Optimax

My overall opinion from the consultation through to the after care was excellent. Obviously when the treatment is booked nerves then set in and on the day of the treatment I was a nervous wreck. I have not got a very high pain threshold but can honestly say that if I had to go through the experience again I would have no second thoughts, I would not hesitate in recommending this to anyone thinking about it. I only wish I had done it years ago!

I had femtosecond wavefront lasik treatment( also known as Intralase I believe ) on the 24/7 at Birmingham Optimax, surgeon Mr Madhusudhan. My pre treat prescription was L-6.1 /R-5.75 with mild astigmatism. I thought I would put a post on here to tell you about my experience. As I guess if you are reading this you are looking for information pre-treatment, I think I read all 600 reviews before finally committing myself. I had both eyes treated on the same day. In this particular treatment a laser is used to create the flap, the eye is lasered and the laser creates bubbles allowing the surgeon push the flap aside. This part of the operation was uncomfortable but this is mainly because of the use of two clamps on the eye, I have quite small eyes and it was quite uncomfortable with a feeling of pressure. After a few seconds under the laser the clamps are removed and you sit in a darkened room to allow the flap to create. This feels like you have put the wrong contact lens fluid in your eyes with a smarting sensation, certainly bearable if a little alarming as I wasn't sure what to expect. Mr Madhusudhan administered more anthesthetic drops on my return for the second half of the treatment. Which I can say hand on heart was completely painless and only needed one clamp per eye. Once the laser had completed it's job a bandage lense was place on each eye to protect it. I was able to see immediately although my eyes were watering profusely. For the rest of the afternoon I took it easy( I did read a few number plates on the way home ... I couldn't resist), took a paracetamol and slept for a couple of hours. By 8pm I was feeling 100% better my sight was clearing and I had little discomfort, I wore sunglasses which seemed to eliminate any light sensitivity. The next day I went back to Optimax had the bandage lenses removed and passed an eyesight test with flying colours. My sight is a little over corrected but I have been assured this will adjust over the next couple of weeks. I have been able to work from Day 3 on my laptop with no problems. I have faithfully administered the refresh drops, the anti inflamatory drops and the anti biotic drops - yes its a little inconvenient in the small hours but a small price to pay. On of my concerns before the operation was the halo/glare effect at night that i had read about and I was worried I may not be able to drive at night. On day 1 it was quite strange being driven in the dark the headlights were like brilliants stars coming towards me and I resorted to sunglasses in the dark. However Day 5 and I have no problems driving at night. This has been a wonderful experience for me and I can only sing the praises on Mr Madhusudhan's skill. I am happy to answer any questions you may have - just drop me an email.

I had Femtosecond Wavefront LASIK on both eyes on 1st August 2006. MY pretreatment prescription was -5.5 in my R eye, and -4.75 in my L eye. I did loads of research prior to committing myself and decided that Optimax provided the best value for money and the most advanced technology. Dr Patel was my surgeon and I can't fault him. He is lovely, and I feel that he actually takes a personal interest in every person he treats. I experienced no pain at all, went home and went to bed. The following morning I had my first aftercare appt - I was still short-sighted with -1.5 in my R eye and -1 in my L. This upset my no end. I thought given that I had undergone the 'top of the range' procedure I was still going to need retreatment! Another week passed and my vision improved slightly over time. I went to my 1 week aftercare appt only to find that there was a crease in the corneal flap of my L eye. My prescription had changed to -0.5 in L and -1 in R. Due to the complication Dr Patel recommended that I have the L flap lifted and the crease removed at the same time he would apply the laser again and correct the relatively small myopia that remained. That was a week ago - 11-8-06. My R eye will be retreated in a further 2-3 months. For the first half of the week I couldn't believe how amazing the vision in my L eye was and often closed my R eye just to gaze into the distance and read street signs etc. For the past 2 days however the vision in my L eye has deteriorated to a point where the vision is worse than in my R. I also have slight double vision. My main concern is that the crease has returned in the L flap. Fingers crossed this is just a normal part of the healing process - as I don't particularly want the flap to be lifted again - it's not very pleasant!! I have another aftercare appt tomorrow and will post more details of my journey to perfect vision - lets hope it's positive!

Not a pleasant expierience, but worth it .

I had epi LASEK treatment at the Bristol clinic. The procedure itself was quick and painless. The surgeon placed tempoary contact lenses on both eyes afterwards and they remained there for 5 days. I am not used to wearing them so I found them very uncomfortable and I had difficulty sleeping. When the lenses were taken out my eyes were very painful and the vision poor. The pain eased after 24 hours but it has taken nearly eight weeks for my eyes to heal. Initially I was very dissapointed with the level of my eyesight but the optician kept reassuring me that it would improve. And to be fair it now has and it is almost pin sharp for distance - but as I have said it has taken some time in my case to get to this point.

