St Thomas’ Hospital

I had LASEK in my left eye on Friday 6th December. I Selected Dr D. O'Brart for his expertise. When I keyed his name in Google I found several pages of references to his publications etc...He IS a top Surgeon. As I had deep concerns regarding LASIK and the cut of the flap (with its never ending list of complications) I selected LASEK which seems a much safer method as there is no cut of the cornea, therefore not much that can go wrong. I was told during the preliminary consultation that the chances of a nasty complication was 1 in 5000: I was confident with that level of risk. the results are as good as LASIK, and for me better as my pupils are every wide, less risk of halo with LASEK as the surgeon will treat a wider area in such case.... The surgery was dreadful! Not painful but the cut of the Epithelium layer took much longer than I expected and you can see everything! Very impressive! The laser bit was over very quickly. I spent the rest of the day and Saturday laying in bed in the dark. My eye was very sore and I couldn't keep it open more than few seconds. It improved a bit on Sunday and I managed by the afternoon to watch a bit TV. My advice is : Stock on those recorded books, as it gets boring! I was in quite a lot of pain, but the surgeon warned me of this as I was very nervous during the surgery, and apparently the more nervous the more pain after! On Monday I went to the Hospital to get the bandage contact lens removed and my eye checked. The surgeon was very pleased with the result so far. My vision went very blurry once the lens was out. By end of the day my upper eye lid started to feel sore, as if I had some grid in my eye all the time. I went back to work on Tuesday for half day. My vision improved a lot by then but still blurry. On Wednesday I started to worry about the pain in my eye lid and I phoned Liz (Dr O'Brart wife) who called him. I went to see him at lunch time in his Harley street consultation where he checked that all was fine. Apparently the pain is due to the surface of the eye which is still healing and not smooth, causing pain every time I blink! Not much to do....it could last up to 2 weeks! :-( I'm seeing him again tomorrow evening for a check up.

It's been 7 weeks since my surgery on my left eye. My vision is very good although I am still very slightly long-sighted but this should regress within next few months as surgeon confirmed on my last check up on 10th of January. Take into account that the more short-sighted the longer it takes. I was -6 with some astigmatism. My astigmatism is now almost non existent and so far so good: I have no problems at night vision (although my pupils are very wide!) no dry eye, nothing…all is fine! Only thing I find my treated eye is very sensitive when cutting onions :-) I went back to swim the other day and had no problem at all with the water, and being able to see clearly (albeit with my left eye only) was quite fantastic! I have now booked for my right eye for 28th of February. I will keep you all posted on this!

What can I say, but thanks to David O'Brart my life has changed. A year ago I couldn't recognise my own son from 6ft away. I was -8.5 in the right eye and -8 in the left, both with astigmatisms. I tried Ultralase who only did LASIK but because I had thin corneas they couldn't treat me. After research I found St Thomas's and Mr O'Brart. It's now been a year since I had my right eye treated (9 months for the left) and what a difference it has made. Very little pain with the right but more so with the left. David was very reassuring throughout and I felt much happier being seen by the consultant doing the operation in the first place than (like ultralase) being passed round from one assistant to another each doing their own tests. The only problem I've experienced was a little dry eye in very hot temperatures. And the result, I'm now +0.5 in the right, and =0.35 in left, legal to drive, no reading glasses needed and I can recognise my son across a football field. Don't hesitate, do it now.

