Optimax vs Optical Express vs Ultralase

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Optimax "butchered" my Lasek, (as penski says it). I never even reached full 20/40 and doctors still hesitate to prescribe long wear contact lenses because of the "damage" history... So there.
 
I considered this but decided it wasn't worth the risk, I had a severe eye infection about 8 years ago, it isn't a factor in considering laser eye surgery but I remember how helpless I was during that 10 days. I'd never risk my eyes, I'd rather be deaf, disabled etc than even risk a single eye for treatment.

When it's 99.9% + guaranteed improvement I'll consider it, until then I'll stick to glasses and use contacts occassionally.
 
Kami said:
When it's 99.9% + guaranteed improvement I'll consider it, until then I'll stick to glasses and use contacts occassionally.
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Remember that what they class as a 'failure' doesn't specifically mean blindness, loss of an eye or worse sight, but something that falls outside their expectations. You might see an improvement, but still have had a procedure that is classed as a failure. A failure doesn't necessarily always stop them from trying again (at least it didn't way back when I had corrective treatment). It's something you would need to research further if you were interested in the surgery.
 
Optical Express claim to have done over 500,000 procedures in this country and nobody has gone blind. That's what they told me yesterday. They also guarantee their work so if your eyesight isn't up to standard after the recovery period they redo the procedure for you. This is what happened to a girl at work.
 
Jonny69 said:
Optical Express claim to have done over 500,000 procedures in this country and nobody has gone blind. That's what they told me yesterday. They also guarantee their work so if your eyesight isn't up to standard after the recovery period they redo the procedure for you. This is what happened to a girl at work.
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My gf went to see the local OE last weekend and they said the same thing regarding retreatment if necessary. I'm going down in a few weeks to see what they can do for my crappy eyes (-4.5 and -7 both with some astigmatism), we're both looking to get it done before our honeymoon round Australia in Nov.
 
i went to optical Express in Hull / Manchester. everyone seemed very helpful and answered all my questions pretty well! my eyesight was pretty dire. 7 months down the line ive got to get an eye done again. hasnt had the desired effect! my short to medium is fine, just long sight is dire. once it's all sorted im sure it will be money well spent.

i had LASIK in both eyes and cost me £1500.
 
Penski, just to let you know that I'll be meeting your girlfriend on the 21st May. Just booked up my consultation for the 17th with surgery date of the 21st.

Bit scared now! Eek! :eek:
 
eidolon said:
Penski, just to let you know that I'll be meeting your girlfriend on the 21st May. Just booked up my consultation for the 17th with surgery date of the 21st.

Bit scared now! Eek! :eek:
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I'll get her to turn the 'hurt' dial to 10 if you don't give me your Elsie ;)

*n
 
David91 said:
n00b time:
don't the effects of the procedure eventually wear off?
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As your eyes naturally deteriorate then yes, but that happens anyway, nothing to do with the surgery itself.

By mid 40s you'll probably have to wear reading glasses irrespective of whether you've had your eyes lasered or not.
 
eidolon said:
As your eyes naturally deteriorate then yes, but that happens anyway, nothing to do with the surgery itself.

By mid 40s you'll probably have to wear reading glasses irrespective of whether you've had your eyes lasered or not.
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Basically what he said, its a case of say for me. I have -5.5 in both eyes now, in 20 years that will likely get to maybe a -7/-8 or whatever. if i had the surgery done now and hit 20/20, in 20 years i'd probably still deteriorate back down to a -1/-2 which is natural. As its a semi repeatable process I'm sure people will get it redone every so often to get back to normal, there doesn't seem to be a reason you can't get it done when you're quite a bit older.

I'm very very tempted to get it done as with -5.5, well without glasses or contacts in i'm basically useless, can't read from a monitor more than a foot away, probably quite a bit less than a foot. Distance vision is horrific, everythings just a blur. But, the ability to wear contacts/glasses to correct it, vs the chance of making it much worse and even blindness is a scarey thought. The way my life has gone so far based on luck I'm honestly worried that I'll be that 1 in a million who goes blind. Putting it off for a while anyway as I'm fairly happy with contacts.
 
drunkenmaster said:
I'm very very tempted to get it done as with -5.5, well without glasses or contacts in i'm basically useless, can't read from a monitor more than a foot away, probably quite a bit less than a foot. Distance vision is horrific, everythings just a blur. But, the ability to wear contacts/glasses to correct it, vs the chance of making it much worse and even blindness is a scarey thought. The way my life has gone so far based on luck I'm honestly worried that I'll be that 1 in a million who goes blind. Putting it off for a while anyway as I'm fairly happy with contacts.
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Tis exactly the reason why I had it done. I was at -6.75 and -6.5. Hate the thought of being so helpless without them.
While i was travelling in Europe last summer, some events happened and two of us basically ended up losing our glasses in a small lake. Now it was fortunate for us that friends and helpful people in general were around and they dove underwater and got the glasses back, but if I was alone, I would've been quite scared as to what to do etc. I had a spare set in my rucksack, but that back at the hostel and it was quite a way to get back there (walk a fair amount, get a ferry, then walk quite a bit again) which would have been impossible for me to do alone, had my glasses not been lost.

