OPTIMAX | ULTRALASE

Mr Abs wrote: In a bizarre move last night, Ambrose emailed John McDonnell MP offering to meet with him to discuss how he could help support the campaign.

:S Get real!! This is an obvious attempt to lobby John McDonnell rather than any genuine intent to support the campaign - which of course he has had plenty of time to do since Sasha launched My Beautiful Eyes in 2012.

Coincidence that he makes this offer the same week the BBC exposed Optimax/Ultralase on Welsh TV consumer programme X-ray.

I suggest Mr Ambrose cleans up his own backyard first because I don't think any government Minister or MP would take him seriously or be interested in what he's got to say when he's left a trail of damaged patients without treatment or compensation!

Wonder if David Moulsdale will start a p*ssing contest and now offer his support

Last week Russell Ambrose instructed a heavyweight (and expensive) legal team who threatened Sasha Rodoy with a High Court injunction if she breached her gagging order and mentioned Optimax on BBC Radio 5 Live Investigates.

In a bizarre move last night, Ambrose emailed John McDonnell MP offering to meet with him to discuss how he could help support the campaign.

Shame Sasha is gagged because I’m sure she has much she’d like to say on that

I would have to agree that Russell is incredibly mean, because he doesn't give a s**t that his company has ruined my eyes and my life, and those of others. But I don't think his family are that badly off....... good education for his children, his daughter is a director of Optimax, fancy holidays.....

The house may need work, but it is a very expensive property.

If I were related to that nasty little man, I would disown him rather than benefit from what is, in my opinion, ill gotten gains.

Yesterday the BBC put Optical Express in the hot seat, but tonight it’s Russell Ambrose’s turn!

In 2012 he bought Ultralase and publicly promised to honour the Ultralase LIFETIME guarantee.

Ultralase wasn’t making any money so rather than be stuck with taking care of the people he had promised to, he put Ultralase into administration and left people high and dry.

Russell is so MEAN with money that he has made his family live on what is a building site for the last 3 years while the house is being renovated. Trust me, Russell Ambrose has enough money for his family to live comfortably elsewhere while the builders finish the work.

If he treats his family that way what chance has anyone else got of being treated fairly?!

SLK112 wrote: But surgeon Russell Ambrose, the owner of the Optimax chain which has nine clinics across the UK, defended the treatment.

Russell Ambrose IS NOT & NEVER has been a surgeon. He is just another unscrupulous businessman comparable to a property developer who hurts a stubborn tenant refusing to move for the bulldozers!!

SLK112 wrote: He said: "You would expect opticians to criticise laser surgery, they don’t normally give a balanced point of view. "

Unlike Optimax then

Even in 2002 Russell Ambrose was denying that patient screening was an issue, god I wish I had read this!!

www.scotsman.com/news/health/surgery-no-...-spectacle-1-1376501

"David Cummins, an optometrist at Niche Optical Tailor in Glasgow, said he was worried lower prices for the surgery are leading to clinics cutting corners.

"Prices are going to come down and cut-price surgery is not a good thing. They are going to skimp on follow-ups and the result of this is likely to be A & E departments full of post-operative problems.

"Problems include increased sensitivity to light at night and haziness of vision. Reduced clarity of vision while wearing glasses or contact lenses is also a concern."

But surgeon Russell Ambrose, the owner of the Optimax chain which has nine clinics across the UK, defended the treatment.

He said: "You would expect opticians to criticise laser surgery, they don’t normally give a balanced point of view.

"They are selling glasses and don’t want people to go away and have a treatment which will lead to people not needing their services any more. After all, we sell our service on the basis that you can throw away your glasses afterwards." "

Here is my story:

I agree with everything NSC has to say about Dry eye and Blepharitis, suffering badly from both of these myself, (and drops often don't provide more than a few minutes relief). However, I would like to add that the psychological harm that these terrible conditions can cause have also driven some victims to commit suicide, causing depression in many people who were never depressed before. In my case, I also have a really bad fear, of finding that I have gone out without my drops - the thought terrifies me, as I am so dependent on them. I did so once, and had a full blown panic attack (something else that I did not suffer from before treatment). People need to understand just how terrible these conditions are!