Guys here are my experiences - hope they help others with their decisions. Would I do it again? YES. Ask me in 30 years though; don't forget this is still an experimental procedure. Surgery Bilateral 2 weeks ago. -2.75 left and - 3.0 with astigmatism in right. Chose David 'cos; 1. This website 2. Ophthalmology surgeon friend who recommended him after hearing him speak. 3. Wanted LASEK I concur with all the other good comments about him on the website. OK despite being into various so called "extreme sports" bilateral eye surgery is the scariest thing I've ever done!! Day of OP; Started immediately on full dose of Co-Proxamol pain killers. Despite this had severe bilateral pain for about 3 hours on day 1 and used the local anaesthetic drops 3 times each eye. Day 2&3; bionic vision in left eye blurred vision in right eye. Both eyes "uncomfortable" Day 3; lenses out - blurred vision in both eyes for rest of day. Days 4-7 distance vision blurred in left (previously "bionic") eye and very clear in right eye. Near vision intermittently blurred in both. Awoken with pain from dry eyes each morning. 6/7.5 and 6/10 at 1 week check up. Days 7 - 16 (today). General gradual improvement in vision in both eyes. NOTE; this is better 1st thing in morning and fluctuates during the day. Vision can be as good as 6/4 in either eye but is occasionally 6/12. Seems to be settling down now with more time having great vision and less time blurred. Blurring also seems to be related to ability to focus and distance vision is worse for a few minutes after having been reading. Painful dry eye has now gone. Have only very minimal halos and glare and this is already settling. I'm MASSIVELY pleased with this result so far and if it continues to settle and remains at 6/6 (or ? 6/5) in both eyes it'll be awesome. Lessons learnt; vision is ALL OVER THE PLACE for 1st week and you really can't have any expectations. Everyone's experiences are probably different. Things seem to start to settle at 10 days to 2 weeks.

Mr O'Brart zapped my eyes to cure my short-sightedness many years ago - about 1997, I think. I'm 47 now and still have excellent vision. He gave unbiased advice, warning me of the slight variability in results and how my sight will always deteriorate with aging. I could probably do with wearing reading specs now - but Mr O'Brart told me this would be the case by the time i reached mid-forties. Anyway, to sum up, an enormous 'thank you' to Mr O'Brart.

I have now had my monthly check up and have vision of 6/4 (I'm still not entirely sure what this means) with a slight astigmatism in my right eye(which seems to be picked up every other eye test as was too minor to be treated!). All I can say is that I have my own new pair of eyes! I can see everything perfectly and have had no problems at all. I am glad I made the decision to have both eyes "Laseked" at the same time, as being sqeemish found the procedure quite an ordeal. Also I would have had the left eye treated first which was quite painful and might have been put off, but I had no pain at all in the right. Anyone considering bilateral treatment will need time off though, I spent 2 days in bed and a 3rd moping because I could see with the right eye but was blurred with the left and could not stand any light (wore sun glasses in a dark room!!) also for the first week my vision seemed to change constantly and of course I could not drive. This continued for a further week (usually good am quite poor by 11pm) but was given the all clear to drive. I had no problems by week 3, the light sensitivity settled by then too. By week 4 I stopped all eye drops and havent looked back. Hayfever this week has been difficult as I dont want to rub my eyes at all until at least the 3 month mark!!! But I hope to continue this well until my 3 month check up in late July.

I am currently considering laser eye treatment possibly on a research basis, I have also heard of contact implants. My sight is long currently L (+12) R (+11). II have been using gas permeable contact lenses for the past 22 years since 1975. My optician has reported that my astigmatism has vanished over the last 5 years and has no direct concerns over my eyesight. Also of note both my children have 20/20 vision. I was surprised no genetic connection. I would be available for research purposes as I am willing to undertake clinical trials to improve my sight. I am based at CNWL NHS Trust Victoria tel: Work 0208 237 2041 Alternatively 0208 333 1811. Flat 7 34 Silverdale Sydenham SE26 4SU.

I am sorry. This is a desperate attempt to contact Dr. Michael Falcon. Ilearned that Dr. Falcon has performed the IoOL surgery of Harold Ridley. I want to contact him to request one of his photograph that I shall add to my write up regarding Ridley. Please help

I last posted in September 2002 and you can read all my posts dating back to Sept 2001, so just an update. No problems really. I would say that at night or dark conditions, my originally-weaker-eye does strain slightly as the pupil dilates. Anyone else have this? My other eye which had a very minor correction is perfect day and night. I'm still very pleased about the results and havent looked back. To be honest, I've forgotten I ever had the surgery! HIghly recommended.