Many many years ago, similar instance, lost glasses. Was with my grandparents so they led me back to the car, but that would not have been easy to do without them.

Finally thought I would just get it over with it and had it done last august in India. Procedure went perfectly, and no issues whatsoever. Found it quite funny a while back when I was ice skating and fell that a friend rushed forward to make sure nothing happened to my glasses, but another one stopped her and pointed out that I didn't have them anymore :p hehe. thought it was amusing ^_^

Cost me about 450 for both eyes :) (done by one of the best in the country) But he did make it quite clear that if I was doing this for purely cosmetic reasons, then he would advise against it. Should not do surgery unless you feel it's actually needed.
 
Update time.

Well after Penski's advice, last Saturday I flew 300 miles and went for a consultation at the Newcastle branch of Optical Express and I have to say I've never experienced such customer service of this level before. Everyone was absolutely superb, right from the person who greeted me as I went in to the counsellor who explained the risks etc.

I had the laser surgery on Wednesday and am happy to report that everything went perfect. The surgeon Lorimer Esselaar was excellent. He talked me through every step of the procedure, explaining what I should be experiencing at every stage (which is very reassuring when you suddenly find yourself blind!) The whole team were superb to be honest (say hi to your girlfriend by the way Penski - she was lovely)

I was warned that I might feel uncomfortable and my eyes would be gritty afterwards but to be honest I never had any problems at all, absolutely zero pain throughout. The worst bit was immediately after the op my eyes stung a tiny bit and were hazy, kinda like when you get chlorine in them at the swimming baths but that only lasted a couple of hours.

Overall if you're thinking of getting it done then I highly recommend it. If you really want the best, then make the journey to Newcastle, you won't be disappointed.
 
Just saw this - Good to hear!

Law says hi and she's glad you're doing well. She remembers you coming and says you were 'vey nice'.

*n
 
I'll just cut and paste my posts from another thread. I initially had Epi Lasek on the 10th August, 2007:

I had Epi-Lasek performed on my eyes at Optimax in London 2 weeks ago. Purchased it via Ebay and ended up paying £1090 as I went for wavefront as well.

I'm applying for the police at the moment and decided against Lasik because of possible corneal flap complications. Full strength is never regained where the flap is cut and this can weaken the structure of the eye. Not great if you get punched in the face. Even a car air bag deployed at 70mph could cause some serious problems.

I went with Epi-Lasek as the procedure doesn't effect the strength structure of the eye. There are also less possible complications but recovery time is a lot longer than lasik.

The actual operation went well. Was a bit nervous and excited at the same time. No pain felt at all and both eyes were done in 20 minutes. I'll never forget the smell though....

Left the clinic and though, this isn't too bad. Sister drove me home and on the way we got stuck in traffic. Then, the anaesthetic started to wear off. By the time I got home I couldn't stand the light. Had sunglasses and a blanket over my head.

That evening, the pain started to kick in. I say pain, but for me it was a constant irritation. Imagine chopping up a load of onions. Thats how my eyes felt that evening and most of the second day. My eyes were streaming and weeping and I couldn't stand any light. For the first 2 days you really need somebody about for help. During this time you need to put eye drops in every 4 hours. You're also given some super strong ibuprofen tablets, sleeping pills (these were like elephant tranquillisers) and also some anaesthetic eye drops, which I didn't use.

By day 3 it was just sensitivity to light and on day 4 I went back to the clinic for a check up and to have the bandage contact lenses removed.

2 weeks on, my vision is a lot better than it was without glasses before the surgery but its still not perfect. I can see further into the distance but its still not perfectly clear. I still can't drive yet. But I am able to do things like have a shave. Before, I always used to wear glasses or contacts so I could see what I'm doing.

I'm going for a checkup in a couple of hours and my vision is improved from the last checkup 4 days after the surgery. When I go again in a few weeks time they'll be another improvement. With Epi-Lasek its a slow, gradual improvement. Not like the instant wow! effect of Lasik.
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4 weeks later, I went for an after-care appointment:

Well, its been exactly a month since my Epi-Lasek treatment and though I'd give an update.

Before the surgery, my prescription was -4.50 and -4.75.

At my 2 week check-up, this went down to approx -1.50 and -2.00.

Went on Friday for my 4 week check-up and its now -1.25 and -1.75.

Here's the bad news.

Its very unlikely that my eyesight will continue to improve. The consultant said that the biggest change occurs in the first month. Beyond that, there is little if hardly any improvement.

