Optical Express

Absolutely fantastic. Its the best thing I've ever done. The procedure was painless and by the next day my sight was perfect. Would highly recommend Optical Express Belfast.

I had Lasik eye surgery with wavefront on 27th March ,and although I was very nervous about the procedure the staff and surgeons were very supportive and made me feel at ease. Directly after the procedure it was like looking underwater and with minimal discomfort.Before I got home which was a 20 minute drive I could see and read road signs.It was amazing as my perscription was 3.75 in both eyes, and now 2 days on can see better than I could with my glasses.Anyone thinking of having eye surgery I would definatly recommend it as the results are clearly brilliant.

I had wavefront LASEK treatment at Reading Optical Express on Saturday 18 February 2006. My prescription was minus 4.50 approx in both eyes with astigmatism in one of them. THE TREATMENT itself was very quick - about 5 minutes in total. The eye clamps were very unpleasant and quite uncomfortable, bordering on painful. The actual procedure itself was painless and you really can't see anything that's going on - just some bright lights. I did find it traumatic but this is only because in my head I was thinking: the surgeon is scraping my eye now, etc., which freaked me out quite a lot. They did talk through the procedure but I couldn't hear what they were saying at the time so this didn't really help. The laser itself is the least nasty part of the whole thing - the most alarming bit of the laser is the singed hair smell and the clacking sound: both are perfectly normal. IMMEDIATELY AFTER TREATMENT I could see much better - about 75% perfect vision. My eyes were not sore at all and although they were a bit light sensitive I had no problems getting home. AFTER 90 MINUTES the numbing drops wore off and my eyes started to weep profusely. My eyes were stinging hugely and I was so sensitive to light and air that I basically had to close my eyes for about 5 hours. Unfortunately my boyfriend had stuck my "only take these drops if your eyes are really bad" drops in the fridge and gone food shopping (I thought I was ok) so I was stuck in bed unable to relieve the pain or do anything. It was awful! Make sure you have someone there for the following few hours as you'll really appreciate it. Also take all the drops they give you as I suffered needlessly, wanting to keep the drops in case my eyes worsened. The 6 hours after treatment will always be the worst so don't hesitate to use them if you need to at this stage. AFTER 6 HOURS the stinging and weeping suddenly decreased and the pain reduced to levels of high discomfort rather than pain. I was still very light sensitive and did most things by candlelight that day. I was exhausted from the pain (its surprising how tiring it makes you) and I had no problems sleeping all night in my goggles. THE NEXT DAY (Sunday) I felt much better although my eyes were still a bit blurry - about 80% vision with my right eye worse than the other. I spent most of the day with my eyes closed in the dark listening to the radio which was the most comfortable thing to do. By the evening the bandage contact lenses started drying out and causing a bit of discomfort but I did manage to open my eyes. I did not experience any grittiness although I had the sensation that I had some dust in my right eye. This was not too bad though. The contact lenses also seemed to make my vision milky as they were drying out. THE SECOND DAY after treatment (Monday) all stinging and weeping had more-or-less gone to be replaced by dry eyes and the contact lenses causing a high degree of discomfort meaning I was having to close my eyes again as blinking was causing the lids to rub against the lenses making my lids very sore, plus the milky vision got worse and the feeling of having something in my right eye remained. THE THIRD DAY after treatment (Tuesday) I phoned the optician and begged them to take out the contact lenses a day early (they were due out on Wednesday). They agreed and I had them out which was a HUGE RELIEF. In the end they were causing me more discomfort than I could bear: worse than the eyes themselves. I expected my eyes to be quite sore but they weren't too bad and with frequent drops felt almost normal. My vision was still about 80% at this point. I could see well both short and long distance although my short distance vision was much worse than long and at both distances nothing was yet crisp. By the end of the week though I felt safe enough to drive, although had real trouble reading. TWO WEEKS after treatment my eyes felt pretty much back to normal. I was quite concerned about my vision though because, although it was improving very slightly, one eye was worse than the other and I was finding being in an air-conditioned office at work very uncomfortable. I couldn't really read my computer screen and had to increase the resolution quite a lot and was still squinting at the screen. Luckily I had another holiday booked for a week. The optician wasn't unduly concerned at this point and did allay my fears that this was as good as it was going to get. FOUR WEEKS after treatment my eyes feel completely normal. I still get dry eyes some days at work but drops a few times a day keep me fine. My eyes have even sight now and at my checkup I was told I can read one line below 20/20 vision. Everything is perfectly crisp and the computer screen is back to its normal resolution. Stopping the anti-inflammatory drops really seemed to help my eyesight improve and I would advise anyone concerned at their slow progress to be patient. Overall this experience has been first traumatic, then painful, uncomfortable, and worrying but the end result is everything I could have hoped for. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone and still delight in being able to read signs at a distance, recognise friends from across the street and wear eye makeup for the first time! However, don't underestimate the amount having sore or painful eyes can really tire you out - even weeks after treatment. Optical Express were very professional and reassuring, especially the surgeon Mr Kheterpal who was very relaxed and calm and I felt very confident in his abilities. There is a lot of waiting around but I understand in order for them to be as efficient as possible with their time they need to make sure people are ready and waiting as soon as the surgeon is. It's a small price to pay for such a huge difference to my life. GO FOR IT.

