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Chantal's Story
In May 2012 I had laser surgery to both of my eyes in Birmingham. I was promised even better than perfect vision if I had wavefront with lasek or lasik surgery.
I was told my corneas were too thin for lasik & quoted £1,752 for lasek wavefront.
A few minutes prior to the surgery I was told I WAS suitable for lasik surgery, but would have to pay an addiitonal £600. Although annoyed and feeling conned I agreed.
The surgery went well and I was amazed at how clearly I could see that evening without glasses!
However, as time passed my vision was becoming slightly worse day by day and a post op check up at the OE Leicester store confirmed this.
Two or three months later I was wearing glasses again as my sight wasn’t good enough to drive. OE gave me a pair of distance glasses as a gesture of goodwill but refused prescription sunglasses which I needed to drive in bright weather.
I was assured that as soon as regression stopped I could have an "enhancement" to give me perfect vision.
The day before my check up at Leicester OE called to say the shop had been closed down and I'd have to go to Derby instead. This meant more time off work and a sixty mile round trip!
In December I was told my eyes had settled and so I could have treatment again. I was told that my eyes had gone half way back to where they were pre-op.
March 2013 I returned to Birmingham so excited that I was going to have perfect vision again and this time for good!
No chance! After the scans etc the surgeon told me he was not prepared to carry out laser surgery as my eyes have "over healed" and gone back all the way to the same prescription as I was pre surgery. In fact, he said one of my eyes was slightly worse than before.
I was devastated! I’d paid £2,352 for nothing with my last direct debit payment just paid.
The surgeon offered me mono RLE (refractive lens exchange) at no cost, or multi lens for an additional £1,000, advising with multi lens I would never need cataract surgery and promised perfect vision for life.
Wow!!
As I had to make a number of arrangements to allow time for surgery in London, including putting dogs in kennels and arranging time off work, my husband similarly, I attempted to book two specific dates in June.
The whole process of trying to arrange these dates was unbelievable with no-one knowing what they were doing, giving me misinformation and leaving me with a feeling of unease at their obvious ineptitude.
9 April 2013 I went to OE Harley St clinic for pre op tests.
I arrived with plenty of time to spare and was told to sit in the waiting room, open plan and poorly furnished, not what you expect from a private company in Harley Street. The staff were disorganised and unprofessional and it was all chaotic.
A woman came out to get me and picked up my file, but was stopped by the receptionist who told her she was taking me for the wrong tests!
A while later another woman took me into a large room housing eight machines where I was checked by six of them.
The swivel chair at the first one wouldn’t move on its wheels and was wobbly, a stool at the second machine was falling apart which didn't impress me as I mentioned to the woman doing my scans. She laughed and said, "they’re all falling apart" which did not fill me with confidence.
Then the optometrist did some tests and measured my dilated pupil size, telling me that I have very large pupils, 7mm diameter. She said if they had been 8mm they would not offer multi lenses as the risk of side effects were unacceptably high.
She said there was 1% risk of side effects at night when the pupil dilates - glare, starbursts etc... .
I asked what the risk percentage was for patients with large pupils like mine but she didn’t know.
1% covers everyone, including people with small pupils where there was no risk, therefore these figures are completely inaccurate and misleading.
Concerned, I asked if the side effects didn't go away after having multi lens could I have them removed and changed for mono lens without being billed.
She said yes, so at this point I was still happy to go ahead in the knowledge that I would be guaranteed clear mono distance vision if the multi ones didn’t work.
Back to the waiting room waiting to pay my deposit and book the dates for the op….
At this point (luckily) I overheard a man and woman discussing the man's obvious unhappiness about his treatment.
I spoke to him and he told me to google Optical Express Ruined My Life, that the woman sat with him was the author of the website who I now know to be Sasha Rodoy.
He advised me against RLE as he'd had perfect distance vision before having it done himself, when all he wanted was to read without glasses. He told me it had gone wrong and that he no longer had good distance vision, that different sorts of lighting affect his sight making life very difficult.
He was understandably very upset and there was another man sitting opposite also with RLE gone wrong.