The epithelium layer over my cornea has virtually healed. I thought this was healing slowly and creating a frosted glass effect on my eye but it turns out they actually under treated me with the laser.

I can have it re-treated at a later date but this will cost me £95 per eye. I would understand the cost if it was my fault (not wearing sun glasses, rubbing my eyes, not putting eye drops in, etc) but in this case, they simply got the wrong figures and re-shaped the cornea incorrectly.

Its also something I wouldn't want to go through again. I was extremely lucky that I never encountered any complications like severe pain, corneal abrasions, sever dry eye, infection etc. I might not be so lucky next time. If I get into the police, getting the necessary time off for re-treatment will be tricky as the recovery period is pretty lengthy.

As it stands now, I'm still quite happy with the results. I can wake up in the morning and actually see things now, have a shave without glasses/contact lenses, use a PC and read without glasses. The only time I need to wear glasses now is when I'm driving or watching TV from a distance. So quite a massive improvement from having to wear glasses/contact lenses permanently.

The most important point is that I'll now be able to pass the eyesight standard for the police, which was the whole point of having the surgery in the first place.

Had my starting prescription been lower (around the -3.00 level), I'd probably be sitting here with 20:20 vision. With all the different methods of laser treatment, the chances of you returning to 20:20 vision decreases the higher your starting prescription is.
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On the 24th October, 2007 I wrote:
As of today, my eyesight is now exactly the same as that last account. No massive change or improvement.

I still suffer for terrible dry eyes first thing in the morning and my night vision while driving has been affected. Its hard to explain. You can still see in the dark ok but star bursting from light sources are a problem.

http://www.thevisioncommunity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=152

Check out the pictures for examples. On a motorway its not too bad and on a road with no street lighting oncoming cars can be a bit of a pain. Initially I found it a bit of a shock driving in a town centre for example where there are plenty of light sources like cars, street lighting, shops etc.

Also, combine that with Halo's: http://www.thevisioncommunity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=161

Now night time looks very interesting!

Just make sure you educate yourself and don't believe all the hype and success the staff and literature at the clinic say. I was utterly gob smacked to find people who didn't do this and purely went on the advice from the staff at the clinic.

I was told on my consultation that I should return to perfect 20/20 vision and that spending more money on wavefront would improve this, reduce the problems associated with night vision and give more accurate results.

I'm going back to Optimax this Thursday for a final check-up and to be discharged. I'll be putting in a complaint and taking it up with the senior members of staff there as I'm not happy about the whole thing.
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I did go for an aftercare appointment and they told me to come back in 2008. Unfortunately, my father passed away before Christmas so I never got round to it due to more important matters.

However, I have been to my local optician on 2 occasions since then.

After the last Optimax appointment in November, I had my vision tested and my prescription fell again to -1.00 in each eye.

I went again last week and my vision improved again slightly. As of today, it's currently -0.50 in the right eye (with -0.50 astigmatism. Never had before the surgery) and -0.75 in the left.

So the results time line looks like this:

Pre surgery: (R)-4.50 and (L)-4.75

2 weeks after: (R)-1.50 and (L)-2.00

4 weeks after: (R)-1.25 and (L)-1.75

2 months after: (R)-1.00 and (L)-1.00

9 months after: (R)-0.50 and (L)-0.75

Still need to have my final checkup with Optimax so will book my final appointment this week.
 
Hi there
i have just found this thread. I was interested as i am seriously considering going for laser eye treatment in newcastle next month. I have had consultations already with ultralase and optical express (did not like optimax).

I am finding it hard to decide between UL and OE. I found UL seem to do a more thorough eye examination and better lifetime after care (which i suppoe is good if youre eyes need retreatment in 10yrs time). But have not found them very helpful in giving accurate information on and calling back.

Whereas, found optical express very friendly, helpful and patient. Only was a bit sceptical that the optom spent less time on my eyes than at ultralase. And they dont offer a lifetime care only 12mths, not sure if it matters. I see that they have a resident surgeon, whereas Ultralase only have visiting ones.

i have been okay by both of them for LASIK.

Just looking for any advice, experience, views on ultralase or optical express in Newcastle. i was suprised to read one poster on this thread travel from the south especially for the surgeon at optical express.
thanks
 
I had mine done in Optical Express in London. They were a bit impersonal but I was happy with the place. I got bad vibes from Optimax as well, they were being too pushy and abrupt. I get the impression that the Nukie OE is a bit more personal, but that's probably London for you.

I got the following tests done in the consultation: sight test on the chart, cornea thickness check, shiney light inside the eyes with dilated pupils, eye pressure, machine that maps out the shape of your cornea and 'reads' your prescription. All in it took about 3 hours I think.

I really recommend Wavefront if it's an option because I get next to no glare or halo'ing at night. My friend had the earlier procedure and he suffers it, though I should point out he says it's still better than when he wore glasses or contacts.
 
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