Optimax

I had my treatment (Intralase Lasik with Wavefront) on Friday 22nd June at the Birmingham Surgery. My Doctor (Dr Masilamani) was very helpful, talking me through the procedures and which would be best suited to me. Once we had agreed upon the procedure which was best suited I was shown a short video of the procedure, I was also given the opportunity to ask questions. I arranged to have the treatment on the same afternoon. The only slightly negative thing I would say about Optimax is be prepared to be in the clinic a long time. My appointment for surgery was delayed by nearly two hours, in my case this worked in my favour as it helped to calm my nerves a little but I can understand how such a wait could make some people more nervous. The surgery took about 10 minutes in total but it felt like the longest ten minute of my life! I wouldn’t say any of the procedure is painful but the pressure from suction cups can be a little uncomfortable. As anaesthetic is applied to the eye you feel very little. Throughout the procedure the Dr Masilamani was very reassuring, constantly telling me how long was left on each part of the procedure and how everything was going well. Once I came out of surgery everything was hazy and fuzzy. I had to wait for 20 minutes for the optician to check the condition of my eyes then I was free to go. A good tip is to take along some sun glasses for when you leave the clinic as you may be sensitive to light (I was a little). I was warned that around 4 hours after the procedure the aesthetic would wear off and I may feel some discomfort. You are supplied with some more aesthetic but asked only to use it if completely necessary as it may slow the healing process. Sure enough after about four hours I experiences discomfort. The best way to describe how it felt is like when you are cutting really strong onions. My eyes started to water profusely and my nose was constantly running. About the same time I was started to be really sensitive to light, so closed all the blinds in the house. I decided the best thing to do was to go to sleep. Two hours later when I woke up I felt better, but still light sensitive. From the next day onward things gradually improved and the fuzzy haze gradually went.It now I week since I had my treatment and I can already see better that I could with glasses. I think it’s the best thing I’ve done in a long time, any one thinking about having it done go for it! Just imaging; -Waking up in the morning and being able to see the clock -Opening the oven and not having steamy glasses -Not having to search for your glasses of contacts when you wake up Need I say more!!!!! If any one has any particular questions about the treatment I had please feel free to email me.

I had lasik surgery in September 2006 in aberdeen. There was no pain during or after the surgery and my eyes healed very quickly and I now have 20/20 vision. It might be because Iam only in my 20's that it worked so well, but I would recommend this to everyone who is thinking about having this done.

I had my eyes done at Finnchley Road by Dr. Patel and he was fantastic. Really good bedside manner. Listened carefully to my concerns and took time to explain his answers. Didnt rush me into a decision. As for the procedure, he talked me the whole way through explaining each step. Great man. I had a bumpy 3 months where my eyes took time to heal after Epi-Lasek but at 3 months I had better than 2020 vision. Optimax themselves were really good. On my worried days I would telephone my concerns and someone always phoned me back and took time reassuring me and listening to me.

I had Lasek with wavefront technology at Leeds office on Saturday 23rd June. Eye sight was -2.50 in both eyes. Surgeon Dr Samuel who explained everything and made sure I had done my research. Operation was not pleasant, surreal having eyes scrapped and vision blurring then returning. It did not hurt you just have to ignore the fact someone is scarping your eye. Then the smell of burning 'hair' from the laser as your eyes get zapped! Managed to get home, but I could not find a room dark enough for the next 2 days. After 2 days I could open my eyes a little to see roughly where I was going. Only pain was on days three when the eye drops were put in and it was agony for 15 minutes! Apart from that it was uncomfatable with the bandage contact lenses feeling like they were drying out. Warning YOU NEED SOMEONE AT HOME TO LOOK AFTER YOU! Until my bandaged contact lenses were removed I could not see clear enough to do most things including finding the pain killers, sleeping tables, eye drops, antibiotics. Bandage contact lenses were removed on Wednesday and I could see, not clear but better than without glasses before the operation. Now a month later I have near perfect vision in one eye (right) and the other is slightly long sighted. It is amazing seeing again and not needing glasses or contact lenses. I wake in the morning and see! I still sometimes at bedtime think I have to take off my glasses or remove my contact lenses... I wish I had done it years ago. I would recommend it to anyone, but you have to be made aware of all the possible risk involved and I am so glad nothing serious has gone wrong for me. What has gone wrong for me:- Sometimes when I wake up I feel like my left eye lids are glued together onto my eye. Very strange feeling but if I remember to move my eyes around first then open my eye lid then no proble. I might have a little dry eye when I remember to use the eye drops there is usually no problem. When looking at TV, PCs, Cinemas screen the eye can dry out and you have to blink more. Sometimes the sun can seem too bright, or if you walk into a dark room and turn the light on it is way too bright!