I went to Nottingham for my consultation and found them very professional. They explained everything. I had the surgery (Lasek) done at Birmingham 5 weeks ago and i am very pleased with the results, thankyou to Dr George. The best £1400 i have ever spent. The one thing people were complaining about was the 3 hours waiting but i cannot see why, as you are told that you will be there about that long. Going back to Nottingham in 2 weeks for a check up and i have found the aftercare is very good (Ravi ?). If you are thinking of having it done go for it, the 2 days of red painful eyes is worth it in the end. Mark.

I had LASIK at Southampton on March 25th,10 days later and I have 20/20 vision. I had the consultation 1 month before the treatment and was a bit worried since my agtismatism was quite high -4.00 both eyes plus -4.00 myopia(shortsight). They told me my astigmatism was high but treatable nevertheless. Originally, I was booked for LASIK wavefront but on the day the surgeon said my corneas were too thin for this treatment and we went for standard LASIK, the cost is about £800 less than wavefront. In total I paid £1,990, absolutely worth it, though. The operation was painless if a little unconfortable. A few hours later I could see perfectly with my left eye but a bit misty with the right one; this has taken a few days to settle and on my week check-up yesterday my vision was 20/20 on both eyes. I am incredibly pleased with the results and would recommend it to anybody. Good luck!

I had Lasik Vision Correction 15 days ago and after my 2 week check-up yesterday, I have achieved 20/20 vision! Fantastic!

I had Lasik surgery 3 months ago, peformed by Mr. George at Birmingham. I am absolutely delighted with the results. I now have slightly better than 20/20 vision. The surgery was not painful in any way, although I was nervous but the staff were very reassuring. I had the surgery at 2.00pm and was able to watch television without glasses at 8.00pm that same evening. I have had all my checks at Nottingham, where once again I cannot praise the staff highly enough, and am now discharged. I have had no problems whatsoever, no dry or watering of the eyes, no pain or discomfort. On the whole the experience was so much better than I anticipated. I am now able to "come out from behind my glasses" and it has given such a boost to my confidence. Thank you to you all.

9 months on and I have perfect eyesight with no problems at all. Absolutely thrilled. All the staff and the surgeon in Belfast were amazing. They talked me through everything and put me at ease. I cant recommend the procedure highly enough. Thank you!

I HAD LASIK WAVEFRONT LASER EYE SURGERY AT OPTICAL EXPRESS GLASGOW PERFORMED BY DR S BOYTHA ON 8TH MARCH.MY VISION AFTER 24HRS WAS AMAZING. AFTER OVER 20 YRS OF WEARING CONTACT LENSES I CAN NOW SEE FOR MILES BETTER THAN 20/20.THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN LIFE CHANGING AND ON THE DAY OF SURGERY EVERYTHING WAS VERY PROFESSIONALLY DONE.ALL THE STAFF MAKE YOUN FEEL RELAXED AND THE PROCEDURE ITSELF IS PAINLESS AND OVER IN A MATTER OF MINUTES.I WOULD RECOMMEND OPTICAL EXPRESS TO EVERYONE THINKING ABOUT HAVING LASER EYE SURGERY.EUROPE'S NUMBER ONE PROVIDER WILL SOON BE NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD.ONE MONTH ON AND AFTER ANOTHER AFTERCARE APPOINTMENT THE OPTOMETRIST GAVE ME ANOTHER THOUROUGH CHECK UP MY VISION CONTINUES TO IMPROVE THE SERVICE LEVEL INSTORE HAS BEEN VERY VERY IMPRESSIVE.AS THE ADVERT SAID ,EYE CARE WE CARE OPTICAL EXPRESS CERTAINLY DO CARE FOR ALL THEIR PATIENTS TO A VERY IMPPRESSIVE LEVEL.

