Laser Eye Surgery Reviews

The key question for Catherine was “who should I trust with my precious eyesight?” Her account of her experience is detailed below.

I’d been considering laser eye surgery for a few years and started to investigate seriously about 12 months ago. I’m a sporty and active person and felt it would greatly improve my quality of life to be able to see without glasses or lenses. I was about -3.25 in both eyes. Plus I was noticing with the soft contact lenses that I’d worn for about 15 years, my eyes were becoming dryer, more irritated and the vision was not as good as it once was.

 

Catherine Marshall 

I wanted honest and unbiased advice on the best treatment for me with realistic outcomes of the treatment explained in full. A number of providers I went to see ‘glossed over’ many of the concerns of laser eye surgery and did not even mention that Lasik surgery where a flap on the front of the eye is created may not be the best choice of surgery for anyone who does contact sports or may run the risk of trauma to the eye area (e.g. in working for the police or armed forces). This was especially important for me as I like mixed martial arts!

After visiting a number of providers where I felt like I was being pushed into ‘buying a sofa’ as someone so nicely put it, (i.e. “Make a decision today, come in on Saturday, we can offer you 0% finance, there’s virtually no risk”) I found Accuvision. What a completely fabulous change in service! They are an amazing company who employ great people, all of whom give you honest, unbiased advice about the right treatment for you. Their surgeons and technology are second to none and my experience with them has been absolutely excellent all the way through.

I think my biggest lesson learnt was that although many consider laser eye surgery virtually a ‘high street purchase’ it is still a complex medical procedure; not all companies are the same; not all surgeons are the same and not all technology is the same. To my mind, if I’m going to have my sight adjusted, I definitely want the right people and technology for the job to ensure the best outcome possible.

I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Accuvision and I certainly wouldn’t trust mine or my family’s sight with anyone else. I won’t pretend that trans-epi is the easiest way to go but the results for me have been astounding and continue to improve each day. I now have better vision that I ever did with glasses or lenses (it’s a month on and I have 20:10 vision), and I would never go back!! It’s changed my life – so thank you to all the team at Accuvision; Mr Chad Rostron, Anthony, Vikash, Monica, Clayton and Joan, you all do an amazing job!

A bit more detail about my treatment.

In December 2011 after a consultation in the Solihull branch, I decided to travel to London for trans-epithelial surface treatment so that I could rest and recover over the Christmas break. On the day of my surgery the staff at the clinic were amazing. My surgery was carried out by Mr Chad Rostron (carrying out a quick Google search I soon learned he was one of the best, if not the best, in the business) who was the ultimate professional and made me feel completely at ease.

I arranged to stay at a nearby hotel and was glad I had someone with me. To give you a brief overview of my treatment/recovery: Surgery carried out on Wednesday – all went smoothly, much easier and less traumatic than expected. I took pain killers and put drops in my eyes every hour. Stayed in hotel Wednesday night, slept most of the time and stayed in a darkened room, pain was fine – a bit scratchy and uncomfortable. After my post-surgery check-up Thursday morning (all fine), I went home on Thursday and again did a lot of resting, still putting the drops in. Thursday night and Friday were difficult; my eyes were burning, watering and generally very unpleasant! Luckily this didn’t last as long as I thought it might and by Saturday I was feeling a lot brighter. Over the next few days (Saturday to Monday) I continued to recover well although I was still resting quite a lot and was glad I was off work! I didn’t feel my eyesight was good enough to drive for around 7-10 days after surgery, so I was glad that I had planned not to have to drive anywhere. I also found that my distance vision recovered much more quickly than my close range vision. Over the first couple of weeks of January, I was still adjusting to reading computer screens etc. (it was a bit blurry and difficult to see clearly all the time) but a month after surgery this is now back to normal.

My top tips for recovery; don’t plan to do anything – you don’t know how you’ll feel and the more rest you get the better; have someone with you just in case (you’ll probably be fine but it’s nice to have someone there to get you food & make tea!); arrange to stay somewhere local if you have a long way to travel home, especially if it’s by public transport; make sure you have some great sunglasses to wear; use all the painkillers and drops given to you by the clinic and follow their regime!; you may like to try some dry eye spray to spray onto your eyelids when they are hot/burning during recovery as well as using the drops; don’t forget to load your iPod with a lot of tunes/audiobooks and best of luck, you won’t regret it!