I had epi lasek at Optimax Glasgow on Monday, 16th July 2007. The surgery itself took all in less than 5 minutes don't get me wrong its not very pleasant but a means to an end. The doc told me i could use my own paracetamol based medication along with the prescription he gave me i asked if cocodamol was ok he said yes so i had no pain whatsoever i am telling the truth - when the anaesthetic wore off about 4 hours later it was hard to open my eyes so i took my sleeping pill and went to bed! I awoke every 4 hrs (during the night don't get me wrong)took my cocodamol and on the Tuesday i was fine looking after my one year old. On Wednesday i took no medication and had a check up Thurs to get my bandages removed. I was dreading it & it was absolutely fine! I have had no runny/dry eyes, no gritting my only thing that concerns me is how long it will take and if even will i achieve 20:20 vision. My prescription was -2.25 both eyes and my corneas were too thin for Lasek my doc said i didn't need to fork out for Wavefront i had initially went to Optical Express and they quoted me £2700 telling me i could get the works!! I ended up getting my price for Optimax from Ebay I am really pleased just waiting to see how my eye sight goes...

I had my laser surgery at optimax after reading the reviews on this site. They seemed to be the best value for money based on average cost of surgery and customer ratings. I managed to get double discount, which was also great. I had a letter saying a special offer of £400 an eye (Epi-Lasek) was available with £300 extra per eye for wavefront. I also managed to get an ebay discount added, which brought the total cost to £1120 for Epi-Lasek on both eyes including wavefront. Phenomenal value. I had my consulation and surgery on the same day and the surgery took about 10 mins! There was a delay of about an hour running up to it, however. There was no explanation for it but when I finally asked they said I'd be seen very shortly, and I was. I did suffer for the first day but this was because I failed to use the anti-inflammatories and the tear drops they gave me. I wasn't paying enough attention to what they were telling me about how to use it, so for anyone else reading this I'd say ensure that you start using the drops as soon as your home after surgery. As soon as I started using the drops my life became a lot easier. I had my bandage contact lenses removed after three days and I have to say I couldn't wait to get them out. I found them very irritating. On my way home after this somehow an eyelash managed to find its way into my left eye and it was agony. My eye was streaming and I couldn't touch it to get it out. I had to get my friend to take me back to the clinic and they immediately saw to me and removed the lash. Unfortunately because of the rubbing from the lash they had to put another bandage contact lense into that eye. This was removed without incident after another three days. I have been back for my check ups and at my last check up, after just eight weeks, I am able to read the line second from the very bottom line. This is already better than 20/20 and improvement can continue for up to a year after surgery! I have one more check up in a few weeks and then I'm signed off. I'd like to say that optimax have been consumate professionals and very accomodating and considering the amount I paid, exceptional value for money. Recommended, in fact my girlfriend has just had hers done on my recommendation. I'll get her to post her thoughts in a couple of months, when the treatment has had time to be effective.

