REFRACTIVE LENS EXCHANGE aka RLE/NLR +IOLs

Just imagine if there was a tidal wave of others the same as Jimmy B!

Angry "silenced" patients left with problems after refractive surgery with Optical Express.

Break the T'&Cs and tell the world!

How enforceable is the OE non disclosure clause, and wouldn't newspapers now be sympathetic?

Jimmy B, Like you I had RLE surgery in 2012 and since then I have suffered with floaters, halos, starbursts and dry eyes,. My vision is rubbish and have just had to drop out of college as I can't tolerate the lights in class room.

Having my eyes done was supposed to be the start of a new glasses free life! Instead I am becoming more and more withdrawn as it's easier to just stay indoors . I found this site before anymore damage could be done and broke all ties with OE despite them asking to meet me. Every now and then I'll get a call from my surgeon Alex George but I will not meet anyone from OE unless it's in court. I have to live with my eyes as they are until such time I can afford to get them corrected.

I have never hidden who I am and never will. I have never been offered help from OE in return for signing a gagging order, but like you if I had it wouldn't stop me posting on here.

Anyone here who lives in Ireland please post on the Irish link as I feel we are being forgotten about [hope you don't mind me saying this Sasha] we need to get together to fight OE in Ireland. :evil:
_____________________
admin: Definitely not forgotten about you Hazel! There is in fact someone helping me in Ireland and I thought you had his details. If not please ask: admin@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Meanwhile, I'm coincidentally speaking with a solicitor in Ireland tomorrow and will update you when I have some more info

For all on here, no need to use a user handle i am posting under my name, Optical Express know who i am.

I signed a gagging order but if Optical Express want to challenge me I welcome it.

When i had RLE in November 2012 I had problems within weeks. I went to one of their optoms in Maidstone in Jan 2013. He admitted i had problems and said he'd make me an appointment with their specialist Jan Venter at Harley St.

That was in April, because the biggest chain on the high st said Venter was out of the country until then.

By the time i had seen Jan Venter, with Sasha, and arranged an appointment with an independent specialist, I believed I was running out of time to fix my eyes.

OE sent me a document which was a 'gagging order' and told me to sign it. When I refused OE said they would cancel my appointment with the independent specialist.

I signed under duress.

I have a letter from probably the worlds best eye surgeon, saying he would NOT have recommended RLE as i was 50 years old and needed only reading glasses.

Optical Express - you bombarded me with sales calls after my first consult when i was mulling it over, like double glazing salesmen.

I want my money back, i also want my expenses back, I want my eye sight back!

I wish i could wear reading glasses again, it would be a pleasure. I wish i didn't have massive starbursts and halos at night, i wish i didn't have dry eye, i wish i didn't have constant water pouring from my right eye, i wish i didn't have blurred vision.

Reading through this forum is just horrific. I had replacement lens surgery at Westfields done by Dr Jan Venter one year ago - how I wish I could turn the clock back. I too am having the same problems as everyone else.

I have appt next week with independent specialist and dread him telling me what I fear I already know. Unfortunately, after a visit to Harley Street a few months ago, I also let Dimitri Kazakos laser my left eye (to help me!!) If only I'd found this site before (don't we all).

Have to say I'm frightened as my eyes have never felt so bad in all my life as they do now! When I wake up in the morning I look like the 'devil' as the whites of my eyes are so red and bloodshot, and so so many other problems I won't even mention as we all appear to have them!!

Oh well, roll on Tuesday. Wish me luck, Margaret

I googled Dimitris Kazakos and there is not enough information about him on the 1st page!!

Mr Dimitri Kazakos Optical Express
Mr Dimitris Kazakos Optical Express
Dr Dimitri Kazakos
Dr Dimitris Kazakos
dimitri kazakos ophthalmic surgeon
dimitri kazakos review
doctor dimitris kazakos
Dimitri Kazakos RLE
Dimitris Kazakos refractive lens exchange

That should do it

Hello all,
I am 2 years down the road after having multifocal lenses (MPlus) implanted by OE. It would be funny if it wasn't so serious reading Bobby's post:

Bobby2 wrote: I too was fitted with MPlus multifocal lenses by a very uninterested and blasé Dimitris Kazakos.

Same guy who did mine, and that is exactly how I found his attitude. Although after having the first eye done when telling him that my vision was not good 9 days later his reply was "I told you there was a trade off"!!

Liar! Had he told me anything of the sort i would have run a mile .

Bobby2 wrote: OE just seemed interested in what I could read on the Snellen chart. However, I was more interested in what I couldn’t see on the chart (pre surgery I could) and the appalling quality of vision of what I could see. Apparently the visual disturbances; blurriness, halos, glare, flashing lights etc... were not due to OE fitting unsuitable lenses, it was my brain. Yes, my brain did not suit their lenses!

Very easy this, i can cut and paste and it's my story!

Same old story from everyone whose eyes they ruin, you all have "20/20 vision"!! You must have, because you walked in there without a white stick and a dog!!