I am a Consultant anaesthetist and pre surgery my prescription was only -0.75/-1.75.

Like Mr Abs, I was also a patient of Dr Seethappa Madhusudan,

I had a couple of friends at work who had been reasonably happy with PRK and wrongly considered the main risk of dry eye as 'trivial', so I foolishly went ahead with bilateral PRK at Optimax's Manchester clinic in 2001.

I was then ignored by Optimax for 12 years whilst suffering with chronic dry eye. The only follow up advice I had was phone calls from Optimax optometrists telling me to use hypromellose drops.

The reality of dry eye is that it is disabling with unrelenting pain. Over 12 years I attended the local A&E countless times with painful corneal ulceration leading to scarring.

I had no problems before PRK, had perfect vision with glasses and no dry eye. (Funny how MGD just 'appears' after refractive surgery.)

It was only last year when I emailed my local MP to support the My Beautiful Eyes campaign for regulation of this industry, copied to Russell Ambrose, that I was contacted by Dr Malcolm Samuel.

At my wits end by this time I had already made an appointment at a private clinic, which Dr Samuel told me Optimax would fund.

I was put on doxycycline, along all the usual treatment for MGD / blepharitis (heat, lid hygiene etc). This helped for about 6 months but I am now back to square one.

I still have severe dry eye and blepharitis. I was back in eye casualty in March 2013 with another corneal ulcer (very painful) and also in November 2013 (see photo).

My eyes are permanently red and I have multiple scars from previous ulcers. Dr Samuel is now "available" for follow up appointments. However, I fully understand my condition and it's just a case of trying to mitigate blepharitis / dry eye in the usual way, combined with the occasional eye casualty visit with corneal ulceration.

Nothing more can be done.

Struggling at work in the operating theatre environment I have no doubt this will cut short my career as dry eye will get worse with age. Such a waste after so many years of hard work, studying and exams.

The take home message for potential eye surgery patients at Optimax (or elsewhere), is to be aware that dry eye is a common complication and should NOT be dismissed as a trivial one. It is NOT a case of just using a few eye drops as you might with contact lenses.

Imagine needles being stuck in your eyes, or having to lit the lid up with your fingers because it's stuck to the eye ball!

The quality of life for a dry eye sufferer will deteriorate considerably as the pain and irritation is continual, and the condition distracting. Before refractive surgery, you need to fully consider how disabling it will be to 'pause' your daily activities whilst applying eye drops just to gain maybe one hour's relief.

I fully appreciate that many of you have suffered more than I, but want to share my experiences becuase at the end of the day, we all want to avoid others making the same mistake we did.

In July 2010 I had Lasik wavefront at Ultralase in Chelmsford. There was a problem during the procedure as the surgeon had to replace the suction ring on my left eye 5 times before treatment.

My eyes never reached the goals they promised me, particularly my left, which is my dominant eye.
After countless revisits at my expense and much bulls**t they finally agreed to perform lasek on my left eye in Sept 2012.

The result is worse now than before. I have a kind of mono vision, which I declined as an option from the outset. My left eye has a very narrow depth of vision from about 2ft to 4ft in front of me, and I have double vision in the distance, and a constant feeling of gungy eye.

I was told in January 2013 that Ultralase had been taken over by Optimax, and that my lifetime guarantee would still be honored.

The last talk I had with them was that I was to be referred for an artificial lens, which I don't want. I was to have a meeting in London with the Medical Director Amir Hamid, this would have cost me a further £250 in lost wages and travel expense as he only visited London from Birmingham one day a week during the week.

I declined the appointment, mainly because I did not want an artificial lens, and while awaiting a call from them to discuss other options, I learned that the clinic had closed.

I contacted Optimax complaints department and spoke to a woman named Jane who informed me that I would not get any refund.

I wrote to "ReSolve" who are handling administration for Ultralase, asking for a refund of my money. They replied with a letter basically telling me that my claim was not valid.

Does anyone have any suggestions?