I had lasik treatment to both eyes on Monday 23rd July 2007 (which was only 2 days ago). I underwent the treatment at the Birmingham Clinic, the staff and specialists were fantastic. The surgery itself was painless, a little uncomfortable in preparing the eye but the actual laser treatment was painless. The treatment took 20mins in total. I felt discomfort for a couple of hours when the anesthetic wore off, but by mid to late evening I felt much better. I woke up the next day with no problems, I had near perfect sight in the one eye but the other eye was still a little blur. Upon returning to the clinic for my aftercare check later in the day, the bandage lens were removed and I had excellent 20/20 vision. In less than 24 hours my vision had fully returned and my glasses and contact lenses were thrown away - Absolutely fantastic !!!! I can't praise the staff enough and I would certainly recommend the treatment and the Birmingham Clinic to anyone - this has already transformed my life and it has only been 2 days !!!!!

I had Lasik Wavefront Intralase at Newcastle on 24 July 2007. I was -2.00 in each eye beforehand. The biggest surprise I had was when the nurse showed me all the bottles of eye-drops I needed to take - there were more than I was expecting - but actually they're not too bad: The eye-drops I had to use were Exocin (antibiotic) 4 times a day for a week and FML (Flourometholone (Anti-inflammatory)) 6 times a day for a week and then 4 times a day for three weeks. I also got Refresh ‘artificial tears’ to use for dry eyes whenever necessary (always first thing in the morning, but otherwise not very often). All of the drops are clear, watery low-concentration drops - not stinging or sticky - they're about as easy as eye-drops can get. I'd never used eye-drops before so it took a day or two to get used to them (to stop flinching everytime I put them in!), but after that they've been fine. I think it’s definitely worth buying some cotton-wool pads before the operation and having a bottle of sterilised (boiled then cooled) water ready at home - it's the only way to clean your eyes for the first few days and it's nice to have it all ready to use straightaway. The operation itself was pretty easy - not pleasant (apart from when the laser's working - it's pretty cool then) but not so bad really (just uncomfortable and exciting/scary (a little bit of both if you know what I mean) – but really nothing to worry about). Afterwards I kept my eyes closed as much as possible for that night and the whole of the next day. I went back to work two days after the operation – it wasn’t easy working on a computer all day but it was do-able. I was just really tired at the end of the day. On the third day I worked all day and went out to the movies on the night – my eyes felt as good as normal all day long. Drove home at night - lights looked like they do on a misty night (you know that pretty halo/glow effect?). It’s less prominent now and gradually improving but even at first it didn’t make driving difficult at all. A week and a half on and I’m really appreciating how incredible it is to have perfect sight again! (20/20 as tested one week after the operation). The question of which clinic to go to seemed to be the hardest decision I had to make. I researched plenty beforehand – and I eventually came to the conclusion that pretty much everywhere that offers laser surgery is a professional, accurate, careful place. Optimax won on price and proximity – but I’m sure I’d have been as happy anywhere. Although having said that the staff at Newcastle were all really friendly and their waiting room/reception is a plush, relaxing place. Which is nice! :-) I bought through e-bay - although I have to admit that it did take a while before I could come to terms with the idea of discounted surgery! I had to make absolutely sure that it was no different from the non-discounted kind (It isn't). So that’s it I guess – a couple more weeks of eye-drops and then I’ll be done! It’s amazing how easy and quick it all is! What an extraordinary and wonderful thing to have done!

Can't praise the Glasgow clinic and Dr. Anwar well enough. I am about 7 weeks after Epi-lasek. The first 4 days you want to stay in bed and sleep just take your painkillers every 4 hours. After the lenses are taken our on the 4th day you will see a great improvement everytime you wake up. Driving standard after 7-10 days. I have used Co-codamol and Dromadol for pain which worked great. I chose Epi-lasek because I had the time on my hands and really didn't want the flap on my eye that never heals after Lasik! So I opted for more pain and longer recovery (epi-lasek)as opposed to Quick recovery but permanent flap on your eye and so more risk (Lasik). That's why for those that are below 5 dpt I would recommend to get Epi-lasek done. Lasik however is worth it for those who can't have epi-lasek done. My eyes were -3.50 and -2.25 with slight astigmatism on left eye. 6 weeks later they are one line passed 20:20 with my right eye slightly weaker. I have already taken my vision for granted so I haven't even noticed any more improvement, but there was significantly more improvement since my last check-up. I am very pleased and except of occasional grittiness I have no any problems. I can recommend Optimax to everyone who is still hesitating. I went to Optical Express and they would charge me £1490, for the same operation. My sister-in-law has to go there for re-treatment after she had lasik done there about 3 months ago. Thanks to the ebay option in Optimax more people can get this done in more than reasonable price. There's appointments that would otherwise be wasted so Optimax opted for giving it away in a discount price. Thank you Optimax and God for my new eyes!!