Meeting two people in the waiting room both distressed with problems after RLE gone wrong I decided not to book my appointment and told the receptionist I needed to think about it.
On the train home I checked OERML website and other sites where surgeons discussed the risks of RLE. Contrary to what the optometrist told me, I learned that RLE implants are extremely difficult to remove without causing damage as your eye tissue grows in and around the implanted lens.
I was extremely disappointed as I so much wanted to be free of the distance and reading glasses that I now constantly have to swap. Perfect vision was a pipe dream costing me £2,352, plus long journeys and wasted time off work.
My vision is now very unstable, varying from from hour to hour. I often have to take my glasses off to be able to see more clearly. I’ve had two eye tests in the past month at different opticians with differing prescriptions. I also suffer headaches in the evenings and pain in my eyes first thing in the morning as they are so dry.
The glossy advertisements and confident spiel promising better than 20/20 vision persuaded me to make the biggest mistake of my life!
I am so grateful to the man I spoke to as otherwise I would have gone ahead with RLE which doesn't bear thinking now knowing how badly it has gone wrong for so many patients.
There’s no going back once they have removed your natural lenses.
If you are thinking of laser surgery or RLE please don’t do it, your eyes are precious and irreplaceable.
Joanne's Story
In August 2012 I made a decision I’ve regretted every single day since and wish more than anything I could turn the clock back.
My contact lenses were becoming increasingly irritating and I couldn’t wear them for as long as I used to as my eyes were feeling so dry. I was never comfortable wearing glasses and longed not to have to mess about with contact lenses every day, to swim without contacts, wake up and see further than two feet in front of me, travel without carrying bottles of solutions, enjoy the freedom of unaided vision!
I knew a few people who'd laser eye surgery with good results and although I'd considered it for more than ten years I worried in case something went wrong.
But, with all the advertising and thousands of people claiming successful results I thought it can’t be such a risky procedure after all; surely all these companies wouldn’t be allowed to perform this surgery if it were.
Optical Express was the most advertised and recognised clinic in my area and they had a store in Aylesbury which was close by and convenient.
I had my initial consultation in Aylesbury where an Optical Express member of staff suggested that I booked my eye operation before my holiday on 1st August, which I declined in case any problems arose while I was abroad.
I advised her that we would be home on 8th August as well as informing her that I had a spa pamper day booked on 22nd August & an overnight stay booked for 28th August.
Optical Express confirmed that if I had the eye surgery on Monday 13th August I would be absolutely fine to do these as I needed a week to recover before doing any swimming.
The reason for booking 13th August was I would be able to have my follow up consultation meetings in Aylesbury, which I could do in my work lunch break & that I should be able to drive the next day.
On arriving at the Optical Express Milton Keynes branch for my surgery I was advised I would need to return there the next day as they had transferred the Aylesbury staff due to Milton Keynes branch bring short staffed due to holidays.
I wasn’t told at this point I couldn’t drive the next day until after I’d seen the optometrist, so I therefore had to arrange a lift.
The Optical Express staff seemed friendly & asked if I had any questions, which were all answered beforehand.
I was feeling quite anxious about the surgery & visibly shaking, however they assured me everything would be fine.
Straight after surgery I was moved into a side room & told about the eye drops. I was rather annoyed not to mention disappointed that on being offered a hot beverage and requesting a cup of tea, a member of staff brought me a cup of coffee - which I don’t drink - and also had to ask about protective goggles which weren’t mentioned & they said they’d forgotten.
I couldn’t see anything, wasn’t even assisted down the stairs by an Optical Express member of staff and was left to struggle on my own.
On reconfirming with one of the Optical Express assistants that I was still able to go for the two spa days that I had booked, the assistant said she didn’t believe that I could swim for two weeks but advised that she would seek additional confirmation, so went & had a word with a colleague. They confirmed this was the case and suggested I spoke with the surgeon.
The surgeon told me I could not go to the spa for over THREE weeks after my treatment as it would cause problems with my eyes & be very painful.
