Optical Express - London

jarismaya v

La cirugía fue bien, pero en la consulta del día siguiente el optometrista me dijo que había células y que iban a tener que repetir el procedimiento que me llamaría el cirujano al día siguiente como no me llamaban pedí cita de urgencias y me atendieron y me dijeron que estaba todo correcto que iba todo bien pero que los colirios humectantes que me habían dado la primera vez no eran correctos y me dan nuevos, no se ponen de acuerdo con la frecuencia de uso, en el folleto cada 6 horas, en la clínica la primera vez lo menos posible por que interfiere con el antibiótico, y el antiinflamatorio, la segunda consulta cada vez que lo necesite.... En fin un poco de consenso por que no se sabe muy bien a quien hacer caso, al final parece lo más adecuado usarlos cada vez que se noten molestias pero no por prescripción . Sería de agradecer un poco más de profesionalidad y que se pongan de acuerdo en las prescripciones, y desde luego que se aseguren bien antes de aconsejar una nueva intervención. Menos mal que no ha sido necesaria pero tampoco fue necesario el mal rato que me hicieron pasar.

Anne marie Clifford

I got my laser eye surgery in Mar 2024 at the harley street Optical Express and overall felt the experience was positive and i am over the moon with the results, one of the best decisions I've made. I am now able to wake up everyday being able to see perfectly, after over 20 years of wearing contact lenses/glasses. I no longer have dry eyes, which was a major problem when I wore contacts. I would recommend laser eye surgery to anyone considering it - the difference to your life is immense. I'm so pleased I got it done

Constance Regardsoe

So I'll start positive, my eyes now pretty good - I've got some dryness and a minor prescription in the right eye, which hopefully goes away, aside from that it's good. However the surgery was absolutely awful. In all the literature, and in all the questions I asked as the pre appointment, optical express says the surgery is not supposed to hurt because the eyes are numbed.

When I went in for surgery, immediately before I thought my eyes didn't feel numb - and I regret not saying anything, but you are urged not to speak. The surgeon begins cutting away the corneal flap and the left eye is painful, but only so much that you have to grit your teeth and ball your fists. Then it's the right eye - and I cannot explain how painful it was - I screamed and had to be held down by two people. I've broken multiple bones in my life without screaming.

Cutting the corneal flap is only the first part of then procedure. After this part, an attendant put lots of numbing into my eyes, which then worked, because when a laser was then used to 'reshape the cornea' I barely felt a thing.

Immediately after the surgery, the surgeon, (who doesn't learn your name but instead calls you 'momma') told me that I had 'nearly gone blind in that eye because you moved'. Which was not great.

I raised this because I really think there needs to be a check before surgery that the numbing has actually worked and is properly spread across the eyes. I felt like I was very dismissed by staff, who told me it was impossible that the numbing wasnt applied properly and that 'pain is subjective'.

The day of surgery is pretty bad, expect about 4 hours of bad pain, but then you feel ok. You are sort of warned about this, but not that surgery is painful - I would be much better if you were warned so you could prepare for intense pain.

Abigail Greenwell

Overall I would say this was a good experience and I am glad I had it done, I am now 2 months post op and can see perfectly. I have slight halos around lights at night and occasional dry eyes but that’s it. My optometrist was fantastic so kind and reassuring, answered all of my questions before and after the surgery. The only downside of using the clinic was the surgeon, he was I’m sure an excellent surgeon but his people skills were terrible. When I was lying down in the operating room ready to begin he came in, didn’t even say hello to me and then proceeded to move the operating equipment towards my eye. This was absolutely terrifying as I felt I didn’t want to say anything to distract him whilst he was cutting my eye open but I have never felt more vulnerable or anxious in my life. He didn’t speak to me except at one point to tell me to look straight in a frustrated voice, I am unsure how he could be annoyed as he hadn’t yet said a word of instruction to me. I hadn’t been nervous for the actual surgery, I knew it would be uncomfortable but I knew if he was talking me through where to look and what he was doing I could cope with the pain but what I wasn’t prepared for was to be completely powerless and have no instruction or reassurance at all. The day after when I reported this to the lovely optometrist I nearly cried as I felt so traumatised by the experience. If I had know I would have asked the surgeon before hand to please talk me through the procedure, which I wrongly thought would be standard care, especially paying privately. In conclusion I am very pleased with the result and all of the care around the surgery but I wanted to highlight this so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Vassi Lena Karl

