to the eye will not dislodge the flap as a cut was never made). I received the difference in money 28 working days later. I will be going back soon for my 3 months post operation check up. All is great. No contacts or glasses required any more. Do not listen to fake reviews on how things went bad for people and if they did I am sorry but the chances seem very slim. Hope all stays well.

Having a prescription of -2.75 and -2.25 I’ve been considering laser eye surgery for many years as I love my sports but have never really got on with contact lenses, so decided to make a consultation appointment at Bluewater, Dartford. The consultation lasted approx 90 mins but that was first thing on a Saturday morning and was told that it can get very busy. Consultation consisted of questions from an advisor(salesperson), followed by a few tests, a bit of waiting around then back to the advisor to talk cost of surgery.
I had read a few reviews regarding cost so the figure I had in my head was around £2000 to £2500 for both eyes. The advisor said that the cost was dependant on the level of prescription, so because of my mild prescription I was expecting something reasonable. Only to be shell-shocked when quoted £3495 for iDesign Lasik or £2995 for Standard Lasik. With little effort and within minutes the price had come down to £2995 for iDesign Lasik (apparently the best they can do) and £2500 for Standard Lasik (after the advisor had asked the manager if they can give it for that price). I opted for the Standard Lasik for £2500, I probably could have negotiated further (by walking away and waiting for them to call me later in the day as I had read others had done) but I am not one for playing games so decided to bite the bullet and booked surgery for 6 days later.
The surgery was relatively straightforward and painless, and although it said to allow for up to 3 hours I was done within an hour. Literally within minutes of getting off the surgery table I was checked over and told I could leave. The post-surgery recovery is the only negative once the anaesthetic has worn off it was like chopping the strongest onions for about 3 hours and my eyes were streaming. I put myself to bed with a few paracetamols and tried to sleep it off. The rest of the day I just stayed in a dark room and kept my eye closed to assist recovery.
The next day I woke up and had better vision but still some haze around bright lights. I went for my next day visit back to the clinic where they said they were happy with my recovery and my vision was tested and was now better than 20/20.
Now 3 days on I’m back to work and feeling fine. I’m definitely glad that I have done it and very impressed with Optical Express and their handling of me as a patient and customer. My only negative was the whole cloak and dagger approach to costing and the lack of transparency. I would love to know how much I could have got it for.

I have made a complaint to Optical Express regarding the unsatisfactory service I have received. I haven’t had a reply.
I feel very let down by the company.

What’s the point in living if you don’t feel alive? Being only 18 many people (including my mum, dad and previous opticians) thought that I shouldn’t get the surgery done at such a young age. To be honest, I was in two minds about the surgery, what if the whole thing goes wrong?! But I couldn’t do many of the things I wanted to: go swimming, dance all night or stay up all night in London without worrying about vision! Going to university next year however, was one of the things that led me to go for it. Having quite sensitive eyes meant I could only wear my contacts for nine hours maximum and at university I’m going to be up all night partying and I didnt want to worry about my eyes especially after a few drinks!

So I booked the consultation secretly and went without my parents knowing because they would not have been best pleased! Whenever I said about laser surgery they always replied ‘Your eyes are still changing, you won’t be suitable!’

I went to the consultation at Watford and oh my goodness, the clinic was so much more modern than I ever expected! Because of my fairly poor prescription (left eye -4.50 and right eye -4.25 which means that my focal range is about 25cm) the cost was obviously much higher. I brought a previous optician prescription from two years ago with me which showed my eyes were indeed still stable which made my heart leap! It is indeed possible! However, due to my large pupils I would have to have wavefront surgery and in addition, I didn’t like the thought of having a knife type instrument cut my eye so I decided to go for the Intralase. But, this was all talk.

After getting home from the consultation, I somehow had to approach my parents. When I told them I had been for the consultation they did go mad but I stood my ground and booked my laser surgery for a fortnight. I played a very risky game. My surgery was right during exams at school and if anything went wrong… well I didnt want to think about it! I couldn’t have it done after because I was going on holiday to Menorca and if I booked my surgery after my exams I wouldn’t be able to swim underwater! Some people may say I had my priorities wrong… but wait until you are told you are suitable for laser surgery. You are in euphoria.

On the day of the surgery I was obviously scared and thought today is make or break. At Uxbridge surgery I had a couple more tests and watched in the waiting room how people went into the operation room and came out about ten minutes later. I didn’t ask anyone how they were and probably should have done!

The wait was torture but about 20 minutes later I was called into the surgery room. I had to wait about five minutes lieing on the table/ bed because my surgeon came in a bit late. And when he finally came in, it all began. It was a well rehearsed procedure and the people there were clearly professionals. A patch was put over my left eye first before the right eye was done. True I did feel a fair aount of pressure on my eye as the procedure was being done and I really was unsure whether I was meant to be feeling this but I let them continue with their work. Although it is only a 10 minute procedure I lost track of time, and I also lost track of what they were doing to my eyes! In the end I completely spaced out and kept thinking ‘It’s nearly over, it’s nearly there!’

When they told me I was done I got up. I know it sounds truly crazy, and true, the vision’s hazy but I could see better already! I had to relax a bit for 5 mintes, had my drops explained to me and then check the corneal flap was securely on but i left the surgery in under two hours.

My mum had driven me there and it was during the ride home that the anaesthetic started to wear off. Slowly my eyes started to get more painful and half an hour into the journey my eyes just wanted to close. And they did. But the light from outside stil tortured me. So I decided to put my hoody on back to front to block out more light so for half a hour I must have looked like a right fool!

I got home and managed to get to the door and ring it. I still couldn’t open my eyes and my hoody made me look like a fool! My dad answered and nearly fainted, ‘Oh my God, what has happened?!’ I left my mum to explain as I went upstairs and lay down. I couldn’t sleep The pain on a scale from 1 to 10 was about 8.5. Over the next 5 hours the pain gradually decreased to a 1 and by 6 o’ clock I opened my eyes for the first time since the car journey. There was haze still; it was expected. But I could see down the garden and even see some individual leaves, I was so happy. I could see past the fact that I had to use drops 14 times a day and goggles during bed for a week in case I knocked my corneal flap, for the first time in 18 years I felt totaly independent.

2 months on and many post ops later – all is perfect. I can read the bottom line of the chart at Optical Express and the haze has practically disappeared. True it was an expensive operation but I spent £500 a year on contact lenses and optician appointments and I see it as an investment! Furthermore, there were a couple of instances where they forgot to phone me back but overall it was an extremely professional service. I got my appointment for my biannual contact lense appointment yesterday and I couldn’t stop laughing. It just reminded me of my new freedom. Moreover, I’m going to Menorca tomorrow for a week; no lenses or glasses! Expect sunglasses of course! I can see underwater, I can party all night with no worries, I can get back to the hotel after a late night and not care about having to take my contacts out!

The one thing though that an unbelieveable amount of people say is that ‘I wish I had done it sooner.’ The overwhelming joy of this for me is that at the tender age of 18, I don’t have this regret. I have my whole life ahead of me and infact I have not regrets at all. What’s the point in living if you don’t feel alive? Well I do now.