I had specifically checked with Optical Express about my two pre-booked spa days before scheduling my laser eye surgery due to the fact that the terms and conditions of these spa pamper days state that no changes are allowed and refunds are not permitted once the reservations have been made.
If I had been advised during my initial eye appointment that there was a three week recovery period, instead of being misinformed it was only one week, then I'd have waited until September when I didn’t have other prebooked arrangements.
Included in the post op surgery documentation Optical Express gave me was a contact telephone number for the Milton Keynes branch in case I had any concerns or problems.
However it was a good job I was due to return to the Milton Keynes branch the next day as I called the emergency number countless times but no-one answered.
On Tuesday 14th August, when I returned for my 10.30am appointment I was not seen until fifty minutes later as apparently a clerical error had marked me as having being seen.
On finally being attended to I was advised that my eyes had a lump & dry patch, so I would either need a contact lens inserting or different eye drops; however the assistant commented that she would need to check with the surgeon.
Eventually a response was received from the surgeon at 13.30pm and a protective bandage lens was inserted and I was given eye drops.
Having popped out in my lunch break expecting to need no more than 15 minutes it took up a staggering THREE hours!
During my long wait a previous patient came in quite obviously distressed and I noticed her trying unsuccessfully to communicate to the two girls on reception about her severe eye condition. One of the girls walked off laughing & the other didn’t seem sympathetic but went to get a male colleague who took the woman off to a side room. I was disgusted when the two girls continued to talk about her after she'd been taken into one of the side rooms .
I had to go back to the Milton Keynes branch for the third day in succession as there was still no one at my local Aylesbury branch, so advised that I shouldn’t drive more than a couple of miles yet again I had to inconvenience a work colleague for another lift.
If everything was alright I'd still have to visit Milton Keynes again the next week, whereas I was told by Optical Express that apart from the scan & surgery, I would only need to go to Aylesbury.
During my Wednesday check-up I was advised by one of the staff that I should be OK for my spa visit and swimming once I received the all clear a week later. Not confident that this information was correct I asked for confirmation from the surgeon - who said I needed to wait two weeks!
The Optical Express website states "swimming after 4 weeks of surgery if not wearing goggles’". So I now had a staggering FOUR contradictory pieces of advice & didn't know what to believe.
During a post op consultation at Milton Keynes I was advised I needed glasses, even though at my pre op consultation I was advised that I wouldn’t require them for five years after the laser eye treatment. Yet another false piece of information from Optical Express.
I chose a pair of frames & was told they would action this straight away. However, when the glasses arrived, not only were they NOT the frames I'd chosen, but I couldn’t see out of them - and I couldn’t even get them on they were children’s frames!
Querying this with Optical Express I was advised to send them back and the correct pair would be dispatched as soon as possible.
The second pair arrived but yet again I wsa unable to see out of them - incorrect prescription and AGAIN children's frames!
A few weeks on I had still not received the correct glasses having chased Optical Express a number of times. But. as I previously mentioned, there is no way to contact Milton Keynes store as they don't answer their phone, so I had to call OE's central number where no-one knew the answers to any of my questions.
During this ridiculously lengthy wait for a pair of glasses my eye sight was extremely poor and I needed a pair of glasses just to see to get through the day, so booked an appointment at our local Boots Opticians in Aylesbury - whose readings totally differed to those of Optical Express!
I then purchased a pair of daily glasses and sunglasses for an unnecessary cost of £125.00.
Unbelievably, approximately a week later, I received the third pair of glasses from Optical Express, yet again incorrect prescription and AGAIN in a child’s frame!
I gave up with Optical Express and just carried on using the glasses from Boots Opticians.
With advice kindly supplied by Sasha Rodoy at My Beautiful Eyes advisory service I wrote to Optical Express asking for a referral letter to an independent surgeon, a full refund and a copy of all my Optical Express medical notes.
Around two weeks later I received copies of all of my Optical Express medical notes together with a covering letter stating that my request for a full refund had been declined.
However they were prepared to cover the cost of one consultation appointment with a leading professional eye surgeon Mr Daya at Centre for Sight. Since receiving that letter back on the 15th February I have received no further communication from Optical Express.