And all the crazy lights you're seeing, it's your brain taking time to adjust. Oh yes, and dry eye? I was assured this was NOT a result of the op, yet I had healthy eyes all my life, I only developed dry eye after surgery!

Lucky for me I found Sasha Rodoy before I was talked into any more treatment with OE. She helped me get Optical Express to pay for an explant with a world renowned independent surgeon. He told me that he would never have operated on my eyes if I'd gone to him first.

However my vision is still not great, I have one blurred eye and all the problems with night lights and being in low light conditions.

I had to sign a gagging order before OE agreed to pay around £11,000 for my explant and follow up appts, but I've now decided not to stay quiet, because this is why no-one knew about the problems until OERML came along. I'm going to shout about this!

And I want my original payment refunding - I didn't pay OE to have my eyes damaged for the rest of my life.

Transparent, honest statistics are needed as to how many patients end up unable to tolerate these multifocal lens implants utilised by Optical Express. This needs to be made public information.

Is the Optical Express "assessment criteria" for suitability for lens replacement for these "premium" lens implants "evidence based "or "bonus/KPI" based?! The General Optical Council need to be looking closely at what is happening within the Optical Express "model of care" which is "optometrist led" and is giving their profession a bad name?!

Honest and transparent information of actual statistics of outcomes from patients who have undergone lens explant and further lens exchange must be made available!

Come on Jeremy Hunt! You must do the right thing now before you end up regretting not doing so.

Bobby 2, thank you so much for sharing your story and I appreciate it is not offered as advice, but it is clear that there is one strong message - each and every time you let someone touch your eyes you are taking a risk. Oh, how I wish I had told myself that before. Or, instead of blaming myself, how I wish that OE had made it clear to me!!

Many, many thanks again for sharing. I am so sorry for what you've been through and for what you will continue to suffer.

To anyone reading this who has had an explant, was it been a success?

I am now in the position of considering an explant and am trying to find out all I can about the success or outcome of this procedure.

Please let me know how it's been for you.

Many, many thanks
Heather

I am able to give you my experience only, not advice, as a previously damaged patient by OE.

I too was fitted with MPlus multifocal lenses by a very uninterested and blasé Dimitris Kazakos. I was left with very blurred vision at all focal points, unable to drive or work. This was devastating and totally different to what I was advised my visual outcome would be. OE just seemed interested in what I could read on the Snellen chart. However, I was more interested in what I couldn’t see on the chart (pre surgery I could) and the appalling quality of vision of what I could see. Apparently the visual disturbances; blurriness, halos, glare, flashing lights etc... were not due to OE fitting unsuitable lenses, it was my brain. Yes, my brain did not suit their lenses!

Perhaps I should have got a brain transplant first, then the lenses may have worked, or better still my new brain may have had more sense than my old one and not let me trust OE.

Kazakos offered to “try” YAG laser to resolve my visual issues, without warning me that after this an explant of the lenses is almost impossible. I was then seen by 2 other OE consultants, one being (Prof, Dr, Liar) Jan Venter. Both repeated that my brain hadn’t adapted to their lenses and I would need them changed to monofocal lenses. I was advised after lens change I would have crystal clear vision, with the need for reading glasses.

Again, everything was simplified with all the risks and side effects played down. I was therefore in the dilemma to remain with very poor vision, or take on all the risks courtesy of OE.
As I refused to let OE anywhere near me, I had lens exchange elsewhere. AFTERWARDS I was enlightened to how risky the surgery is (was). I have been left with astigmatism in both eyes and have to wear varifocal glasses at all times, for everything. Contrary to what I was told, I still have glare, halos, visual disturbances and far from crystal clear vision. I was not happy with the corrective surgery/surgeon/service, but will not say more for legal reasons.

I have since had YAG, expecting good results, again disappointing, better but not as expected. This is when I was told it is probably the best they can do as “AN ARTIFICIAL LENS WILL ALWAYS BE INFERIOR TO YOUR NATURAL ONE”. Genius! Where was that information when I needed it, before no return surgery?

Hope this helps, just consider that every time they touch you,YOU AND YOUR eyesight are taking the risk, not the people doing it. Do you research into who and what they are offering. Ask about all the associated risks.

We're in the same boat, along with many others, in wishing that we'd never, ever started this!!! I hate also, as I'm sure you do, in wanting others to test out explants in order to make me feel safer. This is where we're at though.

Did Sasha advise you of a good surgeon to use? If you have a good surgeon lined up, is your decision now based on risk, cost, fear - or one/all put together?

You must be like me - sooooo confused about what to do.

On good days (in bright light when not tired) my eyes seem quite good and I think I should leave well alone - but, when tired, in dim light, at night, if lights come towards me etc etc I cannot imagine spending the rest of my life with such distorted images. I sway back and forth - and I have no idea how to make the desicion: explant or not.

Please let me know how you decide to go, and on what basis. With the very best of luck to you. Heather