Thought I would write this after my 3 month (although more like 4 month!) check up. I had the epi-lasek treatment on 15th April 2006 and it was the best decision I have ever made. Following on from some comments on here, I made sure that I got my treatment at the Ebay price of £895 for both eyes which includes the consultation. I had booked to have the consultation with the option of having treatment straight after. The only thing I would say about this is, if you are unsure about getting the treatment, you may feel pressured into having it done as the treatment has already been booked. I wasnt sure whether I would be recommended by epi-lasek or lasik or either with wavefront so I had made sure that I had budgeted for the most expensive procedure just in case! My surgeon was Dr Anwar who I cant recommend highly enough, he really put my mind at rest and when I asked if he would recommend wavefront he advised that I would be wasting my money because of my eyes. I also asked about getting lasik instead and his opinion was - if you are young and healthy enough then whats a bit of pain if it saves you £400! I think enoughs been mentioned on the forums about the procedure although I must admit I was really worried when the nurse etc kept mentioning the pain I would experience and how the painkillers etc would take the edge off the pain but no more. By the time the procedure had finished I was panicking a bit about how much pain I was about to endure and made my fiance drive like a maniac to get home before the pain kicked in. I then went to bed and waited for the pain to kick in. and waited. A couple of hours laters it did kick in and yes, it was pretty bad but by 10pm (I had my eyes done at 4pm) the pain was subsiding. I slept like a log and when I woke up in the morning, the pain had completely gone and I could see! 4 months on my eyesight is better than 20.20 in my right eye and slightly worse than 20.20 in my left. My night vision is pretty crap but I was warned about this before the treatment and its because of the size of my pupils, not the treatment itself. My eyes are still quite light sensitive and I am not sure if thats a permanent thing but on the upside - at least I can wear trendy designer sunglasses now! It has changed my life so much that I am now paying for my fiance to have this treatment as my wedding present to him. I cant recommend Dr Anwar and all the staff at Optimax Glasgow highly enough. They have all been true professionals.

I had femtosecond,wavefront Lasik at the Birmingham on 11th Sept 06 and my pre op sight was -4.50 & -4.75. I had wanted surgery for a while but have been pregnent & or breast feeding for the last 4 years and finally managed it. My husband did all the research and bought it through ebay for my birthday, it seems a bit naff as it was my eyesight but it saved us approx £500. I met the surgeon Dr Madhusudhan at the initial consultatation and although a man of few words he had a sense of humour and soon put me at ease.He performed the op 6 days later and I can honestly say there was no pain at all,just a strange feeling and some discomfort but over and done within 30 mins.I returned the next day for a check up and he was quite smug that all had gone well and I already had 20:20 vision. At the seven day check I was given a full test which indicated I was slightly over correctd at +.50 which I was advised was a good result as over the following weeks my eyes would regress slightly hopefully to 0. I have experienced no pain during or after the op,I have no problems with night vision I can't wait to go swimming with my boys or tell you what a joy it is to wake up and be able to see. My advice to anyone who is considering it would be go for it. Silvi

Overall a very positive experience of epi-lasek treatment at the Hove Optimax clinic. Just be aware that the recovery period with lasek can be quite prolonged and the initial post-op pain once the anaesthetic has worn off has the potential to be very debilitating. I was very blase about this before, but trying to lookafter myself for the first 8 hours post-op was horrible. If you are by yourself then make every effort arrange a carer for the first 24 hours. Also, the final results to take a while to take a while to arrive. I am nearly three weeks post-op now and distance vision is still improving. Lastly be aware of that the eyelid can stick to the epithelium overnight causing temporary set backs. Use those drops!

Already posted twice before in March and April 06. Went for my 6 month checkup last week at Southampton. Surgeon was Dr Ayoubi. Right eye was 20:10 and left eye was 20:20, so an excellent result for LASIK I was -6 in both eyes before surgery. Still use the moisturising drops after waking up and after cycling as the wind can dry your eyes. Very happy with result. I use binoculars, telescopes and microscopes quite a lot, makes it much easier without glasses!! £1400 well spent in my view.

After years of contemplation and a fortune spent on contact lenses I finally bit the bullet and opted for laser eye surgery. After much research including a look at this website I decided to go with Optimax. They seemed like a good balance of cost, reputation and convenience. On my initial consultation I was advised on my options for treatment and was never pushed into anything. It was recommended that the LASEK method may be more suitable for me. It's not often that companies recommend the cheaper of their services and it reinforced my initial positive impression and that Optimax were putting the customer before profit. I also opted for the Wavefront treatment - "in for a penny, in for a pound" sort of mentality. Around a week later I got a friend to drive me to the clinic for my surgery. The procedure itself seemed very straightforward and painless although the more squeamish might find the smell of burning eyeball a little offensive. I was worried that I might look away from the laser during surgery but there is no temptation to do so and from what I understand the laser will compensate or shut off with eye movement so it won't lase the bits it shouldn't. Immediately following treatment I could already see that there was something definitely clearer about my vision despite the blurring of watery eyes. It was around half an hour after surgery when the discomfort started to kick in. Initially there was mild burning sensation with the feeling that someone was pressing slightly on the eyeballs. The clinic had given me a whole bunch of medication and a prescription for some more. The has also given me some anaesthetic eye drops but said that I should try not to use them as it can affect the healing process and slow it down. By the time I got home there was no way I wasn't going to squirt the first vial straight into my eyes. The relief from the discomfort was most welcome and I quickly necked the sedatives before the discomfort returned. I slept pretty much solid for the first 24 hours by which time most of the discomfort had gone replaced by a sensitivity to light. Watching TV was difficult and it was mid World Cup... talk about bad planning. A week after the surgery I started HGV driver training and despite my eyes still not being perfect I passed the eye test easily. Within a month my eyesight was near perfect apart from a star-burst effect in my left eye at night. I had also experienced mild dryness of the eyes particularly when waking up in the morning. I had my final check around a month by which time my vision was perfect, even at night. My vision is now better than 20/20 in both eyes and it's much better than it ever was with contacts or glasses despite quite a mild pre-op prescription of only 1.5 (short sighted). Apparently I am now long-sighted by 0.25 in both eyes but it's really not perceptible and no correction is necessary. The occassional dry eye problem is mild but still crops up from time to time especially the morning after a long night out. Overall, I'm very happy with the treatment and the results. My only regret is not having it done years ago when I would have saved a fortune on contacts and glasses.