But I did receive an unexpected call from Centre for Sight in early March asking when I would like to book an appointment with Mr Daya.
Following my consultation with Mr Daya on the 12th March and the extensive eye tests that I underwent that day, Mr Daya was extremely concerned about my eyes and the poor visibility in my left eye which is being compensated by the right one due to the scarring and inconsistent thickness of the cornea.
Ever since my surgery in August 2012 I have suffered with blurred vision and was advised by Centre for Sight that this should have been picked up by Optical Express and dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately there was worse to come when I was advised they were more concerned that the various eye maps taken that day showed that Optical Express had not lasered my eyes centrally forcing me to look out at an angle.
Centre for Sight did reassure me they're able to repair the damage, however, although the operation would be a short one, it would be extremely painful for the first day and rather uncomfortable for the following three days. I was also advised that no reading, watching TV, or driving was possible for a week.
After this operation, and once everything has successfully healed - AND only if I wanted to - I could then undergo corrective surgery to improve my vision.
Unfortunately, owing to the amount of stress, depression and anxiety caused by the whole saga, I definitely don’t want corrective eye surgery. But more importantly, at this moment in time I am too scared to even have the repair operation done.
I truly wish I could turn back the clock as I would never have had this done if I’d known the possible outcome!
]I am now in a battle with Optical Express to get them to pay for the corrective repair eye surgery to be carried out by a proper professional eye surgeon at Centre for Sight and not by a straight forward optician at Optical Express to resolve the nightmare caused by them.
This is why the government MUST get involved soon and I wish Sasha Rodoy at My Beautiful Eyes the very best in her campaign against this devious industry.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
Poppy's Story
Spring 2010: two of my work colleagues, in their thirties, underwent laser eye surgery without problems encouraging me to investigate.
I was 60 years old with an astigmatism and high prescription.
May 2010: I attended the initial assessment with Optical Express optometrist Laura Davies who barely spoke a dozen words. She then passed me to Steve Mansell, a 'Counsellor'.
Steve told me the 'good news' that I was a suitable candidate for LASEK and if I signed up that day I could get interest free credit,which I did.
After committing to the finance, which could not be cancelled, he showed me the appointment availability at Trafford Centre Manchester location, slots every fifteen minutes! I expressed surprise at the crammed system but he told me that it was a simple, routine procedure not needing much time.
Some days later the Consent Form arrived. with the first mention of 'risks'.
I read the form and felt uneasy. This looked like a company covering its back against anything and everything.
I returned to the branch and questioned the possibility of the surgery failing. Laura told me not to worry, the problems usually occurred during standard treatment but as I had elected for Wavefront everything would be fine.
Early June, on the day of surgery I arrived at Manchester. The first thing I was asked for was the signed Consent Form. I told them I had not signed it as I felt uneasy with all the things that could go wrong.
"Don't worry" they told me you, will have time to talk to the surgeon later. They refused to book me in without the form being signed so I reluctantly signed it.
A young member staff member tried to take measurements of my eyes but after numerous attempts she gave up and told me they may not be able to proceed.
I was sent back to the waiting room and breathed a sigh of relief. Things did not feel right. The place was teaming with people, it was noisy and frantic and generally unprofessional.
A second staff member appeared and told me they would try again to get "pictures". After a couple of attempts she told me "that will do, we only need three or four".
I then saw optometrist, Tom Crichley, who checked my prescription - allegedly. Many months later I discovered he had recorded that I had a poor tear film. He did not tell me this at the time.
I was immediately passed to the surgeon, Dr Waseem Aziz, who appeared pressured. Looking in my eyes he asked, "Has someone put drops in your eyes?"
I replied, "Yes".
He asked, "Who?"
I told him his optometrist and he asked, "Any questions?"
I asked, "Will I be able to see as well after surgery as well as I can see now with my specs?"
He replied, "We'll, that's what we're aiming for. Now let's go in..."
No further explanation from the surgeon. No thorough examination. No further opportunity to ask questions. No explanation of the procedure.
The previous patient had suffered a panic attack and all attention was centred on convincing her to go ahead with surgery.