Very poor experience from the start,
which resulted in me cancelling the surgery - now waiting for a refund.
- The scheduling of the surgery was really poor, constant miscommunication on their end. They are very quick to chase you to pay the deposit but once that’s done, it’s total chaos and doesn’t make you feel at ease to trust them with correcting your vision.
- I had to go in for a dry eye check a few weeks before the surgery, waited for almost an hour despite having an appt booked and when I complained they didn’t seem very apologetic but more so annoyed that I complained because they’re busy. Maybe try to plan your diaries better?
- The surgeon call was only a few minutes just to tell me he’s “only a phone call away” and to bring the consent form. No real support, or discussion, just felt like a tickbox exercise and as if he was reading from a script. I didn’t feel like I was in the hands of an experienced medical professional that I could trust. I contacted him on the day before the surgery to ask some questions and felt quite brushed off, and again he paid more attention to the question about the consent form, than my other question about the condition of my eyes post op and if I’ll be able to walk etc. Didn’t at all make me feel ready and relaxed about this major event.
- overall Optical express did not make me feel reassured throughout the process and I already wanted to pull out shortly after paying the deposit. I tried talking myself into it as I’ve wanted to correct my eye sight for a long time, but as I was getting ready to go to the clinic today I just felt so anxious and uneasy as I don’t trust their services. I cannot risk my eye sight especially after coming across some bad reviews about the surgeon.
Do not recommend, you just feel like a number when you go into the clinic, and there’s no personable service. It’s quite busy and you feel like just another patient, I don’t think they care very much they just want your money.

Nick Rolf

I would recommend against using Optical Express to perform eye surgery. My prescription was -4.50 in both eyes and is now +2 in one eye and +1.25in the other and I am back to wearing glasses full time. When I booked my last consultation to discuss corrective surgery that fell within 1 year of the initial surgery, I was told I had to pay for any further consultations .

Lol Lol

I had laser eye surgery here, and although I wanted this for a while and knew I was going to proceed with the treatment, I didn’t like who pushy/sales-y the consultation was. It was very uncomfortable and felt like they didn’t really care about me but just about whether they can make the sale or not.

The actual treatment itself was fine, went by super quickly and was painless (felt ticklish if anything). I would say the aftercare isn’t the best as if you’re experiencing any concerns like I was they get very defensive. I was saying that i didn’t see much results and they wouldn’t hear me out- this was with multiple members of staff across different appointments. Overall I think most of them were quite rude and again didn’t care about me the patient.

The actual laser result worked out okay in the end, I don’t have 20/20 vision though they tried to convince me I did. Essentially telling me that even though my vision is blurry I can still make out the small letters therefore I have 20/20 vision…. Doesn’t make sense to me and they don’t care to explain because again they are very defensive if you have a concern. One girl kept cutting me off whilst I was talking.
My vision is better before with glasses but I guess not all surgery is affective.

If you are considering getting laser eye surgery I’d say go for it but makes sure you’re happy with the customer care from the get go. I should have known that the experience was not going to be great straight from the consultantation… I would not recommend Harley St Optical Express.

Natalie C

Avoid laser eye surgery at all costs!
They don’t properly inform you of the risks of the procedure as they only want your money. Then when it goes wrong, they blame it all on you and make you feel like it’s all your fault. They gaslight you into thinking they’ve told you information when they haven’t. Also make sure you review the surgeon that is doing your eye procedure as mine has open cases against him. Customer Service Team are rude and dismissive and does not listen to anything you say. My eyesight is worse than before.

Update to response-

In response to your comments on my review. You were not fully transparent with me. My eyesight is worse than before I went in for the surgery and you are refusing to give me a refund so I have the pleasure of paying for this disaster.

As to your comment “Our records indicate that our Customer Services department are aware of your dissatisfaction and are looking into your concerns. You should expect to receive communication from them in due course.” You have only put this on the review to try and make my complaint sound better. However, in your last correspondence to me on 30/8 you said to me. “We consider we have dealt with your enquiry in full”. To me that comment does not sound like you are looking into my complaint anymore.