This morning I received emails from two lucky people who found me BEFORE going ahead with surgery!
I always prioritise emails asking for my advice pre surgery, because although I can’t do anything to repair damaged eyes, I can help stop these people from risking theirs too.
The first person I spoke with was a woman aged 47, due to make her payment for lasik with Optical Express surgeon Erik De Koning.
She asked if I had any information about the Dutch doctor, and I told her what I know, but added that the inherent problems lie with the Optical Express company itself, no matter who the surgeon might be.
My opinion immediately supported when she told me that she was offered lens exchange surgery at her ‘free’ consultation, even though she has healthy natural lenses and is too young!
Nor was she invited to meet Erik De Koning but was to be consulted in a phone call.
Would any one of you even consider letting a nurse book you in for a hospital operation without having first been examined by a surgeon? Of course not!
And if you did agree to this, would you then be content to have a telephone consultation with a surgeon who has agreed to operate on you without ever having met you? Of course not!
Pity my post op sight is not as perfect as my hindsight...
The second person had written, '
I was already wary of using Optical Express as they have already phoned me multiple times a day and I haven't even had the appointment yet so I can imagine it'll be aggressive sales tactics and harassment after the appointment…
Sasha, did you have your surgery with Optimax but are now campaigning against Optical Express? If Optimax are at fault, why is the website not called Optimax ruined my Life? I assume then you do not recommend laser eye surgery in general rather than just with Optimax and/or Optical Express?'
I answered her question as best I could without breaching the terms of my Settlement Agreement with Optimax, and gave just a few of the reasons why I categorically do not recommend laser eye surgery - or lens exchange - for any reason other than it being necessary to prevent blindness.
I advised her to look at my OERML videos on YouTube to learn more, especially '
Can you go BLIND after laser eye surgery…'!
Happily both of the above told me that they intended to stick with their specs
The third person I spoke with had recently suffered a detached retina following ‘enhancement’ laser surgery five months previously. OE had washed their hands of him and told him to go to the NHS emergency dept.
This is a particularly disturbing story, but I can't give you more details just yet. Needless to say, this person underwent an emergency operation to save his sight in one eye, at yet more cost to the NHS!
The industry claim that corneal ectasia and retinal detachment are rare complications after surgery. Amazing then that I have been contacted by so many people who have suffered both - and they're just the ones who found OERML!
I generally advise damaged patients to ask their GP for a referral to an NHS eye specialist. But I also warn that some GPs are reluctant to do so, telling their patient that because they paid for private surgery why should the burden fall on the NHS to fix it!
I totally agree, but who else can we turn to when the private companies responsible refuse to provide aftercare, and even when they do it’s mostly not worth having!
For seven months I pushed Moorfields MD, Declan Flanagan, to disclose the cost of a lens explant. Having promised me in January that he would find out, he then ignored my calls and repeated emails asking for this info.
It should of course be considered that Declan Flanagan is a member of the RCOphth, and I would make a wild guess that you don't get to be Moorfield's MD without their support!
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell then sent an email to Declan on 25 July asking if he now had the figures available, and on 19 August he finally replied:
'
As an indication of cost, Moorfields Eye Hospital received on average £963 income for a cataract extraction and IOL insertion in 2016/17. This would therefore be the income we receive for removal and replacement of an IOL.’
This of course does not include the associated extensive tests and numerous consultations.
Sooner or later the government has to stop turning a blind eye and address this scandal, not least because of the massively increasing costs to the NHS and benefits paid to people no longer able to work!
That is why I keep begging you, if you haven't yet contacted your MP - PLEASE PLEASE do so!
And for the record, your GP MUST refer you to an NHS specialist, regardless of where you were treated.