I later found out from the clinical notes on that day said that the "Surgeon specifies LASIK " yet LASEK was performed.
Was this an error? Did I get someone else's notes? Or are they just so casual with their procedures this sort of error can occur?
I was terrified. Never has my heart beat so fast.
Following surgery the recovery room was still occupied by the previous patient so I was handed a paper bag and a young girl told me that it was eyes drops and instructions for use, that I could leave.
The following day I was in pain and returned to my local OE branch to be told they had run out of anaesthetic drops. By Sunday I was in agony but when I called the emergency helpline they told me this was normal. I was not told pre surgery!
I had to travel to a different branch fifty miles away to get the bandage lenses removed.
Another young woman, Carly Smith, simply did not know what she was doing. The contacts were stuck so she asked another member of staff for help. They eventually removed them. I was in pain and my vision was blurred. They told me it was normal.
The next day I returned to my local branch and saw Laura who told me that Carly had only been with Optical Express for four weeks, didn't know what she was doing and should not have removed the lenses. She told me my eyes had not healed and that was why I had - quote, "RUBBISH VISION".
I could not believe my ears and this sums up the level of professionalism and competence of OE staff.
Laura replaced the lenses for three more days but when they were finally removed my vision was blurred. I was told this was normal and that my eyes were still "healing".
Over the following three months I saw ELEVEN different Optical Express optometrists. All disinterested, inconsistent and some downright rude. Some told me my eyes had over healed. Some told me they had under healed.
I asked what this meant. No one could explain.
Eventually I insisted that I returned to see Waseem Aziz the surgeon.
Back to Manchester where he told me to ignore what I had been told at branch, the real situation was that one eye was under corrected and the other over corrected and offered me two pairs of glasses, one for close up and one for distance.
The surgery had failed. He suggested enhancement surgery. I said "No thanks".
I told him about the discomfort I was experiencing and the pain during the night. He offered me Celluvisc and Lacrilube.
Worried that my eyes had been damaged I went to my GP who referred me to the hospital where I paid privately to see an ophthalmic surgeon.
He told me that I had a pre existing condition called 'Blepharitis' which is contra indicative to surgery and I asked him why OE had not spotted this.
He told me that OE have a reputation for employing staff with minimal experience and they probably just did not know what to look for.
A poor tear film is a symptom of blepharitis so why didn't Tom Crichley or the surgeon pick up on this? At the very least I should have been advised that a good tear film is essential for proper healing and I would NOT have proceeded if I had been informed of this.
I have now seen this independent surgeon three times; prescribed medication which helped a little at first but is no longer effective. My tear film break up time is 1-2 seconds. I am suffering from recurrent epithelial corneal erosions.
On the strength of this I approached a solicitor in March 2011.
It took until May 2012 for a letter of claim to be issued to Optical Express' solicitors, Harper Macleod, but my solicitor was unable to obtain any response from them.
Finally, in November 2012 my solicitor received a communication stating that the branch where I had surgery was part of Optical Express Southern Ltd which changed its name to 123 Leeds Ltd and now in administration, that the Administrators have to authorise the issue of the solicitors reply.
My solicitor now tells me this is all perfectly legal and even if I was to win the case I would be merely another creditor of the defunct Company.
Yet Optical Express Trafford Centre clinic continues to trade and presumably still operating on people's eyes and offering guarantees.
ALL CORRESPONDENCE FROM OE CARRIES THEIR TRADING NAME.
NONE OF US ARE ADVISED AT THE TIME WHICH OF DCM HOLDINGS LTD SUBSIDIARIES WE ARE DOING BUSINESS WITH.
I do not consider myself to be stupid. I believed that I was being treated by Optical Express so why would I have questioned this?
I continue to wear varifocals and have bought five pairs since surgery as my vision continues to deteriorate. My vision is as if my glasses are steamed up and I now insert eye drops every half hour or so with little relief.
I have not had one nights unbroken sleep since the day of surgery as every night I have to get up to insert drops or ointment.
I no longer drive at night and even daytime driving is becoming more difficult. The condition is debilitating.