I just thought I'd let everyone know about the fantasic treatment I had at Optimax, Manchester. I had Lasik with wavefront, and less than 24hrs later have 20/20 vision. Much better the 3.75 with astigmatism 2.25 and 4.25 with astigmatism 1.25, that I had before. I thought all the staff were really professional and friendly and I would highly recommend Optimax to anyone. I had been to Ultralase and Optical Express and was impressed with both, except that they were really expensive and they attach a person to you. This person, I felt, was a glorified salesman and really pushed the payment side of the treatment. Trying to get me to upgrade ect. At times it was a little uncomfortable. This did not happen at Optimax and as I had done a lot of research I felt I could go ahead with treatment the same day, although I saw a couple of people book in for the next day, so there was no pressure. I really liked this aspect as I felt I couldn't get too worked up over the whole "flap" part. I was really scared about that bit. My surgeon, Dr Boezaart(spelling?) was fantasic. Really to the point in my consultation. At Optical Express and Ultralase I had not met the surgeon and wouldn't til day of treatment! A little dodgey if you ask me! The waiting room was also nicer at Optimax. Less pressure. All the info was available if you wanted it, but there were no cheesy "thank you" cards reinforcing the fact that they are good. It really felt like they were saying "if you want to have your eyes fixed here...great. If not never mind." The treatment itself was MUCH easier than I thought it would be. The worst bit is when they replace the flaps and you can see this spatula brush your eye. I remember thinking "oh that really close...no it must be touching because its tickling!" Other than that it was really easy. The surgeon was fantasic and I can't sing his praises highly enough! He talked through my entire procedure and even let me sing (badly) when he used the noisy instrument. The surgery itself only took about 15mins. My mum only got chance to look through half the mag! She said when I came out my eyes looked a little puffy, but I was grinning. I could tell something must be right because even though my vision was still blurred, it was clearer than before. I was worried about how long they would keep me at the clinic, I just wanted to get home. At the other two places they said they would keep in recovery for about half an hour, then a little longer in the waiting room. This would have been awful for me. After about 20 mins I was given my medication and a check up I was told I could go, my long sight was great at this point, but my close up vison was still very blurred, the opposite to before. As I got to the car the drops started to wear off and I just needed to close my eyes. I couldn't open them again for a about 2 and a half hours (if I'd have been at Ultralase/Optical Express I would have been stuck there). I was a little uncomfortable when they were closed. If my face tensed up they stung abit. I also took a painkiller for a headache. I definatley would not say it hurt, it was just uncomfortable. When I opened my eyes I could see everything really clearly, and have been able to ever since. The pitfalls so far are minimal, bug eye sheilds at night (not very attractive), loads of eye drops, but I'm getting used to those and I wore goggles in the shower this morning, again not very atractive. Still I weigh these up against shoving my fingers in my eyes everyday putting in my lenses, swapping my glasses and sunglasses (hated transitions), taking spare pairs of contacts with me ect... and even if I had to put drops in my eyes everyday for the rest of my life it would be worth it. After all I had to put drops in when my lenses got tired anyway! I would advise people do your research and barter with the price, it isn't fixed. I managed to get half price in the end, don't forget they want your custom, and what have you got to lose? I look forward now to the rest of my life without glasses (I've already driven my husband mad reading number plates clocks, posters!). Good luck Niki x