Hi, this was my experience at the Southampton branch of Optical Express... I hope it proves helpful for anyone wanting to have Lasik Wavefront surgery. READ ON AS I DESCRIBE CERTAIN THINGS ABOUT THE PROCEDURE THAT I HAVEN'T READ IN OTHER POSTINGS. I decided 2 weeks ago, to put my fears asided and go for a consultation to see if I was suitable for Lasik. My consultation was last week (Wed 05 April) - I was told that I was a perfect candidate and my surgery date was set for that Saturday (08 April!!!) I was keen to get it over and done with quickly, before I could think of a reason not to go ahead. I was told by the "counsellor" that the first available date was in May, but I asked if there was any availability that weekend and was told that, in fact, there was. I wanted to make use of their interest free payment option, but because my surgery was due to take place 3 days after my consultation, I was told that there wasn't enough time to set this up, so I had to pay the £1,990 up front. The optician who performed my initial consultation (Vicky) was brilliant, but I have to say that the counsellor wasn't great. She did get me the early appointment, so I won't grumble too much, but she didn't offer ANY counselling and wasn't terribly helpful when I asked her questions. Thanks to this website though, I had done A LOT of research into the procedure, so she didn't put me off too much. Saturday, the day of surgery, arrived and to say that I was nervous is an understatement. I did not sleep much the night before...when I did drop off I dreamt about eyes and when I was lieing awake I was thinking about eyes! My appointment was at 09:15 and after signing various papers, having final tests, meeting with the surgeon (Stefan Klopper) and a bit of waiting about (which I didn't mind too much, it actually calmed me down a bit to be waiting with people who were going through the same thing as I was and speaking to people who had the surgery done the day before and were in for their follow ups) I walked into the laser room at about 10:30. I had heard that you could request Valium if you were very scared and I was planning to have it by the truck load, but as it turned out, I didn't need it in the end. I started shaking uncontrollably when the nurses sat me in the chair, reclined it and started prepping me for the surgery. They offered me a stress ball in the shape of a pink pig, which turned out to be all the "Valium" I needed! While they were waiting for the surgeon, they rolled me under the laser so that I could see what it would look like, they swabbed around my eyes to clean them, doused them with anaesthetic, placed a cover over my left eye and talked to me constantly, making sure that they were in my line of sight all the time, which was reassuring. One of the things that will stick in my mind was when a nurse walked in, introduced herself as "Helen" and said that she was my designated hand-holder and offered me both her hands (I think she regretted this later, as they were purple and had the design on my shirt imprinted on them when I was finished with her!) I found that I couldn't grip the pink pig and both her hands at the same time, so had to relinquish the pig. The surgery itself was not really what I had expected. The clamp that keeps your eye open wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be, the suction before the cutting of the flap was worse than expected, the cutting of the flap didn't make me want to leap off the chair as I'd feared that I would, the laser was as I'd expected, the smell of my right eye burning was horrible (I tried to breath through my mouth but abandoned this for fear that I would move my eye out of the line of the laser and so prolong the procedure), I didn't smell burning at all when they did my left eye, the smoothing back of the flap was almost soothing - you can see the instrument going across your eye and I suppose the fact that you can see at all, is what is soothing! One aspect of the surgery that I haven't read in any other postings and which my boyfriend also experienced when he had Lasik 5 years ago AND which the optician also corroborated when I asked her the next day, was that the sensation in my second (left) eye was TOTALLY different to my first eye. The clamp was much the same as the first, but the sensation when they pushed the suction thingy down and then cut the flap was ALMOST painful. I could definately feel a pinching sensation, which made me panic because I thought the anaesthetic was wearing off and the laser hadn't even started yet. I told the surgeon what I was feeling but he said it was okay. The remainder of the surgery on that eye was much the same as the first eye, although the colours I saw while they were lasering were different from the first eye and I was very tense because I expected there to be pain following the pinching feeling of the flap being cut. I told my boyfriend what had happened, he looked sheepish and said that the same thing had happened to him but that he hadn't wanted to tell me because he didn't want to put me off, knowing how scared I was. I asked the optician about it at my next-day follow up and she said that this experience is very common and that they are conducting research into it because they can't figure out why you can feel the second flap being cut, when you can't feel the first one. They have even tried using double the amount of anaesthetic in the second eye, but it makes no difference. They think that, after surgery on the first eye, your adrenalin levels are so high and your brain thinks "holy cow, what are you doing to your eyes??" that it actually makes you feel the sensation even though you shouldn't be able to because of the anaesthetic. This is probably your brain's way of saying, "hang on a minute, are you really sure you want to be doing this to yourself, again?!" For those of you who are considering laser surgery...don't let this put you off...pinch your skin (not too hard!) and this is what it felt like - more disconcerting than painful. For those of you who have had Lasik, I would be interested to hear from you if you experienced something similar. Immediately after surgery, it was like looking through milk and not very clear, but funnily enough I wasn't worried at all (again probably down to "feel-good" adrenalin and the knowledge that my eyeball hadn't been sliced in two by the microkeratome or imploded post-laser!). The surgeon warned me that I would experience some pain after about 20mins, and he wasn't wrong. My eyes watered a bit and were very gritty for the next 5 hours. Every now and then it felt like someone was sticking a sharp pencil into them and I couldn't open my eyelids for any extended period of time - which made the putting in of the first set of drops a little difficult, especially as I wouldn't allow my boyfriend (or anyone armed with eye drops) to come any nearer to me than 5 feet but, after he pointed out that he wouldn't be able to aim the drops into my eyes from across the room, I made a plan and managed to get them in myself. When I did manage to keep my eyes open for a few seconds at a time, I could already tell that my vision was very good. By that night, they were still slightly gritty, but I could see well and at my follow up appointment the next day (yesterday) I had better than 20/20 vision, which is expected to IMPROVE over the next few days! Improve how?... I already feel like Bionic Woman with superhuman visual powers! So...I hope this has been helpful. If you are scared about having this done, don't be. I know making an informed decision based on the one Pro..."You more than likely will see much better after this procedure" compared with the 5 pages of Cons..."things that can go wrong" that they hand you when you go for the consultation, is difficult but hey, how many posting have you read on this website about people who experience anything less than perfect vision afterwards? Good luck!