A mere mention of 'dry eyes' on a Patient Consent Form does NOT explain fully the real implications of this condition which is, according to my private ophthalmic surgeon, "inevitable following laser eye surgery".
I did NOT consent to this. The risks are minimised and not fully explained. It is all well and good to suggest that a patient asks questions but how does one know what to ask? I did not consider searching for disasters online, trusting the word of Optical express staff which I now know to be worth nothing.
I would pay a million pounds if I could restore my eyes to how they were before surgery.
This industry MUST be stopped!
September 2013 Update: Hitachi Finance refunded my £2,500 payment in full (lost deposit which was paid direct to OE). Please contact
Pat's Story
I decided to look into laser eye surgery when glasses were becoming increasingly expensive and I'd seen the Optical Express TV ads offering 20/20 vision for an amazing low cost of £395 per eye! Wearing glasses since I was 12 years old I was eager to lose them forever!!!
25 August 2008
I went along to OE Oxford Branch for a consultation, had a lot of tests and a chat with a 'sales assistant' who said I was suitable for surgery, but I needed Lasik Wavefront with intralase costing £2,940 - far more than their advertised £395!
They insisted I pay a deposit that day and set up finance to cover the balance.
23 September 2008
OE called to asked me to return for repeat tests as they had 'lost' the original readings.
26 September 2008
Laser surgery performed by Mr Rodney Blumenfeld whom I met for the very first time shortly before the operation.
Everything had a very rushed conveyor belt feel to it, with patients moving in and out very quickly. I was very nervous but I trusted OE and believed all they had told me, that I "would be fine... it's a painless procedure... will be able to see so much better immediately after surgery".
I felt a lot of pressure on my eyes during the procedure and the smell of my cornea being burned was sickening. Afterwards Mr Blumenfeld did a very quick check and I was sent home with lots of eye drops.
I attended all my follow up appointments but soon realised I could not see as well as I should be, and it was decided I needed an "enhancement" on both eyes but would have to wait for the healing to complete.
3 August 2009
Lasek on both eyes by Dr Joanna McGraw. I could feel her rubbing away at my eyes and the pressure again was unpleasant but I thought this was normal.
NB: ETHANOL AND MMC USED IN BOTH EYES DURING OP BUT NO MENTION IN CONSENT FORM!
More drops, quickly checked by Joanna and sent home - but this time I was in unbearable pain and phoned the OE emergency number. No answer!
I used the drops as instructed, suffered the pain and again attended all my follow up appointments.
11 August 2009
The pain was so bad I went to see Optical Express optometrist Chris Gascoigne who told me I had a tear on my left cornea and had a bandage lens put in to help with the pain I was suffering.
Throughout all my visits to OE I kept telling Chris Gascoigne that I was seeing lots of floaters but he said it was normal, then I started getting flashes of light in my left eye whenever I moved my head.
5 December 2009
I woke up with a massive amount of floaters and bubbles so phoned OE. Chris Gascoigne told me to go to hospital immediately as I could have a retinal detachment.
I was seen at the Oxford John Radcliffe and they said it was the vitreous gel pulling on the retina but no tear or detachment was discovered at this stage.
19 February 2010
Appt with Dr Joanna McGraw who did usual tests and suggested possibility of further surgery on left eye at a later date. Shocked, I informed her that I was advised by the John Radcliffe Hospital never to have laser surgery again on my eyes!
Not seen again until...
16 August 2010
Fed up with all the floaters and poor vision I saw Chris Gascoigne who found a retinal tear.
He mentioned that at my last appointment Joanna had noted a retinal tear in my left eye and should go back to the hospital and was shocked that I hadn't done so.
I have every reason to believe my records have been altered as Joanna McGraw is a liar because if she'd told me this I'd have raced to the hospital immediately!
Chris Gascoigne sent me straight to the John Radcliffe Hospital where I had laser treatment to try and seal the tear - unbearably painful! Like having hot needles stabbed in your eye.
20 August 2010
I attended John Radcliffe Hospital where I underwent the freezing treatment Cryopexy.
