You have been very highly recommended to me by a former patient of yours, a Robert Shepherd, who is a colleague of my brother’s. I am writing to you for some help as I am feeling distressed and let down by the service I have received from the people at Optical Express.

Which? magazine recently carried out a survey on this and two other high street clinics and found them lacking on many accounts. This has confirmed my fears that i have not been seem by the best people.

I don’t feel they were honest at the outset. For example, they gave me the impression that by paying for the most costly treatment, I would get optimum vision. It turned out afterwards that I was only going to get 80% of the optimum as my eyes had not been corrected as a child.

The treatment I had was Lasek and although I have been told different things about what the problem with my eyes was, I think I had -4.75 in both eyes with some long sightedness. I have always thought I was short sighted.

The surgeon, Rodney Blumenthal waited till minutes before the treatment to tell me that with the severity of my astigmatism there was a 6-8% chance that it would not work. Of course by then it was too late to change my mind. Even though I probably would have gone ahead with the treatment, I felt this was rather unprofessional and left me feeling worried during the treatment.

On the post treatment test days my vision has fluctuated, which I was told was normal, but although the optemetrists have told me that I am well within driving standards, I did not pass the sight test when I booked my first driving lesson. This was so disappointing as the main reason I wanted to have the treatment done was so that I could learn to drive. They fixed up glasses for me temporarily, but they don’t seem to make any difference.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago (2 and a half months after the treatment), I was told that now my eyes have healed, they can tell that there is still an astigmatism of about -1 in both eyes and they are saying that in 3 months I need to have an ‘enhancement’ or top-up treatment.

I am feeling very anxious about the idea of this, especially as I don’t really trust the optemetrists’s opionion as they always seem to differ. I have never seen the same person twice.

I have been in touch with OE customer services but as I have already paid the whole £3,400 I get the sense that they are not really motivated to help me.

I realise that your speciality is in Lasik, but would you be able to give me a second opinion on what I should do?

I would be most grateful.

Yours sincerely,

Michelle Frost.