I was so scared! I had an anaesthetic injection to numb my eye but during the treatment I almost jumped off the table in so much pain that they had to top up the anaesthetic.
Seen in outpatients they were pleased that the tear had sealed, but I still had massive amounts of floaters badly affecting my vision which I put up with until January 2011 where I was seen by Mr Paul Rosen at the JR Hospital who decided I needed a Vitrectomy peel to clear the debris out of my eye.
1 March 2011
Vitrectomy under general anaesthetic, worried and scared I prayed this would be an end to it all. Operation went well and I was sent home.
10 August 2011
I noticed a dark area appearing in my left eye so 'phoned the JR and was told to go straight in it where it was discovered I had a retinal detachment and underwent urgent emergency surgery to save my sight!!
Waiting around for a theatre to become available I was finally taken down to theatre late evening where I was given a massive dose of anaesthetic injected straight into my eye to numb it. I was in a lot of pain and so upset but the surgeon was brilliant and did all he could to save my sight.
Returning home I was seen at the clinic next day when I could not see anything out of my left eye. Terrified, I was assured that my sight would slowly return over the next few weeks, which thankfully it did.
I was also told I would now get a rapidly growing cataract - which I did.
As you can imagine by this time I was traumatised, depressed and angry! I had lost my job due to absence and my GP prescribed anti depressants and because I informed them I was taking legal advice Stephen Hannan referred me to Professor Jan Ventor @ the OE Harley Street Complex Cases Clinic.
15 August 2011
My husband and I travelled to London where Professor Jan Venter told me I had a "Nuclear Cataract" growing.
Professor Venter and Stephen Hannan tried to fob me off with statistics about my age and a "very high prescription of myopia" being the cause of the retinal detachment, that in no way were they to blame as the retina is at the back of the eye and they only operated on the front!
At no time did they mention that the pressure and suctions from the machines used on our eyes can cause RETINAL DETACHMENT!!!
They were uninterested in the trauma I'd suffered which, according to them, was not their fault.
After writing to OE asking for a full refund and glasses supplied for life - the very least they could do as a goodwill gesture, all I got was a cheap pair of glasses to tide me over until after the cataract op, which I only used a couple of times as they were useless as my sight rapidly deteriorated.
21 November 2012
I had the cataract op
14 December 2012
Attended John Radcliffe Hospital where we discovered operation was unsuccessful as the lens has not settled as hoped, with my vision still blurry.
I was advised to get glasses from OE and have YAG surgery if wanted, but this can cause retinal detachment so I'm not prepared to risk it happening again.
I explained this to Stephen Hannan who having first offered £100 then agreed OE would contribute £300 towards a pair of glasses as a goodwill gesture, BUT I have to sign forms agreeing to this.
I heard nothing more from him.
January 2013
I called to see where the forms were and was told they been sent on 15 December, but they'd resend and next day they arrived via TNT (signed for)
I read them through and could not believe what they were saying so 'phoned David Mungall and told him no way was I signing.
He made an appointment for me to go to the Reading clinic for assessment.
15 January 2013
I saw Chris Gascoigne at Reading (Oxford is now closed) who agreed I need glasses for all tasks (driving reading, TV) but told me I had good mono vision!!!!
I still have problems with pain in my left eye, very tender to touch eyelid, bright lights, starbursts, dry eye and a weird flickering effect which occurs in bright light that I can only describe as a kaleidoscope twirling around!
Chris told me I have "optical migraines" and nothing to do with my eyes!
1 February 2013
Having ignored my calls and emails Stephen Hannan finally contacted me asking me what I wanted to do and where did we go from here?
I told him I would not sign the forms in return for £300 so he then offered me a £500 gift voucher - but stressed that this was their final offer and I had to sign the forms before I could have the voucher.
I told him I would talk to my family first and he said he'd phone this week for my decision.
Instead, I searched for help on Google and thankfully found this website!
I contacted Sasha Rodoy at My Beautiful Eyes and whilst Optical Express continue to deny any fault, with Sasha's help, I will not let let them get away with what they've done to my eyes and life!
I will update with any new developments.